novelraw Chapter 252: Liu Xuan (Conclusion)
Chapter 252: Liu Xuan (Conclusion)
After returning from Xu State, Liu Xuan concealed his thoughts, though at times they still felt uncontrollable.
The Emperor trusted Su Juan and others, clarifying the political situation. But as long as Song Qianfan lived, the threat remained. He was not an ordinary commoner but the only son of the Emperor’s younger brother.
Unless he committed a heinous crime, the Emperor wouldn’t be ruthless.
Liu Xuan consulted several times with Shen Ruhui; Song Qianfan’s actions were becoming increasingly stable, likely due to Yu Ting, and he had gained another strategist. To move against him, one must be more ruthless.
If Su Juan wants to secure the position of Crown Prince, Prince Jing and Prince Han must lose the Emperor’s favor. Using Song Qianfan to eliminate dissenters, they had plotted this scheme for two whole months.
The hiding place of Song Qianfan’s private army wasn’t hard to find, but this info had to be concealed from Su Juan and everyone else. Unless it came to the last step, he would at most be guilty of maintaining private soldiers, but he must die.
Exploiting public sentiment, they expanded the news of Su Juan losing power, step by step enlarging Song Qianfan’s ambitions, creating an opportunity for rebellion.
When the news of the military uprising came, Liu Xuan knew that everything had finally calmed down.
Prince Han voluntarily went to the border, Prince Jing returned to his fief. The vast Capital City posed no threat to Su Juan anymore.
The Emperor wanted to find a consort for Su Juan. Half of the Capital City was restless, even Yu Zhong, the promising Minister of the Ministry of Justice, was moved by this.
The day Yu Zhong went to see Su Juan, Liu Xuan was meeting Shen Ruhui at home. Although he knew it was impossible, he couldn’t help feeling jealous and wondering if Su Juan would accept Yu Zhong, given the many rumors about them in the Capital.
He held a teacup, but his mind was elsewhere.
"Can’t drink it?"
Shen Ruhui’s words brought Liu Xuan’s thoughts back.
Liu Xuan’s gaze regained its calm, "Good tea."
Shen Ruhui was speechless for a moment. Each time Liu Xuan came, he drank this tea, yet now he thought it was good?
"If you’re unwilling, then go. If you don’t speak, and she doesn’t speak, how would you know that your minds are not in sync?"
It’s said that those involved are confused, but as an observer, he was very clear. By speaking clearly, at least both could be sure of each other’s feelings. Even if the result is unsatisfactory, at least it would minimize regrets.
Liu Xuan replied, "There’s no unwillingness."
Su Juan might have had some feelings for him beyond friendship, but it was merely a lure of appearances. She never knew his true self beneath this facade.
She would gaze twice at someone wearing white, but that white, everyone wore it, and it was never because of Liu Xuan.
The matter of Jing Garden had long passed, and he should have let it go.
Liu Xuan sipped the tea, realizing it had long gone cold. He drank it all in silence, the chill making him more rational and lucid.
This step, no matter what, he couldn’t take; otherwise, everything he had would collapse.
He wasn’t someone who prioritized romantic entanglements, nor should he be.
Su Juan was even more so; she always knew what she wanted.
Shen Ruhui did not persuade further, looking at Liu Xuan with a shake of the head. A simple sentence was easy to say, but it was about what came after.
The burden of the Liu Family was heavy. His ambitions were all on the court, and he could never subordinate himself to the Imperial Palace, to Su Juan, as a consort ignoring state affairs.
He was always clear-minded, aware of the weight of personal feelings against the Liu Family’s burdens. No one knew better than he how to choose.
...
In the thirty-sixth year of Jingyang, the Emperor passed away, and the Crown Princess, Jinyang, ascended to the throne.
Liu Xuan was reused. The schemes with Shen Ruhui vanished with the past, and he thought no one would know these secrets.
He stood in the grand hall, seeing Su Juan every day. Though the distance wasn’t far, it felt miles away, so far that he couldn’t recall past events. They were no longer friends, merely ruler and minister.
Five years into her reign, Su Juan recalled Song Jingwen to the Capital, meeting Liu Xuan privately, asking him to associate more with Song Jingwen.
Liu Xuan could roughly guess some of Su Juan’s thoughts; she never took a consort, despite courtier advice.
He pondered many reasons for Su Juan not taking a consort, but they were less shocking than hearing directly from her.
It was many years later, the Emperor died suddenly, without warning. The imperial physician couldn’t find the cause, leaving him with only a handwritten letter.
She wasn’t of this world, arriving here by accident, now returning. She hoped everything after her departure would remain as good as before.
At that moment, Liu Xuan finally understood why Su Juan never took a consort, why she nurtured Song Jingwen. She didn’t want any ties here because she would eventually leave.
Su Juan had a good eye; Song Jingwen was indeed a good Emperor who understood the people’s hardships, felt the soldiers’ struggles, and could sympathize with the world, having a kingly heart full of compassion.
He wanted to safeguard all this, maybe one day Su Juan could see it.
...
On the day Song Qianhang left the Capital, old friends saw him off. A cup of wine down, they understood each other without words.
He seemed to have aged ten years. Now, with no more ties in the Capital, he was heading to Su State, Prince Jing’s fief. Since the Old Emperor’s departure, Prince Jing hadn’t left his fief.
Now, his only concern was far in Su State.
Song Qianhang smiled bitterly, "I used to think one of us would prevail, never imagined she’d be the first to leave."
Liu Xuan was silent for a moment, "Take care."
After Song Qianhang left, some people stayed at the restaurant for a meal. Bringing up past matters, Liu Miaoying’s eyes turned red, while Xie Xun remained silent.
Liu Miaoying: "Perhaps she foresaw this day long ago."
Xie Xun: "It was just too sudden."
Liu Xuan instinctively said, "Didn’t she leave a letter?"
Liu Miaoying and Xie Xun exchanged a glance, slightly surprised, looking at Liu Xuan, "A letter... what letter?"
That night, Liu Xuan returned home, reopening that letter, his feelings now different. He burned the letter, pretending to have never known it.
...
The new Emperor ascended, and Liu Xuan gained favor and reuse. A high-ranking minister idolized by the public. Yet his accumulated grief became illness, his body deteriorated year by year, succumbing to heavy illness before forty-five. He never married, only adopting an offspring from a collateral line to raise.
After Liu Xuan’s death, the Liu family sorted through his belongings, discovering a conspicuously precious box, but inside was only a handkerchief, clearly a woman’s item.
...
Liu Xuan thought, perhaps Shen Ruhui was right from the beginning.
Countless people in the world; being caught in turbulent times, he became a leader. Among thousands, few emerge, thus he once worried for the world, willing to forsake everything to fulfill past regrets, now residing high in the temple, yet still unfulfilled.
Had he known the time was short, from the start, why hesitate, why forsake everything?
Now, this world still belongs to the common people, Da Jin remains the people’s Da Jin. Liu Xuan, however, is just Liu Xuan, with no return path.
Though he lived a lifetime, he still couldn’t live it well.