Chapter 71 All Sorts

Chapter 71: All Sorts

Lu Jiming's health was poor, so he didn't depart immediately. He rested at his residence for several days and only set out on the day before Lunar New Year's Eve.

The carriage had been slowed down as much as possible. A journey that normally would take a day took them two full days, yet it still didn't improve Lu Jiming's condition.

The fetus hadn't descended yet; the child wasn't due. However, on the second day after boarding the carriage, Lu Jiming began experiencing relentless, bearing-down pain. When Lu Guanguan pried open Lu Jiming's tightly clenched palm, he found the skin had already been broken by his own nails, oozing vivid blood.

It wasn't until nightfall that they finally reached the post station.

The child, having been through so much for months, was impatient to emerge. As Lu Jiming stepped down from the carriage, his water broke. He gritted his teeth and walked to the room at the post station, enduring the unrelenting contractions.

The time that followed became slow and long, an excruciating torment.

Lu Jiming had no idea how to bring this little being connected to him by blood into the world; he simply acted on instinct. But it seemed nothing was progressing, only more and more bloody fluid kept gushing out.

In several moments, Lu Jiming thought he would die right there.

He began desperately missing Wei Yan, incessantly calling out the courtesy name he had given him. The winter night offered no summer sun's warmth, and in this remote post station, he couldn't wait for the person he longed to see.

It wasn't until Ning Jia went out to find a physician, and under the physician's guidance, Lu Jiming pushed with all his might, that he finally, with great difficulty, gave birth to their child.

This child was tiny from birth, extremely frail. The physician sighed, saying he might not survive the night.

Lu Jiming held him and gave him a name: Lu Luan.

Hoping he could flourish like a goldenrain tree.

He never told anyone that when he saw the goldenrain tree laden with its crimson fruit from afar in autumn, the fiery red expanse always reminded him of flames.

He hid Wei Yan deep within their child's name, just like Wei Yan's bloodline hidden deep within A-Luan's body—unnoticed by anyone, yet always there.

Miraculously, A-Luan survived his first night. Lu Jiming held him, not closing his eyes for a moment.

His father's funeral still awaited Lu Jiming, the only son, to attend. They truly couldn't delay any longer and set off again.

On the road, finding a wet nurse was impossible. Lu Jiming could only nurse A-Luan in secret, hiding from the coachman. But Lu Jiming's milk was limited, and A-Luan was always crying from hunger.

Upon reaching Mingzhou City, Lu Jiming didn't rush back to the Lu residence. Instead, he entrusted the child to Xu Cifeng, asking him to secure an outside residence to settle A-Luan.

Ning Jia and a few other trusted subordinates of Lu Jiming stayed with Xu Cifeng to help care for A-Luan, while Lu Jiming took Lu Guanguan and hurried back to the Lu family home.

What followed was the vigil and the burial.

Lu Jiming forced his body, which had just given birth, to endure through the entire funeral, fulfilling his final duty as a son. After that, he fell seriously ill.

The illness came on fiercely. It took months of recuperation to recover, but Lu Jiming was left with a lasting sensitivity to cold. From then on, even slight chills would make his hands and feet tremble. Years of subsequent treatment never improved it.

It was in the second year after Lu Jiming returned to Mingzhou that he finally brought A-Luan, who had been raised outside, back home. He claimed the two-year-old A-Luan was only one year old.

The Lu family was extremely displeased about this because Lu Jiming's return home was for his father's mourning period. The mourning period in this dynasty wasn't strict: the Son of Heaven observed three months, wore plain clothes for a year; officials could observe anywhere from three months to three years.

Since Lu Jiming had chosen to observe three years to gain a reputation for filial piety and integrity, he should have quietly and properly fulfilled his duty. Now, having a child with a woman of unknown status—if this got out, Lu Jiming would become a hypocrite seeking fame, and his official reputation would be completely ruined.

But Lu Jiming was, after all, the family member with the highest official position now. His father had passed, and the other elders were counting on him to help their sons and nephews advance, so they didn't dare criticize him too harshly. They just refused to enter Lu Luan into the family register.

Lu Jiming thought he didn't care at the time, but it weighed on his mind for the rest of his life.

Later, the Lu family began spreading the story that Lu Luan was born from Lu Jiming's marriage to Miss Zhao, to whom he had once been engaged. Miss Zhao had died in difficult childbirth, leaving only this child behind—a somewhat more acceptable tale.

As Lu Luan grew, his congenital weaknesses gradually became apparent. For A-Luan to receive better treatment, Lu Jiming set off back to Bianjing as soon as the three-year mourning period ended.

And A-Luan, at long last, was exposed before his biological father.

By then, Wei Yan, after years of biding his time, had just ousted Chen Yiqing, placed the Empress Dowager under house arrest, and completely regained real power.

During those three years, Wei Yan couldn't break away to find Lu Jiming, nor dared he casually issue an edict summoning Lu Jiming back to the palace, exposing him to Chen Yiqing and the Empress Dowager's sight. His heart held both resentment and longing for Lu Jiming.

But the moment he saw Lu Luan, the moment he heard Lu Jiming admit that Lu Luan was born to him and his beloved, all those complex, fervent emotions transformed into intense hatred.

Lu Jiming knew that Wei Yan must have been extremely angry then. He rarely saw the usually even-tempered Wei Yan lose his temper.

Wei Yan accused him of many things, saying he had been like a fool, waiting bitterly for three years, yet receiving nothing in return.

Suppressing his emotions, Lu Jiming coldly asked, "Between us, hasn't it always been your one-sided wish? I have had a lover. I only planned to live out my life with A-Luan. Please don't disturb us anymore."

Wei Yan stared at Lu Jiming in disbelief, looking him over again and again, before finally turning and leaving.

That night, Lu Jiming held A-Luan, who had been frightened by his biological father, and silently wept all night. They were completely finished; there was no turning back.

A-Luan's matter still became known to the Remonstrance Officials.

Having a child during the mourning period could be a minor or major offense; many had done it, but it was rarely brought up for public discussion.

Lu Jiming thought perhaps it was because his official career had been too smooth, offending people, which implicated A-Luan in being discussed throughout the court and the public.

On the surface, Lu Jiming was a pure, upright civil official. But he knew in his heart that reaching the position of Hanlin Academy Scholar at his age was entirely due to Wei Yan's favor. Now that he and Wei Yan were completely at odds, his career prospects had essentially ended.

For the first time, for A-Luan's sake, he considered resigning from his post.

But unexpectedly, Wei Yan protected him, having Lu Jiming transferred to serve as a county magistrate in a small town south of the Yangtze River.

That place was even further south than Mingzhou, almost enjoying a climate of near-perpetual spring, perfectly suitable for the naturally frail A-Luan. Lu Jiming often couldn't understand: shouldn't Wei Yan hate him? Why then reassign him to such a prosperous place?

Lu Jiming never dared to ponder it deeply because he understood that, regardless of Wei Yan's purpose, for the rest of his life, Wei Yan would never belong to him again. It was just adding futile delusions.

But something even more perplexing to Lu Jiming occurred.

Three years later, an imperial decree transferred him back to the capital.

Wei Yan made him Chancellor.

More than the pride of a meteoric rise, Lu Jiming felt mostly stunned. He took up the authority in a daze, looking at Wei Yan in confusion.

In the six years they were apart, Wei Yan had completely transformed from that impulsive, immature youth into a mature monarch.

Lu Jiming saw no emotion in Wei Yan's eyes; he too had learned to conceal.

Later came the petition from the ministers, urging Wei Yan to establish an empress.

An emperor nearing thirty, with no consorts or heirs, was enough to alarm the ministers in any dynasty. No one knew the reason, nor did anyone know what the emperor, alone in the cold, quiet nights, was so obsessively clinging to.

Lu Jiming knelt with his colleagues before the Hall of Maintaining the Heart, beseeching Wei Yan that even if he didn't establish an empress, he should at least have a harem. The imperial family needed heirs; it was Wei Yan's duty.

Wei Yan came out of the hall displeased. Seeing Lu Jiming leading the kneeling on the bluestone bricks, he finally sighed and agreed to the selection of consorts.

It finally dawned on him, belatedly, that Wei Yan had finally given up. What made him even more bewildered was that Wei Yan had only now completely given up. Had he been waiting for him to turn back these three years?

Had he been waiting for him for six years? But why?

Wei Yan did not establish an empress but instead took four women as consorts. Soon, he had children, finally becoming a father.

Lu Jiming was happy for him, yet a persistent, dull ache remained in his heart.

Lu Jiming couldn't understand why his heart ached. After all, he was the one who had let go. He couldn't keep wounding Wei Yan while demanding he wait forever for someone who would never return.

Moreover, from beginning to end, Wei Yan had done everything duty and compassion required.

Thus, many, many more years passed. They continued to stand side by side, yet their hearts drifted further apart.

A-Luan gradually grew up, and his illness grew increasingly severe. Lu Jiming embarked on a longer, more arduous quest for a cure.

But A-Luan's condition was congenital; neither medicine nor treatment could cure him. That he had lived to this age was already a miracle forged by the finest physicians and healers in the land and Lu Jiming's meticulous care.

Every moment, Lu Jiming lived in fear of losing Lu Luan.

Especially when he saw the healthy princes and princesses growing up in the palace, watching them play and laugh, Lu Jiming sometimes would think with a flash of bitterness: why, when they shared the same father, was it his A-Luan who was frail and sickly?

But more often, he blamed himself, thinking perhaps if he hadn't hidden A-Luan away back then, everything would have been different.

His A-Luan, so naturally bright and intelligent, was trapped by his frail body in a confined world. He had already completely lost his love; he could not lose their child as well.

How strange. He seemed to have gained everything he once desired, yet he always felt he possessed nothing at all.

Later, he finally chose to risk everything on one final, desperate gamble, sacrificing all to seek the fabled Nanping Golden Elixir.

Lu Jiming thought he might have gone mad, but to be lucid was agony; he wished he were truly insane.

Thus, everyone became a pawn, until the day everything was exposed, and he once again met Wei Yan's eyes, filled with disappointment and resentment...

Lu Jiming felt a kick inside his abdomen. He looked down blankly at his swollen belly and remembered—this was not that time; he was not in Mingzhou.

Unnoticed, candles had been lit in Chongyuan Palace. A palace attendant came to ask, "Your Highness, shall we serve the evening meal now, or wait for His Majesty?"

"Wait for His Majesty," Lu Jiming said. In this lifetime, he would wait for him.