Lu Bingwen taught his student for twenty years. He taught him how to govern and how to choose capable people. But he never taught him how to let someone go.
A month before the student was to ascend the throne, Lu Bingwen received a letter from him. It was only a few lines long. It said that the woman he had once asked Lu to look after had taken her child and gone south to find her relatives. There was no need to pursue her or ask questions.
At the end of the letter, a single character had bled into a small blot of ink.
In twenty years, Lu Bingwen had never seen his student's handwriting bleed ink.
In the south lived a Mr. Xie, a skilled physician and an able administrator. He had refused to show his face for four years, yet everyone who knew his name was willing to put their faith in him.
Lu Bingwen had exchanged letters with this man for four years, but it had never occurred to him to ask: Who, exactly, was Mr. Xie?
BGM: Gu Moshu, "This Is Enough" | The land is beautiful in countless ways, and so is she.
P.S. The male lead is not a virgin. Please avoid if that's a dealbreaker.
Tags: widower fiction, melodramatic old romance.
Writing my own food for a dry spell. Purely a personal kink. If you can't accept the premise, please stop reading.
Theme: Controversial female perspective
