After the Husband I Used Ascended the Throne

*

After ten years of campaigning, Liu Tiao returned to Luoyang and took the throne. At his side was a close aide who was always at his elbow.

Their intimacy left the court officials dumbfounded.

To honor his achievements, Liu Tiao appointed him Chancellor of the Secretariat, hoping to rule together with him and leave behind a tale of a sage ruler and worthy minister celebrated through the ages.

But on the day of the appointment, Liu Tiao sent for him again and again. The man never came. Instead, Liu Tiao received a memorial asking permission to retire and care for his family.

The palace attendant bowed his head and presented the memorial.

Liu Tiao lowered his eyes. The new dynasty had only just been established, and affairs were piling up. The man was shirking his duties, feigning illness when he truly meant to resign!

What kind of excuse was "retiring to care for family"? His father, the former dynasty's Grand Marshal who had rebelled, had been executed when he arrived in the capital.

Was the man leaving for that childhood sweetheart from the countryside he was always talking about?

Or had he noticed the feelings Liu Tiao had kept hidden for so many years?

*

Cheng Ran had given her all to help Liu Tiao restore the Han dynasty.

First, she wanted peace for the realm, the rebels brought to justice, and revenge for two generations, so the departed could rest in peace.

Second, she had acted on impulse.

But using poison to quench one's thirst was no solution. Power would eventually turn on her.

She wanted a posting away from the capital, so she could return to Ye and live freely.

As she carefully considered the wording of her memorial, someone came to visit late that night: His Majesty already knew the strategist was the son of a rebel from the former dynasty. The strategist held great power and might suffer the fate of the rabbit killed once the hounds are done hunting.

Cheng Ran sat in bitter silence until late the next night, when another person arrived with a secret warning: His Majesty's intentions had become harder and harder to read. He might be planning to share peaches with the strategist.

Cheng Ran's hand trembled around her cup. No matter how much the emperor's face resembled his, he was still not him.

Just before dawn, she left behind a memorial, took up her gold seal, and rode out of Luoyang.

*

When the political situation had settled, Liu Tiao discovered where she had gone into seclusion.

He stood at the foot of the steps, just as he had all those years ago.

The person he had longed for day and night was asleep on a couch. But this time, her crown was off and her hair loose. Her chest rose and fell gently, like someone in a dream. She was a woman.

The names of the leads come from: "As the years gently fade, the long road to heaven stretches far."

Inspired by: Book of the Later Han, Records of the Three Kingdoms, and Rhapsody on Regret

Theme: When the great house is about to collapse, how can one hold it up?