Chapter 2486: Chapter 99: A Life Spent in Defiance of the Setting Sun
After saying a few words to Xiang Qian and the others, Jiang Wang took Chu Yao with him and left the South Border overnight.
As for the Nanxia Governor’s Mansion, he did not greet anyone there, but within the Hengfei territory, it was impossible to get around Su Guanying’s gaze anyway. So he simply spared himself the effort of further courtesies.
In the span of one more night and one more day, Jiang Wang flew from the Xia Territory Old Mountain all the way to Linzi.
He did not stop once along the way, while Chu Yao, in his arms, woke up and fell asleep several times.
When he reached Linzi, he did not return home; he merely set Chu Yao down at the city gate, letting this little disciple go back on his own, and at the same time notify the household to prepare things like funeral silk and gold.
He himself went straight to the Marquis of Bowang’s Mansion.
He did not have a particularly deep impression of the old marquis. Because of Zhongxuan Sheng, he had in fact always harbored some resentment toward the old marquis, feeling that the old man had not held the scales quite level, letting Zhongxuan Pang suffer too much grievance from childhood.
Yet he did not know why. On this return to Linzi, all along the way a certain scene kept flashing in his mind—
That day, seeing that the atmosphere was not quite right, he had taken the initiative to escort Doctor Ye Henshui away. The vast Marquis of Bowang’s Mansion, with winding paths leading to secluded corners, was similar yet different from when he first entered it. He heard the old man shout Zhongxuan Sheng’s name, and then, at once fragile and unyielding, cry out that sentence... "I’m going to die!"
He had known.
Everyone knew that Zhongxuan Yunbo did not have long to live.
The whole of Linzi was well aware that Zhongxuan Yunbo not only would not live past one hundred and twenty, he would not live past Yuan Feng, year fifty-seven.
One should say that, having suffered such terrifying injuries on the battlefield back then, the fact that he survived at all was already a miracle.
And after his hope of God Arrives had been cut off, it was with merely the cultivation of the External Building Environment, with a tired and aging body, that he single-handedly propped up the Heavy Mystery clan, running back and forth between court and frontier, watching it flourish and decline, decline and flourish again.
He was alive to watch his third son, Zhongxuan Mingshan, depart this world on the battlefield.
He was alive to, after the Qi–Xia struggle for hegemony, when the Great Qi Empire was at the height of its power, watch his most accomplished son, Zhongxuan Mingtu, depart this world.
He was alive to watch his eldest grandson, whose brilliance overshadowed all of Linzi, rebel against his will.
He was alive to watch his legitimate grandson, to whom he had entrusted the clan’s future, refuse his arrangements.
To lose a son in old age is life’s greatest pain. And he lost two sons in succession.
At the edge of death, what people fear most is that a lifetime of effort will all flow east like wasted water, and he had indeed many times gone through storms that left the clan swaying and precarious.
How should one describe such an old man?
"Everyone is in pain."
In the courtyard where Mr. Zhongxuan had often stayed while alive, Jiang Wang saw Zhongxuan Sheng.
This was the first sentence Zhongxuan Sheng spoke.
This man had always been unwilling to show his emotions.
Most people only ever saw him with that squinting smile, as if he never got angry with anyone, and never cared about anything.
At this moment, he was still a great mass of fat sunk into a lounge chair, his two bean-sized yellow eyes set in his face.
There was not the slightest aura of a marquis about him.
Only the expression on his face was something Jiang Wang had never seen before—so complex.
He listened quietly.
Zhongxuan Sheng spoke slowly.
"In this noble Marquis Mansion, in this top-tier great house of Daqi, every person has their own pain."
"My father had my father’s pain—his ideals, his wife and children, his friends, his subordinates, his clan, his loyalty and righteousness... He could not attend to all of them. He rose to fame young, yet struggled all his life until death."
This was the first time Jiang Wang had heard Zhongxuan Sheng say, "my father."
"My elder brother had my elder brother’s pain. By nature he was self-willed and refused to be constrained. He demanded perfection and would not allow himself a single flaw. His goals were firm, and whatever he wanted, he wanted to obtain. He was unwilling to let go of anything; he actually drove himself very hard."
This was also the first time Jiang Wang had heard Zhongxuan Sheng mention Zhongxuan Zun in this tone.
"My uncle had my uncle’s pain. When the elder brother he revered most died, he was powerless. The stronger he grew, the more he felt that in this world, everything is difficult. No matter how fearsome his might, he could not dive into the Sea of Origin and piece a person back together. Even though he is already the True Man of the Age, Zhongxuan Mingtu is still the lesson that came before."
"My fourth uncle had my fourth uncle’s pain. His third brother died on the battlefield, dragged down by his second brother. But his second brother also went to his death to preserve the clan. He wants to resent someone, yet does not know whom to resent. He still cannot accept any of it, so he has stayed overseas for years, and since my father died has never set foot in Linzi again."
Zhongxuan Sheng spoke slowly: "Of course I also have my pain. You walked that road with me; you know what my pain is."
He took a deep breath, still looking off into the hazy distance. "I know that in this world, life is hard for everyone, and everyone has their own pain. Only as I sit here today, it suddenly occurs to me that my grandfather... he was in great pain too. Perhaps he was in more pain than anyone, and what he lived through and lost was more than anyone. Yet all his life, he never showed it."
"When he ruined himself on the battlefield, he simply worked hard to raise his sons into capable men. When the Son of Heaven grew estranged, he put his armor on and went back to war. When his sons died in battle, he merely held the banner higher. When the clan’s fortunes declined, he merely straightened his back even more."
"All his life he was never weak, except for that one time... when he told me he was going to die."
"But at that moment, I still chose to turn away."
"Jiang Wang, I’m not saying that I regret choosing Shisi. I’m only wondering whether I could have had... a better method?"
