Firmament Sword

”Th-this... Miss Liu, you must think this through. A matter like this is no child’s play. You can’t act rashly.”

The speaker was Xu Zhongtian.

This iron-willed General of the battlefield had, at this moment, finally regained his usual dignified air. He looked at Liu Ruyu seriously. ”You must understand, once you agree, there is no going back. From this day forward, no matter what, you can only be a person of the Xu Family. Furthermore, that boy of mine is a man of deep feelings. In his heart, there is likely only room for the Great Yan Female General. If you marry him, it’s highly probable that he will ignore you...”

Although the Champion Marquis’s wife, standing to the side, inwardly grumbled at her husband for saying such things at a time like this, everything Xu Zhongtian said was, in fact, the truth.

Given Xu Jie’s temperament, it was indeed highly likely that he would completely ignore this young lady from a scholarly family.

Over there, Liu Xuan’s emotions had calmed slightly. He cast a grateful glance at Xu Zhongtian. ’No matter what, this Champion Marquis is a true man!’

Madam Liu hurried to her daughter’s side and also tried to persuade her, ”My precious daughter, you must think this through. You truly can’t force something like this!”

Liu Ruyu gave a faint smile and said softly, ”I know all that. I understand the reasoning, but I... I just want to marry him!”

”No, I cannot agree to this!” Liu Xuan said resolutely. He declared in a low voice, ”I can indulge you in anything else, promise you anything else, but this one thing—no matter what you say, it’s impossible!”

Madam Liu added from the side, ”If you marry him like this, you truly might never find happiness your entire life. A woman should marry a man who likes her, not one that she likes!”

Liu Ruyu glanced at her parents and nodded gently. ”Father, Mother, I understand everything you’re saying. Let me be honest with you. Xu Jie... he has saved me twice. Many years ago, I secretly decided in my heart that in this life, I would marry no one but him. So, whether or not he has feelings for me, I don’t care. As long as I can be by the side of the person I love, I will be content!”

As Liu Ruyu spoke, a flash of helplessness crossed the depths of her eyes. She thought to herself, ’This is my fated trial. Even if I am unwilling, I cannot escape it. I must face it in the end. Otherwise, how can my state of mind ever reach completion?’

Madam Liu stared at her daughter, dumbfounded. Then, she turned to her husband with a furious expression. ”This is all your fault! Look what you’ve done, spoiling our daughter all these years! ’A woman’s virtue is in her lack of talent,’ yet what have you taught our precious daughter to become? Heavens...”

Madam Liu was utterly defeated by her daughter’s reasoning. The thought of her daughter’s potentially tragic future made unbearable sorrow well up inside her.

The emotions she had been suppressing for so long finally became too much to bear, and she was on the verge of breaking down.

At this moment, Liu Xuan, in contrast, calmed down. He looked at his daughter seriously. ”When you were seven, you went on a spring outing, lost your footing, and fell into the water. The person who saved you... was it Xu Jie?”

Liu Ruyu nodded, affirming with certainty, ”Yes!”

”And when you were twelve, you went out alone and were accosted by a group of hooligans with ill intentions. Was it also Xu Jie who saved you?” Liu Xuan asked again.

Liu Ruyu nodded. ”Yes. Both times, he was the one who saved me. And normally, Xu Jie spends every day forging swords in his private courtyard. He rarely goes out... For him to encounter me in danger on two separate occasions, years apart, and save me at the most critical moment—if that isn’t fate, what is?”

Over on the side, Xu Zhongtian was also a bit dumbfounded. He didn’t even know if what Miss Liu was saying was true or not. He couldn’t help but glance at his wife. ”Did you know about this?”

Madam Xu shook her head with a bitter smile. ”Our boy has been independent since he was little. He never liked living with us. How would I know what he’s up to? We didn’t even find out he’d become sworn brothers with Xu Luo, Sui Yan, Liu Feng, and the Eldest Prince until years after it happened, did we?”

Xu Zhongtian’s mouth twitched. He glanced at his wife, but in the end, he swallowed the words he was about to say.

’You’re too irresponsible as a mother!’

Liu Xuan and his wife were equally incredulous. Liu Ruyu said softly, ”I swear on my honor that what I’m saying is true.”

”Sigh... I believe you.” Liu Xuan let out a long sigh. ”You are my daughter. The blood of the Liu Family flows in your veins. Since you were a child, I’ve taught you to be a truthful person. How could you possibly lie?”

”Then... then what do we do?” Madam Liu was also dumbstruck now. If it was truly as her daughter said, then one couldn’t deny it... it really was fate.

No wonder their daughter, who had always resisted the idea of marriage proposals, had immediately agreed when Madam Xu came to propose last time. It had puzzled the couple for a long time.

Only today did they learn that there was such a profound reason hidden behind it all.

Liu Xuan looked at his daughter and asked with a solemn expression, ”Do you truly wish to marry him?”

Liu Ruyu nodded lightly, a faint, somewhat sad smile on her face. ”I’m sorry...”

”Sigh... Forget it. You’re our daughter. If you feel that this will make you happy, what more can we say?”

Liu Xuan sighed deeply and waved his hand, somewhat dejected and helpless. ”Then marry him.”

With that, Liu Xuan looked at the somewhat dazed Xu Zhongtian and his wife across from him and said in a low voice, ”Since it has come to this, let me be blunt about the unpleasantries...”

”Brother Liu, you don’t need to say it. If we mistreat the child in the slightest in the future, may lightning strike us down!” Madam Xu said with a sincere expression, looking at Liu Xuan. ”There’s absolutely no fault to find with a child like Ruyu. How could our family possibly mistreat her?”

”In that case... very well.” Liu Xuan sighed and sat down, feeling somewhat drained.

...

There are no walls that can keep out the wind. The recent turmoil in the Xu Family spread quickly, and many who were already hostile toward the Military Merit Faction began to gloat over their misfortune.

”Hahaha, that scoundrel Xu Zhongtian got lucky and won a great victory on the Southern battlefield. Let him be smug. How does he feel now, huh?”

”The Xu Family has truly been disgraced this time! They went to escort the bride, but she ran away! Hahahaha, it’s so satisfying!”

”Hmph, and that bride was a General of the Great Yan Kingdom. I don’t know what His Majesty was thinking, personally bestowing the marriage. Now, even His Majesty has lost face...”

”Xu Zhongtian had better think long and hard about how he’s going to explain this to His Majesty... Haha!”

This group of people hadn’t been gloating for long when news of the Xu Family’s marriage alliance with the Liu Family spread, causing jaws to drop all over the place.

”What? How is that possible? The Liu Family? The family of the great calligraphy master, Liu Bai?”

”The Liu Family’s daughter is as beautiful as a flower, with a noble character. And her skill in calligraphy is said to be approaching that of Grandmaster Liu Bai himself. A person like that would fall for a crude brute like Xu Jie?”

”It’s impossible! The Xu Family must have used their power to force them!”

”Xu Zhongtian used his overwhelming military achievements to threaten the Liu Family! How can we stand by and watch something like this happen?”

A group of people who found the Military Merit Faction disagreeable no matter how they looked at it simply could not comprehend why a scholarly family like the Liu’s would form a marriage alliance with them. They naturally assumed that the Xu Family must have used some dishonorable means.

Otherwise, why would the Liu Family agree to such a humiliating affair?

Just as this impassioned group was preparing to seek an audience with the Emperor to impeach the Xu Family, another piece of news arrived: the Liu Family stated that this was Miss Liu Ruyu’s own decision!

”Is that really true?” These people, who were waiting for a joke to unfold, heard the sound of their own hearts breaking. They simply couldn’t believe that the Liu Family’s low-key yet talented young lady would make such a choice.

However... the matter was far from over.

The bridal procession set out, the bride was brought back, but the groom... had disappeared...

”Hahahahaha, this is killing me! It wasn’t enough for the Xu Family to lose face, the Liu Family had to join in on the fun!”

”A family of scholars... they’ve completely lost all face now!”

”To compromise and stoop so low, only for the man himself to not even appreciate it! Hahahaha!”

”From the looks of it, the love between that Xu Jie and the Female General from Great Yan is truly stronger than gold! Hahaha!”

And so, the tumultuous wedding of the Champion Marquis’s son came to a close amidst a chorus of ridicule.

No one knew what the Miss Liu, who had not completed the wedding ceremony, was feeling when she learned that her future husband had fled the marriage.

Xu Luo, Little Fatty, Sui Yan, Lan Xin, Su Qianqian, and the others had left the Champion Marquis’s Mansion long ago. They simply couldn’t bear to stay there any longer.

「In the Champion Marquis’s Mansion, inside the once freshly decorated bridal chamber.」

Liu Ruyu lifted the bridal veil herself, then pinned up her hair. From this day on, she, Liu Ruyu, was the Young Madam of the Champion Marquis’s Mansion—a married woman.

Watching this beautiful young woman, dressed in bright red wedding clothes, perform these actions with a calm face, the Champion Marquis’s wife couldn’t stop her tears from falling. At this moment, she was finally filled with regret.

For such a fine young lady, her only wedding in this lifetime was one without a groom...

The guests who had come to the Champion Marquis’s Mansion for the wedding banquet had all quietly departed long ago. Who would still be in the mood to drink and celebrate here?

Before tomorrow, this matter would become the talk of the town, and the Xu Family and Liu Family... would become a massive joke circulating throughout the Imperial Capital.

But through this gossip, the public also learned of the feelings between Xu Jie and Mo Yun. Much of the content from the notebook Mo Yun left behind was also spread far and wide.

The vast majority of people couldn’t help but sigh with emotion: in this affair, there were no winners. The three young people and the two families were all victims.

While the love between Mo Yun and Xu Jie was certainly praiseworthy, the fate of the young lady from the Liu Family was a somber one.

Especially since she had jumped into this fiery pit of her own accord.

”Xu Jie is a bastard! If he dares to come back, I’ll break his damn legs! Ruyu, I’ve wronged you. If you want to back out now, it’s still not too late. I’ll throw away my own pride and explain it to the world...” The Champion Marquis’s wife said, her eyes red, as she watched Liu Ruyu silently pin up her hair.

”Mother, it’s alright. Before I came, I had actually already considered that this might be the outcome. This was my own choice. It has nothing to do with you. You don’t need to blame yourself.”

”From now on, I am the Xu Family’s daughter-in-law. Whether he returns or not, I will fulfill all the duties of a daughter-in-law and serve you and Father-in-law with all my heart.”

Liu Ruyu smiled faintly, a flicker of sorrow in her eyes. ’This... was my own choice, after all. Why blame anyone else?’

The Champion Marquis’s wife couldn’t help but cry again. She walked over, pulled Liu Ruyu into her arms, and said through her sobs, ”Good girl. From now on, you are my own daughter. If he dares to reject you as his wife, then I will disown him as my son!”

Then, the Champion Marquis’s wife added in a firm tone, ”From this day forward, the only daughter-in-law of my Xu Family is you, Ruyu! And I will only ever acknowledge you as my daughter-in-law!”

”Mm,” Liu Ruyu responded softly. In her calm, tranquil eyes, a faint trace of being moved flickered.

’The Xu Family has not wronged me, so naturally, I will not wrong the Xu Family!’ Liu Ruyu’s thoughts drifted as she mused to herself.