EMPRESS LIU

~FORTY-TWO~

A teary reunion was in order. The mother's eyes were an overflowing river of emotions. The son's heart was palpitating like the beat of the midnight gong. None can approach the other. In fear of the consequences of their own action.

But mother's heart can never not forgive a son.

"Son. Mother is sorry. Mother rejected to see you. Mother is very sorry."

The old frail woman's body finally held her youngest son gathering him in her arms like the precious jewel he was.

"No mother. Shengsheng was the reason for father's death. Shengsheng is sorry."

She held her sons face with both her palms and made him look into her eyes, the sincerely her words held.

"Shengsheng. Look. It was not your fault. It was mother, who feared to lose another child. You are safe in the Xiang Wang's palace. So I thought if I reject you you would stop coming and stay there. I didn't know my naive Xiao Long would keep coming back. That mother's little dragon would long for mother so much."

The mother had so much to clarify, the son had so much to say. But their tears said it all. The emotions that were to be conveyed were conveyed.

The mother listened to everything the son's beating heart silently said. And the son calmed down under the mother's affection again.

Maybe there was a bright side of everything too. Because as the saying goes, only the rain can make sure there is a rainbow.

And for Liu Changsheng this was the little piece of rainbow.

It's true that he has to live without his lao gong. It's true he has live without his father, his brothers, his sisters. But he's got his mother to spend the rest of his life in the peace he craved in the palace.

But unknown to him, his peaceful days here was going to end. When a certain monk came to meet him in chengli villege.

One morning when young master Liu was coming back from collecting woods he found Monk Han standing in front their hut.

"Monk Han!"

"Liu Changsheng."

"Greetings Monk Han."

"I'm here to make an offer for you."

Liu Changsheng was taken aback. What offer can Monk Han make.

"Come in."

"No, Liu Changsheng. I'm here to offer your sword to you and give you a choice."

The old man's eyes were as still as the north sea.

"Everything that happened in your life has something to do with me too. So I want to make it right. Xuehui is a portal to time and space. So if you want, you can choose to go back to the past and make your life right. Nothing has been ruined in that timeline yet."

Liu Changsheng wanted to to say yes. But he has his mother here. What happens to her if he leaves suddenly.

"What would happen to me in this timeline, if I choose to go back?"

The monk had a serene smile on his face. "This timeline will be destroyed the moment you go back and destroy Xuehui."

"And why would I destroy Xuehui?"

"For your future to not turn out to be the same as it is now." He kept enlightening the young master. "To destroy any connection to this timeline. You have seen how they're connected."

And thus Liu Changsheng took the hardest and most wisest decision he had ever taken. To go back. It was also somehow the easy way out. To not be hurt he could choose to go back. What is the best there could be.