after sun hao came to the throne in 264, he appointed lou xuan as a central regular mounted attendant (散騎中常侍) alongside wang fan, guo chuo (郭逴) and wan yu. lou xuan later rose through the ranks and served as the administrator (太守) of kuaiji commandery and then as minister of finance (大司農). he was also appointed as a captain of the imperial guards (鎮禁中候) in 270 and was in charge of the security of the imperial palace.