Chapter 656: Already the King of Lan Sea at Thirteen?

Li Qingluo sensed that something was off with him, quickly cupped Duan Rongshi's face, full of concern.

Duan Rongshi couldn't help rubbing his face in her palm: "I was just thinking of you."

"Qingluo, really don't leave me again, okay?"

He wanted to hug her hard, but mindful of the child in her belly, he could only hold her gingerly.

Li Qingluo's face flushed slightly.

"Why are you becoming more like a child?"

"Ah Shi, really nothing else happened?"

She felt a bit uneasy: "Could it be that you have another woman in your harem?"

"Ah Shi, did someone force a concubine upon you?"

"If that happened, I won't forgive you!"

Having gone through a moment with her master, Li Qingluo understood more what "cherish" means.

Cherish the people before you.

Cherish the genuine feelings that others seek but cannot obtain.

Cherish those who are sincere to you.

She wasn't actually worried that Duan Rongshi's heart had changed.

She just hadn't stopped hearing those tales—stories about seeking favor through deeds, only to try to send one's own daughter to the lord's harem—had they become fewer?

Now Duan Rongshi is on a roll, and probably many fierce generals under his command have already taken interest.

Duan Rongshi was at a loss, both laughing and crying.

"What are you imagining?"

"Who dares, I'll chop them to pieces!"

He lightly tapped Li Qingluo's forehead with his finger, his tone serious.

"Qingluo, I, Duan Rongshi, will never be an unfaithful man in this life."

"If ever I were to do such a thing, it would be because someone stole my heart, not me."

"Then, just go ahead and kill me."

Li Qingluo let out a pfft laugh.

"You're really hard on yourself."

"I of course trust you, but you've been so nervous tonight, so I kept overthinking."

Duan Rongshi: "It's because I dream of you every night."

"And now that you're back, I thought it was still just a dream."

"Qingluo, promise me."

"From now on, nothing is more important than yourself, even me."

"Stop risking your life for others."

"I don't want to be alone anymore… this is literally a nightmare!"

Li Qingluo gently patted Duan Rongshi's shoulder, comforting him: "How could it be just one person?"

"Now that you have me, you have my side's family."

"Moreover, you now have your own bloodline, your own child."

"Ah Shi, you… sigh! He moved again!"

Li Qingluo, delighted, immediately took Duan Rongshi's hand and placed it on her swollen belly.

"Do you think he knows that Daddy is right beside him?"

"What moves today must be more than what moved in past days."

Duan Rongshi opened his eyes in disbelief: "Really?"

Li Qingluo: "Of course it's true."

"Ah Shi, do you want a daughter or a son?"

She stared at his face and asked seriously.

Duan Rongshi answered without hesitation: "A daughter."

"Either like you or like me is fine."

Li Qingluo: "Then let's make it like you."

"If it's like you, it's like Mother Consort."

Speaking of Mother Consort, they exchanged a smile.

"If Mother Consort knew, she would be very happy."

Li Qingluo: "I don't know whether Mother Consort still occasionally comes back to visit us."

"Perhaps Mother Consort has already gone to a better place."

"But Ah Shi, speaking of Mother Consort, there's one thing I still haven't got an answer to!"

"Do you know, A Na Er and Mother Consort look about seventy percent alike!"

"And the Loulan Queen also resembles Mother Consort a bit; are they all of the Lan Sea bloodline?"

Duan Rongshi was not surprised.

Although he had never seen A Na Er or the Loulan Queen, after Nan Gongdi asked Li Qingluo for a portrait to take to the Western Regions, he had already guessed.

"Qingluo, would you like to hear my story with the Lan Sea?"

Li Qingluo nodded rapidly: "Yes! I want to know how you actually became the King of Lan Sea!"

Duan Rongshi glanced at the dishes on the table, grasped her hand: "First fill your stomach, then I'll tell you slowly."

Eat.

Li Qingluo hasn't eaten her fill yet.

She hurriedly took a few more bites, then wiped her mouth and hurriedly said, "You better speak quickly. If you don't, how can I even eat?"

Duan Rongshi stroked her head, no longer teasing her, and finally spoke slowly: "When I was thirteen, I once came to the border pass."

"The master who taught me martial arts back then was still the one my mother left for me since my childhood."

"Although he is called my master, for many years he has interacted with me in a master-servant relationship."

"If I show him even a bit of respect, he will distance himself further, so later I also became accustomed to keeping aloof from him."

"Luo'er, I envy how you and Mr. Nangong get along as smoothly as a real father and daughter."

"Perhaps it's because of my own nature, so it's hard for me to truly get close to anyone."

"Besides you, I can't truly open my heart to anyone else and confide these past events."

"However, at age thirteen I was not yet like that; I still retained a trace of youthful innocence."

"My master brought me along with the army to the border pass; when resisting the Western Regions' forces, he deliberately led me away from the troops toward the direction at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains."

"Along the way, he finally confessed his true identity."

"As it turns out, he is not a person of the Central Plains."

"Nor is he a person of the Western Regions."

"He is a person of the Lanhai Kingdom."

"He is a descendant of the guard who accompanied my great maternal grandmother when she came to the Central Plains."

"The Lanhai Kingdom lies at the junction of the Western Regions and the Central Plains, situated at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains; it is so tiny that neither side regards it, and for hundreds of years it has belonged to neither."

"And they have survived comfortably in that crevice for no less than five hundred years."

"Only by the time of my great maternal grandmother's generation did the royal family's population and the Lanhai people become scarce."

"My maternal grandmother was the eldest daughter of the Lanhai King; at that time, to seek vitality for Lanhai, she alone traveled a thousand miles to the Central Plains."

"Seeing the prosperity of the Central Plains, she felt envious, studied diligently, but inadvertently fell in love with a Central Plains man."

"But she never forgot the heavy responsibility on her shoulders, so after unexpectedly becoming pregnant, she still married and gave birth to my maternal grandmother, then feigned death and illness to escape back to the Lanhai Kingdom."

Li Qingluo gasped.

In her heart she exclaimed: "My great maternal grandmother really is decisive and resolute, an admirable woman."

"Personal feelings between children perhaps also have a place in her heart, but compared to national duty and the burden on her shoulders, she can still more decisively choose the path she ought to."

Befitting her status as a Grand Princess.

It's just that poor maternal grandmother.

Having lost her mother since childhood, although it's said that her stepmother treated her fairly and even cultivated her into the most outstanding lady of Nan'an, but her maternal grandmother went to the Eastern Palace, while that stepmother's two daughters, owing to their status as younger sisters of the Crown Princess, married into two families whose lineage, character, and even family traditions were even more impeccable.

Later, her maternal grandmother even died in despair in the former emperor's indifference and the Cold Palace.

Could it also be because her natal family had no one to back her up?

Duan Rongshi seemed to know what Li Qingluo was thinking.

He rubbed Li Qingluo's back without pause, continuing: "Later, the Lanhai Kingdom experienced some upheavals; after much hardship and time, my great maternal grandmother regained power and ascended the throne of the Lanhai King."

"But because she had injured her body, she later could only barely give birth to a frail son."

"By the time she wanted to look for her maternal grandmother again, her maternal grandmother had already died in the Chu Palace."

"She was deeply regretful, yet could not undo it."

"So she later sent a trusted person to constantly accompany the Mother Consort and the Chu Emperor."

"My master is none other than the guard who grew up alongside the Mother Consort from childhood, which is why he has always regarded himself as a servant."

"Later, he brought me to the Lanhai Kingdom, where I met my frail maternal uncle."

Li Qingluo: "Frail? Maternal uncle? Is he still alive?"

Duan Rongshi: "He is no longer among the living."

"But back then he was indeed alive. Since he was only barely born when my great maternal grandmother was thirty-six, his constitution was weak from childhood."

"Having been sustained by medicine all along, he nonetheless lived for quite a few years."

"But he never fathered any children in his lifetime, so the throne was eyed by cadet branches for a long time."

Li Qingluo: "Then what happened next?"

Li Qingluo: "He passed the throne to me."

Li Qingluo slightly opened her mouth, looking astonished.

"Back then you were only thirteen and already the King of Lanhai?"

Ah Shi, you really can keep it bottled up! I never told you about this!!

You—

Li Qingluo immediately felt a bit angry, yet grew more curious: "You said you all are the closest blood relatives, so why wasn't it passed to the Chu Emperor's children, or even the Chu Emperor himself, but to you?"

"After all, the Mother Consort is a daughter, while the Chu Emperor is a son. Could it be that the Lanhai Kingdom does not value sons who can better inherit the bloodline?"

Duan Rongshi: "Let me answer your questions one by one."

"First, the Lanhai Kingdom does not favor males over females, because the royal lineage has produced queens for several generations, so it values ability over gender."

"Second, because my master brought me back to the Lanhai Kingdom a step ahead."

"Back then, the guard sent by my great maternal grandmother to protect my mother and the Chu Emperor each carried a martial arts secret manual."

"Whoever first teaches someone to achieve great accomplishment can return to the Lanhai Kingdom."

Later, I went.

Li Qingluo thought of the Zongzheng clan's princes and shook her head in disdain.

Indeed, not even one of them can compare to her Ah Shi!

Li Qingluo listened and found it very strange, as if she had heard a story.

She also asked many questions, such as whether the Lan Hai Kingdom is beautiful, and about its local customs.

Duan Rongshi patiently answered each question: "It's very beautiful there."

"The scenery spoken of is picturesque, a paradise on earth, but that's all."

"As for the local customs, the people there are more pure and steadfast than those of the Central Plains, and also simple and kind..."

"Luo'er, I will take you there to have a look."

"If you are willing, we can also live there for a long time..."

Li Qingluo, in a daze before falling asleep, answered him: "Okay."

"Let's go see that otherworldly Lan Hai Kingdom..."

Soon, her even breathing reached Duan Rongshi's ears.

After carefully placing her on the bed, Duan Rongshi gently left a kiss on her forehead and lips.

"We have a long future ahead."

"In the future, not only the Lan Hai Kingdom, but also mountains and rivers, the Five Great Peaks, beautiful landscapes... wherever you want to go, we will go together, slowly."