Chapter 668: Triumphant Return! Fangfang Calls Out to Father!

Everyone inside the house also started laughing together.

"Your Highness, it must be good news, right?"

"Could it be that His Majesty has won another battle?"

"Of course; our Majesty has been invincible all the way and has never lost!"

"His Majesty is a war god descended from heaven; besides commanding troops like a deity, he is also what they call… what, 'the more one attains the Dao, the more assistance one receives.' He has been driving straight through the Western Regions, and I hear they are about to reach that Eagle King City!"

"It's been three months since we left; time really flies."

"We have left ten thousand troops stationed in Mantu City, while His Majesty personally leads thirty thousand against the Western Regions army within their own territory. Even there, isn't our momentum stronger and our forces larger? I hear that along the way we have beaten the Western Regions so that at the sight of us they want to flee; the iron bones of us Central Plains people have once again stood upright!"

Bao Xia, Xi Qiu, and Dong Er were also taken by Duan Rongshi to Mantu City together last time.

After Que'er and Sha San got married, Li Qingluo let her focus more on her own little household, leaving Li Qingluo without anyone to attend to her at all times.

Duan Rongshi also foresaw this, so when he left Nanan he brought these three obedient maids along.

Zheng Mama is still the senior steward here.

Que'er has been promoted to chief aunt in charge.

Bao Xia and the others have all become first‑class palace maids here.

Everyone serves together in the main courtyard, caring wholeheartedly for the Empress and the little princess, and they are all harmonious and happy.

Today Li Qingluo returned from handling affairs outside, received a letter full of good news, and immediately burst into laughter.

Li Qingluo didn't hide it from them: "Your Highness has indeed won another battle."

Not only a victory in battle, but the Empress Dowager of Eagle King City directly surrendered, opened the city gates, and yielded.

And naturally, this was because Zhui Yu went there bearing his own letter and token.

When the Empress Dowager learned Li Qingluo's true identity, she remembered Li Qingluo's past kindness to all the citizens of Eagle King City, and, knowing that even with their fierce resistance the city could only end in annihilation, she surrendered outright.

Both sides ended the clash without a single soldier being wasted.

This made the Imperial Court, still waiting in the rear to block Eagle King City, so furious that they were thrown into chaos.

Moreover, Wusun directly announced its intention to break away from the Imperial Court and from the Western Regions Thirteen Nations Alliance.

From then on, it will no longer send any troops for the Imperial Court, nor supply any cattle, sheep, livestock, gold, silver, or cloth.

Following that, Loulan also announced...

Loulan will not partake in this Western Regions–Central Plains dispute and will suspend all tributes to the Imperial Court.

At the same time, the two states jointly announced forming ties with the Lan Sea Nation, and the three nations will forge an alliance to maintain everlasting peace and mutual benefit.

"Lan Sea Nation—what country exactly is the Lan Sea Nation?"

"When did a Lan Sea Nation even appear in this world?"

Not only did a Lan Sea King, despised by the Western Regions Imperial Court, emerge, but now he has also lured both Wusun and Loulan away!

Wusun heavy troops.

Loulan is Gold Mountain Silver Sea.

Now that these two small kingdoms have fled, their Imperial Court seems to have lost half its realm!

As a result, even Eagle King City could not hold out...

The Marquis Gu Du, forced to retreat to another city, was struck by these successive betrayals, so angry that he spat blood and turned half his hair white overnight.

He never imagined that, even leading the thirty thousand troops himself, they would be no match for those young people from the Central Plains.

When did the Central Plains become so powerful that they could no longer be turned around?

Who on earth is he, a divine being?

What on earth can he do!!

He is merely a son of the Duan clan who once feigned death on the battlefield; how can he be like a living war deity, unstoppable, marching straight into the heart of the Western Regions?

Good, good, good!

Duan Rongshi indeed has the ability to slay the Western Regions envoys.

But he, Luan Di·Marquis Gu Du, will never easily admit defeat, thus completely severing that dream of settling in the Central Plains!

And this is the Western Regions!

Even if the Central Plains son can capture these cities, he may not be able to hold them.

"Unless he can reach my Hala City."

"Otherwise, I, Luan Di·Marquis Gu Du, will definitely cut off Duan Rongshi's head myself!"

But that day is destined never to come.

Hala City fell into internal turmoil.

The peace‑seeking faction and the hawkish faction clashed, and then the two forces staged a coup within Hala City to seize the narrative.

The Luan Di royal family suffered heavy casualties.

Marquis Gu Du lost both of his sons inside the palace.

The youngest son was sent dying to protect him and arrived at Marquis Gu Du's side; upon learning the truth, Marquis Gu Du smashed his wine cup and shouted, "A bunch of stupid things!"

"Why must they all betray me!"

"Why—"

Overcome by raging fury, Marquis Gu Du vomited several gulps of blood again, then collapsed into a deep coma.

When he came to again, fortunately the few sons who had been at his side had steadied the army's situation.

Marquis Gu Du, unable to rest, hurriedly led twenty thousand troops back to Hala City, intending to retake power and execute all rebels.

However, another plot inside the city awaited Marquis Gu Du...

A year passed, and spring returned.

Fangfang, still babbling, finally heard the news of the Lan Sea army's triumphant return from the Western Regions.

That day, all the townsfolk surged out of the city to greet them.

The soldiers of the Lan Hai army marched proudly, each with a face full of pride, bearing their banners and returning in glory.

The townspeople shouted loudly, "Your Majesty, long live, long long lives—".

"Lan Hai army, long live—".

"Your Majesty, long live, long long lives—".

"Lan Hai army, long live—".

Li Qingluo, cradling one‑year‑old Fangfang, arrived at the city gate accompanied by Pei Lao Furen and a group of close relatives.

From a distance, Li Qingluo pointed to the soldiers who had not yet approached and said to Fangfang, "Daddy is right there."

Fangfang clapped her little hands, and a smile revealed four tiny teeth.

"Daddy?"

"Daddy, big horse!"

Li Qingluo affectionately kissed Fangfang's soft little face and said, "Yes. It's Daddy riding a big horse returning."

"When you see Daddy later, be sure to call out 'Daddy,' okay?"

"Daddy has been away for a long time to protect the Central Plains' people and to ensure peace in the world; don't be angry at Daddy, okay?"

Fangfang not only looks exquisitely delicate, but is also exceptionally bright and clever.

Having just passed her first birthday, she can already wobble on her own steps and has begun babbling.

She can say quite a few words.

"Mother, Daddy."

"Great‑grand… sister…"

"Eat… rice cake…"

"Go home."

Almost every word, after a few repetitions, she can vaguely learn.

And she is very good at reading adults' expressions.

Whoever is happy or sad, she can sense it and respond accordingly.

For example, right now she seems to sense the emotion on her mother's face.

So she draws very close to her mother, hugging her neck and giggling "guffaw."

Li Qingluo pressed her forehead against Fangfang's head and gazed from afar toward the approaching Lan Hai army.

On the high horse at the front, a figure clad in silver armor seemed, even from a distance, to have spotted the mother and daughter.

Suddenly the horse broke into a gallop.

Like a swift horse spurred on, it left the massive troops behind, while it drew ever nearer.

The closer it came, Li Qingluo's heart beat faster.

This separation cannot be said to be very long.

But it's only half a year.

Yet Li Qingluo feels it was incredibly long…

Every time they promised never to part again.

But there are always too many helpless reasons that force separation.

And the taste of waiting is truly unbearable.

Fortunately, a little Fangfang is still by her side.

Because she looks so much like her Daddy, Li Qingluo occasionally feels a slight daze when looking at her.

She thinks: Was he this cute when he was a child?

Life isn't overly lonely.

As Duan Rongshi draws nearer, Li Qingluo's heart unexpectedly calms.

She dared not blink, staring at him from afar as he tightened the reins, then flipped and leapt down, sprinting toward the mother and daughter.

He is becoming more and more out of line now.

Clearly he is no longer the Prince Su that everyone ignored; clearly he is now gaining the people's love and support.

Now, however, he has lost that aristocratic aloofness.

Perhaps this is his true self?

Li Qingluo smiled faintly.

A reckless misstep once or twice in life—what's the harm?

What the people of the world truly desire is a ruler who can pity the world, cherish the common folk, and possess genuine affection, right?

Li Qingluo, still holding Fangfang, quickened her steps forward.

The three of them, amid the cheers of countless troops and the townspeople lining the streets, embraced tightly.

"Luo'er, I'm back."

The little child tucked in the folds of his arms lifted its tiny head, looking left and right.

She opened her mouth sweetly and called, "Daddy?"

Duan Rongshi was startled all over.

He lowered his head, eyes wide with shock, gazing at the daughter in his arms.

"Her—?"

Li Qingluo, with a gentle expression, placed the daughter into his arms.

"Fangfang, call out 'Daddy' once more?"

Fang Fang is not afraid of her own father, the emperor.

She lifts her little hand and bravely reaches to touch the handsome face of her father, the emperor.

She likes him very much.

It makes her feel very close.

So she obediently presses her little head against dad's chest and calls out, "Dad!"

"Mother—"

Her little hand continues to tug at Li Qingluo's collar.

The three of them have to stay close together.

And Duan Rongshi's eyes, which had shown surprise, gradually turned into tenderness.

He has no time to mind the countless eyes still staring at them.

Even with the whole world watching, he bows his head and gently plants a kiss on the hair‑sides of the mother and daughter.