“You and Little Stone are my greatest luck in this life.” Lan Cang raised her head, gazing into her eyes.
“Dad, when did you get here? Why didn’t you tell me? No wonder I couldn’t find you!” Zhui Zhui muttered as she pushed the door open.
Sang Luo coughed lightly, quickly pushing Lan Cang away.
Lan Cang smiled brightly, holding her hand tightly. Zhui Zhui saw her parents together and understood everything. Her dad wanted some alone time with her mom without being disturbed! Hmph!
“It wasn’t easy for Mom to come back. Dad, you should spend time with her. I’ll handle the envoys from Pingling City!” Zhui Zhui finished speaking and looked at Sang Luo, her starry eyes pitiful. “Mom hasn’t been back for so long. You don’t know, Dad has almost turned into a ‘waiting-for-wife rock’ these past few years. If I don’t stay here to keep him company, who knows how lonely he’d be~”
“You brat, you have nothing better to do, do you?” Lan Cang scolded with a smile.
“Mom, look, Dad is embarrassed and angry because you hit a sore spot~” Zhui Zhui covered her bottom and was about to slip away.
Her personality hadn't changed much from when she was a child.
Still this carefree brat!
“Wait, Mom has also prepared a gift for you. I don’t know if you’ll still like it.”
“Wow, what gift? Mom, quickly open it and let me see, I like it!”
“You like it even before you’ve seen what it is?”
“Hehe, I like anything Mom gives me. ‘Mom’s gift’ itself is the best gift!”
“…This brat just has a sweet mouth. I don’t know who he takes after.” Sang Luo was amused by him.
She took out a gift box half a person tall from her space. Inside was a Klein blue skateboard, printed with a string of silver characters. Zhui Zhui’s eyes lit up. He loved collecting all kinds of skateboards, and the one Mom gave him was a limited edition that he usually couldn’t even buy!
“Mom, I like this gift so much. I’m going out to play for a while!” Zhui Zhui turned around and threw the important matter to the back of her head.
Lan Cang was too lazy to remind him. “Remember to come back for dinner tonight.”
“Okay!”
Zhui Zhui slipped out of the room, stepped on the skateboard, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Lan Cang summoned a close-fitting guard and relayed a few words of instruction before accompanying Sang Luo out for a stroll.
Passing by a neighboring courtyard, hearing the sounds of laughter and joy inside, he paused slightly. Then, he saw several small cubs of different races running out, polite and respectful when they saw Lan Cang, “Hello, City Lord!”
“Mm.”
Lan Cang bent down with a smile, taking out some dried meat snacks to give them to eat.
The little cubs happily ran off.
“I remember this used to be where Asa lived.” Sang Luo turned her head to look at Lan Cang, smiling. “He said that you two went through countless life-and-death missions together, and you had the closest relationship. Back when the houses were built, he built his right next to yours. Asa especially liked the little wolf cubs. Every mealtime, if you couldn’t find the kids, you could just go look for them at his place. Little Stone and the others also loved going to Uncle Asa’s to freeload…”
Lan Cang’s eyes showed reminiscence. “Asa didn’t have a female companion by his side, and he didn’t leave behind any children before he left. After he left, this courtyard was vacant for several years, and no one moved in. Later, I built a welfare home, where abandoned cubs and lonely elderly people can come and live.”
“It’s better to help others than to leave it idle.”
…
The changes in Icebreak City over these past few hundred years can be described as earth-shattering, no less inferior than any prosperous main city in the Western Continent.
The streets were bustling with people, various shops lined up, a dazzling array, Sang Luo bought a few things, more or less, and Lan Cang carried the bags beside her.
On the way home together, the two chatted about the things that had happened in the past few hundred years.
When Lan Cang spoke of Lan Ruo’s passing, sadness surged in the depths of his eyes. The two brothers had relied on each other since childhood and had a deep relationship. It was impossible for him not to be sad, but more than that, he was relieved.
Lan Ruo’s bloodline wasn’t strong, but he relied on hard work to advance to a seventh-order beastman, living to be three hundred years old, which could be considered a natural death.
Lan Cang had visited him the day before he passed away.
The older brother personally saw his younger brother off.
Lan Cang said that Little Ruo didn’t have any pain when he left. The children and grandchildren were all gathered around his bed, filling it with flowers.
“…Little Ruo, that child, is clearly still a young and shy teenager in her memory, but… things have changed.”
Sang Luo once again deeply realized that she had been gone for more than half a year, but for Lan Cang and the others, more than five hundred years had passed.
“Little Ruo was your own younger brother, an unforgettable loved one in your heart. If he left behind a crystal core and soul, I can try to revive him after I repair the Creation Furnace.”
Lan Cang shook his head. “Birth, old age, sickness, and death are the common lot of humanity. To live a complete and happy life is already the greatest fortune…
As he said this, his gaze fell on Sang Luo’s face, a happy and content expression appearing on his handsome face. “I’ve gotten everything I wanted, and I have no regrets in this life. Any act against nature will come at a price. There’s no need to defy the laws of heaven and earth and burden you with unfounded karma.”
“Cang Cang…”
Sang Luo stopped in her tracks.
Lan Cang embraced her in his arms, his voice low and hoarse,
“Luo Luo, if I leave first one day, don’t revive me.”
…
Suiling City.
The most important star city under Icebreak City, in charge of energy transportation, many railways and transportation routes have been built, and the main city’s investment is increasing year by year.
Many people want to get a share of the pie here. The group of confidants who followed Lan Cang back then have mostly left, and he later had no energy to cultivate new confidants.
The officials in the city inevitably skim off the top of the allocated funds, layer upon layer, and in the end, less than 30% of the funds actually reach the projects.
After Little Stone came to the city, he began to investigate the embezzled funds, uprooting many corrupt forces, quite like his dad’s thunderous style when he was young.
When Sang Luo arrived, she saw Little Stone diligently working in the study.
The young man had black hair, a tall and sturdy figure, cold white skin, and sharp, handsome features. From a distance, he looked almost exactly like Lan Cang when he was young, except that he didn’t have the light scar on his nose and cheek, and his features were more delicate and beautiful when viewed closely.
Several young females were secretly wandering outside, craning their necks, trying to look inside, but they were all chased away.
“Mom? You’re back!”
Little Stone seemed to sense something, looking towards the door. With a “whoosh,” he stood up from his seat, grabbed the coat draped over the back of the chair, and quickly walked forward to greet her, taking the food box from Sang Luo’s hand. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming in advance? I would have picked you up. You shouldn’t have troubled yourself to come all this way.”
“I specifically told your dad not to bother you over such a small matter.” Sang Luo looked at the young man’s slightly thin face, feeling extremely distressed. He was a workaholic like his dad. “I heard from your dad that you’ve been very busy lately, not even having time to eat. I made you some food, all the things you loved to eat when you were little.”
Opening the food box, it was still steaming, just like when it had just come out of the pot.
“Thank you, Mom!” Little Stone smiled, his ears and wolf tail popping out and wagging happily.
“Mom, have you eaten? Sit down, let’s eat together.”
“Sure, I’m a little hungry anyway.” Sang Luo took out a divine fruit and started eating.
Little Stone asked, “So many years have passed, but the Nine-Tailed Fox younger siblings don’t seem to be showing any signs of being born. How much longer will it be?”
“The gestation period for divine beast cubs is long, and Mom isn’t too sure either.” Sang Luo sighed. “I heard from Uncle Fei Yuan that divine beast cubs are best fed divine fruits nurtured in the Heavenly Realm. Before the Divine Sovereign left, he transferred the authority to open the Heavenly Realm to him. He’s been to the Heavenly Realm a few times these past few years and heard that some divine fruit trees have regrown there.”
“What is the Heavenly Realm like?” Little Stone asked curiously.
“Mom hasn’t been there either, so I’m not too sure. If there’s a chance in the future, I’ll take you to see it.”
“Mm.” Little Stone had just finished eating when a brown-haired beastman walked over and said a few words to him.
Little Stone said, “Mom, please excuse me.”
“Mm, go ahead.”
After Little Stone finished dealing with the matter and returned, Sang Luo had left. There was a beautifully packaged gift box on the table. Opening it, he saw a set of toy race cars. The young man was stunned for a moment, then smiled.
Having grown up and being busy, he rarely thought about his childhood anymore. He used to love playing with these little race cars.
In Mom’s eyes.
They were still those three naughty and rambunctious little wolf cubs back then.
He carefully took out the model cars and remote control, placing them on the top shelf of the bookcase, so that every time he was tired from dealing with official business, he could look up and see them…
