The Glory After Rebirth [重生之尊荣]

Chapter 472- 474

Chapter 472: Ling Xingzhong's Dream

"Fa–Father..."

On entering the imperial study, the little girl in Ling Maomao's arms caught sight of Yuwen Tong sitting behind a desk. Her big eyes instantly brightening, she strained her neck, calling to Yuwen Tong, stretching out her hands. Her voice was babyish and sounded as though it were tinged with the aroma of milk. The sound of her voice alone was enough to melt Yuwen Tong's heart, not to mention that she was also gazing at him with sparkling, longing eyes.

Yuwen Tong rose to his feet and walked around his desk.

Ling Maomao, Yuwen Qi and Yuwen Lin bowed with hands folded in front to pay their respects to Yuwen Tong.

"I'm honored to bow before you, Your Majesty."

"I'm honored to bow before you, Father."

"There's no need for formalities," said Yuwen Tong, walking up to Ling Maomao and reaching out his hands. Yuwen Yue in Ling Maomao's arms giggled happily, gave a vigorous push at Ling Maomao's chest and launched herself at Yuwen Tong, calling excitedly, "Father! Father!"

After landing in Yuwen Tong's embrace, she kept calling Yuwen Tong "Father" delightedly, wriggling around in Yuwen Tong's arms. Then she gave Yuwen Tong a light peck on the cheek, her delicate-skinned arms around his neck, excitement written all over her face, her eyes narrowing into two crescents for smiling, which reminded people of her pet name. Her chuckle was exceptionally soft and pleasant.

Carrying his daughter steadily with one hand beneath her hips and the other on her back, Yuwen Tong, after being kissed by her, gave a smile and said happily, "You're such a good girl, Crescent."

"I'm a good girl." Yuwen Yue repeated Yuwen Tong's words, beaming, enjoying Yuwen Tong's compliment without any pretence of modesty.

Yuwen Tong laughed, looking at his daughter who was not at all ashamed to second his favorable remark about her being a good girl, feeling that his daughter was so smart.

Ling Maomao, along with Yuwen Qi and Yuwen Lin who were younger than him, stood where they were and watched Yuwen Yue make Yuwen Tong laugh, feeling relieved. Ever since Ling Zhang's departure from the imperial palace, Yuwen Tong had been getting sterner by the day. The two princes were frightened of him like rats of cats. On this day, because of Crescent's presence, Yuwen Tong didn't wear a poker face, which was rare.

"Why did you come to the palace today?" Yuwen Tong asked Ling Maomao after playing with his daughter for a while.

Ling Maomao was thirteen now and had been growing taller very fast, and the top of his head was about shoulder height with Yuwen Tong. On top of that, as he practiced kung fu on a daily basis, he was well-proportioned and lean, and he was always upright when walking, striking people as a teenager of great presence.

After Fu Caiwei gave birth to her second son, Ling Maomao and she had gone to Shengzhou to live with Ling Zhaowen. With the intention to toughen his son up, Ling Zhaowen had sent Ling Maomao to the military encampment. He hadn't had him join the army but just let him train with the crack troops under Jiang Ke's command. There had been quite some young boys in the North-western Army, many of whom were Ling Maomao's age. After assessing the boys' aptitudes, officers of the army would give the boys specialized training accordingly. Ling Maomao had considerable aptitude for kung fu. Ling Zhaowu had specially helped him lay a foundation, and the method Ling Zhaowu had adopted was similar to the one Yuwen Tong had used to help Ling Zhang in Tanyang. By doing that, he had improved Ling Maomao's aptitude appreciably. After Ling Maomao started receiving training with crack troops, he had at first felt as though he was going through hell, but afterwards he'd gradually become used to it. The five years' training had been quite fruitful. It had also greatly improved his mental endurance. When he'd turned twelve, Ling Zhaowen had sent him back to the capital city to learn kung fu from Ji Yin. After returning to the capital city, Ling Maomao had been quite unaccustomed to his new life, for life among aristocrats was totally different than life in the North-western Army. Fortunately for him, the training given by Ji Yin had also been quite harsh, so gradually he'd also got accustomed to it. On top of that, Ling Zhang had specially hired a distinguished scholar from a noble family to teach Ling Maomao. During the last couple of months, Ling Maomao's behavioral pattern and some of his habits had slowly changed somewhat. Ling Zhang had no intention to bring any changes to Ling Maomao's disposition, for the boy was thirteen now and had long since learned how to make decisions on his own. Still, Ling Maomao was actually the future patriarch of the Ling family, so it was inappropriate for him to stay in the army all the time. There were a lot of things that he must learn how to handle, which was why currently he was living in the suburban manor with Ling Xingzhong and Ji Yin. He stayed in the Ling Mansion only in days when he returned to the city to call on Ling Zhang.