Chapter 196
One of the things Bai Tu absolutely could not tolerate was the cubs discovering a bad person and not immediately informing the nearby adults, instead choosing to take the risk themselves. The cubs, being clever, pushed Bai Ye forward to report the incident—after all, Bai Ye was the most obedient and least likely to cause trouble among them.
Looking at the cubs who knew they had done wrong, Bai Tu sighed. “You must tell your father about this.”
Lang Qi was stricter with the cubs. If it had been a minor mistake with no danger, Bai Tu would have let it go with just a few words of reprimand. But today’s incident was far from a minor mistake. If they dared to get close to a bad person today, would they sneak out of the tribe tomorrow?
“Uh—” Hearing Bai Tu mention sneaking out of the tribe, Lang Chu wanted to say something, but Lang Yao stopped him. Lang Yao nodded, “Alright, Dad.” Then he grabbed his younger brother’s head, making Lang Chu nod along with him.
Lang Sui and Lang Ying also nodded.
Bai Tu looked at his youngest son. “If your brothers take risks again, you have to stop them. If you can’t, tell the nearby uncles.”
“Mm-hmm!” Bai Ye nodded obediently.
Bai Tu patted the cub’s head and decided that next time, he needed to go out with them. He couldn’t let them play outside alone anymore. While 99% of the dangers in the tribe had been eliminated, the cubs always seemed to find places that even adult beastmen hadn’t noticed.
Their personalities were becoming more and more like Lang Ze’s. Bai Tu shook his head helplessly. Recalling Lang Chu’s reaction when he mentioned the area outside the residential zone, Bai Tu repeated his warning: “You must never leave the tribe’s residential zone without an adult.”
The area around the residential zone was guarded by beastmen, and only those deemed safe were allowed in. These were either familiar members of the tribe or restricted beastmen who couldn’t freely shift into their beast forms.
Even unfamiliar beastmen posed limited danger. Bai Tu repeatedly warned the cubs to stay away from strangers as a precaution. Realistically, even if a humanoid beastman attacked, the cubs could likely dodge.
However, Bai Tu didn’t want them to develop reckless habits at such a young age. That’s why he strictly enforced the rule: no matter the situation, the cubs were not to interact with outsiders on their own.
Inside the residential zone, it was extremely safe. Even if a malicious beastman tried to attack a cub, they would never succeed. Besides the cubs’ ability to dodge, the tribe’s patrolling beastmen were highly vigilant—any suspicious movement would be noticed immediately.
Compared to that, the area outside the residential zone was far more dangerous. No matter how much security the tribe maintained, it was impossible to guard every single corner of their vast territory, which wasn’t fully enclosed. Other tribe members occasionally snuck in by various means. The tribe could only ensure that outsiders were kept away from the residential area and farmlands.
No one knew whether these intruders were friendly or not. Adult beastmen weren’t afraid of them and could easily capture them, but cubs were different. Unrestricted beastmen could transform into their beast forms at will, gaining immense speed and strength—far beyond what a cub could evade.
This was why areas outside the residential zone were extremely dangerous for cubs. It wasn’t just Bai Tu’s own children; no cub in the tribe was allowed to wander out freely.
Bai Tu was already planning to build a wall around the territory, but progress was slow. Construction materials were in short supply and had to be prioritized for the tribe’s essential needs. After all, a defensive wall was important, but a livestock farm was even more crucial—it could sustain the entire tribe.
Looking at the cubs, Bai Tu thought about their longing for the outside world and finally relented. “If you behave, I’ll take you out to play in a few days.”
Cubs were naturally energetic, and keeping them confined to the residential zone all day was indeed a bit unfair. Bai Tu considered whether he should increase their outings beyond the two scheduled trips per year.
Watching the sweaty cubs after a day of running around, Bai Tu had a new idea—he could take them to visit the farmlands.
Even though they were young, they should start learning about different plants and animals. While the tribe was well-protected and had adult beastmen to look after them, the cubs needed to know which things were safe to eat and which were not. If they ever encountered a situation beyond their control, the more knowledge they had, the higher their chances of survival.
The Beast God Continent had extreme weather, so Bai Tu had to be prepared for everything.
Upon thinking it over, Bai Tu decided to give the cubs a bit of sweetness before their punishment. “Before the rainy season, I’ll take you out to play for a few days.”
As soon as he said this, the cubs, who had been worrying about how their father would punish them, instantly widened their eyes. Could they really go outside to play?
Even though the upcoming punishment scared them, the excitement of being able to leave the residential area completely overshadowed their fear. After all, punishment only lasted a short while—at worst, they’d get hit a few times, but it would be over soon. A beating now, then a meal, and everything would be fine. But going out to play meant they could enjoy themselves for days! Their father had said “a few days,” which was even longer than the trips they had taken with their teachers before!
At this moment, the cubs had no idea what tasks awaited them during their trip. The sheer joy of being allowed outside completely drowned out any lingering sadness.
The thought of earning 1,000 points today and getting to play outside for several days made the cubs unexpectedly eager for their father’s return. The sooner they got punished, the sooner they could eat. It wasn’t like this was their first beating anyway!
Lang Qi did not disappoint them. Not long after Bai Tu mentioned the trip, Lang Qi returned. He glanced at the cubs standing in the room, then at Bai Tu, and asked, “Did you tell them?”
Bai Tu checked the time. Since Lang Qi had come back at this hour, he must have already heard about what the cubs had done. He nodded, “Yes, I told them.”
“Then… should I punish them now?” Lang Qi asked uncertainly.
Bai Tu replied, “Go ahead. Make it a bit heavier this time.”
The cubs stared at Bai Tu in disbelief.
Dad actually told him to punish them more severely? He usually asked for a lighter punishment!
“You must never get close to strangers!” Bai Tu emphasized again, his expression serious. This time, they were lucky—the stranger hadn’t made a move, or if they had, they were restrained by the device on them. But what if, next time, they encountered someone who wasn’t restricted?
“Uhh—” Lang Chu grabbed his brother’s hand, trying to pull it away from his face. He wanted to speak—he hadn’t spoken in a long time.
Lang Yao, however, refused to let go, no matter how much Lang Chu struggled. If his brother stayed quiet, their father would just be normally angry. But if he spoke up, their father would be extremely angry. Thinking this through, Lang Yao used his other hand to pull down his brother’s pants, then turned to face Lang Qi. He didn’t say anything, but the meaning was clear.
Go ahead. Punish this one first.
Lang Chu whimpered twice and shut his eyes tightly.
Bai Tu: “……”
“Forget it.” Seeing Lang Chu being held down, Bai Tu softened in the end and stopped Lang Qi. “Just this once, punish them in a different way.” After all, physical punishment wouldn’t necessarily make them remember. It would be better to change the method.
Lang Chu’s eyes snapped open in surprise and joy. Even though the pain from a spanking wouldn’t last long, the anticipation beforehand was terrifying! He wanted to say something to express his relief, but his mouth was still covered, leaving him unable to speak.
Lang Yao remained firm, keeping his brother’s mouth shut. Even if they had avoided a beating, he still couldn’t let go. If he did, all their effort would have been wasted.
Lang Qi, who had guessed the outcome the moment he walked in, rolled up his sleeves. “Tomorrow, they’re going to school. They’ll board there for half a month.”
The cubs froze. Even Lang Yao was shocked. Lang Chu was so stunned that he didn’t even notice he had pried his brother’s hand off.
“No way!!!” Lang Chu cried out in protest. “No, no, no! Just hit me instead! But don’t make me stay at school!”
A boarding school stay usually lasted one week—actually, just five days, since they got to go home on the fifth day. Last time, they had to stay for seven days, which was already rare. They had barely waited long enough for their father to come pick them up.
But this time, boarding for half a month meant they couldn’t go home in between!
The realization that he wouldn’t see his father for such a long time sent Lang Chu into complete despair. Half a month was twice as long as two seven-day stays! A beating only hurt for one meal, but boarding school lasted fifteen whole days!
Lang Qi’s tone was final. “You’re going tomorrow.”
Lang Chu shook his head furiously. “No! I won’t go!”
Bai Ye didn’t react as strongly as his brother. He only held onto Bai Tu’s clothes carefully and said, “Dad, I don’t want to board at school.”
The food at school was almost the same as at home—sometimes even more plentiful—but the cubs simply didn’t like staying at school for so long.
If all of them had wailed like Lang Chu, Bai Tu would have hardened his heart and sent them all off without hesitation. But with Bai Ye speaking so cautiously, Bai Tu hesitated. He looked at the other cubs—Lang Yao was surprisingly stunned, while the older ones, Lang Sui and Lang Ying, weren’t too scared by the idea of boarding for half a month. Instead, they seemed to be deep in thought.
“How about we change it? Instead of half a month straight, they can board for five days at a time over three consecutive weeks?” Bai Tu suggested to Lang Qi. The total boarding time would remain the same, but instead of staying for 15 days without a break, they’d attend school during the week and come home on weekends.
“Alright,” Lang Qi agreed, since the total duration remained unchanged.
Upon hearing that their punishment had been adjusted so they could return home on weekends, the cubs collectively sighed in relief. Only Lang Chu was still unhappy about having to board instead of just taking a beating. “No! I don’t want to stay at school! Just hit me instead!”
Lang Yao quickly covered his brother’s mouth again. If he kept complaining, the punishment wouldn’t revert to a spanking—it would become both boarding and a spanking. Trapped, Lang Chu could only glare in protest. The only comforting thought was that they still had 1,000 points.
With 1,000 points, he could buy lots of delicious food and toys. But being away from Dad meant he’d only have his cold, hard points card for company.
However, the next day, when the cubs received their points, they discovered that the 1,000 points had been split into twelve portions of 100 each.
Because they were still young, they weren’t allowed to receive such a large amount all at once. Instead, it was divided into 12 installments—100 points at a time. The total amount was actually larger, but they could only spend 100 points at a time. The rest was stored with their dad, and they wouldn’t be able to collect the next portion until the following month.
Holding his 100-point card, Lang Chu sighed. He really wanted a full 1,000-point card. Receiving it in installments just wasn’t as exciting as getting it all at once.
“If only I had more points…” Lang Chu muttered. He wasn’t even sure what he wanted to spend them on—he just wanted them.
A thousand points would be great. Ten thousand points would be even better. That number just sounded cool.
Lang Yao looked at his own points card. “You want more?”
Unlike their previous boarding experience, this time, the cubs behaved exceptionally well at school, which even puzzled Bai Chi. When Bai Tu went to pick them up, Bai Chi made a point to mention it.
“They’ve been really obedient this week,” Bai Chi marveled. “If they were always this well-behaved, I wouldn’t mind them boarding permanently.”
Among all the cubs, Lang Chu was the most troublesome. He always had an endless stream of questions, asking from morning until night. As long as there was a teacher nearby, he would bombard them with questions. Normally, when Bai Chi checked on other students, they would be too nervous to speak. But every time he visited Lang Chu’s class, the cub would get excited—because it meant there was yet another person to answer his questions.
Bai Chi never understood how Lang Chu came up with so many odd questions. But now, the cubs were much quieter than before. Bai Chi assumed they had finally grown up and weren’t as talkative as when they were younger.
Bai Tu, however, found this change odd. After all, on the day they left home, they had been chattering non-stop. How had they suddenly become so quiet in just a few days? Even Bai Chi had noticed.
Something unusual was definitely going on. But without seeing the cubs, Bai Tu couldn’t be sure what it was.
Since Bai Chi had enjoyed a relatively peaceful week, he wasn’t in a hurry to send the cubs home with Bai Tu right away.
As they talked, school let out for the day. Strangely, the cubs didn’t rush outside to find Bai Tu as they normally would. Instead, they remained inside their classroom.
“I’ll go check?” Bai Chi offered. Most of the students had already come out, but Bai Tu’s cubs were still inside, which was odd.
“I’ll go,” Bai Tu said, shaking his head. “Thanks for watching over them these past few days.” He flexed his wrist and decided to see for himself.
In truth, sending the cubs to board at school wasn’t purely a punishment. He and Lang Qi had been extremely busy lately and couldn’t be with them every day. By having them board at school, they freed up more time and didn’t have to constantly worry about the cubs. Now that their work had settled down, Bai Tu had spent the morning reviewing financial records and could finally take two days off this weekend to stay at home with the cubs.
As he massaged his wrist, he walked toward the school building.
Through the classroom window, he could see that a few cubs were still inside. Besides his own, there were also some from different species. The younger ones still couldn’t fully control their transformations, so their ears or tails occasionally flickered into view.
Half of the cubs in the room now had their ears exposed. Unlike wolf ears, the other cubs had rounder ears, indicating they were from the tiger, lion, or leopard tribes.
This class was supposed to be exclusively for wolf cubs, yet now there were cubs from other species gathered here? Bai Tu found it even more peculiar and quickened his pace.
As he reached the classroom door, the cubs heard the movement and scattered instantly.
“What were you doing?” Bai Tu asked as he walked up to them.
Lang Yao, Lang Chu, and Bai Ye remained relatively calm, especially Lang Yao.
However, the other cubs were visibly more nervous, likely because it was their first time in such a situation. They struggled to hide whatever they were holding behind their backs.
No matter how large a species grew as adults, cubs still had normal-sized bodies. From Bai Tu’s position, he could clearly see what they were hiding behind them.
“Points cards?” Bai Tu asked.
The cubs nodded instinctively but then quickly realized and shook their heads frantically.
“No, no, no!”
“Not points cards!”
“I don’t have ten points!”
Bai Tu: “…?”
Lang Yao, seeing no point in hiding the truth, spoke up directly. “Dad, they wanted to buy things over the weekend but didn’t have enough points, so they borrowed from us. They’ll pay us back next week.”
“Borrowed your points to buy things?” Bai Tu looked at his three cubs, feeling like they were still keeping something from him.
“Yes, yes!”
“We just lent them some points.”
“That’s right!”
“How much did you lend them?” Bai Tu asked.
The cubs hesitated briefly before revealing their hands. Each of them held one or two points cards. Points cards came in different colors depending on their value, so even without picking them up, Bai Tu could quickly calculate the total.
There were six cubs in total. Two had borrowed ten points each, two had borrowed twenty, and the last two had borrowed more—one had thirty, and the other had forty.
“What did you want to buy?” Bai Tu continued.
The two who borrowed ten points planned to buy snacks, the ones with twenty points wanted toys, the cub with thirty points wanted a book, and the one with forty points intended to buy clothes for his mother.
After listening to their responses, Bai Tu nodded. The cubs had answered earnestly, making it clear that they had thought about their purchases for a while and weren’t lying.
Snacks and toys were common things for cubs to buy, but spending ten or twenty points on them was a bit excessive. Bai Tu asked a few more questions before exchanging their cards for ones with smaller amounts. Then he turned his attention to the last two cubs.
The one with thirty points wanted a book about common herbs. It wasn’t typically meant for cubs of his age, but if he was interested, Bai Tu saw no reason to discourage him. Some cubs were naturally drawn to plants, and he wasn’t going to suppress their interests. He ruffled the cub’s head and said, “Next time, if you want to buy a book, tell your parents or teachers. They’ll help you. If your parents don’t agree, you can come find me.”
A cub wanting to study was something everyone would be happy about, and Bai Tu naturally supported it. Books in the tribe were printed and usually cost around twenty to thirty points, with colored ones being slightly more expensive. Bai Tu made a mental note to bring this cub a colored version later.
The last cub wanted forty points to buy a short-sleeved shirt, a common clothing item in the tribe. After confirming the details, Bai Tu simply waved his hand, letting him go. Then he turned to his own three cubs.
Lang Yao calmly packed up his schoolbag. “Dad, can we go home now?”
Lang Chu eagerly nodded. “Yeah, yeah! Let’s go home! I still need to buy something for Dad—”
Before he could finish, his brother quickly covered his mouth.
It was the same familiar scene—Bai Tu wasn’t so easy to fool. He looked at the cubs.
“Didn’t I only give you 100 points each before? Where did all these extra points come from?”
To prevent the cubs from spending too much carelessly, Bai Tu had recorded their weekly allowance in their personal account books instead of giving them the points directly.
Each cub had their own account book where their allowance was logged. The weekly amount was fixed, and if a cub didn’t need the points immediately, Bai Tu would simply note it down. When they wanted to buy something expensive, they could come and withdraw the saved points. If they didn’t have enough, they could borrow against their future allowances.
Even though Lang Chu’s mouth was covered, he had already let it slip—they still had leftover points.
Bai Tu clearly remembered that when the cubs left for school, they only had their 100 points. So where did the extra points come from?
Lang Yao answered, “Someone paid us back.”
Lang Chu nodded.
Bai Ye also nodded.
“How many points do you have left?” Bai Tu asked.
Bai Ye obediently took out the remaining points. Bai Tu, with his sharp eyes, noticed another book inside the desk compartment—one that looked different from the usual homework notebooks.
“Take it out,” Bai Tu instructed, pointing at the book.
Bai Ye hesitated but handed it over.
Lang Yao sighed.
Lang Chu, still unaware of the gravity of the situation, remained clueless.
Bai Tu opened the book and found detailed records of all transactions since the cubs had started school—every deposit and withdrawal over the past few days.
From the very first day, other cubs had been borrowing points from them. The records showed that a cub would borrow ten points and return twelve, borrow twenty points and return twenty-four.
Since not all cubs stayed at the school dorms, some would borrow points one day and return them the next. This cycle continued daily, and as a result, the cubs managed to accumulate a substantial amount of extra points within just a few days.
Bai Tu read through the entire book, then did a quick calculation. Adding up the points the cubs had just spent and the remaining balance, the total matched perfectly.
For a moment, he didn’t know how to react.
The good news? His cubs had already mastered elementary school-level math despite still being in kindergarten—after all, they hadn’t even officially learned addition within 100 yet.
The bad news? He had a pressing question: Who taught them about high-interest loans?!
“Who taught you this?” Bai Tu asked.
“Unc—”
Lang Chu hadn’t even finished the word before his brother swiftly covered his mouth again.
But Bai Tu already knew the culprit from that single syllable. After all, there was only one uncle they were that close to.
Lang Ze, with his habit of giving someone one bowl of food today and demanding two bowls back tomorrow, had apparently been a bad influence. The cubs had not only picked up on it but had also applied the same concept to their points—with added interest.
