Chapter 210
A single success greatly boosted the cubs’ confidence. From that day on, they cooperated much better than before.
No matter how fast Lang Qi reacted, he alone couldn’t fend off five wolf cubs and three eagle cubs. Before, dealing with just five was manageable, but with the addition of three more as support, it became impossible. The cubs weren’t enemies he could fight freely—not only could he not hit them, but he also had to be careful not to accidentally hurt them.
Because of this, Lang Qi was outmaneuvered a few times by the cubs’ relentless attacks. After all, two fists are no match for sixteen hands. Although the cubs weren’t very strong, their reflexes were just as sharp as those of adult beastmen. Handling so many of them at once was quite a challenge.
However, Lang Qi quickly came up with a countermeasure.
The moment he saw Bai Tu shift into his beast form, Lang Qi hid him away and, as a distraction, grabbed the full-moon-aged baby rabbit cub, holding it in his arms.
As usual, when the cubs returned home, they swiftly divided their tasks and began their “Daddy Snatching Battle.”
Some distracted Lang Qi, others lifted their teammates, some reached out to grab, and some stood by to catch.
The cubs thought they’d be engaged in a long struggle, but to their surprise, they succeeded in an instant today! They didn’t even need the eagle cubs’ assistance.
The cubs, having successfully evaded Lang Qi’s pursuit, dashed into the back room, shut the door, and celebrated their victory. They placed the “captured” little rabbit on the table—only for one of them to suddenly feel something was off.
Lang Yao frowned. “It’s our little brother!”
Though the size and color were identical, this was definitely their little brother, not their father.
The other cubs gasped.
They had been tricked!
Fuming, the cubs carried their little brother back to confront their father.
However, Lang Qi’s response was simply: “Did I ever say that was your dad?”
The cubs looked at each other in stunned silence. He really hadn’t said it—he had only shielded the rabbit, making them assume it was their father.
So frustrating!
Grumbling, the cubs left with their little brother. Before they went, they even took the smallest black rabbit sibling from the bed with them.
In Lang Qi’s arms, Bai Tu, who had been dozing, woke up at the sound of the commotion outside. He rubbed his face with his paws and peeked out, clutching Lang Qi’s clothes. But outside, there was nothing—just emptiness.
Huh? He could’ve sworn he just heard the cubs’ voices. Had he misheard?
Before he could figure out what was going on, Lang Qi lifted him up and kissed him.
Bai Tu’s first instinct was to look down at the floor, but there were no cubs in sight. Now even more confused, he was sure he had just heard them, and they even sounded a little angry. But where had they gone?
“We’re going out to play.”
Now that he had successfully sent away all the cubs, especially the two youngest, the room was finally empty—just the two of them. With plenty of time to spare, Lang Qi certainly wasn’t going to waste it.
He nuzzled the little rabbit in his arms a few times. After all these years, Bai Tu had hardly changed—he was still the same as when Lang Qi first saw him. Every time Bai Tu shifted into his beast form, Lang Qi had the urge to transform as well, carry the little rabbit in his mouth, and show him off to the entire tribe.
But reason prevailed. He knew Bai Tu’s personality well—if he really did that, Bai Tu would definitely be furious.
Lang Qi lowered his head and rubbed against Bai Tu. Oh well, if he couldn’t show him off to others, he’d just kiss him a few more times.
Bai Tu rubbed his face again. Whatever. He’d just let Lang Qi do as he pleased.
Although he planned to go out, Lang Qi couldn’t bear to take Bai Tu too far. The weather was hot, and even though the sun was nearly setting, he didn’t want the little rabbit to be exposed to the sun. In the end, he chose the vineyard.
There were several vineyards in the tribe, each with different grape varieties. Though all were grapes, the maturity periods varied by up to two months depending on where they were introduced from. In their tribe, most grapes ripened within one or two months after the rainy season ended. The place they visited had not yet been harvested—some grapes were already ripe, but most would need a few more days before they were ready for picking.
Lang Qi found the largest bunch, plucked the ripest ones, peeled them, and fed them to Bai Tu.
Still half-asleep from being carried out, Bai Tu wasn’t fully awake yet. But upon seeing the grapes, he stretched out his paws. After Lang Qi washed them clean, he held the grapes and started eating.
Eating in human form and in beast form felt a bit different. Grapes slightly larger than his paws could be eaten in one bite in human form, but in beast form, he had to hold them carefully and nibble for a long time, taking only small bites at a time.
Lang Qi found a shady spot and did nothing but watch Bai Tu eat, peeling another grape for him whenever he finished one.
This continued—one feeding, one eating—until Bai Tu was finally full, and by then, the sky had nearly turned dark.
Lang Qi washed Bai Tu’s paws again with the water he had brought, then tucked him into his arms and carried him home.
When the cubs finished their homework and couldn’t find them, they immediately knew their father had secretly taken their papa out again.
As for why they used the word secretly—in the cubs’ minds, if they weren’t told about it and their parents just left, it was absolutely sneaky!
When Lang Qi returned, the cubs surrounded him, demanding their papa back.
“Father, we finished our homework!”
“Where’s Papa? Where’s Papa?”
“Father, here’s our homework.”
“Hurry up and give us Papa back!”
“Papa!”
One cub after another spoke up, making Lang Qi’s head ache. He took their homework to check if they had been slacking off.
After so much time teaching them, their work had improved significantly—at least for Lang Ying and Lang Chu. The other three cubs had always been diligent. However, the three eagle cubs’ homework was on par with Lang Chu’s in his early days. Hei Jian had left them in the Baishou Tribe, likely hoping they would gain some discipline here.
Having spent so much time with Bai Tu, Lang Qi was now quite experienced at checking homework. He immediately sent back the two poorly written assignments from the eagle cubs for revision, ordering Lang Sui and Lang Yao to supervise them. The last one, which was barely passable, was spared from punishment this time.
Lang Chu kept eyeing his father’s arms, eager to make a move while Lang Qi was distracted with grading. However, every time he tried, Lang Qi effortlessly blocked him. After several failed attempts, Lang Chu finally realized—right now, it was simply too difficult to snatch Papa back.
Lang Qi dodged one last attack from his son, put down the homework, and, having checked the most difficult assignments, considered his task complete. He assigned new tasks to the cubs, then took Bai Tu and the two youngest rabbit cubs out with him again.
Once Lang Qi had left, Lang Chu suddenly howled: “Our little brothers have been stolen!”
Both of them had been taken by their father!
Now, not only had they failed to retrieve Papa, but their younger brothers were also gone—leaving them with nothing!
Lang Yao, who was tutoring the younger eagle cubs, glanced at his slow-reacting brother and shook his head.
Forget it. Since it was his own little brother, he decided not to say anything.
—
After successfully using the little rabbit cubs to trick them, Lang Qi once again resumed his battle of wits with the cubs.
Now, the cubs had one more task to add to their daily routine—besides searching for their cunning father and figuring out where he had hidden the little rabbit, they also had to determine whether the rabbit they found was their papa or their little brother.
If the rabbit was awake, it was easy to tell. But if it was asleep, none of them wanted to disturb it—whether it was their papa or their little brother. So, they had to spend extra time distinguishing between them. At first, they would pause to figure it out, but later, they decided that if they couldn’t tell, they simply wouldn’t bother. Whether it was their papa or their little brother—they would just take them both!
That day, as usual, the cubs returned home from school, and the first thing they did was search every corner of the house.
White rabbit? Taken.
Black rabbit? Taken.
Black wolf cubs? Two of them? Taken. Everything was taken!
Anything smaller than them was scooped up and carried to their room before they even started their homework.
And while doing their assignments, they proudly placed their “stolen” little cubs in the center of the table. Since they had gone through so much effort to sneak them away, of course, they had to put them somewhere visible for everyone to see.
Because of the increasing number of cubs, their study table had been expanded. Now, it was a square table with two cubs on each side. The little rabbits and wolf cubs they had taken were all placed in the middle, where everyone could see them just by looking up.
Meanwhile, in another room, Lang Qian and Lang Ze, who had been discussing their patrol plans for the winter with Bai Tu, returned to the bedroom to check on the cubs—only to find an empty room.
Lang Qian / Lang Ze: “…?”
Where are the cubs? Two big cubs—where did they go?”
Bai Tu: “……”
With a helpless sigh, Bai Tu said, “I think I know where they are.”
Lately, the cubs had become addicted to “snatching people” alongside Lang Qi. At first, they would pay attention to who they were grabbing, but as things escalated, it no longer mattered whether they took their younger brothers or their papa. Whether the ones they grabbed were even their own siblings didn’t make much difference. What they truly enjoyed was the thrill of stealing someone away—everything else was secondary.
Bai Tu led Lang Qian and Lang Ze toward the cubs’ rooms. There were six rooms in this row of houses, but the cubs only occupied four of them. Even then, it had taken Bai Tu’s intervention to split them up—initially, all the cubs had crowded into a single room, simply because they enjoyed it.
Bai Tu hadn’t planned to interfere with their sleeping arrangements; as long as they were happy, it didn’t matter where they slept. However, when they stayed up past midnight playing and refused to get up for school the next day, he had to put his foot down. After being separated into different rooms, they behaved much better. Now, if they wanted to plot something together, they had to gather from multiple rooms—and sometimes, before they could all assemble, some had already fallen asleep, causing their plans to fail. If that happened, the cubs would just give up and return to their own rooms.
But while room assignments controlled their nighttime activities, the cubs still acted together during the day. Like now—when they had collectively carried off all the little ones.
The room next to the edge, which was currently unoccupied, served as their study room. Bai Tu directly pushed the door open.
Inside, the scene was clear at a glance.
Five wolf cubs and three eagle cubs were busy doing their homework. In the middle of the room lay two little rabbit cubs and two little wolf cubs, sound asleep—completely unaware that they had been relocated.
This wasn’t the first time the cubs had “stolen” the little ones. The two abducted cubs were already used to it. Even the timid black rabbit cub could now sleep soundly under the watchful gazes of his older brothers. As for the two little wolf cubs, Bai Tu suspected they hadn’t even noticed they had been moved—they were sleeping far too soundly.
Bai Tu walked over, returned the two wolf cubs to Lang Qian, then checked on the rabbit cubs. He asked, “Who brought them back?”
The cubs all answered in unison: “Me!”
Their motto was simple—share the blessings, share the consequences! There was no way Bai Tu could punish all of them at once.
Lang Chu even reached out, trying to keep the little ones with them.
At first, their “kidnapping” had been just to oppose their father, but after spending so much time playing with their little brothers, of course, they wanted to keep them around.
Bai Tu: “……”
Seeing that the little ones were safe with the older cubs, Lang Qian relaxed. As long as they weren’t lost, it wasn’t a big deal. The other cubs were behaving so well that he couldn’t bring himself to scold them. He lowered his voice and murmured to Bai Tu, “Tu, they didn’t mean any harm…”
Lang Qian deliberately kept his voice down so the cubs wouldn’t hear. He didn’t want them to think they had someone backing them up, and he also didn’t want to interfere with Bai Tu’s authority over them.
Bai Tu gave him a reassuring look, then turned to the cubs and asked, “Do you all really like your little brothers?”
From Lang Sui to the eagle cubs, they all nodded.
The little wolf cubs were a given—most of the beast-form cubs here were either their biological younger brothers or very close relatives, such as the children of their uncles. As for the eagle cubs, it was rare for them to see so many non-avian cubs in the tribe, especially ones that had just been born. They were different from the classmates they encountered at school.
Because of this, all the cubs were very fond of their little brothers and hoped Bai Tu would let them stay with them for a few days.
“Alright, then you all will take care of your little brothers today,” Bai Tu said. He assigned them into pairs, just like with their sleeping arrangements, with each pair responsible for looking after a younger cub.
Lang Chu was beyond excited, eagerly waiting to see which cub he would be paired with. Whether it was a little rabbit or a little wolf, he didn’t mind at all.
Bai Tu handed the four newly weaned cubs over to Lang Sui and the others, then went to the kitchen to fetch their food—goat milk.
Since all the small cubs were of a similar age, they could only drink goat milk for now. The tribe’s kitchen had just delivered some, and it was still warm. Bai Tu poured a small amount into bowls and demonstrated how to feed the cubs by hand.
The older cubs, eager for their task, lined up their assigned little ones and went to scoop the milk. The action itself wasn’t difficult—they were already used to using spoons when eating. Even the youngest among them, Bai Ye, could grip a spoon steadily.
However, by the time they had scooped the milk, the little cubs had already wriggled out of place. The older cubs had no choice but to chase after them, spoon in hand.
Newborn cubs moved unpredictably. The moment they woke up, they would start crawling around randomly. Though the older cubs were usually quick, feeding someone else was a first for them—especially such tiny cubs. After a few failed attempts to catch up, they ended up spilling the milk.
Only after watching them struggle did Bai Tu ask, “Is it fun?”
The cubs shook their heads in unison. “No.”
Their little brothers were completely uncooperative!
Normally, Yin Ming was very obedient when their father fed him, but now he was squirming all over the place! The cubs felt frustrated but couldn’t figure out why.
Bai Tu, satisfied, handed the two little wolf cubs back to Lang Qian and carried the two little rabbit cubs himself. Then, he started feeding them.
In summer, food cooled slowly, which was why Bai Tu had let the older cubs try feeding first. If it were colder, he wouldn’t have risked it.
Before feeding the cubs, Bai Tu had a habit of gently rubbing their fur, adjusting their posture, and patting their heads. This routine signaled to the cubs that it was mealtime, preventing them from fidgeting.
Once food was involved, all cubs were the same—exceptionally well-behaved.
The little ones had already smelled the milk earlier, but because it wasn’t being offered by their father, they instinctively started looking around and crawling everywhere. That was part of why they had been so restless, in stark contrast to how they had been dozing peacefully on the table earlier.
The older cubs didn’t understand this. All they could see was that while they had struggled to control the little ones, Bai Tu had effortlessly made them sit still.
They had no choice but to admit—they weren’t very good at taking care of the younger cubs.
After finishing with the rabbit cubs, Bai Tu saw that the older cubs had quieted down and asked, “Are you all hungry?”
The cubs immediately nodded. “Hungry!”
Just now, they had only watched their little brothers drink goat milk and hadn’t eaten anything themselves. They hadn’t been very hungry when they first got home from school, but after smelling the milk up close, their appetites had been stirred. Unlike the little ones, they knew the delicious scent was coming from the bowls.
They glanced at Bai Tu expectantly. They wanted some too.
Bai Tu waved a hand and sent Lang Ze to fetch more. If the cubs behaved, he had no problem treating them—whether it was goat milk or anything else they wanted to eat.
While they waited for Lang Ze to return, Bai Tu asked, “Are you still going to hide your little brothers in the future?”
The cubs quickly shook their heads. No! They wouldn’t hide them anymore—hiding them meant they had to feed them, and that was too much trouble.
Bai Tu nodded approvingly. “Good. From now on, if you take your little brothers somewhere, an adult from the family must be present.”
“Okay!”
The cubs, eagerly awaiting their food, were very agreeable. Having an adult around meant they could take their little brothers out without issue!
Bai Tu felt relieved. Taking small cubs outside was risky—though the weather was fine now, it wouldn’t stay warm forever. If the older cubs got used to carrying them outside without supervision, what if one day they did so in the cold, and no one noticed? Newborn cubs were too fragile. Without an adult watching over them, there were dangers everywhere.
This was a rule that had to be made clear.
The cubs were very obedient in front of Bai Tu. Whatever their dad said was the rule—if he said they couldn’t take their little brothers outside casually, then they wouldn’t!
By the time Lang Ze returned with the goat milk and food for the cubs, Lang Qian had already confirmed a few things with Bai Tu once again.
The most important topic was the cubs.
Typically, cubs wouldn’t take their first human form until they were three years old. However, their parents—or in some cases, both fathers—couldn’t wait until then to go back to work. Younger cubs tended to fear unfamiliar environments, so unless necessary, families wouldn’t move around, nor would they take their cubs out frequently.
The tribe’s current solution to this issue was to send the cubs to trusted beastmen for care. If the cubs had no other relatives besides their parents, their working parents would leave them at a communal living area, where there were more cubs and designated caretakers arranged by the tribe.
However, Lang Qian was reluctant to send the cubs there. His childhood experiences had taught him that no matter how harmonious a place seemed, once the supervising adults were gone, some cubs would bully others. Even though the Hundred Beasts Tribe was well-managed, Lang Qian still couldn’t feel at ease. He knew his worries were somewhat irrational, but he just couldn’t shake them off.
In the end, Lang Qian decided to seek Bai Tu’s help. If he had to send the cubs to the communal home, he would be worried the entire time.
Bai Tu understood. After all, childhood experiences could leave lifelong marks. Lang Qian was meticulous by nature, and it might take years for him to overcome his past shadows. To help ease his concerns, Bai Tu took on the responsibility himself—he would look after the two little wolf cubs while Lang Qian and Lang Ze were away. This arrangement was far better than anything Lang Qian had anticipated. With Bai Tu taking care of them, he had nothing to worry about.
That was why, despite his reluctance, Lang Qian steeled himself and left with Lang Ze.
They needed to prepare supplies for their journey the next day, and they might not return until morning. Their options were either leaving the cubs home alone or bringing them along while working—neither was ideal. But with Bai Tu looking after them, both safety and education were ensured.
That evening, Lang Qi was momentarily silent when he discovered that the two cubs had turned into four.
“They’re Qian and Ze’s cubs,” Bai Tu explained. “The two of them are busy, so these little ones will be staying with us for a while.”
Lang Ze and Lang Qian were responsible for certain routes, and ever since the rainy season, they had barely left the tribe. Some areas needed to be inspected before winter arrived, and since Lang Qian was highly familiar with them, it made sense for him to go. He had been considering the best departure time for the past two days, and now it was settled—he would leave the next morning.
Lang Qi looked at the growing number of cubs and fell into deep thought.
It seemed like there were more and more cubs in their home.
Originally, they already had a fair number of cubs. Now, with the three from Hei Jian’s family and the two newly arrived wolf cubs, there were twelve in total!
Twelve cubs!
Lang Qi had no doubt that in Bai Tu’s heart, his rank had dropped to thirteenth.
For the sake of preserving his standing, Lang Qi immediately discussed the matter with Bai Tu. “This is the last time. We can’t just keep taking in other people’s cubs.”
What he really wanted to say was that they shouldn’t take in any cubs at all, but since these two were his younger brother’s children, he held back.
“Alright, alright, no more,” Bai Tu agreed. In truth, Lang Qi was worrying too much—it wasn’t as if he planned to take in every cub in the tribe. They already had plenty.
The four youngest ones still relied solely on goat milk, while the older cubs could eat whatever they wanted. If they needed more food, they would simply ask Bai Tu or Lang Qi.
The cubs still enjoyed playing games with Lang Qi, whether it was sneaking off with Bai Tu or stealing the little ones. They always made sure their hands weren’t empty.
However, because of their dad’s instructions, whenever they “stole” the little cubs, they always remembered to wrap them up in blankets and return them by mealtime.
As the cubs continued their games with Lang Qi, the weather grew colder.
Once the temperature dropped, Bai Tu no longer allowed them to carry the little cubs outside. Only when the sun was warm at midday would he take the four smallest ones out for a short sunbath.
Cubs at this age only had two things on their minds: eating and sleeping. Anything unrelated to these two matters simply didn’t concern them.
By the time Lang Qian and Lang Chu returned from inspecting several transit points, the two little wolf cubs had almost forgotten who their dad and father were. It took them several days to get familiar with them again.
Lang Qian held the cubs, letting them reacquaint themselves with his scent, while Lang Ze grumbled beside him.
“Forgetting us is perfect. We can just let Tu raise them.”
“If Tu takes care of them, we can leave whenever we want next time.”
Since Lang Qian had given birth to the cubs, this was the first time Lang Ze had lived without being tied down by them. It reminded him of the time right after they first became mates. Thinking about those carefree days and comparing them to now, Lang Ze felt that life without cubs was much more liberating—there were no little ones constantly getting in the way.
Of course, this was just a passing thought. Under Lang Qian’s watchful gaze, Lang Ze’s voice grew quieter and quieter until he finally dismissed the idea entirely. He muttered under his breath, “I don’t dislike the cubs!” He was just reminiscing about the time before they had them.
In the neighboring courtyard, just a wall away, Bai Tu was arranging for the kang bed-stove to be heated for the cubs.
Winter was approaching, and the cubs had moved back to their original room. Since the cold was especially harsh at night, they would all sleep in one room to help take care of each other. However, Bai Tu made it clear that if he ever heard noise in the middle of the night or caught them secretly talking when they were supposed to be sleeping, he would send them all back to their previous two-person rooms.
The two-person rooms could house at most two cubs, and sometimes only one. Compared to the large shared room, those solitary spaces felt completely different. Besides, coal was scarce, and their dad had told them to use it sparingly.
Determined to stay in the big room, the cubs behaved extra well, making sure not to cause trouble for the adults—at the very least, they didn’t want their dad to think they were disobedient.
After sleeping in the large room for a few nights, the cubs suddenly came to Bai Tu, complaining about the cold.
Bai Tu assumed that Lang Qi had put too little coal in the stove, so he told him to add more. “Don’t let the cubs suffer. All that talk about coal being limited was just to keep them mindful—if we run out, we can always trade for more.”
However, even after Lang Qi added extra coal, the cubs still said they were cold the next day.
Bai Tu took out the thickest blankets that had been sun-dried the longest and even traded for two new fur blankets to lay over them. But when he accidentally touched the kang bed’s edge with the back of his hand, it wasn’t cold at all—it was quite warm.
And this was at midday when less coal was burned. If it was morning or night, the temperature would be even higher.
Yet they were still cold?
Bai Tu looked at the cubs, who were clearly up to something, and grew a little suspicious. But after thinking for a while, he couldn’t figure out what reason they would have to lie. The key issue was that when Bai Tu suggested moving them to another room, they refused. They insisted on staying in this particular room. Bai Tu couldn’t make sense of it.
Just as Bai Tu was puzzling over why the cubs kept saying they were cold, Lang Chu suddenly blurted out:
“Dad, why don’t you come sleep with us? Father isn’t afraid of the cold, but we are!”
Their father was huge in beast form—of course, he didn’t fear the cold!
Bai Tu: “…”
No wonder something had felt off about them these past few days.
The cubs had been complaining about the cold just to get him to sleep with them.
They were constantly scheming, never missing a chance to outwit Lang Qi.
However, Bai Tu really couldn’t move into their room—he had two tiny cubs to take care of.
The little ones who hadn’t yet transformed into human form were extremely delicate. Once the weather turned cold, Bai Tu stopped letting others carry them outside. At night, he would place them between himself and the wall for extra warmth.
Bai Tu could control his sleeping posture and wouldn’t roll over onto them, but he couldn’t guarantee the same for anyone else. So, he had to refuse the older cubs’ request.
But being rejected didn’t discourage them. They quickly came up with another solution—everyone would sleep in beast form!
Winter was one of the most leisurely seasons for beastmen. Ever since heated kang beds became popular in the tribe, most households had installed them. Nowadays, if they didn’t have to go out, they simply wouldn’t. Even though the snowfall this year wasn’t as heavy as in previous years, most people still preferred staying home and only ventured out occasionally to collect food supplies.
Among the beastmen who stayed indoors, some preferred remaining in human form, while others liked shifting into their beast form and sprawling across the heated bed.
As for the cubs, their sleeping postures were all over the place. Some liked sleeping in human form, some in beast form—some lay sideways, some stretched out, and some curled up in strange positions.
Bai Tu usually didn’t bother correcting these small things. As long as no one was about to fall off the edge of the bed, they could sleep however they liked.
With their small bodies, even eight cubs could easily fit on the kang bed—and if needed, they could fit even more.
Even so, Bai Tu had no intention of moving into the cubs’ room with the two little rabbit kits. After all, they needed to be fed regularly—about once every few hours—and they also needed tending to at night. With all the getting up and moving around, it was enough for him and Lang Qi to handle. There was no way they could move into the cubs’ room and risk waking them up.
“Sigh…” Both plans had failed, and the cubs were visibly disappointed.
“Alright,” Bai Tu ruffled their heads and said, “From now on, don’t lie about whether the bed is hot or cold. If it’s cold, say it’s cold. If it’s hot, say it’s hot. Don’t make things up.”
Both he and Lang Qi had already felt that something was off. The room was clearly warm enough, yet the cubs still insisted it was cold. Now, the real reason was finally clear. Fortunately, they caught it in time—if the cubs had continued sleeping in such an overheated room for a few more days, they would have ended up with heat-related issues.
To make up for their disappointment, Bai Tu offered a reward:
“Dad and Father are both free these days. What do you want to eat? We’ll make it for you.”
“Yay!” The cubs cheered in unison. Although they were a little sad that their dad wouldn’t be moving into their room, the promise of delicious food made up for it.
Bai Tu sighed in relief—cubs were still easy to appease at this age.
*
Seasons passed—winter faded into spring, cold turned into warmth.
Time flew by amidst the cubs’ endless little schemes, and before long, it was time for the two little rabbit kits to take human form.
As they grew, their differences became more pronounced.
The black-furred rabbit was undoubtedly a sub-beastman, and true to his nature, he was extremely timid. The white-furred rabbit, on the other hand, was bolder—even at such a young age, his adventurous spirit was evident. His favorite sibling was Lang Chu, because Lang Chu always took him to places others couldn’t go.
When the time came for the kits to take human form, it happened in an instant—one moment they were rabbits, the next, they were stumbling toward Bai Tu in their new human shapes.
“Dad!”
The two little ones, one on each side, planted kisses on Bai Tu’s face.
“Dad’s here. Good boys.” Bai Tu smiled and hugged them, then pointed toward Lang Qi. “That’s your Father. Call him Father.”
The kits, however, were far more interested in the buttons on Bai Tu’s clothing, playing with them as if they were the most fascinating things in the world.
Bai Tu: “…”
Based on the personalities of the other cubs, it seemed like Lang Qi had just gained two more “enemies.”
Lang Qi glanced at the two little ones and didn’t seem to mind at all. After all, they were his children—what else could he do but endure it?
On the day the rabbit kits took human form, they weren’t the only ones experiencing the transformation.
Lang Qian and Lang Ze’s two wolf cubs were there too.
Over the past three years, Bai Tu had cared for the two little wolves almost as much as Lang Qian had.
At the end of the month, Lang Ze was supposed to return with Lang Qian, but since the rabbit kits suddenly transformed today, Bai Tu suspected the wolf cubs weren’t far behind.
Would Lang Qian make it back in time to see his cubs transform? Bai Tu wondered.
Lang Qian, as it turned out, was just as anxious. He rushed back five days earlier than planned—and on the very day he arrived, the wolf cubs transformed.
The newly transformed cubs muttered their first words, still clumsy with human speech.
Lang Qian leaned in to listen—they were calling out, “Dad!”
But the problem was… they were calling Bai Tu.
Bai Tu: “…”
Lang Qian: “…”
It didn’t take long for the entire tribe to hear the news—Bai Tu had gained two more godsons.
Originally, he only had Hawk Xiao Wu as his godson. Now, Lang Qian and Lang Ze’s two cubs had joined the list. Given that Bai Tu already had a family connection with them, it seemed the cubs had decided that wasn’t enough and wanted to “strengthen” the bond.
As the rumors spread and grew more outrageous, Bai Tu felt helpless. He had to explain the situation over and over.
After this experience, Bai Tu made a special announcement to the tribe:
“If you have the means, try to keep your cubs with you once they turn three. Otherwise, they might start calling random people ‘Dad’!”
It was quite a coincidence in their family—after the two little rabbits took human form, they wouldn’t stop calling out “Dad.” One moment, a “Dad” here, another moment, a “Dad” there.
At first, Bai Tu had been happy that the kits were so affectionate toward him. It never crossed his mind that all the other cubs nearby were picking up on those words.
Perhaps because food was plentiful and nutrition was well-balanced, the cubs in the tribe had been learning faster and faster over the past two years. Even the newly transformed ones seemed more intelligent than before.
Previously, when cubs took human form, they usually needed a day or two to adjust, and it wasn’t until the third or fourth day that they would start calling people by name. It was extremely rare for them to do so on the very first day.
But now, some cubs started speaking immediately after transforming, as if they had been practicing the words in their heads for a long time.
Regardless of what the cubs called him, Bai Tu treated them all the same. Whenever Lang Qian and Lang Ze went out, Bai Tu took in their cubs, and when the two returned, they would take them back.
Since his home was already full of cubs, having two more didn’t make much of a difference.
However, it was only when the cubs came home from school, clutching their stomachs and yelling about how hungry they were, that Bai Tu truly felt just how noisy they all were.
It wasn’t just like five hundred ducks quacking at once—It was more like thousands of ducks gathered together.
“Dad, Dad, I’m hungry! Dad, I’m hungry!”
“Dad, hungry! Hungry! Eat!”
“Dad, I want to eat!”
“Dad, Dad—”
“Dad—”
Even though Lang Qian’s two wolf cubs had grown older and now understood that Bai Tu wasn’t their biological father—Lang Qian was—they had been calling him “Dad” for so many years that it was impossible to change the habit.
Apart from a few quiet ones—the gentle Lang Sui, the steady Lang Yao, the calm Bai Ye, and the timid black rabbit cub—every other cub was shouting at the top of their lungs.
Listening to the ruckus, Bai Tu felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
He had seen a scene like this before… a long, long time ago.
It wasn’t until Lang Qian and Lang Ze arrived to pick up their cubs that Bai Tu finally realized why it felt so familiar.
Many years ago, he really had witnessed this exact scene—except back then, it was even more chaotic.
