Chapter 15
Shen Yan was one of the first monsters Shen Wen created.
Back then, it didn’t have a name. It was a small, weak, pitch-black creature, barely able to survive in the challenging monster instance.
Shen Wen assumed it would quickly dissipate, leaving no trace of its existence.
But Shen Yan, with a bit more intelligence than the other monsters, managed to stir up chaos within the instance, reaping the benefits and devouring countless monsters, absorbing their power.
By the time Shen Wen noticed, Shen Yan had already developed a human form and, using its initially weak abilities, become an instance boss.
Shen Wen didn’t interfere with what happened after that. He enjoyed creating monsters but wasn’t interested in controlling their lives.
It wasn’t until Xing Nuo was born that Shen Yan brought gifts and formally visited the castle for the first time.
Shen Yan’s human form was handsome. Influenced by their creator, Shen Wen, these monsters innately possessed male characteristics.
Carrying milk powder, baby food, and teething biscuits, all necessities for a human cub, he wore a well-tailored suit, his lead-gray eyes tinged with indifference.
“I heard you have a blood descendant? Is it a human?” This was the first thing Shen Yan said upon seeing Shen Wen.
Could such a fragile creature survive in this world?
At that time, Shen Wen was struggling with Xing Nuo’s walking problem. The one-and-a-half-year-old cub would stumble and fall after only a few steps, looking up with pleading eyes to be held.
Shen Wen couldn’t bear to leave him on the ground and would always pick up Xing Nuo, comforting the fake-crying cub for a while.
As a result, even now, Xing Nuo still struggled to walk.
Hearing Shen Yan’s words, Shen Wen, preoccupied, frowned and waved him away.
“If you have nothing else to say, you can leave. I’m not in the mood for guests.”
Just as he finished speaking, Shen Wen had to leave to deal with an intrusion by outside players.
Shen Yan didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he went upstairs to look after Xing Nuo, who was napping.
When Shen Wen returned, after dealing with the instance matters, he saw Shen Yan standing by Xing Nuo’s bed.
Shen Yan was looking down at the sleeping cub, seemingly lost in thought.
Shen Wen walked over, picked up the little one who seemed to be having a nightmare, wiped the tears from Xing Nuo’s eyes, and gently patted his back.
Xing Nuo, a little over a year old, woke up and saw his dad. Still unable to speak properly, he could only sob, his small shoulders shaking, his hand gripping his dad’s shirt tightly.
After crying softly for a while, Xing Nuo, exhausted, stopped crying, rested his face against his dad’s chest, and stared blankly with his watery eyes.
Shen Yan, who hadn’t left, watched from the doorway for a while, then suddenly spoke:
“Are all humans like this? They seem quite different from us.”
Without waiting for Shen Wen to reply, Shen Yan glanced at the dazed Xing Nuo and left.
Shen Wen hadn’t expected to hear Shen Yan’s name mentioned by a human.
He collected his thoughts, carried Xing Nuo, whose eyes were filled with curiosity, and followed the teacher and the other parents and children into the classroom.
“Parents, please have your children take a seat so they can experience what a real class feels like!”
The teacher clapped her hands, attracting the children’s attention.
“Children, choose a desk you like and sit down to listen to the teacher tell a story, okay?”
Shen Wen put Xing Nuo down. Standing on his own two feet, Xing Nuo looked up at his dad in confusion.
Shen Wen gently nudged Zaizai and whispered:
“Zaizai, sit down and listen to the teacher’s story, okay?”
Xing Nuo obediently nodded, but he didn’t move.
A chubby little boy, bolder than the others, had already excitedly run to claim a desk before anyone else dared to approach.
After claiming his desk, he also claimed the one next to it, then ran back to take Xing Nuo’s hand.
“Little sister, come sit with me! I’m very strong!”
Xing Nuo was pulled forward a couple of steps, his steps unsteady. He struggled slightly, freeing his hand.
“Not…sister.”
At three years old, children already had a basic understanding of gender.
The chubby boy stopped, looked at Xing Nuo, lifted his chin, and snorted, putting his hands on his hips and nodding emphatically.
“You’re smaller than me, shorter than me, so you’re a little sister!”
Xing Nuo shook his head, unhappy, his curls bouncing and tickling his face.
Brushing his hair away from his cheek, Xing Nuo slowly explained:
“I am…boy.”
This stunned not only the chubby boy but also the other children and even some of the parents.
The parents were the first to recover. They glanced at Shen Wen’s long, silky, golden hair that reached his waist, then at Xing Nuo’s shoulder-length hair, and a look of understanding dawned on their faces.
It seemed to be a unique family preference for long hair.
However, Xing Nuo’s small stature, delicate features, and soft, mumbled speech, coupled with his eye-catching light-colored curls, did make it easy to mistake his gender.
The other children, filled with curiosity, crowded around Xing Nuo, chirping like little birds, staring at him.
A little girl even reached out and touched Xing Nuo’s hair as if she had encountered something extraordinary, her eyes widening.
“Really not a girl!”
“I touched it! His hair is long!”
“Princesses have curly hair too! Why isn’t my hair curly?”
Children were sometimes even more superficial than adults, judging potential friends based on appearance when they first met.
After staring at the pretty and delicate Xing Nuo for a while, the children were reluctantly pulled away by their parents and made to sit down.
Only the initially protective chubby boy refused to accept this fact, letting out a loud wail.
“No! Little sisters have long hair! He’s a little sister!”
His parent, embarrassed, gave him a light pat on the bottom, silencing his cries.
“Sorry everyone, let’s continue with the class.”
The parent hurriedly placed the crying chubby boy in his seat, whispered a few words to him, and joined the other parents outside the classroom.
Despite this small interruption, the teacher continued with the lesson.
Xing Nuo chose a seat in the back row by the window, where he could see his dad watching him from outside.
He sat on the small chair, his hands folded neatly on the cloud-shaped desk, obediently listening to the teacher’s story.
The engaging storytelling session quickly came to an end.
The first day of kindergarten orientation was over.
Xing Nuo, holding his dad’s hand, put on his little backpack and walked home.
On the way, Shen Wen asked Xing Nuo about his impressions of kindergarten.
“Zaizai, did you like the class?”
“Yes~”
There were many children to play with, and the flowerbed in the corner of the kindergarten had a few sunflowers, his favorite.
Shen Wen, recalling the parenting advice he had read, seized the opportunity:
“Then, how about Zaizai goes to kindergarten every day?”
Xing Nuo, unaware of the potential dangers, nodded, his bright eyes curving into crescents.
“Okay~”
They entered the elevator. On the third floor, the doors opened.
A new resident on the third floor was carrying a stack of cardboard boxes. His strong arms were bulging with veins. Wearing camouflage pants, he paused upon seeing Shen Wen and Xing Nuo.
“Hello, I’m the new resident on the third floor.” He greeted them first.
Shen Wen nodded curtly, his gaze indifferent.
The third-floor resident, however, was quite talkative. Unfazed by Shen Wen’s coldness, he continued chatting amiably:
“You’re from the fourth floor, right? I joined the complex group chat earlier, your family is quite famous! Is this your child? He’s so well-behaved!”
He reached out a hand, as if to pinch Xing Nuo’s cheek.
Shen Wen frowned and pulled Xing Nuo away, avoiding the dirty hand.
The third-floor resident chuckled, rubbed his hand on his pants, and made a clucking sound, trying to get Xing Nuo’s attention.
Xing Nuo hid half his face in his dad’s embrace, peeking at the boisterous man with his watery eyes.
The third-floor resident entered the elevator with his boxes, riding up to the fourth floor with them before going back down.
They arrived on the fourth floor a few seconds later.
As they were leaving the elevator, Shen Wen heard the third-floor resident answer a phone call:
“What? Another anomaly in the eastern district? What’s going on? There have been so many incidents lately!”
The third-floor resident’s voice was low, but Shen Wen, with his boss-level monster hearing, could clearly hear the conversation even through the elevator doors.
Shen Wen raised an eyebrow, then looked down indifferently, wiping a smudge of dirt from Xing Nuo’s nose.
“How did you get so dirty?”
Like a little puppy, getting his nose dirty after playing outside.
And still smiling so happily. Shen Wen couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
At lunch, Xing Nuo, his mouth full of small meatballs, excitedly told his brother about what he had seen at kindergarten.
“There’s a…big…house…children sit…together…listen…teacher…tell story…I tell…brother…”
Xing Nuo’s speech had improved considerably, and he could almost form complete sentences, although they were still slightly nasal and required some guesswork to understand.
Shen Baizhou rested his chin on his hand, looking down at his younger brother, watching his eyebrows dance with excitement, a smile playing on his lips.
Such a tiny thing, barely able to speak properly, yet trying so earnestly to tell a story.
How amusing!
