Chapter 13
Encouraged by his dad, Xing Nuo pressed the voice message button, bringing his face close to the phone, his nose almost touching the screen.
His eyes were wide, unblinking, as if he were speaking with his eyes.
“I am…Xing Nuo.”
His finger accidentally slipped, and the voice message was sent.
Xing Nuo looked at the green voice message that had appeared in the group chat and let out a soft gasp. He quickly held up the phone for his dad to see.
“Dad!”
Shen Wen ruffled Xing Nuo’s hair, a smile playing on his lips.
“Zaizai is so clever, you learned it right away.”
Xing Nuo, praised, swung his little legs happily, his round, cat-like eyes curving into crescents.
Xiao Ran must have been watching her phone because she replied quickly:
“Xing Nuo! Come to my house to play~”
“My mom bought a big dinosaur toy~”
There were other text and voice messages in the group chat, but Xing Nuo didn’t open them. He simply replied in his childish voice:
“Not today~”
Dad said he was sick and couldn’t go outside.
Xing Nuo, still recovering, rubbed his eyes. Having just woken up not long ago, he started to yawn again.
Shen Wen took the phone from Xing Nuo, gently scooped him up, and coaxed him to sleep.
Once Xing Nuo was asleep, Shen Wen’s gentle facade instantly crumbled. He picked up the phone with an indifferent expression, stared at it coldly, and accepted Xiao Ran’s friend request.
It was probably Xiao Ran’s mother’s messaging app; Xiao Ran had sent Xing Nuo several voice messages using it.
Shen Wen didn’t bother listening to them, simply replying with a curt message:
[Xing Nuo is sick and asleep.]
Even bothering to inform them was already a sign of good temper from Shen Wen.
The reply, presumably from Xiao Ran’s mother, read:
[Is it serious? I have some common children’s medicine. You can come and get some if you need it.]
Whenever it concerned Xing Nuo, Shen Wen was surprisingly patient, his usual coldness suppressed.
[No need, Zaizai has already been treated.]
Xiao Ran’s mother was experienced in childcare and sent several more messages sharing her tips.
Shen Wen’s experience in raising a human cub was limited, and he gleaned a lot of useful information from Xiao Ran’s mother’s lengthy messages.
He pursed his lips and meticulously noted down the key points on the coffee table, copying them verbatim into his Child-Rearing Diary.
He had started this diary when Xing Nuo was born.
The handwriting inside was elegant and flowing, each page filled with childcare notes. He had even marked some particularly important points with flower-shaped bookmarks.
Although Shen Wen was a cold and unfeeling monster, he dedicated himself wholeheartedly to raising his human cub.
After finishing, Shen Wen plucked a tulip petal from the vase, flattened it, and pressed it between the pages of his diary.
[Thank you. I learned a lot today.]
Xiao Ran’s mother, having a very favorable impression of the handsome, blonde father, chuckled after seeing the reply and patted her daughter’s head.
“If only I had been born later, I would have definitely chased after that handsome man!”
Xiao Ran, with a serious expression, put her hands on her hips and asked angrily:
“I want to play with Xing Nuo! Why won’t you let Xing Nuo come to our house?!”
Both mother and daughter were equally superficial.
Xiao Ran’s mother twitched her lips and lightly knocked her daughter on the head, instantly feeling better.
Shen Baizhou, his hair freshly dyed black, walked into the classroom with his school uniform loosely draped over his shoulders, his face expressionless.
A few students who had been peeking at him from the window hurriedly returned to their seats and whispered amongst themselves.
“See? I told you he’d dye it back!”
“Dyeing his hair twice in half a month, that’s impressive!”
“Old Witch caught him and gave him a lecture; he had no choice but to change it back!”
“Do you think he’ll skip class again this afternoon?”
The last class in the afternoon was always self-study, with no teacher present. Some troublemakers often skipped this class.
Before they could come to a consensus, the teacher walked in and made an important announcement.
“There will be a short chemistry quiz during self-study this afternoon. You’ll receive your scores immediately, and then take the test papers home for your parents to sign.”
A chorus of groans filled the classroom.
Only Shen Baizhou sat up straight, twirling a pen in his hand, a smirk playing on his lips.
Finally, a chance to prove himself.
He would show everyone that, as a monster, his intelligence was no less than a human’s!
The chemistry quiz quickly ended.
The chemistry teacher, wearing his glasses, graded the papers in just half an hour.
He sat at the podium, calling out names and scores, one by one.
Shen Baizhou was the last to go up.
“Shen Baizhou…7.”
Shen Baizhou’s hand froze as he took the paper, his eyes filled with disbelief.
He pressed his lips together, and with a cold expression, slapped the paper onto the desk of the student next to him.
“Impossible!”
The entire class jumped, startled by the sudden noise.
Was he going to hit someone?
Shen Baizhou narrowed his eyes, his indifferent expression tinged with anger. He leaned against the desk, the veins on the back of his hand bulging, his lips pressed tightly together as he stared at the test paper.
The bright red “7” at the top of the paper was impossible to ignore.
Shen Baizhou cursed under his breath, glanced at the student whose desk he had just slammed, and carefully folded the crumpled paper, tucking it into his pocket.
Just as he was about to leave, he turned back to the chemistry teacher.
The chemistry teacher’s heart skipped a beat. He was about to ask him sternly what he was doing when Shen Baizhou bowed slightly:
“Thank you, teacher.”
Respecting teachers was what humans did.
Shen Baizhou, the monster, thought he had done well. He even wiped the student’s desk with his sleeve, removing the paper scraps.
“Cleaned it up.”
The student, who had been assigned the “honorable” seat next to the podium, kept his head down, not daring to make a sound.
He felt that the spot by the podium rightfully belonged to Shen Baizhou.
The chemistry quiz had run overtime, and by the time Shen Baizhou got home, it was almost completely dark.
The darkness hid Shen Baizhou’s gloomy expression, masking his irritation.
As soon as he entered the complex, a soft, fragrant little bundle launched itself into his arms.
“Waaah~”
Two teardrops clung precariously to the little one’s eyelashes. He wiped his eyes with his small hand, smearing tears onto his brother’s uniform.
Shen Baizhou didn’t mind his brother’s tears. He lifted his gaze, gently wiped away the remaining tears with his fingertip, and softened his voice:
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
Xing Nuo buried his face in his brother’s shoulder, his cheeks flushed, too embarrassed to speak.
Shen Wen, standing under the streetlight, bathed in a soft, yellow glow, chuckled and revealed the reason:
“He saw you weren’t back yet, so he rushed out to look for you. He tripped on a small stone, sat down crying, and refused to get up.”
Shen Baizhou’s eyelids, usually drooping, lifted slightly. He looked at his brother’s tear-streaked face for a long moment.
A smile suddenly curved his lips:
“That’s…rather amusing.”
So human cubs cried when they tripped.
Shen Baizhou wiped his brother’s tears and commented:
“I’ve never tripped on a small stone.”
Shen Wen didn’t bother responding to his ridiculous monster son.
With your enormous true form, tripping on a small stone would be truly laughable.
Xing Nuo, his face scrunched up, let out a small humph, and turned his head away, hiding his face from his dad and brother.
Sulking, he refused to let them feed him dinner.
He picked up his spoon and ate most of his porridge, then picked up a piece of pickled vegetable.
The salty, bitter taste made him grimace, and he stuck out his tongue, pushing the pickled vegetable towards his brother.
Shen Wen, watching his adorable Zaizai eating his porridge, his eyes filled with warmth, smiled and wiped the rice grains from Xing Nuo’s mouth with a tissue.
Then, he noticed the chemistry test paper on the table in front of Shen Baizhou.
His good mood instantly evaporated, replaced by a cold, indifferent expression.
“Shen Baizhou, is this the score you got?”
Shen Wen’s frosty gaze made the room temperature plummet.
Shen Baizhou shrank his neck, nodded silently, and momentarily forgot how to breathe.
Fortunately, monsters didn’t need to breathe.
Otherwise, he feared that even a single breath would incite Shen Wen’s wrath and lead to his immediate demise.
Xing Nuo, who was trying to wash away the taste of the pickled vegetable with water, noticed the sudden silence and looked up.
He glanced at his dad’s darkened face, then at his brother, who was sitting obediently with his black hair drooping.
Unsure what to do, Xing Nuo also lowered his head and huddled next to his brother, not daring to make a sound.
Seeing their identical expressions of fear, Shen Wen’s anger flared.
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
Shen Wen now seriously doubted how Shen Baizhou had managed to survive among the monsters.
By getting a 7 on a chemistry test?
Seeing his dad angry, Xing Nuo cautiously peeked up at him.
Catching his dad’s eye, he quickly gave him a sweet, obedient smile.
“Dad~”
Xing Nuo snuggled closer, resting his cheek against his dad’s chest and rubbing against him affectionately.
He smelled sweetly of porridge, his warm, soft touch a stark contrast to a monster’s cold skin. His cheeks were so soft and squishy, inviting a gentle pinch.
Shen Wen’s anger dissipated under Zaizai’s puppy-like affection.
