Chapter 406 - 405: Extra 1: Stories of Nanny Dads Teaching Cubs to Walk, Part 1

Chapter 406: Chapter 405: Extra 1: Stories of Nanny Dads Teaching Cubs to Walk, Part 1

1. Nanny-Dad Yan Huoshui

As everyone knows, foxes have four legs, but humans walk on two.

After Yi Yi was born and his beast form stabilized, he, as the first child in the family, began to explore and familiarize himself with the world.

In Yi Yi’s eyes, his parents were all very tall. They didn’t have furry bodies and walked on only two legs. And as for him... he counted.

The little one didn’t really know how to count yet, but no matter how he looked at it, he had more legs than his parents. He also had a heavy, fluffy tail behind him that would always drag uncontrollably on the ground, affecting his gait.

Yi Yi decided, ’It must be because I’m not standing tall enough.’

So, when Yan Huoshui was teaching him how to walk with balance, Yi Yi became obsessed with walking upright for a few days.

He would struggle to stand on his two hind paws, hold his two front paws up to his chest, and his big, fluffy tail would still droop onto the floor, sweeping the clean ground from time to time and shedding a hair or two.

The household robot’s eyes would flash, and it would always clean up this "trash" promptly.

For the first time, Yan Huoshui began to doubt his fathering skills. ’I clearly taught him how to walk,’ he thought. ’I also walk on all four paws in my beast form. So how did he end up walking upright in his beast form after he learned?’

Shi Lan, watching from the side, just thought the little guy was being cute for her. She couldn’t help but scoop her cub into her arms, stroking him lovingly.

The Little Red Fox’s long, pointed ears trembled. He felt a dizzying sense of pride. ’This is my reward from Mommy.’

However, Yi Yi also had a big problem. His legs were too short. There were stairs in the house, and when he tried walking on two legs, he couldn’t hop up them at all. So, he would dejectedly lower himself back down and choose to scamper up on all fours. Once he reached the top of the stairs, he would stand up again, becoming an elegant Little Red Fox.

As for his tail, it dutifully swept every spot he walked past.

The robot following behind him was like a hard-working butler, cleaning up every single little hair the young master dropped on the floor.

At first, Shi Lan found it novel, but after watching her child walk like this all the time, she started to feel that something wasn’t right.

But the cub couldn’t talk yet, so the couple couldn’t get any answers from him. They worried that Yi Yi might have injured his front paws, but a careful inspection revealed nothing wrong.

Later, after careful observation, they noticed the little guy secretly imitating their movements and realized he was learning to walk like them in their human forms.

So, Shi Lan immediately had the Beast Husbands at home enter and exit in their beast forms. After just a few days of this, Yi Yi saw that so many of his fathers were walking on four legs, and he gradually returned to normal.

...

When Yi Yi was a little over four months old, he had just learned to talk.

For Yan Huoshui, this was the period when being a father was most likely to drive him crazy.

The little one was adorable and cuddly in his beast form, much to the adults’ delight. But when it came to sleeping at night, his father had a tough time.

Because Yi Yi was a very curious child. When Yan Huoshui told him bedtime stories at night, Yi Yi would always have a million questions, as if he had to make up for lost time now that he could finally speak.

For instance, when he told Yi Yi that the Insect Mother was usually carried by the Flying Insect Race, the little one would ask, "Why does the Insect Mother need other insects to carry her? If she’s so powerful, can’t she fly by herself?"

As soon as Yan Huoshui answered that question, the little one would immediately come up with a new one. "Is the Insect Mother the mother of the Insect Clan? Who’s their father?"

These were the kinds of questions only a child would think of; adults would just focus on killing the Insect Clan.

Faced with the little guy’s barrage of questions, Yan Huoshui answered with relative patience. After all, he knew that cubs were in a learning phase where they were curious about everything. But the questions came one after another without end, and he was getting really tired. He could only change his approach. "If you want to know the answers, Yi Yi, you have to be a good boy and go to sleep. Daddy will tell you after you’ve fallen asleep."

Yi Yi said, "Oh," and finally quieted down. Then, when he woke up, he would receive a loving hug from his mother, and the little one would completely forget his questions from the night before.

Standing to the side with dark circles under his eyes, warming up the growth liquid, Yan Huoshui silently breathed a sigh of relief.

He had thought about it all night but still couldn’t figure out how to answer that question. ’Who knows who the Insect Clan’s father is?’ It was just like how they still didn’t understand how the very first member of the Insect Clan had come into being.

In short, raising a child was not easy.

2. Nanny-Dad He Hanshi

The night he found out he had a son, He Hanshi secretly reviewed all his old child-rearing study notes.

In his view, raising a child was like going to war; you couldn’t go in unprepared.

However, this man, who was always at ease when facing the Insect Clan, now held a small, fragile cub and felt utterly lost and worried.

’Can I be a good father?’

’What is the cub’s personality like? Can I handle it? Or rather, can I live up to my wife’s expectations, raise the child well, and teach him to be an upright and brave person?’

Just looking at the child sent He Hanshi’s mind into a tailspin.

But despite all his mental preparation, he never expected the child to be much easier to care for than he had imagined.

Er Er was a very quiet child. So quiet that shortly after birth, he wouldn’t even cry when he was hungry. Instead, his sparkling blue eyes would just stare blankly at the ceiling, as if he were trying to hypnotize himself into not feeling hungry.

Fortunately, He Hanshi was always thinking about the child and was very punctual with feeding him growth liquid. After discovering Er Er’s little habit, he even installed a call button by his crib—and, of course, installed one for every crib—so the adults could respond promptly whenever the children needed anything.

In reality, they would never completely neglect the children. There was a robot in the nursery to watch over them, and if anything unusual happened, the robot would quickly sound an alarm.

After the bell was installed, Er Er quickly mastered the skill of ringing it and finally stopped starving himself.

Although two feedings of growth liquid were guaranteed each day, the cubs’ appetites varied and would constantly change as they grew, requiring frequent adjustments.

When Er Er first transformed into his beast form, He Hanshi had to officially start teaching the child to walk. It wasn’t just walking; they also had to teach the child some fighting and defensive stances so he could better protect himself.

Er Er was a quick learner. When it came to walking, He Hanshi didn’t have to put in much effort. Usually, after he demonstrated a few times, Er Er would get it. Although his paws trembled slightly and felt a bit weak when he took a step, the little guy could still move forward with determination.

When he occasionally fell, he seemed to get embarrassed and would lie on the ground for a moment to recover before continuing to practice.

Teaching him to walk was easy, but teaching him attack moves was a bit difficult.

He Hanshi was, after all, an adult White Lion. Little Er Er standing next to him didn’t even reach his knee. Sometimes, when He Hanshi was guiding the cub’s posture, even if he held back his strength, his paw would still easily push the cub over.

Er Er looked at his father in confusion. He tilted his head, thought for a moment, and suspected his father was demonstrating a move. So, he also extended a small paw and gave his father’s big paw a little push.

Well, it was like an ant trying to shake a tree—completely useless. The only result was a small indent in the big White Lion’s fur from his paw pad.

Er Er used both paws, but it was still no use.

Then, the little White Lion simply went all out, using all four paws to cling onto He Hanshi’s leg.

He Hanshi felt the ticklish pressure on his leg. He hesitated, analyzing his cub’s actions, and then, careful not to hurt the little one, he fell over.

Er Er’s eyes lit up. He jumped down, satisfied, and then walked over to his mother. Blinking his bright, glass-blue eyes, he looked at her silently, finally showing a bit of a young cub’s energy.

Shi Lan didn’t think twice. She grabbed her cub and smothered him with pets and kisses. "Mwah, mwah~ My baby is so amazing."

The little White Lion’s short tail wagged happily.

He Hanshi wiped the non-existent sweat from his brow with a paw, relieved. ’Good thing my analysis wasn’t wrong.’