He's Our Other Daddy (continued)

So without a doubt, the black-haired man in the photo is the human who usually swaps places with Dad.

At the same time, he was also the naughty guy who made his father think about him day and night, and shed tears of sorrow.

Dad went out and hasn't come back yet; without a doubt, he's here.

It's good that he's not dead.

The children silently rejoiced for him, but that didn't stop them from judging him at this moment.

Eldest Cub: "Daddy and him, kissing, their eyes shining, isn't that how friends do it?"

Second Cub: "That's how young lovers are in TV dramas."

Third Cub's conclusion. "So he's not a bad friend, he's a bad partner!"

After confirming his relationship with his father, the kids continued their analysis.

Eldest Cub: "Look, doesn't he look a lot like us?"

The three children looked at each other and saw similarities in each other's faces to their father and this man.

Second Cub: "Hair, black, like my brother's feathers?"

Eldest Cub: "It has purple in its eyes, just like Yuanyuan's eyes."

Third Cub: "There's a little bit of black feather on my tail, probably because he has black hair."

However, this conclusion is questionable. "Babies resemble their parents, so this person could be our mother?"

It turns out that their "mother" didn't die, but left them as soon as they were born.

"He's a man," the Eldest Cub said. "Men can't be mothers. In human cartoons and TV shows, it's always women who are mothers."

Second Cub guessed, "Was he... a woman before?"

The Eldest Cub and Third Cub shook their heads. The Third Cub said, "It shouldn't be."

Second Cub guessed again, "Then? He can get pregnant, he's a man?"

Their Tao Qiu's father is so amazing, maybe he even has the ability to get human men pregnant.

The kids, captivated by their father's charm, actually found this guess somewhat plausible.

"Very likely."

The kids tentatively decided that this man was their mother—no, he should be another father—and then proceeded with their discussion.

Eldest Cub: "He wants to? Give birth to? Our father, why wasn't he there for us at first? He didn't talk to us about him either?"

Second Cub: "What if it's like this time? Because of the mutated monster invasion, we couldn't get out, but then he came back, and Dad didn't tell us he was another dad."

Third Cub: "Did they have a fight? He gave birth to us and went back home. Dad was angry, so he didn't mention him. Later, he came back and made Dad happy."

The Eldest Cub still had a question, "In the photo, they're kissing, so they must have made up. But why didn't Dad tell us? And this man too, where's Dad?"

Third Cub frowned even more. "Does he... dislike us? Is that why Dad won't let us see him, and won't tell us his identity, afraid of hurting our feelings?"

The Eldest Cub then presented another piece of evidence that the man didn't like them. "He only gives clothes to Dad, never to us."

The Second Cub and Third Cub thought it made sense, "No wonder Daddy kept it from us."

The Eldest Cub said, "Dad loves us and he loves him too. To avoid making us both sad, he has no choice but to prevent us from seeing each other."

Now the kids can understand why their father was willing to transform into a bird and let the man ride on it; it's only right for a partner to be a mount.

The Third Cub looked at the Eldest Cub, then at the Second Cub, and suggested, "Let's not put Dad in a difficult position. Let's keep pretending we don't know."

"Okay." The Second Cub Eldest Cub thought it was the right thing to do.

So they put the photo back under the overturned book, lay back down in their original spot, and tried to fall asleep, pretending they hadn't woken up at all when their father came home.

To avoid arousing Dad's suspicion, they had to be really asleep.

The boys went to great lengths for Tao Qiu, and Tao Qiu, having been well taken care of by Lou Yu, flew back to the valley and retrieved four tomatoes.

"Two for you, and two for that superhuman Zhao Tao. The aroma of the fruit can travel very far; many mutated monsters are eyeing it. They even sneaked into the valley to steal it before. We have to disguise ourselves, otherwise, not only might you attract attacks from mutated monsters on the way, but others will also discover you if you bring them back."

The aroma of tomatoes was indeed enticing; even Lou Yu couldn't help but swallow hard.

Lou Yu said, "We have a spray that can interfere with the sense of smell of mutated monsters, preventing them from smelling human scents. However, its effectiveness is relatively short-lived, and it has no effect on the sense of smell of humans."

Tao Qiu thought for a moment and asked, "Do you mind if I make your whole car stink?"

Lou Yu: "Hmm?"

One hour later.

Lou Yu sat in the driver's seat. The tomatoes were in a box under his seat, but he could no longer smell their fresh fragrance; only a pungent, nauseating odor remained.

In the passenger seat was a clump of rotten mud that Tao Qiu had specially dug up from the radish field at the border of the Green Python and Black Rabbit territories. It smelled terrible, but was incredibly alluring.

Feeling that the fumigation time was sufficient, Tao Qiu finally took the mud out of the car.

The car was completely permeated with the stench; the inside and outside reeked of that kind of brain-damaging odor, to the point that neither humans nor mutated monsters wanted to get close.

Although they had achieved their goal, Tao Qiu was still worried. "You have to drive for several hours to get back. Can you handle it?"

Don't get overwhelmed by the stench halfway there.

After getting out of the car, Lou Yu took a deep breath of fresh air before saying, "I believe I can do it."

As long as I can bring the tomatoes back safely, what does this little bit of hardship matter?

Tao Qiu felt a little sorry for Lou Yu: "If you can't keep going halfway, just stop and rest. The car smells so bad, the mutated monsters shouldn't get close, and the danger will be greatly reduced."

"Okay." Lou Yu's eyes were brimming with tears, but he still didn't forget to respond to Tao Qiu.

To comfort him, Tao Qiu smiled and said, "You absolutely must come out in a couple of days. I've prepared a big surprise for you; if you don't come, you'll never have another chance."

Upon hearing this, Lou Yu felt that the surrounding stench didn't seem so bad anymore. He looked at Tao Qiu expectantly, about to speak, when Tao Qiu stopped him, saying, "Don't ask what the surprise is. What's the point of revealing it beforehand?"

Lou Yu shut up.

"Go back early, or it'll get late." Tao Qiu Qiugong Lou Yu into the car. "Next time, remember to bring a bigger car and bring me everything I need."

Thinking that they would see each other again in a couple of days, Lou Yu's sadness lessened a bit, and he smiled cheerfully, "I promise to complete the task Qiuqiu assigned me."

Then, as soon as he got into the car, he was so disgusted by the smell that he vomited again.

Tao Qiu chuckled.

Lou Yu looked at Tao Qiu with a wronged expression.

Tao Qiu was currently in bird form, so all she could do was hold her breath, stick her head into the car, rub her face against his for encouragement, and then immediately and impatiently pull out.

Lou Yu drove off in that stinky car. Tao Qiu found a place to bury the mud, went back and thoroughly washed herself in the pool, dried her hair, and only went back to the cave to find the children after confirming that she no longer smelled bad.

When he went in, the kids weren't covered with sheets anymore; they must have been kicked off later. They weren't sleeping in their original spots anymore; they had all rolled to different places.

He hadn't woken the three kids; they would have slept right up until this time.

The book with the photo inside fell onto the bed, and the photo also fell out. The kids weren't awake, so they didn't see it.

Tao Qiu was conflicted. He wanted his children to see the photos and ask him about them, but he also didn't want them to find out today.

He went over, tidied up the photos, put them back in the book, and then woke up the children.

After sleeping all afternoon, the kids were still groggy when they woke up, and they didn't gradually wake up until after dinner.

That evening, after washing up and lying in bed, Tao Qiu coughed lightly and said to the children, "While you were taking your afternoon nap today, that human came."

The kids were taken aback at first by their father's words, then their acting skills exploded.

The Eldest Cub exclaimed in surprise, "Really? He's finally out!"

Second Cub wiped his mouth. "Did he bring any good food this time?"

The Third Cub asked curiously, "Where are the new supplies?"

Tao Qiu couldn't help but smile as she recalled her meeting with Lou Yu that afternoon. "He came to see me today, without bringing anything, but he'll come again in a couple of days and deliver all the supplies we need."

Seeing Tao Qiu's radiant face, the kids knew that not only was that human not dead, but his body was probably also fine.

Second Cub feigned a sigh, "Is that so? Oh, then we can only wait a little longer."

Looking at her children, Tao Qiu thought of her plan and said, "My darlings, I haven't told you before, but the human who often delivers supplies to us is named Lou Yu, Lou as in tall building, and Yu as in honor."

The children were stunned. Why was their father suddenly telling them the name of that human?

They responded nonchalantly, "Okay, I got it."

Tao Qiu asked, "What do you think of Lou Yu?"

The kids thought to themselves, "Is she trying to steal Daddy from us? Or is she the annoying brat who makes Daddy sad?!"

However, the kids can't say that openly; they can only use ambiguous, platitudes.

Eldest Cub: "I haven't met them, so I don't know, but someone Dad likes must be a good person."

Tao Qiu silently breathed a sigh of relief. The kids weren't familiar with Lou Yu, but they had a bit of a good impression of him because of him. So, if he helped them recognize each other in the future, the kids shouldn't be opposed.

"He really is a very good person," Tao Qiu said. "To me, he's gentle and kind, good to me, considerate of me, and very obedient to me; to the people at the human base, he's a role model, a pillar of support, someone you can completely trust and rely on. Oh my, how can there be such a perfect person?"

Tao Qiu originally intended to subtly instill Lou Yu's good image in the kids, but as he spoke, he himself became lost in memories, his eyes narrowing with laughter.