Little bird supervisors~

Third Cub had woken once while Eldest Cub and Second Cub were asleep earlier. Tao Qiu fed her some meat, and she fell asleep again, only to be woken by his laughter just now.

Tao Qiu took the opportunity to check and found that Third Cub was a girl too. Her feathers were also almost pure white, with just a tiny, inconspicuous patch of black at the tip of her tail. It would probably become more noticeable when she grew a little older.

His eldest son took after that man, his second daughter took after him, and his third daughter had inherited both their colors. That was quite fair.

Tao Qiu felt like laughing. He was pretty good at giving birth.

Come to think of it, the colors of the three little birds in the pregnancy dream he had before seemed to match reality too.

Was it a coincidence, or was life just that miraculous, with the biological connection between a mother and her young strong enough to predict the future?

Tao Qiu shook his head and put the question he couldn't figure out out of his mind.

The cubs loved meat, but the wild fruit was so delicious that they liked it a lot too. It made a good snack.

After eating their fill, the two cubs weren't sleepy, so they went over to Third Cub together. They looked up at Tao Qiu for permission before moving a little closer to her.

Third Cub's feathers were almost dry. Curled up in a ball, she looked like a piece of moldy tofu. Even compared to her brother and sister when they had just hatched a few days ago, she was a size smaller. She had been born weak.

Nothing in the world was perfect. Compared to his bird parents, whose entire clutch had produced only him, Tao Qiu was already lucky enough that all three of his eggs had hatched.

Once all the chicks had hatched, Tao Qiu felt a little less pressure. Although caring for three cubs in the early days was still hard work, watching them grow day by day filled him with an indescribable sense of satisfaction that eased some of his exhaustion.

Though Third Cub was weak, she was no less active than Second Cub.

Of course, Second Cub was lively and active by nature, while Third Cub was simply too dependent on Tao Qiu.

Perhaps because she knew she wasn't strong enough and felt insecure, Third Cub sensed that Tao Qiu was the one she could rely on most. Once she had the strength to move, she could find him by his scent even though her eyes hadn't opened yet, and would then tremble her way toward him.

Once Tao Qiu picked her up and held her, she would return to her weak, feeble self and quietly fall asleep.

But Tao Qiu had other things to do and couldn't carry Third Cub with him all the time, so when he went out, he put her in the feather nest filled with his scent.

The little one was very perceptive, though, and could tell the difference between his scent and the real thing.

When she discovered that Daddy wasn't beside her, she neither cried nor fussed, nor even made a peep. She would only hide pitifully in a corner, curl up into a ball, and tremble nonstop in fear, like a little electric ball of fluff.

Even with Eldest Cub and Second Cub keeping her company, it didn't help much. Daddy's embrace was the only remedy.

Every time Tao Qiu saw her like that, his heart ached terribly. He would always soothe her in a gentle voice until she calmed down.

At night, Third Cub refused to return to her nest, so Tao Qiu held her in his arms. The rise and fall of his chest and belly as he breathed worked much like a cradle, and Third Cub slept soundly and sweetly every night.

Seeing this, Eldest Cub and Second Cub refused to go back to their own nest too, even though it was right next to Tao Qiu's head.

They were clever, though. Afraid Daddy wouldn't agree, they waited until the middle of the night to hop onto him themselves, then tucked in their necks and lay down beside Third Cub, keeping her warm while they were at it.

When Tao Qiu got up in the middle of the night to feed the cubs, he found three balls of fluff lying in a row on him. Amused, he gave each one a poke but didn't put the two older cubs back, letting them continue using him as a bed.

Third Cub wasn't unhappy about her brother and sister joining her. She remained quiet and well-behaved, and occasionally even nuzzled them of her own accord.

Eldest Cub and Second Cub also doted on Third Cub. Whenever the three ate together, they always waited until Tao Qiu had finished feeding her before coming forward and chirping for food.

Although there were several children in the family and Tao Qiu showed a clear preference for Third Cub, this hadn't caused the three chicks to hurt one another out of survival instinct or jealousy.

That was partly because all three cubs were smart, with intelligence and emotional depth far beyond those of ordinary animals, but also because Tao Qiu had given each of them enough love. As a result, none of them was too concerned about who got a little more or a little less.

Chapter 16: Little bird supervisors~

A month and a half later, the second batch of fruit Tao Qiu had planted was fully ripe.

Counting the dozen-odd days he had spent waiting for the three eggs to hatch and raising the cubs, the plants had taken about as long to mature as last time. Calculating carefully, it was probably only three or four days shorter.

The tomato seedlings he had brought back from outside that day and carefully tended had grown up too. Since they had already been seedlings, they matured at about the same rate as the wild fruit, bearing quite a few big, plump, round tomatoes. Their fragrance drifted a long way and was almost detected by the mutated monsters outside the valley.

Tao Qiu was going down to the valley floor to harvest the fruit, and Third Cub perched on his shoulder, refusing to get down. Second Cub had long since expanded her explorations to the cave entrance, and if she could fly, she would have jumped down on her own already. Now she was drooling at the scent of fruit, urging Tao Qiu to hurry and take them to eat something tasty.

Only Eldest Cub stood silently on a rock. He didn't ask Daddy to take him along too, but simply gazed at Tao Qiu with longing eyes. What he wanted was obvious.

Tao Qiu chuckled and held out his hand. "Come on, let's go work in the fields with Daddy."

Only then did Eldest Cub give a reserved chirp and hop into Tao Qiu's palm.

At the cave entrance, Tao Qiu scooped up the impatient Second Cub, then picked up Third Cub and held all three protectively against his chest. He spread his wings and jumped.

The wind swept past, ruffling their feathers. This was the cubs' first time leaving the cave, and also their first experience of "flying."

The new sensation made Second Cub chirp excitedly without thinking. Third Cub was a little frightened and buried her face in her father's arm. As for Eldest Cub, if one ignored his wide eyes and wind-tousled down, he could be called composed. At least he didn't make a sound.

Before long, Tao Qiu landed steadily. Only after checking that there were no threats nearby or high above did he relax a little.

"Chirp! Chirp! Chirp, chirp!" Second Cub called excitedly.

This is fun! Daddy! Again!

Tao Qiu chuckled as he smoothed the feathers of all three cubs. "Let's pick the wild fruit first. I'll take you flying again another day."

The cubs didn't have very long attention spans. Hearing Tao Qiu's words, Second Cub immediately turned her attention back to the wild fruit.

"Chirp, chirp! Chirp!"

Wild fruit is tasty! I want some!

"All right, today's a bumper harvest. We'll all eat our fill!"

When they reached the vegetable patch, Tao Qiu put the three cubs on a nearby rock. It was high enough for them to look down over the entire patch.

"Today, you three are little bird supervisors. Your job is to watch Daddy pick the wild fruit. If Daddy misses any ripe ones, make sure you remind me."

After spending nearly two months together day and night, the three chicks could understand the general meaning of what Tao Qiu said, whether he used human language or birdsong.

Perhaps this was another kind of "bilingual education." Tao Qiu had memories of two lifetimes and had also considered that the cubs might be able to take human form like him someday, so he simply used both languages.

Second Cub was the first to respond. "Chirp, chirp! Chirp, chirp, chirp!"

Don't worry, Daddy! We'll definitely do a good job!

Eldest Cub glanced at the vegetable patch, then looked back at Tao Qiu. "Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp."

There's so much. Daddy will get tired picking it all by himself.

Hearing Eldest Cub say that, Second Cub realized it too and chirped that she wanted to help. Third Cub, a beat slower, gazed at Tao Qiu with her big, watery purple eyes, looking expectant as well.

Speaking of which, when Third Cub opened her eyes, Tao Qiu had been surprised to find they were purple. He remembered that the man's eyes were mostly black, with very little purple, but he hadn't expected Third Cub to bring out that bit of purple so fully.

Tao Qiu stroked the heads of all three cubs, his eyes full of gratification. "You're all Daddy's good babies. I know you're worried about me, but grown-ups do big jobs and children do little ones. Supervising is helping Daddy too. Leave the picking until you're a little older."

The three cubs were very obedient. Once Tao Qiu said that, they didn't insist, but watched him earnestly instead, doing their best to carry out the task Daddy had given them.

There was one tomato plant and forty wild fruit plants in all. The tomatoes were easy enough, but the wild fruit was so small that picking it was relatively troublesome and took a little time.

Some unripe wild fruit remained on the branches, though not much. In a few more days, he could probably harvest a second round. The tomato plant in particular could produce another two rounds, so Tao Qiu didn't pull the plants out.

The tomatoes and wild fruit were all placed in a crude vine basket Tao Qiu had woven, about the size of an ordinary fruit basket. It was a skill he had learned from his grandfather as a child.

The old man couldn't go away to work, so he usually wove vine furniture to sell at the market. It wasn't expensive, but it brought in a little income.

Tao Qiu's parents sent money to support them, and his grandparents also had pensions, but they still wanted to save more, afraid they wouldn't have enough when they needed it someday.

Grandpa wove vines and Grandma grew vegetables. They raised Tao Qiu, and although neither ever asked him to work, he picked up a few things from watching them.

But so much time had passed that his childhood memories had grown blurry. On top of that, he had no tools out in the wild, so after fiddling with it for ages, all Tao Qiu managed to produce was an ugly little vine basket.

Luckily, ugly as it was, at least nothing fell through it.

It was also fortunate that Tao Qiu could now take human form, or such delicate work would have been difficult. No wonder the spirits in those supernatural tales all wanted to cultivate a human form. Leaving everything else aside, daily life alone was much more convenient.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp! Chirp, chirp!"

Daddy's amazing! You didn't miss a single one!

As soon as Tao Qiu came closer, he was showered with praise from Second Cub.

Tao Qiu grinned, showing a row of even teeth. He picked up Second Cub and planted a kiss on her. "Such a sweet talker. That's Daddy's good daughter!"

"Chirp, chirp!"

Second Cub loved being kissed by Daddy and let out a string of entirely meaningless squeals.