TCPUAAV Chapter 144

 

“How could Snowball be dating Dad?!”

 

The little dragon cub gnawed on his paw, looking grave. “Does that mean he’ll become our second dad?”

 

After being exposed to more information, the cubs now understood what “dating” meant. They also knew that whoever Daddy dated would become their new mom—or second dad.

 

But none of them had ever considered the possibility that if it were Snowball, what then?

 

They were all good cubs—how could Snowball be a traitor like this?

 

Absolutely not!

 

The little dragon slapped the surface of the water hard, furious and stunned. “Traitor!”

 

[But Daddy likes Snowball.] The little mermaid, who clearly knew the most and had come to terms with it the fastest, flicked his tail, his voice tinged with a trace of sourness. [Snowball’s always been different from us.]

 

Snowball was the first one to come into the family. Before any of the other cubs had been adopted, he had already been Daddy’s closest companion.

 

Even now, only Snowball still slept in the master bedroom.

 

“I heard people say, when you get a stepmom, you also get a stepdad.” The little fox shifted from lying to sitting upright, grooming her fur as she spoke. “If Snowball’s going to be our second dad, I guess it’s better than someone else.”

 

After all, aside from Daddy, Snowball had always treated them the best.

 

What she said made a lot of sense. The dragon cub, still simmering with indignation, thought about it and found himself less angry.

 

“Alright, I guess I don’t mind then.” He clicked his tongue and begrudgingly gave his approval of the second-dad candidate.

 

The little fox and little mermaid voiced no objections either. All three turned to look at Ruan Jiao, who hadn’t said a word.

 

Ruan Jiao blinked and asked slowly, “What does ‘dating’ mean?”

 

↑ A cub focused on learning and rarely browsing the net.

 

The cubs went silent for a beat. Eventually, the little mermaid offered a vague explanation:

 

[It means only Snowball can sleep in the same bed as Daddy from now on. We can’t.]

 

!!!

 

Ruan Jiao’s eyes flew wide open in shock. He murmured, dismayed, “We won’t be allowed to sleep with Daddy anymore?”

 

The little mermaid hesitated.

 

[Maybe occasionally? If Daddy and Snowball say it’s okay.]

 

Ruan Jiao breathed a sigh of relief. He twitched his antennae in thought. “Then isn’t that just like before?”

 

Before this, Snowball had always shared Daddy’s bed, and the rest of them only occasionally got to sleep over. Nothing really seemed to be changing?

 

Then he had no objections!

 

The other cubs, however, fell silent again after hearing that. The dragon cub puffed up his cheeks once more, his anger rekindled. “So it started that early?!”

 

The little fox was upset too. “Daddy and Snowball actually hid it from us this long!”

 

The little mermaid didn’t chime in. He had a vague feeling something didn’t add up, but couldn’t quite articulate it, so he simply stayed quiet.

 

In the end, the four cubs reached a consensus on the matter of the second-dad candidate.

 

But since Snowball had hidden it from them for so long, there was no way they were going to forgive him that easily!

 

Hmph!

 

So when dinner time came around, Rong Heng immediately sensed that something was…off.

 

The cubs sat around the table, lively and noisy as always while waiting for all the dishes to be served—but none of them acknowledged Rong Heng.

 

It was a bit baffling, but His Highness the Crown Prince was fairly certain:

 

He was being excluded by the cubs.

 

Rong Heng: ?????

 

He narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the four little ones.

 

The three aside from Ruan Jiao acted perfectly normal, laughing and chatting away, their behavior so casual it could almost be mistaken for coincidence.

 

Only Ruan Jiao, who was the worst at hiding his feelings, made it too obvious—dragging his chair closer to the little dragon, and turning his head deliberately away as if trying to create distance between himself and Rong Heng.

 

Rong Heng was even more confused now. He hadn’t done anything to offend them lately… right?

 

While he was still trying to puzzle it out, the final two dishes were finished, and he didn’t have time to dwell on the cubs’ strange behavior. He stood up to help Ruan Shiqing bring the food to the table.

 

—To celebrate the cubs’ victorious return, and perhaps also as a small atonement for the suffering they endured in the previous world, Ruan Shiqing and 09 had specially prepared a grand feast with all their favorite dishes.

 

“I’ve got it,” Rong Heng said, intercepting the dish before Ruan Shiqing could pick it up and placing it on the table himself.

 

After placing the dishes on the table, Rong Heng handed Ruan Shiqing a napkin to wipe his hands, then naturally stepped behind him to untie his apron.

 

The cubs all stretched their necks to sneak a peek.

 

The little fox muttered in a low voice, “Snowball is such a bootlicker.”

 

He used to sit and wait with them for dinner—now he was circling around Daddy like a lovesick puppy.

 

The little dragon cub huffed in agreement and tapped his bowl angrily with his spoon. Snowball was obviously trying to curry favor with Daddy!

 

No wonder he’d been hiding things from them for so long.

 

Scheming traitor!

 

Rong Heng took a seat beside Ruan Shiqing, only to immediately catch the little dragon cub glaring at him again.

 

He raised an eyebrow and glanced back—just in time to see the cub turn away pointedly, starting a conversation with the little fox.

 

Definitely suspicious.

 

Rong Heng mused quietly and decided: after dinner, he was going to have a heart-to-heart with Ruan Jiao.

 

The cubs, unaware that Rong Heng had already found his breakthrough target, were still united in cold-shouldering the “traitor” to express their discontent.

 

Even Ruan Shiqing picked up on the cubs’ subtle mood shift. He shot a sideways glance at Rong Heng, leaned in a bit, and lowered his voice: “What’s going on?”

 

Rong Heng replied with an innocent expression, “No idea. I’ll ask them later.”

 

Ruan Shiqing hummed softly in response, but his peripheral vision caught the cubs sneaking glances their way. As soon as he turned his head, the cubs instantly averted their eyes and buried their faces in their food.

 

Ruan Shiqing: …

 

His brows lifted slightly, but he said nothing and let it slide.

 

After dinner, Rong Heng indeed took the opportunity to lead the cubs out into the backyard under the pretext of walking off the meal.

 

Unfortunately, the cubs completely ignored him and continued playing on their own.

 

His Highness the Crown Prince lurked on the sidelines like a patient predator, and finally managed to catch Ruan Jiao as he headed upstairs.

 

He scooped the cub up and carried him out to the balcony, shutting the sliding door behind them.

 

Ruan Jiao struggled to be let down, eyes wide and filled with wary suspicion.

 

“What’s this little cold war about?” Rong Heng squatted down and playfully tugged at the antennae on his forehead.

 

Ruan Jiao instantly curled his antennae up to keep them out of reach, shaking his head silently.

 

Seeing that, Rong Heng withdrew his hand with a smile. “Then let me guess…” he said casually, keeping a close eye on the cub’s expressions.

 

Before returning home, the cubs had acted completely normal. The shift in attitude had only started after they came upstairs from their bath.

 

There hadn’t been much time in between, nor had anything particularly unusual happened…

 

Except—

 

Rong Heng raised his brows high, remembering that he and Ruan Shiqing hadn’t yet told the cubs they were together.

 

Could they have figured it out on their own?

 

Neither of them had made much effort to hide it.

 

If that was the case, their behavior made perfect sense.

 

Smiling, he locked eyes with Ruan Jiao and asked leisurely, “So you all don’t approve of me and Daddy being together?”

 

Ruan Jiao instinctively shook his head, then froze when he realized what he’d done—his eyes going round in panic.

 

He didn’t mean to spill the secret!!

 

The cub glared at Rong Heng in frustration. He finally believed what Heli said: Snowball really is a schemer!

 

But Rong Heng just smiled smugly. Ruan Jiao’s flustered reaction had confirmed everything.

 

He tugged lightly at Ruan Jiao’s limp antennae again and said coaxingly, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell them it was you who let it slip.”

 

Ruan Jiao hesitated, eyes flickering uncertainly.

 

Rong Heng stood up, opened the door, and nodded toward it. “Promise. Now hurry down—Heli and the others will come looking for you soon.”

 

Faced with that threat, the cub dared not delay any longer and quickly scurried back downstairs.

 

When he rejoined the other cubs, he avoided their gazes with guilty eyes but didn’t say a word about Rong Heng knowing the truth.

 

Rong Heng, meanwhile, lingered at the top of the stairs, watching as the other cubs surrounded Ruan Jiao protectively. He smiled with amusement.

 

That night, the cubs dragged their little pillows into the living room and piled onto the large floor cushions to sleep.

 

After bathing, Rong Heng didn’t go back to the bedroom right away. Instead, he transformed into his adult Ymir form and lay down on the vacant side of the cushions.

 

The cubs were instinctively drawn to his fluffy, smooth fur and nearly dove into it—but stopped themselves just in time, twisting away and pretending not to see him.

 

Rong Heng wasn’t in a hurry. He glanced toward the bathroom to make sure Ruan Shiqing was still washing up, then cleared his throat.

 

“There’s something I haven’t told you yet…”

 

The cubs kept their heads together, ignoring him—but every one of them had their ears perked up.

 

“I’m with Daddy now,” he said, tail swishing with pride. “You know what dating means, right?”

 

The little dragon cub replied with biting sarcasm, “Of course we know. It means two people sleep together.”

 

And you two have been doing that for a long time!

 

Rong Heng choked briefly, then replied, “That’s… not wrong.”

 

“We’re not calling you second dad!” The little fox tossed her head with disdain, clearly unimpressed by his shamelessness.

 

What did it matter whether they called him that or not? Ruan Shiqing was already his boyfriend, and would soon be his official spouse.

 

Rong Heng, pleased as punch, kept his expression neutral. Acting as though he hadn’t heard her, he continued, “I was going to suggest that, since everyone’s home, we could all sleep in the bedroom tonight and chat a little…”

 

He trailed off dramatically. “But if you don’t want to, I guess I’ll forget it.”

 

!!!

 

The little dragon cub couldn’t hold back anymore. He stretched his neck toward Rong Heng eagerly. “We can still sleep in the bedroom?”

 

Though they loved to cling to Daddy and act cute, the cubs had all been to the battlefield. They understood—at least vaguely—that the adult world was different from a cub’s.

 

Now that Daddy had a partner, and they were growing up too, they figured they shouldn’t insist on sleeping with Daddy like they used to.

 

So while they were upset, none of them had thrown a tantrum.

 

But now Snowball was saying they could still sleep with Daddy?!

 

The cubs were visibly stirred.

 

Rong Heng nodded magnanimously, then added a condition, “You’re older now, so just this once.”

 

What he meant in his heart was: Just this once. The master bedroom is mine.

 

The cubs, blissfully unaware of his true thoughts, instantly tossed their earlier grievances aside and gleefully dove into his fur, rolling around.

 

By the time Ruan Shiqing came out of the bathroom, the bed had four extra occupants.

 

He looked at Rong Heng wordlessly.

 

Rong Heng gave him a look and silently mouthed: Let them fall asleep first.

 

Because they had rushed home without resting after clearing the Zerg nest, the cubs were tired and didn’t stay up long. Before long, they were all sound asleep.

 

Which meant they had no idea that while they were sleeping peacefully… Snowball and Daddy slipped back into the bathroom—And the sound of running water echoed late into the night.

 

 

---

 

 

They had 0 chance against Papa Rong Rong lol

 

(by the way, we officially have less than 10 chapters left of the story including the extras :’)) I’m not ready)

 

Thanks for reading!

For every three ko-fis, I will upload a bonus chapter~