Chapter 362: Reward Chart
Inside the melon Raon had hollowed out, Qiong Xing arranged colorful fruits.
Hidden beneath them was a layer of ice cream.
It had taken a fair amount of effort, but Raon felt it had been worth it.
It looked good, and it would taste good too.
Afterward, they called everyone over.
The moment the children saw it, their eyes lit up.
"Raon helped too. There’s a surprise inside, so give it a try."
"It’s yummy!"
"Apples! My favorite!"
"Banana."
"Rawr~!?"
The children happily dug into the fruit.
When they discovered the ice cream hidden underneath, they became even more excited.
"...You could’ve told me. I would’ve helped."
At the muttered complaint, Raon turned around.
Albe was glaring at him resentfully.
Apparently, he did not like seeing Raon standing in what he considered his usual place.
"Weren’t you busy playing with Lian and the others?"
"I would’ve stopped if you’d asked! That was supposed to be my spot..."
Raon had no idea how to respond to that.
After all, he had only accepted an invitation.
If he had refused, Albe probably would have complained about that too.
"Thank you, Albe. Then I’ll ask for your help next time."
"Okay."
The difference in treatment was ridiculous.
Albe glared at Raon as if he’d committed some crime, yet immediately accepted Qiong Xing’s words without protest.
Raon wisely kept his thoughts to himself, though inwardly he wanted to shout that Qiong Xing was the real culprit.
"Raon, thank you for helping too. Thanks to you, we were able to make something delicious."
With Qiong Xing smiling so sincerely while thanking him, Raon found himself unable to complain.
The fact that being thanked made him happy only proved that he was far softer on Qiong Xing than he liked to admit.
"Well, I had fun too. And I got to eat something good, so I’m satisfied. Lian? What’s wrong?"
Feeling a tug on his sleeve, Raon looked down.
The children suddenly threw themselves at him.
"It was delicious!"
"I like apples!"
"Bananas too!"
"Rawr~!?"
Hearing their enthusiastic thanks one after another, Raon genuinely felt glad that he had helped.
And at the same time, he finally understood why Albe had been so unwilling to give up this place.
"...Stop glaring and eat already."
"Big brother’s so unfair."
Even though Raon had only helped because he was asked, he found himself wondering why he was being glared at so much.
He ended up directing a little resentment toward Qiong Xing, the true source of the problem.
...
Albe found himself wondering why the children were being unusually quiet.
Elias had entered his rut the previous night, which meant Qiong Xing had not been around.
When the twins woke up and immediately asked where Mama was, Albe had explained that Qiong Xing was unavailable.
Normally, the twins would cry and throw a fit, but today they were strangely calm.
"Mama said please."
"Mama said to do it when he’s not here."
The twins filled cups with water and hurried outside.
Curious, Albe followed them and discovered them watering the flowers in the flower bed everyone had made together before.
Those flowers were being grown to place at Qiong Xing’s parents’ grave.
Seeing that, Albe finally understood.
So this was the task Qiong Xing had entrusted to them.
"Brother Albe, we’re done!"
"We’re done!"
The twins ran back and forth several times carrying water until every flower had been watered.
Once they finished, they immediately dashed off somewhere else.
Intrigued, Albe followed them again.
"Did you make sure every flower got watered?"
"We did!"
"We did!"
"Good. Then... Rui gets a star, and Yue gets a flower."
"Yayyy!"
The twins cheered happily.
"...What’s that?" Raon asked.
Looking over their shoulders, Albe saw drawings of stars and flowers on a sheet of paper.
At first, he thought they were about to start drawing, but the twins only celebrated and made no move to pick up any crayons.
"It’s a reward chart. If they do the jobs Qiong Xing leaves for them when he’s gone, they get a stamp. When they collect enough, they get a reward." Albe said.
"I see. So watering the flowers was one of those jobs. But wouldn’t it be faster if Cari did it?"
Since Cari could use water magic, the task could have been finished instantly.
Albe laughed.
"That’s what I thought at first too."
He remembered what Qiong Xing had told him.
"’Just because Cari can do it faster doesn’t mean he should. The important thing is that it’s their job. Even if it takes longer, there’s value in letting them do it themselves.’"
Letting Cari handle everything simply because he could do it would be unfair.
If that logic were followed, then every task Cari was capable of would end up becoming his responsibility.
That would make no sense.
Since there was no urgent time limit, it was fine if the twins took their time.
The fact that they had carefully carried water back and forth themselves proved how seriously they were taking the responsibility.
Qiong Xing treasured these flowers and the twins were clearly proud to have been trusted with them.
For children overflowing with energy, it was probably the perfect arrangement.
They got to move around, complete a job, and earn a reward afterward.
"And I’m the one who checks their work. Apparently Cari and Lian have jobs too. Everyone’s working hard because they want rewards." Albe said.
Qiong Xing had really thought this through.
"You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. But if you don’t do it, you don’t get anything. If you work hard, you get praised and rewarded. Of course everyone wants to do it."
Albe had no idea when Qiong Xing had put something like this together.
He had probably been thinking about ways to help the children deal with his absence whenever a rut or heat season came around.
Instead of simply waiting sadly for him to return, they could focus on completing their assigned tasks.
Then, when Qiong Xing came back, they would be praised.
