Chapter 374: Hands Reaching Forward
As he cleaned the room while keeping an eye on the twins trailing after him and refusing to be left behind, Qiong Xing soon moved on to doing laundry with the children.
"You’re all very good at this. Do you help out often?"
"Grandma’s back hurts. So we all help."
"That’s very admirable."
"..."
The twins clung to either side of him while he chatted with the children and continued working.
The children had been wary and nervous at first, but after Qiong Xing properly explained that the twins were his children and asked everyone to get along, they gradually began treating them normally.
"Then, as a reward for everyone working so hard, let’s have meat for dinner tonight."
"Yaaay!"
The children cheered excitedly at the announcement of meat for dinner.
However, unlike the others, Yue, who normally loved meat, still looked downcast.
Qiong Xing had already told the twins that if they disliked being here, they could return home first.
Both of them had shaken their heads.
Since they had chosen to stay, Qiong Xing did not continue comforting them and instead carried on with the household chores as usual.
"Hey, hey, Yue, do you like meat? Agnes loves meat!"
"...I do."
"The sauce Brother Qiong Xing taught us is really yummy too. We don’t get to eat it all the time, so everyone gets excited when it’s meat day."
The cheerful girl hummed happily as she worked.
Though still nervous, Yue gradually began responding to her.
"Rui’s lucky. Brother Qiong Xing is his mama. I wish I had a mama like Brother Qiong Xing."
"...You don’t have a mama?"
"She told me I was in the way and should go somewhere else. But now I have everyone and Grandma, so I’m happy."
Some of the children here had lost their families.
Others had been abandoned by them.
Every child had ended up here for one reason or another.
Yet seeing them smile and say they were happy now made Qiong Xing feel that what he had done had not been wrong.
"Alright, we’re finished. There’s still time before dinner, so why don’t you all go play?"
"Yay!"
"Yue, come play too!"
"Rui too!"
The twins looked up at him uncertainly as the other children reached out their hands.
Qiong Xing smiled gently at them.
He lightly nudged them forward.
"Have fun."
Watching them run off together, he let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"...Just one step. But an important step, don’t you think?"
He gently rested a hand on his steadily growing stomach.
Judging by how quickly the child was growing and the size of his belly, the baby was almost certainly a beastman.
Humans had chosen fear and subjugation in response to that power.
Beastmen, in turn, had come to hate and resent humans because of the cruel treatment they endured.
Qiong Xing neither had the power to solve all of those problems nor any intention of trying to fix everything.
But still...
"Not teaching them anything, letting them know nothing, and never even giving them the chance to choose is wrong, isn’t it?"
Beastmen were taught that obeying humans was only natural.
Children who were raised hearing nothing but that defying humans was a sin could never truly grow up with a healthy understanding of the world.
That was why Qiong Xing had given them a choice.
Would they see beastmen as enemies or as friends?
There were only a handful of them here now, but Qiong Xing wanted the children who would grow up in the future to learn that beastmen were not something to fear.
He wanted them to see that beastmen were no different from humans.
Certainly, beastmen were stronger and physically larger.
But that did not make their lives more valuable than human lives.
Nor did it make them worth less.
Looking at Leander, who was powerful and dependable, and at Rui and Yue, who were about the same age as the other children, what would the children think?
"It would be nice if they could take each other’s hands and smile together."
Qiong Xing would never allow anyone to look down on or scorn Leander and the others who loved him so deeply.
He understood that every person had different thoughts and feelings.
Even so, there were things he could forgive and things he could not.
Leander and the others were the reason Qiong Xing was still alive.
Because of them, he had met the precious children he cherished so much.
He would never allow anyone to reject them simply because they were beastmen when they were the people who had brought him more happiness than anyone else.
They were his mates.
In other words, they were half of his very soul.
"Your papa is strong, dependable, and above all else, handsome. So..."
Qiong Xing gently rubbed his stomach.
"I hope you take after your papa."
He was confident he would love the child no matter which parent the baby resembled.
Still, there was nothing wrong with making his preference known.
Despite all the complications, children truly were adaptable.
The twins, who had been reluctant at first, and the other children, who had been uncertain about the unfamiliar ears and tails, were now playing together after only a few hours as though they had been friends for years.
"See? Everything turned out fine, didn’t it?"
"It did. That’s because they’re children. If they were adults, it probably wouldn’t have gone this smoothly."
If the same thing had been attempted with adults who had spent their entire lives being taught certain beliefs, things would likely not have gone nearly as well.
Qiong Xing smiled as he watched the children running around happily.
"Now then. After moving around that much, they’re bound to get hungry soon. Leander should be back before long, so I should start preparing dinner..."
"Looks like today was a lucky day. It’s been a while, Qiong Xing."
At the sound of that voice, Qiong Xing turned around and immediately smiled at the familiar face.
"It’s been a while, Rohen. Have you been well?"
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