Beast World: From Villainess to Cub-Raising Chef

Chapter 169: Chapter 167: Do We Have to Eat This Crayfish?

Wen Lan splayed his large hand, easily able to encompass her small, palm-sized face, and pushed her away with a dark expression.

Bai Su: "..."

Wen Xiaobao picked at her fingers, feeling a little guilty. "Daddy..."

Wen Lan disdainfully wiped his hand on Bai Su’s clothes.

Bai Su: "..."

Wen Lan ignored her thunderous expression, cupped the little one’s head, and pressed the little rabbit’s face into his chest. He watched Bai Su vigilantly. "Miss Bai, please stay away from my daughter."

Only then did Bai Su remember. This man had been just like this last time, showing an inexplicable and immense hostility toward her.

She’d seen fathers who doted on their daughters, but she’d never seen one this obsessive.

She had no choice but to raise the cake in her hands. "I mean no harm. I just wanted to give her a piece of cake..."

Wen Lan watched her, his face a mask. His lips curled, and he coldly spat out a single word: "Leave."

Bai Su was starting to get angry too. "What is your problem? Can’t you tell when someone is being nice? I..."

Wen Lan activated his smart device. "Hello? Federation Police? There’s a child trafficker here. Yes, on Central Avenue, number..."

Bai Su’s expression turned completely cold. If it weren’t for how adorable the little one was, she really wouldn’t have been able to stop herself from punching him in the face.

Holding the cake, she turned and went straight back to her restaurant.

Only then did Wen Lan turn off his smart device. The screen showed that no call had ever been placed.

Wen Xiaobao timidly tugged at the corner of Wen Lan’s clothes. "Daddy..."

Wen Lan tapped her lightly on the tip of her nose. "How many times have I told you? Run when you see her. Have you forgotten everything Daddy told you?"

Wen Xiaobao watched Bai Su’s disappearing figure and licked her lips with a hint of regret. "I haven’t forgotten..."

Seeing her little rabbit ears droop and her pitiful expression, Wen Lan’s heart softened. "Alright, once we’re settled in, Daddy will make you something delicious."

Wen Xiaobao couldn’t help but complain internally. ’Even though he follows the pretty lady’s videos, the taste is really worlds apart...’

’I really want to eat the lady’s cooking.’

Wen Lan carried the child through the general store and out to the back alley.

A large truck loaded with appliances for the general store was parked nearby. It was obvious they were moving in.

Wen Dabao was using brute force to hoist a refrigerator with one hand before tossing it off the truck.

Wen Lan barely managed to catch it.

"Wen Dabao, if you break one more appliance, you can forget about next month’s allowance!" Wen Lan said, his face dark, as he smacked the back of her head.

Wen Dabao yelped, clutching her head and jumping in agitation. "What kind of father makes his own four-year-old daughter do manual labor while he just stands there and gives orders?"

Wen Lan scoffed and shot her a cool glance. "We just had New Year’s. You’re five now."

Wen Dabao glared at him. "What’s the difference?"

Wen Lan smiled. "Fine. If you don’t burn off all that energy now and dare to tear the house down tonight, I’ll hang you from the tower in the square and let all the little brats in the Imperial City laugh at you."

Wen Dabao fell silent, turned her head, and went back to moving furniture.

She was born with immense strength. Carrying a refrigerator, a large air conditioner, or a washing machine with one hand was as easy for her as lifting a finger.

Wen Xiaobao whispered from the side, "Go, sister! You’re the best!"

Hearing this, Wen Dabao immediately puffed out her little chest again. "Of course I am!"

Praised by her younger sister, Wen Dabao got excited and charged into the general store, huffing and puffing as she carried a large mattress. The wide mattress accidentally knocked over the upright air conditioner they had just moved.

The air conditioner teetered for a moment before crashing to the ground with a devastating BANG.

Wen Lan pressed a hand to his forehead, a headache coming on. His chest heaved violently.

By the time the father and his two daughters finished moving the furniture and cleaning up, it was already past 8 p.m.

The crowd at the restaurant across the street had thinned, replaced by customers there for a late-night supper.

In fact, it was quite crowded.

With the arrival of warmer spring weather, more people were coming out for late-night meals.

Spicy crayfish, stir-fried rice noodles, clams with vermicelli, small barbecue skewers, pig’s trotter soup, luosifen—the restaurant had every kind of rich, savory late-night dish imaginable.

Aside from lunchtime, when Bai Su was in the kitchen, the busiest time for the restaurant was after 8 p.m.

The lights were off on the first floor of the general store across the street; one could vaguely see that it was like a supermarket selling small goods. The lights were on upstairs, but the curtains were drawn.

The back of the building housed a kitchen and a storeroom.

Inside the kitchen, the two little ones could smell the aroma of late-night snacks wafting over from the restaurant across the street, and their stomachs were rumbling with hunger.

Wen Lan, wearing an apron, was wrestling with some crayfish, his face dark.

His smart device was projecting a floating screen nearby. On it, a beautiful female Drooping Ear Rabbit was skillfully preparing crayfish, attempting to teach her audience how to stir-fry a fragrant late-night snack.

His face grim, Wen Lan had just been pinched for the eighteenth time. The large crustaceans were covered in sand and aquatic plants, clearly fresh from the market.

He kept scrubbing the progress bar back and forth, trying to understand how Bai Su managed to hold the crayfish without getting pinched.

After watching for a long time, he turned to the two little ones sitting on small stools beside him. "Do we absolutely have to eat this crayfish?"

The two little ones nodded in unison, staring at him with wide, hopeful eyes.

One had inherited her father’s good looks, the other her mother’s; the miniature versions of them were devastatingly cute.

They blinked their big eyes at him, full of expectation.

Countless times, he had surrendered to looks just like these, devolving step-by-step from the most dashing rogue in the International Alliance to a nagging mother hen.

Wen Lan took a deep breath and conceded. "Fine, I’ll try again."

In the video, Bai Su could always pinch the crayfish’s back with practiced ease, using a small toothbrush to scrub it clean.

But when he tried to imitate her, no matter what angle he tried, his fingers would get pinched, drawing a small cut.

Wen Lan was getting extremely irritable. Staring at the woman in the video with her flower-like smile, his resentment grew even stronger.

Ever since Wen Dabao had snuck away during a military department mission to get a box of strawberry pudding from Bai Su for Wen Xiaobao, the two little ones had entered a mode of relentless pestering.

They no longer wanted to eat canned food, nor did they want to drink their nutrient solution.

Every day, they begged him to watch Bai Su’s videos and learn to cook for them.

And he, unable to resist, had actually compromised and learned to make stir-fried tomatoes and eggs. That one dish had started the two little ones down the path of picky eating, and they had refused to touch canned food or nutrient solution ever since.

But he wasn’t successful every time. It was common for his food to turn out too salty, too bland, burnt, or blackened.

The two little ones, who used to be chubby, had actually gotten thinner recently under his care.

His heart ached for them, so he kept lowering his standards, to the point that today he had even agreed to try making them spicy crayfish...

He was purely and simply asking for trouble!

But when faced with the two little ones’ expectant gazes, he couldn’t bear to disappoint them.

「12:30 a.m.」

Wen Dabao couldn’t stay awake any longer. She yawned, "Dad, why don’t you just go ask that woman tomorrow?"

Wen Lan shot her a death glare. "What nonsense are you spouting?"