Ziqing had left no corner of the Poisonous Beast World unsearched, and yet she never once cut back on the time she spent with the little baby.

Even though the baby, raised in the Poisonous Beast World, had grown stronger physically than a typical spirit-connected child, developing far ahead of schedule, there was a price to pay — seeing nothing but poisonous beasts every day and only ever one human, herself, was not good for his growth.

Far from cutting back on time with him, Ziqing spent more and more time with her son every day.

Because everything the little baby would have learned in the human world, she alone had to teach him.

Fortunately, the child was extremely bright, and fortunately too, the Four Great Poisonous Beasts had all had contact with humans before — apart from their bodies, their thinking and speech were much like a human’s.

At that moment, the little family was all sitting together on a great boulder, keeping the baby company.

The Big Dopey Bear had practically become the baby’s personal mount, and Ziqing had been enjoying the benefit of it too.

Mother and son lay comfortably curled up on the Big Dopey Bear’s furry back. Every so often, a flash of light glinted from inside Ziqing’s boot, like the shimmer of a dagger’s edge, though somehow a little strange — but no one had ever noticed it.

Just past his first birthday, the little baby’s limbs already moved with remarkable dexterity, and he was learning to talk, babbling away all day long. Some of the sounds seemed to be words he’d made up himself — not even the Four Great Poisonous Beasts could make sense of them, let alone Ziqing.

Still, everyone loved listening to his babbling, especially Ziqing — to her, it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

“Mommy… mommy…”

There was no doubt: the word the little baby loved most, and said most clearly, was that one.

“Mommy… mommy…”

There he went again, repeating it endlessly, tirelessly, for no particular reason, just happily calling out.

The word “mommy” left the Four Great Poisonous Beasts baffled at first, but after hearing it enough times, they understood he meant Ziqing.

“Come on, let’s learn a new one!”

“Mother…”

Ziqing beamed, and from a distance she looked just like a carefree young mother.

“Mother… tell mommy, mother…”

“Come on, watch my mouth, come on, mother…”

Ziqing patiently coached him, but the little baby seemed unresponsive, staring at her mouth with his wide, dark, deep-set eyes.

“Mother… mother…”

No matter how she taught him, he showed no reaction. Being used to her son’s habits, Ziqing wasn’t worried, but the Four Great Poisonous Beasts on the side grew anxious, each of them struggling to hold back the urge to say it along with her.

But they didn’t dare — Ziqing had a rule that they weren’t allowed to interrupt while she was teaching the baby to talk, because, as she’d pointed out, their speech carried a beastly accent and wasn’t proper.

The Four Great Poisonous Beasts felt this was terribly unfair.

But just as the four of them were growing anxious, the little baby suddenly opened his mouth and called out in a milky little voice, “Mother dear…”

Huh?

Ziqing had only taught him “mother,” not “mother dear.”

Suspicious, she slowly turned to look at the Four Great Poisonous Beasts, who all lowered their heads at once, in perfect unison.

Seeing this, the little baby burst into giggles, looking thoroughly pleased with himself, like he was gloating.

That laughter, so innocent and pure on the surface, sent chills down the spines of the Four Great Poisonous Beasts.

Ziqing probably didn’t know it yet, but the Four Great Poisonous Beasts were now certain — this child was without a doubt a little troublemaker!

They had all agreed, agreed clearly, to keep it secret that they’d been teaching him to talk, not to let his mommy find out. And now this!

“Daddy…”

Suddenly the little baby shouted, and this time the Four Great Poisonous Beasts wished they could bury their heads straight into the ground.

Of all the words this little troublemaker could bring up, he had to pick this one — they had made it especially clear that this word, above all, was forbidden, and he had nodded firmly and promised. And now this!

Seeing the Four Great Poisonous Beasts’ heads nearly touching the ground, the little baby grew even more delighted, shouting “Daddy, daddy” over and over.

But he had no real understanding of what the word meant, nor how much it would hurt his mommy to hear it.

Ziqing slowly turned to look at her son, a wave of mixed emotions and bittersweet feelings rising all at once.

Jun Beiyue, do you know your child has learned to say “daddy”?

Seeing his mommy’s expression turn heavy, the little baby’s excited shouting cut off abruptly. He didn’t dare say anything more, just gazed at her with pleading eyes.

In truth, he was smarter than anyone imagined. He had secretly memorized every word the Four Great Poisonous Beasts taught him, and had picked up a great deal more just from listening to them talk among themselves.

He’d been keeping it a secret, planning to surprise his mommy with it.

But now… his mommy didn’t seem happy?

The little baby realized he’d done something wrong, though he had no idea what. Seeing his mommy looking at him like that, he suddenly felt terribly guilty, reaching out his little hand to wrap around her neck and hug her with all the strength he could muster, trying to make it up to her.

“Mommy… there, there!”

“Mommy… let me kiss it better.”

When he was naughty and hurt himself, both the Big Dopey Bear and the Four Great Poisonous Beasts would comfort him this way, so now, not understanding what was wrong with his mommy, he just hugged her tightly and blew gently at her eyes. “There, there… don’t cry, mommy, baby will make it better…”

Ziqing had felt fine until then, but seeing the worried expression on her son’s tender little face, the ache in her chest suddenly rushed straight to her eyes, and tears nearly fell.

But she blinked, and in the end held them back — not only held them back, but even laughed.

She gently rubbed his little head and smiled, “Silly boy, mommy’s not like you. Mommy doesn’t cry.”

Even in front of her husband, she never liked to shed tears, never liked to cry — let alone in front of her son.

Clever as he was, the little baby was still just a baby. Seeing his mother smile, he immediately giggled again.

Ziqing then covered his face with both hands and put on a stern look, “Now tell me, just how much have they been teaching you!”

The little baby laughed happily, glancing past Ziqing at the Four Great Poisonous Beasts behind her, looking thoroughly mischievous and sly, giggling nonstop.

The Four Great Poisonous Beasts regretted it down to their bones — how could their master, who always looked so trustworthy, have raised such an untrustworthy little snitch who sold out his companions?

Could he have inherited it from his father?

“When did they start teaching you?” Ziqing asked again. She could now be fairly certain that she no longer needed to explain things patiently and repeatedly as before — the little baby understood everything perfectly, and grasped things after hearing them just once.

But the little baby only kept giggling, watching the Four Great Poisonous Beasts’ eyes crinkle into thin lines from laughing, yet never saying a word.

This little troublemaker really knew how to entertain himself!

Seeing this, Ziqing wasn’t about to hold it against them — in fact, she owed the Four Great Poisonous Beasts and the Big Dopey Bear her gratitude.

Without them providing shelter and several nutritious meals a day, she couldn’t imagine how much more she would have had to endure on her own.

As the little baby kept amusing himself, Ziqing’s darkened expression gradually cleared, and she couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

At that moment, the Four Great Poisonous Beasts finally let out a sigh of relief. The Great Beast Zizhu was the first to look up, about to say something, when it suddenly spotted several streaks of shimmering, colorful light silently slipping out from Ziqing’s boot. What was that?