At night, Quan Ci had just finished bathing when he received a virtual call from Wei’an. As soon as the call connected, a little male cub appeared on the screen, lying on the bed and playfully kicking his soft, white feet.
The little male cub, amusing himself on the bed, beamed with joy upon seeing him and squinted his eyes with delight. “Brother!”
“Hmm.” Quan Ci sat on the bed while drying his hair, wondering why this little cub was always so happy. Every time he saw him, the cub was smiling as if he didn’t have a single worry in the world.
But then again, it was normal for cubs this young to have no worries.
“I went to cheer for my brother today~ He even won first place~”
“Huh?” He didn’t recall needing any cheering.
For a moment, Quan Ci was puzzled, but then he realized that Wei’an must have gone to cheer for Quan Fan, the only one still attending school on Kato Star.
Looking at Wei’an, Quan Ci suddenly noticed that the cub always called them both “brother.” It wasn’t a problem when they were alone, but if they were together, it might cause some confusion.
He sat up straight and pointed to himself. “Call me Thirteenth Brother or Brother Quan Ci.”
Wei’an blinked and obediently called out, “Brother Quan Ci~”
But as soon as he finished, he went back to his usual tone. “Brother, tomorrow I’m going to pick fruits! What kind of fruit do you want? I’ll send it to you~”
Seeing him like this, Quan Ci gave up trying to correct him. “Anything is fine.”
“Leave it to me! I must pick the most delicious ones for my brother~” Wei’an sat up and proudly patted his little chest.
Under the serene blue sky and white clouds, Wei’an was busy packing fruits with Shang You and a few other friends, all intended as gifts for their older brothers.
“Wei’an, why are you sending fruit to your brothers?” Shang You asked, puffing as he helped with the packing.
“Because they’re my brothers, of course!” Wei’an replied, carefully tying a colorful ribbon.
“Do you always send things to your brothers?” asked Cole, joining the conversation.
“Of course, they’re my brothers,” Wei’an said, pausing his ribbon work and looking at them in confusion. “Don’t you all send things to your brothers?”
The other cubs, who had never sent anything to their family, exchanged puzzled glances. Finally, Naiman spoke up, “But they’re females?”
Wei’an looked even more confused. “Aren’t females also brothers? Why wouldn’t you send something if they’re your brothers? I even send gifts to my male father, female father, and uncle!”
He started counting all the Zerg he needed to send gifts to on his fingers, then gasped in surprise, realizing he had so many to send to. It seemed like the fruits they had picked weren’t enough.
Noticing that the fruits wouldn’t be enough, Wei’an quickly hopped on his little cloud and flew off to pick more.
After Wei’an left, Shang You and the others huddled together hesitantly. Shang You spoke uncertainly to Krillochuan, “Should we also send some to our male and female fathers?”
Krillochuan put on a serious expression and nodded. “We should.”
“But we’ll need to pick more fruit together,” Naiman chimed in, raising his hand. “Wei’an is picking too slowly.”
“Let’s go then, charge!” Cole clapped his hands and rushed into the orchard. “I’ll definitely pick faster and better than all of you.”
Hearing this, Krillochuan couldn’t maintain his serious demeanor any longer. He raised his voice as he ran forward, hoping Cole would hear, “The ones I pick will be the best!”
Naiman shrugged and said, “Krillochuan’s image didn’t last.”
“What’s ‘image’ mean?” Shang You wrinkled his little nose and asked.
Naiman tilted his head, thinking for a moment before replying, “It’s when he always tries to keep a straight face but ends up not being able to.” After saying that, he nodded to himself, as if confirming it was correct. “Yeah, that’s what it means.”
Shang Yan watched the group in silence.
At his age, he should already be in the kindergarten, but because males and females enter at different ages, and Shang You, after meeting Wei’an, loved to take him out to play, his male father decided to delay his entry. With Shang Yan around, at least he could keep an eye on the younger male cubs.
Krillochuan was also of age to enter kindergarten, but he insisted on waiting to go in with his friends.
At last, after much effort, the fruits were packed by the evening and sent off by the butler through a teleportation point.
As for whether using an expensive teleportation point to send fruit was too extravagant, the butler remarked that anything the young master sent had to arrive as fast as possible, or else the young master would be very anxious waiting.
——
Femir Star was a military planet, where Quan Fei was currently stationed. With no missions at the moment, she was on standby with her unit.
When she heard she had received a package, she was surprised. Upon opening it and discovering it was a box of fruit, she froze for a moment.
Last night, Wei’an had sent a voice message in their group chat, asking for their addresses to send them fruit. Seeing that only Quan Yan and Quan Ci had responded, she’d figured that the well-behaved little cub wouldn’t really send anything. But for some reason, she had still sent her address.
In retrospect, it was likely because she had been so deprived of fruit recently that upon hearing he was giving some away, she instinctively provided her address.
She hadn’t expected to actually receive fruit the next day.
Looking at the fresh, plump fruit, clearly handpicked and washed, she thought it must have been packed by the family’s servants. She picked out her favorite snow fruit and took a bite—it was quite sweet. Having spent so much time on the battlefield, it had been a long while since she’d had fruit this sweet.
She brought the fruit out to share with her comrades.
“This is so sweet! Where did you buy this, Captain?”
Quan Fei thought for a moment. “I got it from Kato Star.”
“Would it still be this fresh, coming from so far away?”
“It was sent through a teleportation point.”
“Captain, you’re really living it up!”
Meanwhile, after receiving the fruit, Quan Ci immediately stored it in his space storage, completely ignoring the playful Chu Yuan and the mischievous Jian Feng, who were stirred up by his actions.
“It’s just a piece of fruit, isn’t it? You’ve already let Jian Feng meet little Wei’an, yet you won’t even show me a photo. Now, little Wei’an has sent fruit to his brothers, and you want to keep it all to yourself?” Chu Yuan said, his face filled with a hurt expression.
Quan Ci completely ignored his feigned sadness. “It was sent to me, not you.”
“What do you mean it was sent to you? Your little brother is our little brother too. Didn’t Wei’an say he was sending fruit to all his brothers? That includes us!”
Quan Ci turned and walked away without a second glance, but Chu Yuan, of course, wouldn’t let him go and chased after him persistently.
Jian Feng had recently been rescued, and Chu Yuan was very happy about that. But he couldn’t stop talking about how adorable little Wei’an was, going on and on about how sweet he smelled like milk and how he would even give him candy.
The more he listened, the more jealous he became, that was a little male cub, they were all brothers, why didn’t he introduce him to him?
Meanwhile, Quan Yan, who was wandering around the interstellar regions, also received a box of fruit. Calmly, he snapped a picture, posted it to his social feed, and captioned it: “Fruit personally picked by my little brother. It tastes different, especially sweet.”
He Fang, who was fed up with Quan Yan constantly showing off his little brother, couldn’t help but comment: “A little brother? What a shame. I think a little sister would be cuter. My aunt has a three-year-old sub female, and she’s the cutest thing ever.”
Quan Yan raised an eyebrow and replied, “Does your sister pick fruit for you to eat? Does she give you candy? Does she share her favorite pastries with you? Does she cry when your toy gets broken and only calm down when you comfort her?”
He Fang, unimpressed, thought he was exaggerating. What normal kid would do all that? “Don’t make up an ideal personality just to win this silly competition.”
Quan Yan simply replied with a “Heh,” not even bothering to add an exclamation mark.
Wei’an was a very thoughtful little cub, especially when it came to his brothers. The fruit for Quan Fan had been carefully packaged by Wei’an himself and delivered personally.
At the gate of Lance Academy, Quan Fan was holding snacks in one hand and fruit in the other, while Wei’an was standing on tiptoe, trying to hang the last lunchbox around his neck.
Quan Fan patiently squatted down to help, completely unconcerned with how ridiculous he might look.
After delivering everything, Wei’an waved a reluctant goodbye. But halfway through his departure, he ran back with little footsteps, “Brother, give me a kiss~” He stood on tiptoe and turned his face to the side, offering his chubby little cheek.
Seeing the anticipation in his eyes, Quan Fan suddenly bent down and playfully bit his cheek.
Wei’an’s eyes widened in surprise. “Brother, are you going to eat me? I don’t taste good~”
A smile appeared in Quan Fan’s eyes. He stood up straight, coughed twice, and walked away as if nothing had happened.
Wei’an, still touching his cheek, bounced up and down as he waved, “Brother, when you’re on vacation, should Wei’an come pick you up?”
“Sure.”
That night, while Alhandra Zangshi was reviewing documents in his study, he suddenly received a call from Wei’an. Slightly surprised, he realized that it had been a long time since he last visited the little cub.
As soon as the call connected, the soft and plump little Wei’an appeared on his screen.
“Uncle.” The little cub wasn’t shy at all, his voice sweet and filled with anticipation. “Uncle, did you receive the fruit Wei’an picked?”
“Fruit?”
“Yeah, Wei’an picked it early in the morning and wrapped it in a pretty box~”
“I received it. The fruit is very sweet, thank you.” Alhandra Zangshi raised his hand and pretended to stroke Wei’an’s hair through the screen.
He was so happy to receive the compliment that he narrowed his eyes and jumped twice, “Now I’ll go ask my brothers if they received theirs. Goodbye, Uncle.”
“Mm, goodbye.”
After the call ended, Alhandra Zangshi instructed his butler to check on the package delivered from Kato Star and bring it to his study.
As the head of the Alhandra family, he received so many gifts from people trying to curry favor that any unannounced packages were routinely confiscated and returned.
Because Wei’an had been too focused on picking the fruit, he had forgotten to ask for Alhandra Zangshi’s address. Fortunately, the butler knew it and had added it at the last minute, so the package had been sent without prior notice.
When the package was opened, inside was a beautifully wrapped box of fruit. However, the bow was crooked and clumsily tied, clearly the work of a cub.
Alhandra Zangshi picked up one of the more common fruits and took a bite. The sweet and sour flavor spread from his mouth to his heart.
He gazed at the remaining fruit for a long while before smiling. Then, he spent most of the night browsing the nursery section of the interstellar network.
That same night, Shang Ying raised an eyebrow in surprise after receiving a gift from his cub. “This is rare!”
Shang You puffed out his little chest proudly, his eyes darting around, clearly waiting for praise.
Before Shang Ying, as his male father, could say anything, his female father Shang Hao excitedly scooped Shang You up and tossed him into the air. “Our little You is amazing!”
Shang You initially tried to hold back, but soon couldn’t help laughing out loud, his joyful voice filling the room. Shang Ying, who usually remained composed, allowed them to have their fun this time.
However, when he saw Shang Yan’s slightly envious look on the side, he paused for a moment before turning his gaze away.
Krillochuan, Naiman, Cole, and the others’ families were also pleasantly surprised by the gifts, so much so that they went to bed that night with smiles on their faces.
The next day, Wei’an, now buried in an avalanche of gifts, blinked in astonishment. His soft voice filled with delight and a bit of pride, “Male father~ My brothers and uncle bought all of this~ For Wei’an~”
Looking at the extravagant gifts, any one of which could easily cost tens or even hundreds of thousands, Alhandra Zangshi had to admit that they truly doted on Wei’an. In most families with male cubs, the best outcome was usually just leaving each other alone, but in this case, the pampering had reached almost heavenly levels.
What could he say? His little Wei’an was simply the most lovable male cub around.
Feigning indifference, he took a picture of the scene and posted it online.
Wei’an, who noticed that his father was taking pictures of him, tilted his head in confusion. He was often pulled by his brothers to take pictures, he never understood why taking pictures was so fun.
