Chapter 27
Chapter 27: The Offspring Register and Suspicion
Su Yan met his gaze and curved her lips. “Brother Zulu, I’ll teach you how to mix the formula. It’s easy. Just… taking care of three will be more trouble. It might take some of your devil-hunting time.”
“Raising cubs is a male’s responsibility,” Zulu said without hesitation. “You focus on recovering.”
“Good.”
Su Yan cracked open the tin. A rich, clean milk scent spilled out and filled the room, warm and comforting like sunlight on fur.
Ashley leaned in, eyes bright. “It smells amazing.”
“This is what young beasts in the East District drink. It’s made from goat’s milk.”
Su Yan handed the baby bottle to Zulu. “Wash it again.”
Zulu took it and used water profundity along with a dust-cleansing spell. The faint sheen of moisture flashed and vanished; in seconds it looked brand-new.
“That really is convenient,” Su Yan murmured, taking it back, crystal-clear and cool to the touch.
She poured hot water, followed the method printed on the tin, and mixed a bottle. Then she rolled it between her palms until the powder dissolved completely, watching the last pale swirl disappear.
She handed it to Zulu. “Got it?”
“Mm.” He held it carefully, memorizing the warmth through his fingers.
Ashley asked, “That’s all they need?”
“For now,” Su Yan said. “They’re tiny. They can only drink this.”
Ashley shook her head. “But you gave birth to two different kinds of cubs. Their growth won’t match. Rabbit clan pups won’t start teething until half a month. Then they can eat soft meat. The mouse pup will start teething in seven days, so you can prepare tender meat earlier. By the time they’re a month old, they’re basically weaned—only meat after that.”
Su Yan looked at the three little bundles, all breathing softly in their sleep. “I’ve never raised cubs either. I’m lucky you’re here.”
Ashley laughed. “I only know a little more than you. There’s also the cub nursery—tribe-run. They’re excellent at raising children. I sent mine there. In just three days, they got bigger.”
“Would they take ones this small?”
“They’ll take them. And they have nursing females too, if you want someone to feed them for you. It costs more, though. Once you’re stronger, go ask in person.”
“I’ll go tomorrow,” Su Yan said, smiling.
After giving Su Yan a list of postpartum warnings, Ashley finally left, carrying salted jerky and other goods she couldn’t refuse.
Oro frowned at the idea of sending the cubs away. He insisted the Old Elder Female at the nursery might abuse children.
Besides, Oro could help. And Little Luo—who Oro had raised with his own hands—had experience caring for cubs too.
When the rabbit clan’s old clan leader heard Su Yan had given birth to two females and one male, he was delighted. Gifts arrived in a hurry, stacked like a promise at the door.
But gifts never came without strings.
Along with them came a demand: all three cubs had to take the Deyila family surname.
Zulu didn’t argue. He simply looked at Su Yan, leaving the decision to her.
In the end, Su Yan agreed to give the old clan leader only one—the biggest blue-gray rabbit pup, a female. She would take the Deyila family surname.
The other two, one female and one male, would take Mi Lu Te.
Especially the little male. He looked too much like Zulu’s true form.
Even the wide, clear eyes were the same. Su Yan couldn’t help liking him.
The old clan leader agreed and sent an Old Elder Female named Emma to help care for the cubs.
Emma had raised Zulu before. The moment she saw the little male, she exclaimed he looked exactly like Zulu, and that his talent would surely be high.
Su Yan already knew the truth from the childbearing system—his rank, his dual-element mysteries. Emma’s certainty only confirmed it.
Su Yan named all three cubs herself and made a beast-skin offspring register.
But when she set her pen down to write, she left the first slot blank.
She began on the second line instead:
Father: Zulu ·Deyila family.
Mother: Su Yan Mi Lu Te.
Eldest daughter: Yu Xuan Deira.
Second daughter: Yu Shi Shi Mi Lu Te.
Youngest son: Fa Se Mi Lu Te.
Zulu picked up the register and read it once. Then his gaze settled on that empty space. “Why is there a blank line?”
“It’s called leaving blank,” Su Yan said. “A style of writing.”
Zulu hummed. “This register is big enough to hold hundreds of names.”
Su Yan’s face turned solemn. “The Mi Lu Te line will endure for a hundred generations—famed through the ages.”
“….”
Then she changed the subject, eyes narrowing. “Weren’t you hunting devil beasts? Why are you still at home?”
“I’ve killed almost all of them,” Zulu said, voice casual. “If any remain, they’ve run into the deepest, most hidden parts of the Beast Forest. Hard to find. The rabbit clan and mouse clan clan chiefs have decided to stop hunting. Both clans will rest and rebuild.”
“So you don’t have much to do now,” Su Yan said, quietly putting the register away.
Zulu hooked a strand of her snow-white hair around his finger, rubbing it between his knuckles as if testing silk. “Then how about we have another litter?”
Su Yan gave a soft, airy laugh. “No.”
He looked genuinely startled. He had expected her to agree.
Su Yan stood. “I’m going to the tribal shaman to find Ashley. I might be back late. Take care of the children.”
Zulu watched her leave the yard. Slowly, a deep, amused smile spread across his face, like something waking in the dark.
The moment Su Yan stepped outside, her own expression dropped into coldness.
She was almost certain now.
The Zulu in front of her was fake.
These days, he swung between distant and close. His small habits didn’t match. His attitude toward the cubs was strangely indifferent… aside from the identical skin, nothing lined up.
She didn’t want to believe it. But if it was true, then where was the real Zulu?
How could someone look exactly like him—even the mole on his lower back in the same place, not a hair out of line?
Until she found the real Zulu, she had to endure it. Play along. Circle him.
Head down, mind racing, she walked straight into something soft.
A sharp voice snapped. “Su Yan Mi Lu Te! Are you blind?”
Su Yan lifted her head.
Rona.
What bad luck. Or perhaps no luck at all.
The road was wide, and Su Yan had been walking along the edge. Yet she still collided with her—as if Rona had been waiting for it.
“Sorry,” Su Yan said evenly.
Rona’s brows rose, eyes hard. “If I stole Brother Zulu from you and said sorry too, would you forgive me?”
“Rona.” Su Yan’s patience cooled. “That’s not the same thing.”
Rona stepped closer, crowding her space. “I think it is.”
Su Yan couldn’t be bothered to trade barbs. She moved to go around her. “I’m going to the tribal shaman. If I hit you hard enough that something hurts, come with me and get checked.”
Rona stared at her back. “Don’t think you can keep Brother Zulu all to yourself. A male as powerful as him isn’t something you can own alone.”
Su Yan stopped and turned.
Rona’s body was full and round in all the places males favored—exactly the kind Ashley said meant a female could bear many cubs.
But her face—
Round cheeks dotted with freckles, a double chin, a flat nose, small eyes, skin rough and greasy.
Su Yan’s lips curved. “Even if Zulu leaves me, it won’t be because of you.”
Then she smiled—slow, dazzling, almost playful.
Her beauty bloomed like sudden flowers in a storm, stealing the air from the world.
For an instant, even Rona went still.
Su Yan turned and walked away.
Zulu was a face addict. From the day he saw her, he’d been bewitched. He’d married into Mi Lu Te even when her fertility was uncertain, just to stay by her side.
And this Zulu could stomach Rona’s pig-head face and flirt with her?
Absolutely. Absolutely…
Fake.