HLM -Chapter 1308 All-Out Competition for Affection

Mother Bo and Father Bo were busy in the kitchen. Eva came in, took the marinated shiitake mushrooms and gray mushrooms, and carried them out for Uncle Bing and the others to grill.

Wang Bo said, “Darling, don’t get your hands dirty. Let Uncle Bing and the others do the work.”

Eva replied sweetly, “Mm, darling, I won’t. You’re so good to me.”

Wang Bo said absentmindedly, “Not really. I’m just afraid such good mushrooms would be ruined in your hands.”

Eva immediately arched her brows, grabbed a shiitake, and flung it at him.

Wild mushrooms had an extraordinary flavor. When it was time to eat, the entire dining room was filled with that unique mushroom fragrance—especially the shiitake, whose aroma was downright exaggerated. Even the little baby started twitching her nose.

That said, the little girl still drank her mother’s milk.

Wang Bo picked up a piece of grilled shiitake and put it in his mouth. It had just come off the grill and was still scorching hot, burning his mouth so badly he kept sucking in air.

But he didn’t spit it out. The mushroom was delicious—crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. Once it cooled a bit and he bit down, rich mushroom juice burst out at once, filling his mouth with fragrance.

Zhuang Ding pawed at him from below, his big mouth hanging open as drool streamed out.

Eva picked a plump goose-egg mushroom and gave it to him, smiling. “We should reward Zhuang Ding. He worked very hard today, made a contribution, did an excellent job.”

Zhuang Ding didn’t eat it right away. Instead, he ran off to find his little buddies, spat the mushroom out to show them, and only after everyone had seen it did he proudly eat it.

“Ah, Zhuang Ding—ah, not well-behaved.” Commander flew onto Eva’s shoulder, grumbling unhappily.

The Commissar was also indignant. He landed on Eva’s other shoulder and said, “Zhuang Ding is bad. The Commissar is very obedient.”

Eva said, “Even if you two are obedient, you can’t eat this. It’s already been deep-fried and grilled. Come on, I’ll get you some fruit instead. What do you want—grapes or blueberries?”

“Ah, mushrooms! Ah, mushrooms!” Commander cried unwillingly.

The Fat Cat Brothers also ran over. They nimbly climbed onto the backs of the chairs, put their front paws on Wang Bo’s shoulder, and peered at the table. After looking for a while, the two brothers ran out again—no one knew what they were up to.

A few minutes later, the Fat Cat Brothers came back one after the other. They jumped onto Wang Bo’s legs, opened their mouths, and spat out pigeon eggs.

Wang Bo took one look and went ballistic. “Damn it, these are wood pigeon eggs! Damn it, why did you go steal wood pigeon eggs again?!”

Da Pang meowed anxiously, pawing at the eggs, his eyes full of urgency.

Uncle Bing, standing nearby, asked curiously, “What does that mean?”

Wang Bo said helplessly, “They’re jealous of Zhuang Ding. They mean they’ve also made a contribution—they found bird eggs—and they’re asking me where the bird eggs went.”

As he said that, he pointed toward the back mountain. “Didn’t we roast and eat the bird eggs at noon? Peeled them too. You two ate the most enthusiastically.”

Da Pang kept pawing at the wood pigeon eggs. Second Fat opened his mouth and grabbed Wang Bo’s sleeve with his paw. Four big eyes kept darting between him and the kitchen.

Wang Bo gathered up the eggs and said, “You can’t take these, understand? If you steal wood pigeon eggs again, don’t blame your old man for spanking your butts!”

Little Wang and Princess were also anxiously circling nearby. Princess wanted to jump onto Eva, but Zhuang Ding slapped her down with one paw, smashing her straight out of the air!

Princess hit the ground with a dull thud. After scrambling back up, she glared furiously at Zhuang Ding, bared her fangs, and waved her little claws, trying to scare him.

Zhuang Ding glanced at her disdainfully, gave his butt a flick, and swept his big tail—like a broom brushing away scraps of paper—sending her flying again.

Princess lay on the ground, howling pitifully while rolling around, her eyes full of tragic grievance.

Father Bo said in astonishment, “Who taught her to roll around like this whenever something happens?”

“One cry, two tantrums, three hang yourself—these little brats have plenty of ways to play dirty,” Wang Bo said with a laugh.

Little Wang rested his head on Wang Bo’s leg, blinking his big eyes and putting on an I’m very good, I’m not naughty act, shamelessly trying to curry favor.

But Wang Bo wasn’t buying it—mainly because he couldn’t stand the weight of Little Wang’s massive head. After a while his leg went numb, so he pushed him away and said, “Alright, I know you’re the most obedient. But don’t lie on Dad’s leg—after a while the blood flow cuts off, and I’ll probably need an amputation.”

Little Wang whimpered twice, stood up, and started walking around. His body was so huge it was like a small tank roaming the room.

This meal was very exhausting for Wang Bo and Eva. No one knew what had gotten into the little ones—they suddenly started competing for affection.

At first, the two of them thought it was just the delicious mushrooms triggering it. The animals had competed for affection before, but with their simple minds, they never overthought it. After half a day of squabbling, they’d forget all about it.

But this time was different.

The fur kids were seriously competing for affection.

In the morning, Wang Bo woke up, stretched, got out of bed—and couldn’t find his slippers.

“Darling, where are my slippers?”

Eva replied sleepily, “No idea. Just wear mine.”

Wang Bo looked around and said in shock, “Yours are gone too.”

Eva pulled the blanket over her head and said, “If they’re gone, go barefoot. What, do you think slippers grow wings and fly away?”

Wang Bo was depressed. The slippers really were gone. Could they really have flown away?

Just then, the door was pushed open. The Fat Cat Brothers came running in, each carrying a slipper in their mouth. They placed them at his feet, wagging their tails, puffing up their chubby faces, waiting for praise.

Obviously, the two little guys had carried off his slippers—but at least they brought them back on their own. So he patted their heads and said, “Mm, good boys. Da Pang and Second Fat did very well.”

Zhuang Ding poked his head in through the doorway. He blinked, thought for a moment, then ran in and tried to pull the clothes off the coat rack.

But the clothes were hanging there, and no matter how he tugged, he couldn’t tear them down. Annoyed, Zhuang Ding let out a low growl, ran back, and leaped upward, knocking the coat rack straight to the ground. Then he picked up the clothes and carried them over to Wang Bo.

The coat rack hit the floor with a loud clang. Eva was startled awake and cried, “What happened? What happened? Was that an earthquake?”

Wang Bo laughed helplessly. “How could it be an earthquake? Are you still half-asleep? Zhuang Ding knocked over the coat rack.”

“Oh.” Eva answered and lay back down. “As long as it’s not an earthquake, I’ll keep sleeping.”

After placing the clothes on Wang Bo’s legs, Zhuang Ding sat down in front of him, tongue out, eyes squinting, waiting to be praised.

Wang Bo wasn’t about to indulge this bad habit. He said, “You’ve got the nerve to sit there? Do you know you knocked over the coat rack? Let me tell you—good thing the baby isn’t here, otherwise—holy crap! Where’s the baby?!”

He had just been about to say that if the baby were here she’d definitely be wailing, when he suddenly realized his daughter wasn’t in her crib!

No wonder he’d slept so soundly last night. No wonder his daughter hadn’t cried her lungs out.

She was gone.

Wang Bo instantly panicked.