Beauty and the Beasts

Even the adult males in the room were enchanted by the tale; they would glance towards their little ones, then towards Bai Qingqing, from time to time.

Unable to withstand, Bai Qingqing continued with the story as she patted the fur of her own cubs.

The story was essentially about a female of the merfolk tribe rescuing a young male, helping the young male out of his predicament. Thereafter, the two of them lived happily ever after. This story satisfied the males’ desires of having a spouse, bringing about a look of anticipation and immersion on the faces of the little ones, as well as the adult males who already had a partner.

“But aren’t mermaids heavily protected by the merfolk tribe? How could she float to the water surface to rescue the young male?” The one who raised this question was an adult, so he considered things more thoroughly.

Bai Qingqing had no answers to that. It was merely a fairytale, but they seemed to be taking it for real.

“Cough, this story is purely fictional. Any similarity is merely a dream.” Bai Qingqing chuckled with a hand covering her lips, then added, “Moreover, it’s the sort you have during the day.”

Fairytales were, after all, just fairytales. Such opportunities were too rare, and with how one-track-minded these young beastmen were, it wasn’t a good thing for them to believe such stories entirely.

To be able to randomly pick up a female outside, perhaps Parker was the only one who had such luck.

Speaking of which, Parker was truly incredibly lucky. From an objective perspective, he merely went out and managed to pick up a pretty female. Although he wasn’t very powerful, he had managed to emerge victorious in perilous situations time and time again, consecutively leveling up. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him legendary.

He’s the perfect example of a male lead in a novel genre that focuses on leveling up, Bai Qingqing thought to herself and silently sighed with emotion.

Upon hearing these words, disappointment surfaced in the eyes of the little beastmen. On the other hand, the adult males were tickled by Bai Qingqing’s humorous disclaimer.

She was both pretty and good at giving birth. Most importantly, she was thoughtful and kind, with not many spouses. Recalling the difficult-to-please spouse at home, and the open strife and veiled struggles with their bunch of love rivals, they were green with envy towards Bai Qingqing’s mates.

But then, when they thought of how every single one of her spouses was the strongest of the strongest among beastmen, they came to terms with that, regardless of how envious they felt. Beastman king, they would never be able to reach that kind of height.

Although the little beastmen were disappointed, they were still very keen on Bai Qingqing’s stories, and they roared and howled pleas for her to continue.

One of the adult beastman translated into human language for Bai Qingqing: “The little ones are asking you to tell the story again.”

Bai Qingqing smiled and lifted one of her cubs onto her lap. As she caressed the cub, she said, “I’ve already finished telling the story. What’s the point of repeating it?”

Roar! Roar! Roar! Violent sounds of protests instantly rang in the room.

Bai Qingqing’s smile intensified. “I have many other nice stories. Don’t you want to listen to new ones?”

The room full of little beastmen, including Bai Qingqing’s leopard cubs, cheered in unison. Bai Qingqing pondered for a moment, then adapted another story to its beastman version and started telling it to her audience.

After she told a few stories consecutively, slightly less than half of them fell asleep while listening, but even more forced themselves to stay awake to continue listening.

Bai Qingqing didn’t stop but merely made her tone more gentle and slower, like hypnosis. Several young beastmen’s eyelids started getting heavier, and, after fighting to keep their eyes open a few times, they dozed off against their will.

By the time all the little beastmen fell asleep, Bai Qingqing finished telling the last story, and the gentle female voice finally stopped.

The leopard cubs instantly struggled to break free from their sleepy state and let out two roars, wanting to continue listening to the stories.

Bai Qingqing pinched the mouth of one of the leopards while sweeping her gaze over the whimpering Third. She whispered, “Be softer. The little brothers are sleeping.”

Third whimpered twice to express his reluctance to comply.

Afraid the little ones would be woken up, Bai Qingqing had no choice but to say softly, “Mommy will tell you the stories when you sleep at night.”