Beauty and the Beasts

Parker buried several sweet potatoes among the firewood, then went to the river and continued rubbing the fox skin. Before he was done, Winston came back with another prey with thick fur.

The two of them split up the work. Although they were a little busy, they still managed to finish the work. After a day of hard work, they gained more than ten superior animal skins, and there was now the meat of more than ten prey hanging from the rooftop. This was much better than even households with many male beastmen.

This was the advantage of being capable.

Having smoked meat in the main room for an entire day, the entire house was filled with a smoky smell; one could even sniff it in the bedroom. Bai Qingqing wasn’t willing to go into the main room, so even when she ate she remained in the bedroom.

Parker boiled some hot water for bathing and brought it into the bedroom.

Bai Qingqing vaguely recalled that one shouldn’t bathe or wash her hair during confinement. But she reeked of oil and smoke from head to toe, so she wiped herself simply with a wet cloth, before changing into a clean set of animal skin clothes.

“How long does the meat have to be smoked?” Feeling much more refreshed after taking a shower, Bai Qingqing laid down comfortably in Parker’s pile of grass and asked.

Parker sat down next to her and arched his back as he licked his tail bit by bit. “We’ll let it smoke throughout the night. That stump should keep the fire burning the entire night. Tomorrow we’ll hang the meat outside in the wind, then smoke the newly-captured preys in the house.”

“Are we smoking it at night as well?” Bai Qingqing asked with a frown as she gazed outside. She called out, “Winston, come on in. It’s smoky in the main room.”

Parker stopped licking his tail instantly and straightened his back to sit upright. Winston had already walked into the bedroom at a leisure pace with a piece of animal skin hanging from his mouth.

“Ooh—” Parker stared at Winston ferociously. Winston ignored him and gazed at Bai Qingqing, then placed the animal skin hanging from his mouth next to the wall. After smoothing out the animal skin with his claws, he laid on top of it.

Bai Qingqing smiled at Winston, then poked Parker discreetly and said in a hushed tone, “Don’t be so petty.”

“Hmph!” Parker angrily covered himself and Bai Qingqing with a piece of animal skin and laid down with her in his arms. “Go to sleep.”

Bai Qingqing removed her jacket inside the blankets and squirmed into Parker’s arms. Parker’s body was as hot as a furnace, making her feel so comfortable she couldn’t help sighing out loud.

“You’re so warm.” Bai Qingqing sighed. Feeling a strong arm circled around her waist, she subconsciously dodged from his touch.

Her waist had grown so much thicker since she had given birth. She mustn’t let Parker find out.

Alas, Parker pinched her twice on the tummy and exclaimed in astonishment. “So soft!”

Because her pregnancy was short, her tummy didn’t bulge greatly, and after she had given birth her skin didn’t loosen. It was just that there was a bit of flab around her tummy now. Parker pinched her tummy several times until Bai Qingqing plucked his hand away from her.

“Don’t take liberties with me.” Bai Qingqing glared at Parker and shielded her tummy with both hands.

Parker held her tightly against his chest and rapped his finger on her forehead. “I’m your male. So what if I touch you?”

Bai Qingqing didn’t argue with him. It was fine so long as he stopped touching her.

Looking at their interaction, Winston felt incredibly envious. He wanted to tell Bai Qingqing that he, too, was very warm. The instant this thought popped up in his head, though, he buried his face in his paws.

“How much of such meat should we prepare?” Bai Qingqing did some mental calculations and said, “You eat roughly half a prey a day. Together with Winston, the two of you consume one prey a day. That makes nearly a hundred in three months. How is there enough space at home to store everything?”

“You’re really stupid.” Parker couldn’t resist flicking a finger at Bai Qingqing’s forehead again. “These are used to exchange for salt. Merfolks don’t have much requirement for food. All they ask is that the food hasn’t gone bad. The ones we eat ourselves will be caught fresh.”

“Ah!” Bai Qingqing slapped her palm against her forehead. She had said something stupid again. The saying “More words leads to more mistakes” was true indeed.