Beauty and the Beasts

Curtis walked out when he heard the voices, bringing along a thick animal skin coat with him. The group was about to head downstairs when Bai Qingqing saw Curtis coming along. She said, “Erm… Curtis.”

“Hmmm?” When Curtis saw how hesitant Bai Qingqing looked, he had an ominous feeling.

“You… stay at home and take care of the young snakes. I don’t feel at ease if no one is keeping an eye on them.” Bai Qingqing took a look at the young snakes crawling around and smiled sheepishly at Curtis.

The green vein on Curtis’s forehead twitched, and Bai Qingqing immediately felt scared, shutting her mouth and not saying anything.

“Bring them along!” Clear anger could be detected in Curtis’s low and hoarse voice.

The young snakes were so scared that they shuddered, dashing back into the room and crawling into the small basket which was considered very fragile for them. Curtis walked into the room, picked up the basket, and came out.

Bai Qingqing felt that with there being more of them this time around, it’d be easy to catch the young snakes if they were to escape. Therefore, she didn’t try to anger Curtis any further. In the end, the family of over 20 of them, including Winston, all went to the fields.

…

Everyone was working hard in the paddy field outside the city.

All the beastmen had come to sow the seeds that they had collected. The spacious land was covered in shallow pits, each of them being the size of a small room.

The beastmen squatted in their respective pits, sowing seriously.

“This plot belongs to us?” Bai Qingqing pointed to a messy pit and asked. Even though she was already mentally prepared, she still didn’t know what to make of it.

This is farming? This looks more like children playing with mud.

“Hold on. Parker, when did you dig this pit?” Bai Qingqing still remembered the first and only time Parker had flared up at her only because she wanted to eat rice.

The reason she remembered it for so long wasn’t that Parker was too fierce, but that back then, she had treated Parker as a wild beast monster and was afraid that he’d eat her up.

Parker avoided Bai Qingqing’s gaze and clawed at the ground, saying, “All females have a pit. You definitely won’t have one since you’ve just come to the City of Beastmen. I came to dig it when I was bored.”

How could Bai Qingqing not tell how awkward Parker seemed? Her lips curled up and she didn’t expose him.

Winston entered the pit as well, digging alongside Parker. “Hand me a bag of grains.”

Parker threw a glance at him, took a bag from his waist, and tossed it to Winston.

Curtis held onto the young snakes and looked around. He was about to place them on the ground when Bai Qingqing said, “Don’t! Place them in the field so that they won’t scatter off.”

“Alright.” Curtis turned the basket over and with a thud, all of them fell to the ground.

Bai Qingqing gasped and her heart ached when she saw the young snakes’ wriggling bodies. She didn’t dare to say anything despite feeling angry and could only squat by the field as she watched Winston and Parker sowing the seeds.

They were being very careful and meticulous, being more gentle to the seeds than Curtis was toward the young snakes. Bai Qingqing was watching when she suddenly recalled that in the modern days, rice seemed to be transplanted after they grew into seedlings!

Would the way they did it make the seeds grow especially slow?

Although Bai Qingqing was full of doubt toward this planting method, she didn’t change the method recklessly. After all, she had no farming experience. At least the ape king’s method could allow the crops to grow.

“Ssss!”

A young snake was stepped by Parker, and he jumped up and wriggled around like an earthworm. It could be that he recognized Parker that he didn’t bite him.

Bai Qingqing quickly jumped into the pit, picked the young snake up, and stroke it gently. “Where did you get stepped on?”

“Ssss—” The young snake tilted his head and rubbed it hard against Bai Qingqing’s hand. Children’s gaze always had a hint of grievance in them amidst the innocence. Bai Qingqing looked at the young snake’s eyes and stroked him even more gently. “It’s fine, it’s fine.”

Curtis’s eyes squinted slightly. He walked up to Bai Qingqing, picked up the young snake, and tossed him randomly to a corner. “It’s fine. We mustn’t dote on the males too much. When I was their age, I already had my own territory.”

Bai Qingqing’s body shivered uncontrollably when the young snake fell to the ground. She nodded and said, “En, I understand.”

Bear with it. A beastman’s son should be left for the beastman to nurture. She didn’t wish to bring the children up wrongly!