Beauty and the Beasts

Winston returned to the tree hole. When he saw Bai Qingqing’s troubled expression, he said, “Don’t worry. Those scorpion beastmen will eventually stop coming after they realize that they aren’t able to get anything good out of it.”

“Really?” Bai Qingqing didn’t really believe that.

Winston said, “This is the world of the strong. If you have the strongest mate, then no beastman would dare to lay a hand on you.”

Parker, who should be considered strong as well, suddenly felt a little inferior. He couldn’t help but hope that he could have been born a few years earlier.

He was the weakest amongst the males by Bai Qingqing’s side.

However, to reassure her, Parker still chipped in to say, “That’s right. Curtis will wake up once the cold season is over. You’ll be even safer then.”

Bai Qingqing somehow felt a little more at ease and nodded.

…

The snow in the village disappeared overnight, revealing the dark brown ground. When seen from afar, it wouldn’t hurt one’s eyes anymore.

Bai Qingqing went to check the water cart, as usual, visiting Bluepool while she was at it.

“Hey, you weren’t implicated last night, right?”

Bluepool was under the water cart, allowing the water to rinse down on his head to prevent his hair from freezing up into ice. Hearing that, he darted into the water, and not long later, took out a scorpion leg and chewed on it, making “Kacha Kacha” sounds.

“En, I took the opportunity to catch one yesterday. It doesn’t taste bad.”

Bai Qingqing was speechless.

She noticed a few females from the corner of her eyes and looked over. Molly was amongst them, and she called out to greet her, “Molly!”

The females turned to look at Bai Qingqing, wearing very cold expressions.

Bai Qingqing immediately understood that she had been excluded.

She looked at Molly quietly. In the tiger village, Molly was the one she was closest to. She had some anticipation toward her.

Those females pushed Molly and said something. Molly threw Bai Qingqing a glance and then left with them.

Bai Qingqing sighed helplessly. She thought that at least Molly would understand her.

She didn’t blame them. She had put them in danger, so it was very normal for them to detest her.

However, she wasn’t planning on continuing her friendship with Molly anymore.

Bai Qingqing met Ford on the way back. She lowered her head, planning to avoid him, but her path was stopped by a big beastman.

Were the males averse to her as well? Should she just move from this village?

“Bai Qingqing, I dug out a lot of yellow stone fruits. Can you teach me how to prepare them today?”

The male’s deep voice rang out in his usual tone. Bai Qingqing was stunned as she looked up.

“Huh?”

Ford smiled brightly and patted the animal skin bag he was carrying on his shoulder, saying, “After cleaning up the snow last night, I went to dig up the stone fruits as well. Are you free to teach me today?”

Bai Qingqing looked at him in disbelief. “You don’t blame me for implicating the village, putting Becky in danger as well?”

Ford said, “You were the one who brought Becky back. I’m already lucky to be able to watch over her once again. Moreover, you weren’t the one who brought the danger. It was those feral beasts. They want to snatch you today, but maybe they’ll also snatch someone else tomorrow. You aren’t to blame.”

Bai Qingqing smiled. She felt a lot better to receive understanding from a member of the village.

“You haven’t slept for the entire night, so you should go get some rest first. You can come in the afternoon or tomorrow,” Bai Qingqing said.

Ford immediately said, “It’s fine. I want to let Becky eat food that I prepared personally earlier.”

“Alright, then.”

After returning to the cave, Bai Qingqing told Parker to bring out the tools for making the noodles. Parker knew that Ford wanted to learn and thus pushed Bai Qingqing into the tree hole while he taught Ford himself.

Bai Qingqing stepped inside and looked at Winston, who was on the third floor. He had been busy for the entire night, cleaning up the snow, and thus was now sound asleep.

Thinking of how he didn’t even have a single animal skin skirt, Bai Qingqing took out a sewing needle and thread, found a piece of animal skin suitable for males, and started sewing.