Beauty and the Beasts

Most hairy…

Bai Qingqing puffed out angrily. “You’re the hairiest one! I want to braid your fur up. Transform into a leopard right now!”

“Okay.” The fearless Parker transformed into a leopard with a big grin, then opened his mouth and continued roaring with laughter.

Bai Qingqing: … I’ve never seen a leopard laugh like this before.

If this were to be uploaded on the Internet, people would probably suspect this leopard had gone bonkers.

After drinking a mouthful of the aromatic soup, Bai Qingqing seriously squatted next to Parker and started braiding his short furs.

There was still half a bowl of the soup noodles on the stone table. After exchanging looks, the cubs stealthily crept onto the table and pressed their heads together as they secretly started slurping up whatever remained.

As leopard fur was too short, Bai Qingqing wasn’t able to even braid the longest fur on Parker’s body. However, she still pretended to earnestly work on it.

Parker’s eyes rolled around to Bai Qingqing’s hand, and he stopped laughing. He moved his paws, wanting to escape.

He didn’t want to turn into a curly-haired leopard!

“Eh! Stop moving! Are you thinking of running away?” Bai Qingqing said sternly as she slapped his paws.

Roar~ [Who’s thinking of running away? I’m only moving because my paws are itchy!] Parker declared angrily.

Accidentally catching sight of a spotted tail hanging from the stone table, the overjoyed Parker got up with a leap.

Roar! He let out a leopard roar, making the three cubs so startled their furs exploded instantly. They jumped in unison out of fright and faced their daddy.

As Parker had dodged too quickly, a bunch of fur Bai Qingqing was holding onto came off. She quickly tossed it under the table in a bid to destroy evidence.

Parker, also feeling sheepish, albeit due to another reason, avoided looking at his mate as he flashed his sharp teeth at his cubs. There was still soup at the mouths of those little leopards, perfect evidence of their crime. This was especially true for Third, from whose mouth hung a strip of noodle. He quickly stuck out his tongue to lick it, but instead of slurping the noodle into his mouth, it ended up falling onto the table.

The scary thing was, Parker’s vision followed the strip of noodle as it fell onto the table.

Feeling yet more sheepish, Third retreated a step and fell onto the floor with a loud thud.

“Eh!” Bai Qingqing hurriedly walked over to check on them. The instant Third got up he hid behind his mommy.

Seeing that her kid was fine, Bai Qingqing’s heart was put to ease. “Forget it, I’m already full. Stop scolding them.”

Roar~ Third rubbed against his mommy’s body aggrievedly.

A sense of relief washed over Parker. Seems like Qingqing had forgotten all about pranking him. As for Bai Qingqing, she secretly stole a glance at Parker’s neck and saw a bald patch. How could she dare to braid his fur again?

Parker transformed into a human and asked, not assured, “You’re really full? I can go and cook one more bowl. I think the fire is still burning.”

“I really am full,” said Bai Qingqing.

Seeing as there was still a layer of soup in the bowl, Parker set it down on the floor and said, “Little rascals, come over and eat.”

Roar! The cubs roared merrily and came together once more.

After licking the bowl clean, they started licking the fur beside each others’ mouths. Looking at her kids’ intimate interaction, it suddenly struck Bai Qingqing that Parker also had such brothers of his own.

“Oh right, why have I never seen your brothers before?” asked Bai Qingqing.

Parker raised his brows and said, “Well, they do wish to see you. But I gave them a good beating and chased them away.”

This was a common behavior among the males in every tribe—as the males in the same litter resembled each other a lot, it was easy for females to mix them up since they typically had a dull sense of smell.

Those who weren’t able to find spouses would disguise as their brothers and mate with those females. Due to the similarities between the brothers, the females usually wouldn’t cancel their spousal relationships with them after the deed. It was an extremely opportunistic tactic.