Beauty and the Beasts

“I… merely came out to take a look. Look, I wore additional layers of clothing.” As she spoke, Bai Qingqing spread out her arms. “My body isn’t at all exposed to the wind.”

Huff! Parker glared at her, then turned sideways to look at Winston.

The two beasts exchanged a glance. Winston looked at the high wall next to them, and since he didn’t feel his fur moving at all, he didn’t insist on sending her back to the room.

A broad beam appeared on Bai Qingqing’s face. She happily followed behind the two beasts and walked to the wall.

Progress was surprisingly fast. Within less than five minutes, a large hole had been dug under the house. The soil that was dug out piled up into a small hill outside.

In order to ensure the foundation was solid, the hole on the wall was made small, with a larger space inside. After digging the hole, they even found rocks with a dense texture and made the floorboard inside thinner.

The entire process took less than half an hour. Upon seeing the two of them climb out of the hole, Bai Qingqing asked, “Done?”

Parker and Winston transformed into humans and picked up the skirts hanging off the tree branches and put them on.

“Done,” Parker said.

Bai Qingqing bent over and walked in. The space inside had an area of three meters by three meters, much smaller than she had imagined. “Can’t you dig a bigger hole?”

“Let’s just leave it at that for now. There’s only one opening for feeding the firewood. If it’s too big we won’t be able to stuff in the firewood.” Winston explained, “If it’s not warm enough, we can dig another hole on the other side.”

Bai Qingqing felt that it made sense and nodded.

“But it seems like a waste to simply burn the firewood.” When she climbed out, she raised her head and gazed at the two males with an eager-to-please smiley face.

Looking at their partner’s funny expression, Parker and Winston knew she had some weird ideas in her head.

“What are you thinking of doing this time?” The amused Parker said, “Don’t hem and haw. Just speak. If it’s within my means, I’ll get it done for you.”

Bai Qingqing said, “It’s not something troublesome. It’s just burning clay…”

Before she finished her words, Parker and Winston burst out laughing.

Bai Qingqing stomped her foot in annoyance. “I haven’t even finished my words and you two are laughing. Burning clay will produce a utensil for cooking that works just as well as a stone pot.”

“Is it something done in your world? Wouldn’t there be clay in the food if we cook with utensils made from clay?” Parker was puzzled. Why would the exquisitely-raised Bai Qingqing contain her food using a mud bowl?

Bai Qingqing shook her head resolutely. “No, it won’t! But we must use clay that has a fine texture. From what I know, loess is one type that can be used. As for clay with fine texture, I remember the mud at the depths of the waterhole is very fine. Can the two of you go check if Bluepool is asleep yet? If not, you can get him to dig out a goop of mud to try out.”

Since there wasn’t any difficulty to the task, Winston and Parker readily agreed. Winston went to the waterhole and obtained from Bluepool a bubble filled with greenish-gray mud. Although the color looked a bit off, the good thing was that the texture was incredibly smooth.

During this time, Parker prepared the stove in the bed-stove and added firewood to it.

Following which, two adult male crouched down facing each other and started trying to mold mud.

As males weren’t as meticulous, the product was an unbearable sight. Bai Qingqing couldn’t help but click her tongue.

“Let me do it!” Bai Qingqing rolled up her sleeves and squatted down between the duo, then reached out to pick up a goop of mud.

Parker grabbed her arm with one hand, and Winston also gazed towards her with a look of objection.

“No!”

The two males exclaimed unanimously.

Parker said, “You said you can’t touch cold water. The mud is cold. You’re not to touch it.”

Bai Qingqing felt extremely regretful. Oh heavens! What sin had she committed? Why did she tell these two inflexible males about the confinement? She wished she could go back to the past and knock some sense into her past self.