Beauty and the Beasts

As he had captured a fat and juicy prey, breakfast took quite some time.

Parker had caught a basin-full of clams in the river, and using the clamshells as a pot, managed to somehow extract the oil.

The fragrance of oil permeated the entire house, making Bai Qingqing’s mouth water as she squatted beside the fire.

“There’s no salt. No choice but to make do with this meal.” Parker flipped over the lean meat on the roast as he spoke, his other hand stirring the oil pot with a wooden rod.

“Smells aromatic nonetheless.” Bai Qingqing slurped in her saliva. Unable to hold back the glutton in her anymore, she got up, ran outside the house, and broke off a tree branch.

After wiping it in a slipshod manner, she snapped the tree branch into two and dipped these makeshift chopsticks into the oil pot.

“I’ll give it a try first.” Bai Qingqing picked out a piece of puffed up rendered fat pieces and immediately placed it into her mouth.

Parker said, “Careful, it’s hot.”

“Mm,” Bai Qingqing responded. She blew upon it twice, then eagerly took a small bite of it.

Despite the scalding sensation, Bai Qingqing drew in a gasp and continued eating. The rendered fat was fragrant and crispy, truly a delicacy. If there was salt, it would be perfect.

“Is it good?” Parker asked with a look of anticipation.

Bai Qingqing hurriedly nodded, then fed the remaining rendered fat to him.

With a roar, Parker held it in his mouth and started relishing in it.

“In the past, we would always roast it directly. The oil that drips out can make the flames surge up and completely envelop the food. After eating, the aroma of oil would linger in the fire pile, and the ground would be moistened by oil.”

As Parker spoke, he shook his head in pity. “Back then I had thought that the more oil on the ground, the better. Thinking back, it was truly a waste.”

Bai Qingqing nodded in agreement seriously. “But I feel that it was quite a magnificent sight to see you guys eat like that. I kind of feel like seeing that.”

“That won’t do. There’s so much oil, I need to keep some and cook meat for you,” Parker instantly said.

Bai Qingqing smiled. “I was merely casually mentioning it. Even if you wish to roast it that way, I’d be unwilling.”

She cast a glance to the side, where Curtis was taking care of An’an. She picked up a piece of rendered fat with her “chopsticks” and patiently blew upon it, reducing the temperature from hot to warm, before walking over to his side.

“You should try this too. It’s really yummy.”

Seeing at the look of anticipation on her face, Curtis obligingly opened his mouth and ate it.

“How do you find it?”

Bai Qingqing stared eagerly at him. Hearing him respond with an “Mm”, a broad beam bloomed on her face.

The fragrance of oil made An’an look up and gaze around too.

Bai Qingqing sputtered with laughter. She tapped An’an on her tiny nose and said, “You want to eat this too? Hmm, that won’t do. You only have two teeth. You can only eat meat when all your teeth grow out.”

She still remembered that time the leopard cubs got diarrhea from eating meat when they were only a few months old. Since even male cubs would suffer from indigestion from eating meat, female cubs naturally needed to be cared for more meticulously.

But An’an seemed particularly fond of this taste. When she sniffed the fragrance emitting from her mommy’s mouth as the latter spoke, she smacked her lips and reached out her little arms to touch her mommy’s mouth.

Heart softening, Bai Qingqing hesitated for a moment, then brought a tree branch stained with a bit of oil and brought it to An’an’s lips.

An’an bit the tree branch and started sucking in relish.

By then, the roast meat was ready. Bai Qingqing quickly went back to the fire and prepared to eat.

As the tree worms had very little lean meat, that was only enough for Bai Qingqing to eat. But the meat was incredibly tender and succulent, like cooked meat coated with starch.

She would eat a mouthful of roast meat, then chew two mouthfuls of rendered fat. Even though there was no salt, Bai Qingqing ate with great satisfaction.

Parker had extracted all the oil from the fatty clam meat. The pieces of rendered fat were also wrapped up using tree leaves to be brought home.

As it was tedious carrying the two pots of hot oil, Parker said to Curtis, “You bring Qingqing and An’an back first. I’ll go back by myself.”