Beauty and the Beasts

“Qingqing, what happened for you to be so happy?” Parker asked as he stood behind her.

Bai Qingqing raised her head and glanced at Parker, then pointed at the short-winged bird. “Look, it has laid an egg.”

“Coo!” The short-winged bird instantly pecked his way towards Bai Qingqing’s finger. Although it was most fond of asking for food from Bai Qingqing, when facing someone weak, it was overcome with an instinctive urge to attack.

Knowing the short-winged bird’s temperament, she immediately retracted her hand.

“Darned bird. If you dare peck again, I’ll eat you.” Parker threatened the bird and let out a low growl.

The short-winged bird shut up right away. It backed off on its two short legs and started pacing uneasily.

Bai Qingqing said with a smile, “Don’t be scared. We’re not eating you.”

Upon hearing this, Parker felt the short-winged bird was even more of an eyesore now.

From the looks of it, Qingqing is planning on rearing this bird for good. Damn.

Leopards had a keen sense of smell. With this bird around, Parker felt like his house had become a sandpit. No, even sandpits don’t stink as badly. After all, the pit was only filled with his and Qingqing’s poop, and at most that snake’s urine.

At the thought of how he would be living among bird poop in the future, Parker’s face turned green one moment, and white the next. It was a fascinating sight.

After a while, Parker finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. “The house is filled with its poop. It smells awful.”

Bai Qingqing looked at the surroundings of the short-winged bird. Whenever bird poop appeared on the ground, Parker would clear it away instantly, but still, its poop had left behind many white marks. It was indeed rather unsightly. As time went by, it would surely get dirtier. Not only was it unsightly, but it was also unhygienic.

“Then where shall we place it? It’s raining outside.” Bai Qingqing thought for a moment, then said, “Shall we set up a shelter for it outside?”

Parker agreed right away. “After I finish cooking for you, I’ll go and make it.”

“Mm.”

Just as he promised, after taking care of her food, he ran out to find some logs and tree branches. He made a structure out of several thick logs, then placed a small tree branch on top of each layer, and the bird’s shelter was basically constructed.

Bai Qingqing was feeding fish to the short-winged bird when, from her peripheral vision, she saw a human figure outside the house. She turned her head sideways and saw that the person was Hugh.

She quickly lowered her head and covered her face with her hands.

At the sight of Hugh, Parker, who was standing on the roof, let out a roar and jumped down, landing steadily on the ground.

“Scram.” Parker stopped Hugh from going any further.

Hugh turned his body and gazed into the house. At the sight of Bai Qingqing, his lips curled up in a slight smile.

Parker’s brows knitted tightly. Sensing the enmity, Hugh shifted his gaze to Parker’s face. He handed a bunch of raw ginger to Parker. “This is for Qingqing. I hear a lot of females would get sick during the rainy season, so I especially dug these out for her.”

Parker lowered his gaze and glanced at what he was holding. He didn’t take it from Hugh and simply said in a disdainful tone, “I have plenty of this at home.”

Disappointment flashed across Hugh’s eyes.

Bai Qingqing looked into the bedroom and covered her face even more firmly. “Why are you here again? Cortis really will kill you.”

Upon hearing her voice, Hugh’s expression became sunny, a smile spreading across his handsome face. “Are you showing concern for me? I’ll avoid him in the future.”

Parker gritted his teeth and suddenly transformed into his beast form. With a push on his hind leg, he pounced towards Hugh.

Hugh’s response was pretty quick and he managed to dodge Parker, albeit in an awkward manner. He placed the ginger on the ground, then turned around and ran. Without turning his head around, he said, “I’ll come back tomorrow to find you.”

“Roar!” Even more furious now, Parker pounced on Hugh.

Both Hugh and Parker were two-striped beasts, so they were equally powerful. But in terms of agility and explosive power, wolf beastmen were inferior to leopard beastmen. Hugh was pinned to the ground and given a good thrashing.

While he tried to dodge from the mouth of the ferocious leopard, Hugh glanced in the direction of the stone house. He still had lingering fears towards that snake beastman and was afraid that this commotion would attract his attention.