Beauty and the Beasts

Early the next morning, the Bai family’s house’s doorbell rang.

Sleeping in Bai Qingqing’s bed, Winston was immediately alerted. His body moved, and Bai Qingqing woke up too.

She took a look at the window—the sky was only starting to light up. She said in a soft voice, “It’s still early. Let’s sleep for a little longer.”

“The doorbell rang. I’ll put on my clothes first.” Winston darted out from under the blankets carefully, tucking her under, then put on his clothes.

Bai Qingqing found it strange. “It’s so early. Who could it be?”

It wasn’t time for Daddy Bai and Mommy Bai to go to work. Fearing that they’d be woken up, Bai Qingqing also immediately put on her cotton pajamas and slippers before going to open the door.

Bai Qingqing looked out of the peephole and realized that it was the old grandfather who lived upstairs. He’d always go downstairs to practice Taichi every day early in the morning. Why had he come?

Bai Qingqing opened the door. Before she could ask anything, she drew in a cold gasp at the sight of the scene outside the door.

“Curtis? Why are you sleeping here?” Bai Qingqing felt both heartache and awkwardness. She then threw the old grandfather a grateful look.

That old grandfather said, “He’s really from your house? That’s great. The weather is so cold, and he feels frozen too. If you guys don’t know him, I was planning to get help to drag him upstairs.”

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“Thank you, thank you. He’s my home tutor. He got drunk at our place last night and I sent him off. I didn’t expect him to come back again.” Bai Qingqing nodded to thank the old grandfather, putting her arms under Curtis’s armpits and dragging him inside.

Curtis was a big and heavy snake. Bai Qingqing exerted all of her strength till her stomach ached from the inserted intrauterine device, but she still wasn’t able to move him much.

The old grandfather helped out, and Furry also came to join in the excitement. It took the joint efforts of the two of them and the dog to successfully drag Curtis indoors.

As expected of someone who trained every day, that old grandfather was a lot stronger than her.

Bai Qingqing then thanked the old grandfather for his help. After closing the door, she called Winston out and got Curtis onto the sofa.

Bai Qingqing poured a cup of warm water and fed it to Curtis. At the same time, she said to Winston, “Hurry up and go into the bedroom. Don’t let anyone see you. I’ll take care of Curtis.”

“En.” Winston nodded, then entered his mate’s bedroom with a big dog hanging off his leg.

Bai Qingqing spilled some water onto Curtis’s neck by accident. She quickly tried to catch it with her hand, calling out softly, “Wake up. You couldn’t have entered hibernation, could you?”

“Hehe…” Curtis suddenly laughed in a deep voice, slowly opening his eyes. His pupils were filled with strong smiles.

“When did you wake up?” Bai Qingqing was surprised.

“I woke up when that old man got close.” Curtis said, “He showed no hostility, so I couldn’t be bothered to move.”

Bai Qingqing slapped his chest lightly to complain. “If you’re awake, why didn’t you walk by yourself? You made me go through so much effort.”

Curtis grabbed her hand and put it on his cheek. “I didn’t feel like moving. Don’t worry, the cold season here isn’t that cold. I don’t have to go into hibernation.”

“Hmph.” Bai Qingqing sat down by his head. “You’re really drunk. You’re even more lazy than usual.”

“I’m not drunk,” Curtis insisted.

“That’s a lie. A drunk person wouldn’t say that they are drunk.” Bai Qingqing drew her hand back and dried it on the sofa seat. She then touched Curtis’s cold face, asking, “Are you cold? I’ll switch on the heater.”

Curtis shook his head. He smiled as he looked at his mate for a while, before closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

Bai Qingqing felt helpless but still switched on the heater. She checked the time and saw that it was an hour before Daddy Bai and Mommy Bai were supposed to leave for work. She couldn’t sleep anymore and thus prepared breakfast in the kitchen.