Beauty and the Beasts

Bai Qingqing lay down beside her daughter, stroked her soft hair, and went straight to the point. “Actually, your father and uncles aren’t human…”

This one sentence alone was enough to make Bai Zhenbei’s eyes widen. “We’re demons?!”

“Shhh~” Bai Qingqing placed an index finger on her lips and shushed her. “Listen to me.”

Bai Qingqing slowly told her daughter about the beastmen world, minus the brutal and sanguinary matters, and tried her best to portray the families as blissful and happy.

Bai Zhenbei’s initial shock gradually turned to calm, and finally, she fell into deep thought.

Bai Qingqing gave her some time to digest before adding, “Because only girls are born in their human forms, you’re the only darling in our home. Your eagle, leopard, and tiger older brothers have been suffering grievances all these years. You’re just sharing some of Mommy’s love with them. Even that’s not okay?”

“Mom.” Bai Zhenbei tilted her head and looked at her with confusion. “Brother Mu Tian and the rest are those three eagles in the zoo?”

“Mm.” Bai Qingqing nodded lightly. “Look at you. You’ve grown up at home since you were born, yet they could only live in the zoo as animals. Therefore, can you be more tolerant towards them? Like you, they are Mommy’s darlings.”

Bai Zhenbei turned her head away and fell into deep thought once more.

She disliked the older brothers that had suddenly popped out of nowhere to snatch her mother, but she was very fond of those three big eagles.

They frequently carried her on their backs and flew her everywhere, to the skies above the mountain forest on the other side, to the peak of the mountain that reached the clouds. Also, they would pick all sorts of fruits for her to eat.

Her most favorite playmates weren’t kids her age, but the sentient animals in the zoo. Of course, that included her tiger and leopard older brothers.

But it had never crossed her mind that they were her biological older brothers!

Actually, she had indistinctly sensed the unusualness of those animals. They were too sentient, completely different from the other animals in the zoo.

If those eagles were Uncle Mu’s sons, how was she to face them?

On this day, Bai Zhenbei felt like her worldview had been completely overturned.

Bai Qingqing hugged her blanket-wrapped daughter and suddenly said, “Mommy has a personal question to ask you.”

“Go ahead,” said Bai Zhenbei.

“Mommy actually has four husbands. Do you feel that Mommy is bad?” Bai Qingqing clenched her hands, sweat forming on her palms.

Unexpectedly, her child’s answer wasn’t at all what she had expected.

Bai Zhenbei said, “No, Mommy, you’re the best in my heart.”

Bai Qingqing was astonished beyond words.

“You got married in that world, not here. The worldview and customs are different. I can understand.”

Bai Zhenbei said, sounding wise beyond her years, “The reason you didn’t tell me was that you were afraid I’d turn out like the girls over there and think that it is only right and natural to be fickle in love? Don’t worry, I’ve already grown up. What I learned was the mindset of the modern age, no different from ordinary girls.”

Bai Qingqing let out a long sigh of relief and said, “Huahua really has grown up. You’re as smart as your daddy.”

At the mention of the words “Huahua”, Bai Zhenbei’s delicate brows creased, and she said seriously, “My name is Bai Zhenbei. You can call me Zhenbei, or Beibei.”

Bai Qingqing pinched her daughter’s face and coaxed her. “Okay, how about I call you darling? My good darling.”

Ssss~

The hissing of the pet snake rang, asking for food. Bai Zhenbei’s countenance changed. She pointed at the snake and asked, “Surely that’s not my older brother too?”