Beauty and the Beasts

“How are the babies? I want to take a look.”

“I’ll go and count them.” Curtis picked Bai Qingqing’s hair that had stuck to her face from her perspiration, then said to Parker, “Go and boil water to help Xiao Bai wipe her body.”

“Alright!” Parker ran out docilely.

Curtis’s nest had been made quite wet, and nineteen white eggs covered in viscous liquid were resting on it. He took out the bamboo basket that Bai Qingqing had prepared a long time ago, picked up the eggs, and put them into it.

Bai Qingqing watched. When she saw Curtis turning over, she immediately asked, “How many?”

“Nineteen.” Curtis placed the bamboo basket next to her. His movements were very casual, and when the basket was placed down, the snake eggs collided, causing slight sounds.

Bai Qingqing was given a bad shock. “Be gentler. Don’t break them.”

Bai Qingqing subconsciously lowered her volume, afraid that her voice would be too loud and might crack the snake eggs.

Curtis wore a light smile on his face, but the depths of his face were cold when looking toward the snake eggs.

“You’ll still have to be careful.” Bai Qingqing glared at Curtis, even though she could only see a black figure.

Bai Qingqing propped up her body with her elbow as she looked at the eggs from the grass pile, laughing uncontrollably. She reached out her hand to gently poke one of them. “They are dried.”

The nineteen eggs only took up one-third of the space in the bamboo basket, and it felt very empty. Bai Qingqing was a little regretful. If she had known, she would have made the bamboo basket smaller. They would be able to be more comfortable then.

Sparks rose in the main room, dying the bedroom in an orange-red light as well. Parker came in with a basin of hot water, washed the towel, and helped to wipe her.

Bai Qingqing had no choice but to turn her gaze away from the eggs and lay down. Only then did she feel sapped of energy. She let Parker wipe down her body. It wasn’t the first time he was doing it, anyway.

Before Bai Qingqing was done washing up, she had dozed off. Parker became even more careful in wiping her down. After cleaning her up, he took a look at the eggs and said enviously, “That’s so good.”

When would he be able to have a nest of leopard cubs with Qingqing?

Curtis lifted the basket with one hand, then with a bang, placed it down hard on an empty spot at the side. Parker’s heart skipped a beat and he almost pounced forth instinctively.

“If you don’t like them, then give them to me to bring them up,” Parker said, dissatisfied.

“Dream on.” After saying that, Curtis took on his snake form. As his grass nest had been dirtied, he curled his body up next to the eggs, then used his tail to draw the eggs next to his head.

Parker felt so upset that he scratched the ground with his claws. Comparisons were really odious. The snake beastman clearly didn’t like kids, yet he forcibly got Qingqing to give birth to one nest of his eggs first. Parker had wanted kids a lot, yet he could only stare at the side.

The next day, the sky was completely clear. The cold wind blew, and the willow that had lost their green color swayed with the wind.

“Uhh!” As Bai Qingqing stretched her body, her eyes opened into small slits. She immediately squinted due to the piercing sunlight. “I’m so tired!”

“You’re awake?” It took Parker only one second to squat down next to Bai Qingqing, his tail raised high up, an indication of his good mood.

“It’s already so bright outside?” Bai Qingqing rubbed her eyes, feeling extremely fatigued. She felt as if she had spent the entire night dreaming, but she couldn’t remember what the dream was about.

She was about to sit up when she suddenly felt a pain in her stomach. Bai Qingqing’s body shook intensely, and her head hung down like a hoe. “My stomach…”