Beauty and the Beasts

Shuu felt overwhelmed and his lips curled up uncontrollably. “It’s worth getting beaten up if it means that I can get your concern.”

“…” A line that Bai Qingqing had to memorize from her primary school textbook in the past flashed in her mind. “When you come across something when learning, you should ask when in doubt. It’d be worth it even if you get beaten over it.”

Bai Qingqing was stunned.

Shuu smiled as he walked to the ape beastman in charge of distributing the fruit syrup, saying, “Give her a jar of fruit syrup.”

To allow the females to enjoy the fruit syrup in peace, all the ape beastmen working in the room all had mates, so no one would disturb them. However, Shuu was single. These two ape beastmen quickly understood that the ape king was planning to match Shuu with a certain female.

A bald ape beastman sneaked a look at Bai Qingqing and said in a soft voice, “That’s the one you love? Oh my god, she’s really beautiful.”

The other ape beastman also said, “Look at how well she treats you. She must like you as well.”

The corners of Shuu’s lips curled up even higher and he urged them. “Be quick. She’s a little scared.”

One of the ape beastman picked up the stone jar, and the other took a fruit shell to scoop the fruit syrup to the brim. In the end, they even put in a strand of a golden stalk of wheat into the shell.

Shuu took the fruit shell and walked up to Bai Qingqing, saying, “This is yours. Why aren’t you taking a seat?”

“I’m trying to look for a place to.” Bai Qingqing reached out to take the fruit shell. It wasn’t big, to begin with—the shell itself was one centimeter thick. The syrup inside was only two to three mouthfuls.

Bai Qingqing took a whiff, and as expected, the scent of alcohol as well as a strong fruity fragrance could be smelt. “It smells so good…”

“Quickly have a taste,” Shuu said.

Could one drink wine not long after giving birth? Bai Qingqing wasn’t sure, but this was a rare opportunity, and she couldn’t hold back the temptation. She took a sip through the wheat straw.

“Mmhh!” Bai Qingqing’s face instantly wrinkled up. The taste was sour, sweet, and astringent at the same time, with the scent of a few different types of fruits. She had learned how to brew grape wine before and was certain that the taste of this wine wasn’t right. This was the fermented taste that would appear when fruits rot, but just that this was a lot stronger.

She had wanted to spit it out when Shuu suddenly patted a few times on her back. He was probably trying to help her breathe better, but beastmen had great strength. Thus, caught unaware, Bai Qingqing swallowed the mouthful of wine instead. She immediately choked and kept on coughing.

“Cough cough!” Tears appeared in her eyes, and she smacked her lips, feeling that a light fragrance seemed to permeate in her mouth. That strange taste had disappeared, leaving only the faint wine fragrance.

As the wine went down Bai Qingqing’s throat, her body started to warm up and it felt extremely comfortable. She looked at the brownish-red fruit syrup in the shell, and her gaze turned into surprise.

Shuu smiled and said, “Everyone can’t get used to it on their first try. How do you feel?”

“It’s not bad.” Bai Qingqing licked her lips, then took another sip. Her face wrinkled up again.

Urgh, it still tasted horrible. This couldn’t be the fruit wine that monkeys had brewed in the tree hole in the legend?

After drinking it, a warmth rose in Bai Qingqing, and she let out an exhale, raising the fruit shell and asking, “How is this made?”

Shuu said, “The fruit syrup is a secret concoction by the ape king. No one knows.”

Bai Qingqing nodded, not daring to take another sip.

“Erm, Bai Qingqing, come sit down over here.” A female suddenly waved at Bai Qingqing.

The females didn’t appear too agitated at Bai Qingqing’s beauty. After all, they had grown up being praised by others. Without any mirrors, all of them felt that they were very beautiful. It was true that Bai Qingqing was pretty, but they felt that they shouldn’t be too bad either.

Bai Qingqing looked at the female who had spoken. She had a pair of big foxy eyes, beautiful double eyelids, and the ends of her eyes were slightly curled upward. She was very bewitching.