Beauty and the Beasts

“What’s the matter?” Parker immediately asked in a concerned tone.

“It’s nothing.” Bai Qingqing pressed her legs tightly together to prevent that thing from dripping onto the animal skin bedsheets.

Parker felt that if he were to put his hand in, the warmth under the blanket would escape. He didn’t insist and quickly washed the towel and passed it to her.

After helping Bai Qingqing to wash up and put on her clothes, Parker rubbed his shriveled stomach. “I’m so hungry!”

Males’ activity level in the cold season was lesser, and thus the amount of food they required lessened as well. They could eat once every two to three days. Parker’s last meal was two days ago, and he had expended his energy yesterday. He was feeling famished since the morning.

“Then quickly go and hunt.” Bai Qingqing drew the curtains aside, allowing the fresh and cold air to gush in. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. At the next instant, the piercing cold air caused her to cough a little.

Parker hugged her from behind and patted her on the back to help her breathe better. “No. I’ll cook for you before I go hunt.”

Bai Qingqing turned and looked at him, smiling, and said, “Alright. You can go hunting after eating some as well. You’ll have some energy then.”

Parker felt sweet inside. He carried Bai Qingqing up horizontally and walked out of the door.

A few days ago, Parker had traded the smoked meat for five jars of salt. Winston sat down by the fire and raised his head, throwing a glance at her.

Bai Qingqing felt awkward when she saw Winston and averted her gaze.

Parker placed Bai Qingqing down by the fire and asked in a gentle voice, “What do you want to eat?”

“Uh…” Bai Qingqing pouted her lips and fell silent for a moment. “I want to eat braised chicken. I mean, braised short-winged bird.”

“I’ll go and kill a bird right away.” Parker ran out at lightning speed. He was so fast that even his tail flew up. When Bai Qingqing saw this, she couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

She saw Winston from the corner of her eyes and stopped laughing. Faking a cough, she asked, “Did you sleep well last night?”

“Very well,” Winston immediately replied.

Bai Qingqing heaved a slight sigh of relief. Winston couldn’t have heard things that he shouldn’t, right? She and Parker didn’t seem to have made a loud commotion, so he shouldn’t be able to hear anything from the main room, right?

However, the next thing that Winston said caused her to fall from heaven to hell.

“Your mating ended when it turned dark, so I slept very well,” Winston explained seriously.

Bai Qingqing’s face froze with her lips still in the same state as when she let out a sigh, her expression stiffening up.

“Qingqing!” Parker’s voice rang out from the bird’s shelter. “Did you eat short-winged birds a few days back?”

“I didn’t!” Bai Qingqing shouted out loudly toward the door.

“That’s strange.” Parker laid on the ground, sniffing it, his face scrunching up in disgust.

As they mated yesterday, there was the scent of many beastmen in the vicinity. Parker snorted a few times and then rubbed his legs all around the ground.

Parker brought in a short-winged bird that had been cleaned up. Bai Qingqing asked, “What happened to the bird’s shelter?”

“I think we’re short of one bird. I must have recalled wrongly.” Parker didn’t seem to mind this too much. He frowned and said, “The scent of beastmen are all around the vicinity of the house. I’ll cover up their scent later on.”

Bai Qingqing felt bored anyway, so she got up, took a bamboo basket, and headed out. “I’ll go take a look and pick the eggs while I’m at it.”

Winston and Parker exchanged a glance. In the end, Parker stayed behind to cook while Winston followed Bai Qingqing outside.

After the short-winged birds matured, they would be able to lay one egg every two days. After it snowed, they produced fewer eggs but were still able to lay one every three to four days. With there being 20 to 30 short-winged birds, they could lay about 40 to 50 eggs in a week.

Bai Qingqing entered the bird’s shelter and first went to the nests to look for eggs.