Beauty and the Beasts

The moment they arrived home, Bai Qingqing immediately took off her boots and grabbed onto her painful toes.

Curtis used his tongue to touch them, and his face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot as he immediately looked at her other foot.

Bai Qingqing said weakly, “It’s just that I got it wet earlier. The boot on this foot didn’t get wet. It isn’t cold.”

Curtis’s gaze was harsh, and Bai Qingqing’s voice got increasingly softer. She suddenly felt very scared.

“Meow—”

The leopard cubs’ soft cries rang out from the corner. They were spooked as well and had stayed very far away, not daring to get close.

In search of a bit of security, Bai Qingqing called out to them, “Children, come over to mommy.”

“Howl—”

The leopard cubs ran over despite the danger, not daring to raise their heads to look at Curtis as they dashed straight to their mother. Just as they were about to dash into their mother’s warm and fragrant embrace, First, at the very front, was suddenly lifted into the air.

Curtis placed the cub’s stomach onto Bai Qingqing’s foot. When he saw Bai Qingqing’s countenance turning a little better, he secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

“Seems like it’s effective.”

“What?” Bai Qingqing threw a timid glance at him, then lowered her head to look at First, using her toes to poke his stomach.

Phew, it feels so warm. Children really have high body temperatures.

“Based on what my legacy tells me, many females die in the cold season,” Curtis said in a calm tone. “They freeze to death. When they die, even their fingers and toes break off from being frozen up.”

Bai Qingqing stiffened, and she quickly moved her toes. “Thank god I can still move. They won’t fall off, right?”

Curtis only looked coldly at her, not replying.

Bai Qingqing was so scared that she was on tenterhooks. She kept using her toes to scratch First’s toasty stomach. First was relieved from the shock and thought that his mother was playing with him. He kept on crying out happily while struggling to run away.

Second and Third, who had run away, also became more relaxed, running over to First to play.

A while later, Parker returned. He had one paw on the tree hole while he crawled in weakly. He fell to the floor and didn’t budge.

Patches of his golden fur had turned bare. Other than that, there were no other signs of injuries.

“Are you alright?” When Bai Qingqing saw his battered state, her heart ached for him.

However, at the thought that Winston, who had bitten him, had been searching for her for so long, she couldn’t find it in herself to blame him either. She asked, “What feud did you have with Winston? Why did he bite you the moment he arrived? Oh right, where is he?”

Bai Qingqing looked outside, and a white tiger head moved from the side to the entrance, his gaze flickering a little before he lowered it.

Curtis said, “Come in.”

The white tiger’s silver eyes gleamed, and he immediately climbed into the tree hole. His massive body caused even the floor to tremble.

“Howl!” Parker felt displeased. He moved his limbs and climbed in Bai Qingqing’s direction.

Bai Qingqing smoothed out Parker’s head’s messy fur, then flicked his pitch-black and bright nose. “You aren’t going to transform into a human?”

Parker felt that it was embarrassing and was unwilling to transform. Winston moved over to the side and changed into his human form. However, he had just transformed when a piece of animal skin was thrown at his feet.

Winston picked up the animal skin and wrapped it around his waist. His deep voice had a hint of fury in it. “He shook me off midway.”

Bai Qingqing wasn’t in any position to comment on this. She was actually glad to not have Winston come looking for her. But when this had caused him to spend so much time looking for her, it was hard to say who was in the wrong.

“Howl—” Parker turned his head, showing the back of his head toward Winston. He noticed that First looked a little strange in the way he was laying down.

He chased First away idly, only to realize that Bai Qingqing’s toes were red and let out a perplexed cry.