Beauty and the Beasts

Bai Qingqing looked at the oily meat paste and her head started to ache.

Her mind kept on urging her to take the little snakes out, but her eyes could only watch as they got increasingly dirty. In the end, she gave up on the treatment and her brain stopped trying to salvage the situation too.

“Forget it. Just eat. I’ll give you guys a hot water bath later,” said Bai Qingqing as she massaged her temples.

Very soon, the big bowl of meat paste was devoured completely by the little snakes. They still seemed as if they hadn’t had enough and searched around for any missed bits. Suddenly, the little snakes felt as if the ground had risen and the world was spinning. They then fell into warm water.

Bai Qingqing didn’t like how oily the little snakes were, so she tossed them into the basin directly. A layer of oil immediately floated to the surface of the warm water.

The little snakes were stunned for a moment after sinking into the water. They choked, then floated up immediately, feeling so hot that they flicked out their tongues.

“Let me see.” Bai Qingqing lifted a little snake by his neck, touching his body. There was still an obvious layer of grease.

That was really annoying. She should just steam eggs for them to dig into next time.

Then, she said to Muir, “Bring me some ashes. Get me some that aren’t hot and then fetch a basin of warm water.”

“Alright.” Muir immediately headed off, then brought in half a big basin of ashes.

The ashes were still warm, and Bai Qingqing used the pair of long chopsticks used for eating hotpot to put the little snakes into the ashes one by one.

The little snake was speechless.

His wet body rolled around in the ashes and he quickly became a gray snake.

The little snake turned and took a look at his body, then started to seethe excitedly in the ashes, sending dust and ashes everywhere in the bedroom.

“Ssss~” After making another turn, the little snake, whose head was covered in ashes, shook his head abruptly. He had been too excited and his nostrils were blocked by the ashes.

Bai Qingqing felt both amused and angry, grabbing him and swooshing him in the hot water, washing off the ashes on his nostrils.

After all ten snakes entered the ash basin, the ashes were moistened and stopped flying around.

After bathing in ashes and then taking a hot water bath, the oil on the little snakes’ bodies was finally mostly removed. However, they still seemed to be glistening, as if they had been polished. There was also a light meat fragrance coming from them.

Bai Qingqing felt helpless. She looked for a big winnowing basket, put in animal skin, then placed the little snakes inside.

Snakes liked to sleep after eating their fill. When they landed into the soft and comfortable nest, they immediately coiled up into a posture they felt the most comfortable in, then fell asleep.

Looking at how the little snakes appeared docile after they quietened down, Bai Qingqing’s eyes revealed gentleness. She looked for a piece of fluffy animal skin to cover them, then placed their heads on the edges so that they wouldn’t suffocate.

It had felt a little unrealistic when she had laid her first nest of snake eggs. She kept having the feeling that they were ordinary wild snakes that were just more intelligent. Now that she looked at this nest of baby snakes, Bai Qingqing easily recalled the little snake who had been able to turn into his human form. Therefore, she could no longer treat them as ordinary snakes, nor even dare to treat them like children.

At the thought of how the little snakes would inherit Curtis’s memories in the future as well as the role she would play in their memories, Bai Qingqing felt complicated.

Curtis was right. The experience passed down through the snake beastmen’s legacy wouldn’t be wrong. It was true that they shouldn’t give in to the children too much like how people in the modern world would dote on their children. She had to follow the rules of the beastmen species or there’d be trouble.

It wasn’t just with the young snakes. She wasn’t planning to interfere too much with the leopard cubs as well as the eagle chicks that she’d have with Muir in the future, either.

“I wonder if Bluepool has gone into hibernation yet,” Bai Qingqing suddenly asked.

Muir suddenly had his guard up but pretended to ask in an indifferent tone, “Is there something you need from him?”