Beauty and the Beasts

Bai Qingqing instantly snapped the tree branch to chase away the cubs frolicking by her feet. After finally managing to break out of the encirclement, she maniacally sprinted towards home.

Howl~

The leaving back view stirred the preying instincts in the cubs, making them even more excited. Making ferocious expressions, the three of them chased after her as though they were in a hundred-meter dash.

Bai Qingqing had just run to the bedroom when her ears picked up on the swift footsteps of her cubs. Before she could even turn her head, she suddenly felt something pounce on her back, making her fall flat on her face.

Thankfully, the nest was right before her, so it wasn’t a painful fall.

The sound of biting ensued. Never mind that the cubs pounced upon her—they even bit at her clothes.

An’an, who was sound asleep, was awoken. When she opened her eyes and saw the leopards on top of Bai Qingqing, she wasn’t at all scared. In fact, she even blinked.

Furious, Bai Qingqing’s delicate brows were creased deeply. She sucked in a deep breath before opening her mouth and bellowing at her cubs, “Are you three courting death?!”

Howl~

The leopard cubs suddenly halted. The ferociousness had disappeared from their roars, and they now sounded aggrieved and frantic.

Bai Qingqing nudged her elbow backward. No idea who she nudged, but it felt like elbowing against a wall of flesh, and she wasn’t able to shove that cub down.

Seeing that their mommy really got angry, the cubs dispersed in the blink of an eye and widened their yellowish-orange eyes at her.

Reaching to touch the clothes on her back, Bai Qingqing felt her hand covered with mud. She laid limply in the nest in annoyance.

The kids were really getting more mischievous as they grew up. Especially since the boys in this world were all strong and muscular, she was no longer able to take them in hand anymore. This was infuriating.

Bai Qingqing turned her head and then said with an emotional sigh as she gazed at An’an’s face, “An’an is the most obedient. You mustn’t be as naughty as your leopard brothers when you grow up, okay?”

As she spoke, Bai Qingqing smiled, reassured. Actually, it was fine even if she was naughty. Even if she wasn’t able to take her sons in hand, surely she could handle a daughter?

“Eh, since my clothes are dirtied anyway, let’s go out and play.” Having been forced to stay indoors for an entire cold season, Bai Qingqing couldn’t quite take it lying down that she wasn’t able to go out with her mates.

Her eyeballs turned around before she made up her mind. “Let’s go look for your snake brother.”

Now that the village was walled up, it was nearly impossible for wild beasts to enter by land. These days, wild beasts could only enter by the water channels.

But it was very rare for wild beasts to have such a high level of awareness. Hence, the village was extremely safe.

As she spoke, she got to her feet to make preparations.

The cubs were dumbfounded when they heard this. Recalling the “humiliation” they suffered back then, each of them was puffed up with anger as they stood at the door waiting for their mommy to finish packing.

While Bai Qingqing didn’t mind getting wet from the rain, she had to ensure An’an was well-protected from it. Hence, she specially brought along a smooth, furless piece of animal skin. Additionally, she also took with her the animal skin skirt she secretly made for the little snake.

After she was done packing up, Bai Qingqing tied An’an to her chest. When she got to her feet and saw her cubs, she smiled in amusement.

“Babies, are you three going to fight a war?” Bai Qingqing asked with a smile. Each of them was standing prim and proper with a serious countenance, reminding her of Winston.

Roar!

The cubs roared in unison.

Bai Qingqing smiled and left the house with her kids.

Parker’s weather forecast was indeed spot-on—before Bai Qingqing even got to the cave, tiny rain droplets started falling from the skies.

As there happened to be a small tree next to her that was spouting with something that resembled banana leaves, Bai Qingqing quickly walked over and snapped off a leaf.

“Oh god!”

Feeling the pain from her hand, she quickly let go of the leaf.

She was surprised to find that the emerald-green and soft-looking leaves turned out to be as tough as cow’s hide.