Beauty and the Beasts

Bai Qingqing was feeling a little pain from being grabbed. She put up a struggle before saying harshly, “I don’t.”

Shuu’s face instantly turned extremely pale, and his hand that was grabbing onto Bai Qingqing’s hand loosened its grip.

Bai Qingqing took the opportunity to draw out her hand. She saw that both her hands had turned red, and there were even a few finger marks left.

Shuu quickly noticed the marks on Bai Qingqing’s hands and quickly grabbed onto them again. However, he was a lot lighter this time around. “It’s my bad. I’ve hurt you. Let me blow on it for you.”

Bai Qingqing had no idea how to deal with Shuu’s fawning that seemed to have no baseline to it. She quickly drew her hand back. “There’s really no need. Don’t touch me!”

Feeling anxious, Bai Qingqing pushed Shuu. The latter was caught unaware and fell back a few steps before finally calming down.

He looked at Bai Qingqing silently for a while, his eyes still gleaming even though he didn’t seem happy. It was the grief that refracted from his tears under the sunlight.

“You can reject me, but you can’t stop me from liking you.”

Shuu smiled, but his smile was really heart-wrenching. “The plants in the ape castle have all been brought here from various places. I’ll bring you around.”

“No need. I’m waiting for Parker.” Bai Qingqing didn’t dare to look at Shuu’s face but turned her head up toward a tall tree. She suddenly let out a questioning cry.

The plants in the front courtyard were evergreen throughout the four seasons, but this tree was the only exception. It looked ugly, its bark in a dirty grayish-brown color, and it took up a lot of space as well. Bai Qingqing took a careful look and found it increasingly familiar.

“You recognize it?” Shuu immediately asked.

Bai Qingqing shook her head with uncertainty and put out her hand to touch the trunk. Before she could touch it, her fair hand was grabbed by a bigger hand.

“Don’t touch it. The bark is coarse and you might get hurt.”

Bai Qingqing drew her hand back quickly as if she had been electrocuted. She turned her head to the side and walked toward the ape castle’s back door in huge strides. Hearing the sound of footsteps quickly following behind her, Bai Qingqing could only say this to send him away, “The ape king said that he’ll be giving us a bag of wild grains. Help me to bring it over.”

“Alright.” Shuu agreed happily and dashed into the castle happily.

Bai Qingqing looked at Shuu’s departing back view and heaved a sigh of relief. She turned and looked back toward the big tree, still having the feeling that she seemed to have seen it before.

She looked up and her gaze met a pair of sharp eyes in the sky by chance. A black eagle was standing on top of a certain stone castle.

Eagle beastmen were all lofty, and Bai Qingqing didn’t think too much about it. She went through the door and Parker, who was seated in the main hall, looked toward Bai Qingqing. He had clearly heard the conversation between her and Shuu and seemed to be very angry.

Bai Qingqing smiled a little guiltily, trying to mime the words to say, “Pay attention.” She then slipped out toward the corridors.

…

Shuu asked around until he found where the ape king was. He was about to knock on the door and enter when he overheard something shocking.

“Are we really going to kill Bai Qingqing?” It was the wolf king’s voice.

Shuu’s eyes became wide-open, and he held his breathing.

“I’m not the one killing her, it’s Rosa. Remember, we don’t know anything. We only retracted the guards from the wolf tribe in the castle.” The ape king’s voice was very cold, unlike what he had shown to others before. If it wasn’t because Shuu was very familiar with his voice, he wouldn’t believe that it belonged to the ape castle, the one who was revered by all the beastmen.

To retract all the guards… Qingqing!

Shuu’s breathing became more intense, and he turned to run back.

“Who’s there?” As the ape king’s voice rang out, the door opened by itself with a “bang”. As it opened with too great a force, it slammed against the door, swinging back to and fro for a few times. However, the person who opened the door was nowhere to be seen.

Only then did the wolf king realize that someone had passed by. His nose twitched and he let out a breath. “It’s Shuu.”

The ape king said, “Quickly go and stop him. We mustn’t allow him to divulge our plan.”

“Yes.”