Beauty and the Beasts

The white hair on Winston’s head had turned as hot as withered grass under the sun, and his tanned skin was also radiating a scalding temperature. When he heard Bai Qingqing’s gentle voice, it was as though he found an oasis in the desert, dispelling all the heat from his body.

He came out from the fields and fixed the net properly, rubbing his mud-stained hands before taking the watermelon from Bai Qingqing’s hands carefully.

“Thank you,” Winston said in his deep and slightly raspy voice with his head lowered.

With the animal skin firmly wrapped around her, Bai Qingqing kept fanning herself with her hand. “It’s so hot. There isn’t a problem with the rice, is there?”

“No problem. Another two days and it can be harvested.” Winston looked up at the skies. The skies were white and so clean that not a single cloud could be spotted. Worry mixed with joy could be seen in his eyes as he said, “Just as well that there’s no rain. This way, the rice won’t be damaged.”

“Mm.”

Seeing that Bai Qingqing was really hot, Winston said to Parker, “Hurry up and bring her back.”

“I’m not going back, I still want to find some fruits.” Bai Qingqing revealed her face from within the animal skin and said, “Have you ever seen purple fruits that grow in clusters? They grow on vines. And oh, some have green skins instead of purple. But all of them have very smooth skins.”

“Are you talking about bubble fruits?” Parker asked.

Bai Qingqing’s eyes lit up, feeling hopeful. “What do they look like?”

“Just like you said, the skin is very dirty and it can’t be washed clean. Moreover, it’s small and inconvenient for eating. The females don’t quite like to eat it, but my Mom does.” Parker asked, “You like that? I saw some today.”

“Really? Hurry up and bring me to take a look.” Bai Qingqing got excited. She prayed in her heart: Please let it be grapes, my grape wine depends on you!

Winston wolfed down the watermelon, only leaving behind a layer of greenish-white skin and tossing it on the floor. He said, “It’s dangerous out in the wild, I’ll come along too.”

The three of them entered the forest and found the bubble fruit vines that Parker was talking about. Indeed, they were the grapevines that Bai Qingqing knew.

The grapevines were on a small tree with many branches. However, calling it a small tree was only in comparison to the entire forest; put in the modern ages, it would be considered a big tree. It was roughly thirty to forty meters high, and several hundred heavy clusters of purple grapes hung upon it. It was a magnificent sight.

A flock of birds was perched on the grapevines and pecking at the grapes when the three of them arrived. The startled birds flapped their wings and fled in fear.

Jumping down from the leopard’s back, Bai Qingqing looked up with a delighted expression. “That’s what I was talking about!”

“Roar!” Parker rubbed himself against Bai Qingqing’s waist and ground his claws, before climbing up a tree.

In his beast form, Winston gazed at his surroundings, keeping a lookout for the movements around them.

Parker climbed to the highest spot on the grapevine and transformed into his human form. He plucked off the largest grape in the most vibrant shade of red and directly tossed it down to the ground.

Winston speedily transformed into a human and reached out to accurately grab hold of the bunch of grapes. Due to the inertia of gravity, the over-ripe and starting to rot grapes jumped out and bounced about on the ground.

He handed the grapes to Bai Qingqing, who accidentally saw his lower body. With her face heated up, as she took the grapes from him, she handed him a skirt. “Thanks.”

Holding onto the animal skin skirt, Winston wore a conflicted expression on his face. Suddenly, Parker’s voice could be heard from above.

“That’s my skirt!”

“Ah!” The startled Bai Qingqing hurriedly snatched the skin back from Winston’s hands and handed another skirt to him. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking closely.”

Winston quickly put on the skirt, and only then did Parker continue choosing and plucking his grapes with a peace of mind.