Beauty and the Beasts

Bai Qingqing was speechless. After Cortis left, she soaked her feet in the lake water, wanting to wash away the snake’s scent.

She had feared snakes from a young age and dared not even step on somewhere a snake had slithered past. She wouldn’t even touch the soup of a snake steamboat. Yet now, she was being trapped by a giant snake. This to her was the most terrifying nightmare possible.

Very soon Cortis returned. Seeing Bai Qingqing obediently sitting in his abode, an inexplicable satisfaction welled up in his heart.

“I’m back.”

Bai Qingqing ignored him.

Cortis brought back two white rocks and very quickly started a fire. He then skinned the rabbit and put it to roast on the fire. As the wood used to start the fire was a moist piece of rotten wood, the thick and black smoke that rose from it gave off an awful smell.

Bai Qingqing said, “I’ll bet it tastes horrid.”

“Then what do you like to eat?” Cortis asked seriously.

Bai Qingqing replied wilfully, “I want to eat rice!”

Cortis didn’t show a hint of displeasure and instead, agreed readily. “Okay.”

Bai Qingqing was caught by surprise. Wasn’t it said that planting rice easily led to deaths? The only time Parker flared up at her it was because of it. How could a coldblooded homeless beast be so kind?

But then again, when she recalled Parker saying that many males had planted rice in order to please females, she had some understanding of this. It was just that such emotions seemed too out-of-place in a giant snake that had kidnapped her.

As the aroma of meat gradually entered the air, Cortis reached his hand into the fire wanting to get a piece of meat but was instantly burned by the fire. With a hiss, he retracted his hand. Clearly, snakes weren’t suited for such chores.

However, he reached his hand into the fire once again. This time though, using his sharp nails, he rapidly sliced and obtained a smooth piece of rabbit meat.

“Eat.” Cortis handed the meat to Bai Qingqing.

Bai Qingqing didn’t pretentiously refuse either—she chomped on the meat when it was given to her.

The meat tasted awful—the smell of smoke was intense, and with the meat in her mouth, she even felt like smoke was going to come out of her nostrils. However, Bai Qingqing said nothing. She ate whatever Cortis brought to her, until her stomach was filled up.

Cortis was shocked by Bai Qingqing’s tiny appetite. “You’re only eating so little?”

He rarely came into contact with other beastmen. Whatever common knowledge and language he knew he had learned from a legacy in their bloodline. But many details were still buried among the information. For instance, a female’s appetite.

Using his own appetite as a standard, he ate about 50 kg of meat for a meal. In his eyes, the few mouthfuls that Bai Qingqing ate was as good as nothing.

Bai Qingqing replied coldly, “I’m full.” She then walked to the river and cupped up some water to drink.

Gazing at the barbecued meat, Cortis thought to himself, I have got to find rice for Xiao Bai as soon as possible. She’s already eating so little, I can’t let her suffer in terms of taste as well.

After she was done drinking water, Bai Qingqing saw Cortis in a daze as he stared at the grilled meat. Her thrifty nature made her ask, “What do we do with this meat?”

Cortis replied, “Just leave it be. If let outside, animals will naturally come and eat it.”

The skies had already darkened. Because there was a large lake, they could see a clear night sky from there.

“Time to sleep,” Cortis said.

Shivering, Bai Qingqing hurriedly shook her head. “No. I want to look at the night scenery.”

Cortis was very indulgent towards Bai Qingqing’s small requests. He transformed into a snake and curled up around Bai Qingqing, forming a circle, then rested his head on his body and gazed at her.

Bai Qingqing felt terrible seeing the black and red snakeskin and coldness spread throughout her body from her pores. She hurriedly looked up at the skies—as they say, out of sight out of mind.

Countless stars twinkled in the azure blue skies. As it turned out, there were three “moons”. Some were round and some were curved, but all three were of different sizes and colors. The largest silver moon was two to three times that of the moon on Earth. The smallest orange moon was slightly smaller than the one on Earth. While the third moon was the prettiest looking, in a shade of gold.