Bai Qingqing smiled in relief, then reached out to hold the snake and gently placed it on a rock.

  “Put out the fire. The eggs should be fully cooked by now,” Bai Qingqing said without raising her head and used her arm to shield the little snake from the fire.

  The little snake raised its head slightly, then fell back asleep after glancing at Bai Qingqing.

  Curtis’s expression darkened and he didn’t move.

  Although Curtis didn’t have any feelings of kinship towards his offspring, he felt that this wasn’t right. At this rate, the baby snakes would lose their ability to survive.

  If throwing away the little snakes would cause Bai Qingqing to resent him, he would rather destroy them.?

  Parker put down the wood ear and quickly put out the fire. He said, “I saw many little snakes when I was picking wood ear. I’ll go look for them right now.”


  “Mm.” Bai Qingqing nodded gratefully.

  Parker wasn’t displeased that he had to look for the snakes alone. Someone had to remain by Bai Qingqing’s side and guard her, after all.

  Bai Qingqing pulled out an egg from the pile of charcoal and quickly peeled it, ignoring the heat as she did so. She then wrapped it in a leaf and passed it to Curtis. “Here. Be careful. It’s hot.”


  Curtis reached out his arms and pulled Bai Qingqing against his chest instead of taking the egg. He pressed his head against hers and said, “There are only two eggs. You can have them instead.”


  “I don’t like to eat egg yolks. Help me to eat them.” Bai Qingqing looked up and smiled at him.

  Before long, Parker returned with all the little snakes, who slept amongst the rocks. Bai Qingqing and Parker went to the fields to check on them while the snakes napped. When the two of them returned, the snakes were already awake, and the family returned to the City of Beastmen.

  …


  The day the Camel Hump Valley was rebuilt, the leopard beastmen moved out, taking with them a few tiger beastmen chosen by the females of the leopard tribe.

  The tiger king’s castle suddenly had some peace and quiet. Curtis let the little snakes stay on the first floor. That way, they could roam about in the yard and even catch small prey from time to time.

  The storm had seemed to use up all the rainwater for the light rainy season. After the sky cleared, they didn’t experience much rain, and the rainy season for that year ended a month early.

  The seedlings in the field grew very well and entered their harvesting period earlier than in previous years. The noisy chirps of cicadas could be heard from the forest, which was enveloped in the heat, signaling that the crops could be harvested.

  In the tiger king’s castle, Bai Qingqing ran downstairs barefoot. She passed through the backyard and panted as she leaned against the door.

  Ahead of her was a clear small river. There was a row of willow trees along the river, and a golden-haired young man could be seen crouched by the river while sharpening a stone blade.

  Bai Qingqing didn’t dare to walk forward as it was too sunny outside. She shouted, “Parker! Are we going to cut the wild grains today?”


  Parker turned around. Bai Qingqing smiled sweetly when she met his eyes and quickly ran up to him.

  She had no choice but to run fast. Standing on the scorching hot ground for even a second longer felt like a death sentence. She felt the soles of her feet closer to becoming teppanyaki[1] with each passing minute.

  Bai Qingqing was wearing a tube top and skirt made of tiger skin. Her long curly hair, which reached the small of her back, was tied up into a beautiful ponytail at the back of her head and tightly secured with a strip of animal skin. Her ponytail swayed as she ran.

  Parker couldn’t help but smile as the figure of his mate came into view. He replied loudly, “Yeah! Too many birds have been sneakily eating our crops. The earlier we harvest the grains, the more we can harvest.”


  Bai Qingqing ran to the willow tree nearest to Parker. She stamped her scalded feet on the ground before sticking them into the water.?

  [1] Teppanyaki is a post–World War II style of Japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook food.