Beauty and the Beasts

Chapter 209: Collaboration

Many hands made light work. At a time like this, the disadvantage of Bai Qingqing having few mates became evident—two males weren’t quite enough to handle the workload.

After Parker finished handling the second wolf, Winston came back with a fiery-red fox. Its fur looked to be of superior quality—even Bai Qingqing who didn’t have an eye for such stuff could tell that it was excellent.

Winston sent down the prey by Parker’s side and was prepared to leave, when Parker said grumpily, “It’s my turn to go hunting.”

Winston had no choice but to transform into a human. He said matter-of-factly, “I’m faster than you.”

Not only was he faster, but the prey Winston captured were also of top-notch quality.

Right now everyone was out snatching prey. If they were any later, the prey with good fur would have been snatched up by others. If they wanted their females to wear animal skin of good quality, they had to hurry. Parker didn’t need to raise a female in the past. As such, it was sufficient for him to just have food to exchange for salt, and he was pretty casual about the sort of animal skins he wore. But now that he had Bai Qingqing, he naturally wanted to get the best animal skins.

Parker fell silent. Winston then transformed into his beast form and ran out.

“What can I help you with?” Bai Qingqing walked behind Parker and asked, sensing the tense atmosphere.

Parker said, “There’s nothing that you can do. If you feel bored, help me smoke meat.”

“Eh? Smoke meat?” Bai Qingqing asked curiously.

Did he mean smoking meat to preserve it? She was surprised to learn that there was smoked meat in this world. There was finally something that existed in both her world and this one.

“After the meat is smoked, it can be stored during the cold season and won’t form maggots.” As Parker spoke, he used a bone blade to pierce open the fox’s stomach. With a tearing sound, the bloody skin of the fox was peeled out.

Bai Qingqing looked away, not daring to look. Gazing as the blood slowly spread out in the water, she said, “Okay, help me start a fire.”

Starting a fire with a flint was a chore that required both technical skills and strength. Bai Qingqing had tried many times but failed to succeed in using the flint. Moreover, she wasn’t feeling that well today, so she was too lazy to even try.

“Mm.” Parker roughly rubbed the fox skin using a rotten tree leaf, before washing his hands thoroughly and carrying her back into the house.

The fire started very quickly. Parker transformed into his beast form and ran out and then came back with a rotten stump, burning it with the rest of the firewood. He then tied the fresh prey with vines and hung it from the rooftop.

The smoke from the rotten stump was very intense and dark. As the meat hanging from the rooftop couldn’t touch the fire, it could only be smoked by the intense smoke.

“Will this do?” Bai Qingqing added several sticks of firewood to the fire. She felt that there didn’t need to be anyone watching this fire, for the stump could burn for a long time.

Parker pinched Bai Qingqing’s crumpled face. He saw the corners of Bai Qingqing’s eyes droop down a little, looking as aggrieved as a little puppy. He screamed internally: So so so adorable! How can Qingqing be so fun to play with?

“Just stay nice and warm by the fire and take care of yourself. Do you want to eat roast sweet potatoes?” Parker cupped both hands by her face and caressed it.

Bai Qingqing slapped away Parker’s hand, feeling slightly annoyed. She rubbed her cheeks that had turned red from the pinching. “You think I’m a pig who only knows how to eat?”

Parker had no idea what connection there was between a pig and eating—wasn’t a pig just like any other wild animal? But he didn’t spend too much energy mulling over this question. With a smile, he asked, “Then, do you want to eat?”

“Ooh…” Recalling the fragrant and sweet taste of roasted sweet potatoes, Bai Qingqing nodded and said, “Then roast me one.”

Parker said gleefully, “And you said you’re not a pig.”

She glared at Parker. Parker suddenly edged closer and kissed her on her lips, before getting up with a grin to get the sweet potatoes.

Bai Qingqing froze and felt her heart rate getting messed up, as she raised a hand and gently touched her lips.