Beauty and the Beasts

Baby Snakes Squirming into a Bowl of Steamed Egg

Those baby snakes that didn’t get a taste of it were one step too late. They quickly jumped upwards in unison.

Shocked by this sudden commotion, Bai Qingqing reflexively raised her hands up high, causing the baby snakes to pounce into thin air.

“Ssss—”

The result of this unruly behavior was that the baby snakes ended up colliding with each other, and when they landed in the nest they started scurrying around haphazardly, rapidly rolling into a bundle. Looking at the way they were crawling out with great difficulty, they seemed to have tangled up.

“Pff!” Bai Qingqing sputtered with laughter. Suddenly, she felt a weight on her hand. As she turned her head over, she saw that the spoon she was holding was being held in Curtis’s mouth.

The speechless Bai Qingqing’s mouth twitched. What’s the point of fighting for food with your sons?

Curtis calmly finished the steamed egg, then, acting as though nothing had happened, continued shoveling his share into his mouth.

The baby snakes were struggling to break free. Bai Qingqing wanted to scoop from Curtis’s steamed eggs, but this time around, it wasn’t so easy.

Curtis only had to slightly tighten his tail, and his upper body easily elevated by 50 meters—as though it was riding an elevator. When Bai Qingqing got to her feet, Curtis rose up yet higher again.

“Hey! Let me scoop a spoonful!” Bai Qingqing stomped her feet in anger, reaching her arm to grab Curtis’s bowl.

The corners of Curtis’s lips curled as he slowly scooped up a spoonful and sent it into his mouth right in her presence.

Bai Qingqing was so mad that her cheeks were puffed up. With her arms hugging around Curtis’s snake tail, the way she alternated between jumping and crawling made her resemble a baby koala bear.

“Boing!”

Parker, who had been focused on cooking, rapped the bottom of the pot with his spatula, causing everyone in the house—including the baby snakes—to look towards him.

“Hmph!” Parker let out a scoff. He tossed the spatula aside and walked out. “I’ll go and bring in the steamed eggs.”

Bai Qingqing instantly let go of Curtis and silently scolded herself for having a one-track mind and being reckless. Wasn’t it much simpler to make a trip outside? Why was she so bent on getting it from Curtis’s bowl?

Remembering that there was meat stir-fried with bamboo shoots waiting for him in the pot, Parker was extremely speedy. It took him no time to return with a pot of steamed eggs. He set the steamed eggs next to the baby snakes’ nest. By now, smoke was coming out from the pot. Parker quickly grabbed a spatula and quickly stir-fried the contents.

Bai Qingqing touched the stone pot of steamed eggs. Sensing that the temperature was just right and didn’t even require her blowing upon it, she revealed a satisfied smile. She was prepared to continue feeding it to the baby snakes when a ball of black and red something flashed before her eyes and fell into the steamed egg.

“Ah!” Bai Qingqing shrieked loudly.

“Let them eat by themselves,” Curtis said.

The baby snakes instantly squirmed into the warm steamed eggs, looking so excited it was as though they had entered an amusement park. Shortly after, the golden steamed eggs became full of holes—there was a wavy texture on the surface, but the snakes were nowhere to be seen.

It was like a pot of braised tofu with loach![1]

Bai Qingqing pinched her stiffened face and turned her stiffened neck towards Curtis. “Aren’t you afraid they will be scalded to death!?”

Curtis calmly continued eating. “I’ve tested the temperature.”

“When?” Bai Qingqing also knew that the interior of the pot wasn’t extremely hot. But Curtis didn’t touch it either. If it was scalding, the baby snakes would probably get injured!

Curtis flicked out his slim and long tongue, the part where it forked gliding up and down.

“Using this.”

“Err… oh.” Bai Qingqing was still somewhat dubious. Please forgive her for not having learned this despite having watched plenty of episodes of Animal World.

The steamed eggs were evidently disappearing, and with that, a larger part of the baby snakes’ bodies got exposed. Until finally there was only a layer of snakes covering the bottom of the pot, slithering around and biting the bits of steamed egg.

Bai Qingqing couldn’t resist opening her mouth. What a voracious appetite. Moreover, they don’t look like they’re full yet?

“Qingqing, time to eat.” Parker wiped his eyes that were getting fogged up by the oil and smoke. A vibrant smile appeared on his face, now that he finally got a chance to speak with her.

Bai Qingqing said, “Can you steam another pot of eggs for the baby snakes?”

[1] the loach would likewise squirm into the tofu during the cooking process, leaving only their tails exposed on the surface