Beast World: From Villainess to Cub-Raising Chef

Yodel nodded. "Okay."

*

After Bai Su finished tidying up the shop and ordering ingredients, she returned to her room.

A large white snake was coiled in her bedroom, flicking its tongue at her with a grin.

Her small, soft bed had been replaced by a large, luxurious one.

Caught off guard, Bai Su was so startled that her rabbit ears instinctively covered her eyes.

"Tch..." Li Chenlin let out a malicious chuckle.

Bai Su came to her senses, annoyed as she pulled her ears away from her face. She shot him a fierce glare and walked into the room without looking at him again. "What are you doing here?"

Li Chenlin’s lips curved into a smirk. "And why can’t I be here?"

Bai Su’s expression darkened. "This is my room. If you don’t get out right now, I’m calling for help."

Li Chenlin said, "Go on, call. I’d like to see who out here in the middle of nowhere is going to do anything about me."

Bai Su wanted to curse him out, but then she seemed to think of something and suddenly smiled. "Fine. If you want to stay, then stay."

She got up, took a shower, and came out, unafraid of what Li Chenlin might do to her.

When Bai Su emerged from her shower, Li Chenlin had already shifted back to his human form. He was lying on her bed in loose-fitting pajamas, flipping through a book she had left on her nightstand.

Bai Su walked over and, bold as brass, threw back the covers and climbed in.

Li Chenlin raised an eyebrow. "?"

Bai Su said, "What are you looking at? This is my bed."

Li Chenlin said, "You’re certainly not shy."

But he could tell Bai Su was exhausted from her day, so he didn’t actually do anything to her.

The two of them really just lay in bed and slept.

Once Bai Su felt the person beside her breathing deeply, she secretly fumbled under the covers to turn the air conditioner to its lowest setting. Then, she rolled the blanket up and wrapped herself tightly in it.

「The next day.」

"Holy shit..."

Bai Su was dumbfounded.

System: [...]

Li Chenlin had been frozen into an ice sculpture.

A thin layer of frost covered his entire body, and even his tail was stiff.

He looked like he wasn’t breathing at all.

Bai Su said, "I think I might have taken this a bit too far..."

The System facepalmed. [...]

Li Chenlin, on the bed, had clearly been forced into an early hibernation. His breathing was incredibly faint, but his complexion actually looked quite good.

Bai Su leaned in closer. "Tsk, tsk... How could he be so sensitive to the cold?"

’He’s surprisingly good-looking. As expected of one of the male leads.’

’When he’s not being all gloomy and having one of his fits, he’s almost like a little angel.’

His upper body was human, but his lower body was a snake. Bai Su didn’t dare move him carelessly, so she just wrapped him up in the blankets and turned on the heat.

She stared at the frost on his body, a sudden worry creeping in. ’System, when the frost on him melts, it won’t turn into water and soak my bed, will it?’

System: ’This... I don’t know either.’

’The female protagonist in the original plot never tormented Li Chenlin like this.’

After a moment’s thought, Bai Su struggled to push Li Chenlin off the bed.

The tall man was frozen solid. When he was pushed off the bed, he hit the floor like a stone pillar, making Bai Su worry she might have shattered him.

Bai Xiaolang and Bai Xiaoshe heard the commotion and came in, only to find Li Chenlin on the floor, frozen like an ice sculpture.

The two little ones shivered as a blast of cold air hit them in the face.

Bai Su let out two awkward laughs and discreetly turned off the air conditioner. Then she got up to open the window. "It’s really cold in this room! Let’s air it out a bit, haha..."

The Li Chenlin-sicle rolled twice on the floor before coming to a stop, face-up, looking quite peaceful.

Bai Xiaolang and Bai Xiaoshe: "..."

Bai Su then went to slide open the glass doors leading to the balcony. "Haha, how strange. I wonder why my room is so cold..."

A faint noise came from behind her.

Bai Su turned her head and saw the two little ones working together to haul Li Chenlin outside.

She froze for a second. "What are you two doing?"

Bai Xiaolang said, "Mom, don’t be scared. I know you killed someone."

Bai Xiaoshe added, "While no one’s found out, let’s hurry and dig a hole to bury him. No one will ever know."

Bai Su: "?!"

While she stood there, stunned, the two little ones had already deftly hauled the man downstairs and out to the backyard.

Snapping back to reality, Bai Su hurriedly chased after them. "Wait, no, you’ve misunderstood!"

By the time she got down to the backyard, Bai Xiaoshe was using his superpower, Poison Gas Bomb, to blast a huge pit in the ground—just big enough to bury Li Chenlin in.

Bai Su watched as one of the little ones dug the pit while the other placed the body, one filled in the dirt at the head of the grave while the other tamped down the earth at the foot. It was simply...

Unnervingly skillful!

She hurriedly stopped them. "Stop! This is a misunderstanding! He’s not dead yet, you can’t just bury him alive!"

Bai Xiaoshe looked at her, confused. "But he is dead. There are no vital signs."

Bai Su felt faint. "He’s really not dead! He just entered hibernation early! Dig him out..."

Bai Xiaolang scratched his head. "Then how come little brother isn’t hibernating?"

Bai Xiaoshe nodded beside him.

The two little ones looked like they couldn’t wait for Li Chenlin to be properly dead so they could get on with disposing of the body.

Bai Su had no choice but to confess, "I felt hot last night and turned the AC down too low, which froze him. Just dig him out first..."

Hearing this, the two little ones reluctantly dug him back out.

But Li Chenlin showed no signs of waking up.

Bai Su was troubled. "What do we do now? I didn’t freeze him to death, did I?"

Having grown up without a father’s guidance, Bai Xiaoshe didn’t know much about Snake Beastman hibernation either.

He had been passed around and eventually sold to the Southern Country, where there was no winter, so he had never experienced a hibernation period.

While the mother and her two sons were fretting, a knock sounded at the door.

Bai Xiaolang ran PITTER-PATTER to open the door. Seeing who it was, he happily leaped into his arms. "Great-Grandpa!"

Yelias patted his little head, then lifted him up under his arms. "I brought some fresh ingredients. Where’s your mother?"

Bai Xiaolang, used to his germaphobia, chirped, "Mom’s in the backyard! We got a big snake!"

Yelias raised an eyebrow. "A big snake?"

He walked into the backyard, carrying Bai Xiaolang.

When Bai Su saw him, her eyes lit up. "Grandpa, what are you doing here?!"

As if seeing her savior, she quickly grabbed Yelias by the arm and pulled him over to the edge of the pit.

The moment she touched him, Yelias’s body stiffened slightly. He fought the urge to pull his hand away as she dragged him to the edge of the pit.

When he saw the person in the pit, he couldn’t help but freeze for a second. "Is that... Li Chenlin?"

Bai Su’s eyes brightened. "Grandpa, you know him?"

Yelias replied, "He’s the infamous, uncrowned king of the international underworld. The criminal powers of every nation have to bow their heads to him. Who doesn’t know him?

He paused, then stared at the person who looked like an ice sculpture. "What happened to him?"

Bai Su looked troubled. "Last night... I turned the AC on too low and... froze him."

For once, Yelias’s calm and elegant composure broke. "...To think he’d be taken down by something so absurd. Truly."

Bai Su looked at him pleadingly. "Grandpa, you’re a doctor, right? Is there any way to save him? He won’t be... permanently damaged, will he? I just wanted to play a prank on him so he’d stop coming into my room..."