"Is it really true? Have you been intimate with Senior Zhu?" Mo Cheng stood aghast, looking as though he'd seen a ghost. "How could you do that?"

At the sight of Mo Cheng's shell-shocked appearance, Shu Qianqian hid a crafty smile with the back of her exquisitely manicured fingernails. She stole a quick, triumphant glance at Li Meirong, eagerly expecting an outrageous reaction. Currently, her greatest desire was to watch Li Meirong grovel and make a spectacle of herself in defense against these accusations.

In a dramatic contrast to her expectations, Li Meirong remained abnormally calm, mirroring the peaceful tranquillity of the pond that could be seen from the back doors. Her cool and collected demeanour only served to further infuriate Shu Qianqian, causing her to bite her lower lip so hard that she ended up piercing the skin.

Li Meirong didn't bother with sparing any attention to Shu Qianqian. She calmly looked up at Mo Cheng's expression, which was filled with judgement, and felt her own heart harden. Her eyes grew as cold as frost in a mere instant. Yet, despite her lack of response, inwardly, she felt a deep sense of discrimination!

This man, no, boy, had built a harem out of half of his division, and not once had she rebuked him in any way! As for her, she shared one night with a single man long ago, and all of a sudden, this womanizer was looking at her accusingly. He was judging her for being a promiscuous woman?!

She knew that in this ancient outdated world, a lady's chastity was often more valuable than her own life. She knew that even though cultivators were, supposedly, all considered equals in the sect regardless of their status or gender, it was only an empty ideal. Underneath this facade, for one's reputation to be soiled, to be considered a 'loose' woman in this backwater society, was a mark of shame that could easily ruin one's life.

In both professional and social light, a woman's reputation, once mulled, was completely destroyed.

Back when Li Meirong had been accepted into the Bestiary Division, with one simple sentence from Captain Liang, her reputation had been completely tarnished. She had lived not only the life of a mere servant in the sect, but a bullied one at that. Her life had been little better than an unwanted and beaten dog cowering in fright. Her knowledge from the future and her culinary skills had been enough to help her get by, but if it hadn't been for Chou's help, she would never have been able to survive the first few years after the repetitive attempts upon her life.

At that time, the few people that had stood by her side and defended her honour were none other than these two. Shu Qianqian, who had eventually turned against her, and Mo Cheng, the one who was staring at her now. He wore a look of complete and utter disappointment and it was directed at Li Meirong.

The irony of this double standard was so tragically hilarious, that Li Meirong couldn't help but coldly laugh in response. "It's true. Zhu Qingyue and I have been together. So what of it? Do I owe you anything? Do I need to tell you who I've been with?"

Shu Qianqian gasped in mock indignation, exclaiming, "How audacious!"

Mo Cheng's wide eyes narrowed as he stepped over the broken teacup shards without a care and headed directly towards Li Meirong, small rivulets of blood leaving a trail from the wounds on the soles of his bare feet.

"Mo Cheng, your feet are bleeding! Are you alright?" Shu Qianqian cried out, using the table to hoist herself up.

"Not now, Little Qianqian." Mo Cheng held his arm up and waved at Shu Qianqian's direction, demanding silence.

Obedient as ever, Shu Qianqian followed Mo Cheng's command and discontentedly sat back down with a barely audible huff of frustration.

As soon as Mo Cheng reached the table, Snowball's fur stood up, and he growled ominously low, ready to pounce, should Mo Cheng dare to come any closer. His tail once again began flicking with agitation.

Mo Cheng frowned at the Fox Spirit, but made no further move. He closed his eyes and shook his head in frustration at Li Meirong. He acted as though, suddenly, he was the elder in the room, knowing far more than everybody else and simply observing, if not correcting the mistakes of the younger generation.

"You don't understand. That person is not good for you." he stated. "You're not supposed to be with him."

His choice of words caused Li Meirong to still, a small pinching of her brows revealed confusion as she tried to make sense of it all. Even Shu Qianqian appeared a little bewildered.

"I suppose you assume I should be with you?" Li Meirong snorted with derision.

Following that question, Mo Cheng locked eyes with Li Meirong. The intensely grave expression on his face was enough of an answer. He didn't need to say it for her to know that her mocking response had hit the nail on the head. That was exactly what he thought, but in all these years, she had never quite understood why he was so certain that eventually, she would merrily leap into his arms, if he'd kept trying to win her over. It was as if he thought they shared some sort of preordained fate that only he was aware of.

"Why is Zhu Qingyue not good for my Master?" Feng Huang interjected, her inquisitive red eyes studied Mo Cheng's every move.

Mo Cheng blinked, caught off guard by the Turtle Spirit's question. He didn't seem to expect her to be able to speak. At length, he answered with utmost seriousness, "He is evil."