"He is not a worthy man if he will think less of you for having scars." Snowball mumbled, pointedly avoiding Li Meirong's gaze. "Besides, shouldn't it be the male who must ensure that he is attractive to the female for the sake of drawing her favour?"

The disguised Fox Lord suddenly found himself overwhelmed by a fierce hug. His nostrils flared as he breathed in Li Meirong's scent. His keen hearing easily picked up on her strangled words, smothered as they were by a burst of halfhearted laughter.

"In the end, only Snowball is good to me..."

Snowball emitted a low, rumbling growl as he breathed in and out. It sounded suspiciously like a purr.

At first, it had felt inappropriate for Bai Qingyue to tarnish his human disguise for the sake of cheering up his wife, but at the sound of her words, he felt that his concerns no longer mattered. The gloominess in his heart had easily been dispersed by her lilting, melodious voice.

"That's right," he agreed, nuzzling up against Li Meirong while her arms enveloped him in an embrace as she stroked his fur. Her hands felt soft. Soft and warm. It was this softness, this bubbling feeling of sheer, soothing serenity, that had easily made him willing to demean himself, to even go as far as to defy a heavenly verdict. "Snowball is the best for you." he stated with an air of finality.

They stayed like that for a short while, taking silent comfort in each other until Li Meirong gradually lifted him up in the air. Her eyes turned clear once more, filled with resolution as she stared at him.

"You know what, you're right. To hell with what people say. So what if I lose face? I didn't have much of a reputation here to begin with. And about Zhu Qingyue, well, I can't keep running away from confronting him. Even though it's awkward, we'll have to sit down and talk about everything." said Li Meirong. Despite the resolute tone of her voice, she still bit her bottom lip.

"Maybe 'everything' was just a big misunderstanding. You never know." Snowball helpfully and innocently gave his opinion.

Li Meirong smiled in amusement. "Perhaps you're right," she said and stopped for a moment of contemplation, holding on to her chin with her thumb and index finger. "But I think I'll need a drink before I can meet him again."

Snowball's adorable snout wrinkled as he frowned. He did not seem to like the idea of her drinking.

She shook her head, laughing. She thought that even though she might have grown stronger, her confidence was shaken.

Li Meirong carefully lowered Snowball down and picked up her hand mirror. The girl gazing back at her was peeling like a snake shedding its skin. Underneath the cracking mask, lines of scars caused by the punishment inflicted upon the previous owner of this body showed. She had always assumed that her face was marred so gruesomely by boiling oil.

For years, she had been hiding the disfigurement with concoctions that formed a thin layer above the skin. She knew that it was a sort of concealing technique more than it was a herbal decoction. Previously, she had been grateful for Mo Jing's assistance with helping her with this 'medicine' or rather, mask. But she no longer wanted or needed it.

She picked at the skin with the tip of her fingers, peeling off a thin layer of the elastic substance that crumbled, feeling a little horrified by herself. She wondered if she was a vain woman for wanting a beautiful face, for being ashamed of this disfigurement. It pained her to be scorned, and she felt that the visible scars would only lend additional ammunition for those in the sect who wished her harm. They'll have another wound to poke at now, she was sure of it.

'But now, I won't just sit there and take a beating.' Li Meirong thought. Her eyes hardened, likening to the obsidian gems they so resembled, as she stared at herself in the mirror.

Snowball quizzically peeked at Li Meirong's reflection from behind her shoulder. His own luminous eyes locked on Li Meirong's with an intensity that left her slightly unnerved. She gave him a nervous smile before turning the mirror away.

Later that day, Li Meirong went to spend the evening with Bao Li again, drinking her troubles away and relieving her mind from stress, from her relationship issues, from the upcoming tournament, and from the jingling bell that kept bugging her from time to time. Snowball had insisted on remaining at home, so she had let him stay there alone. Sometimes, she thought that his demands to follow her everywhere or stay behind were a bit odd, but decided that even spirit beasts needed alone time every once and awhile.

When she returned that night, she was greeted with a surprise. Rather than seeing Snowball's little tail wagging at the entrance as she had initially expected, she was startled to discover Zhu Qingyue idling in front of the doorway. A sheepish smile tugged at his lips as he looked up at her from beneath a pair of long, elegant eyelashes. On anyone else, it would have made the person seem a bit childish, but for him, it made him bewitching. Those thin lips portrayed a mysterious charm.