There was a moment of silence between the two as Li Meirong solemnly considered the man.

A couple of seconds later, Bai Qingyue saw Li Meirong's frown gradually relax and knew that he had successfully managed to mislead her. The invisible knot in his stomach had loosened up as well.

"Oh… then, I appreciate the assistance." Her face became flushed, as though she was the one in the wrong, misunderstanding the upright man's intentions.

"What did you think I was trying to do?"

"... I…" Li Meirong tried to answer but found herself tongue-tied as she saw Zhu Qingyue's thin mouth draw into a grin that quickly escalated into a chortle.

"You! Can you stop teasing me?!" She gave the side of his shoulder a playful shove.

"Ow! Heartless girl," Bai Qingyue abruptly ceased laughing and instead cried out in pain while clutching his own shoulder, "Now that you've grown stronger and no longer have need of me, you want to kick me to the curb."

Li Meirong rolled her eyes and pointedly pushed him again, "Stop fooling around!"

Over the course of the last week, she found herself growing more familiar with the peculiar teacher. Right now, she already felt enough at ease to exchange these kinds of words with him, their silly conversations had become an everyday occurrence. She discovered that Zhu Qingyue was quite a friendly and playful man who liked to joke around. Although, he didn't seem to know when to stop teasing.

"Who is fooling around? I am dead serious! You must treat me with tender care. And you need to uphold your promise to marry me before the worst happens…" The silver-haired man's voice was both alluring and magnetic, despite his obvious pity talk.

Li Meirong squinted at him in contempt, "I already told you that I won't let you die. I'm working hard to find a cure for you. Don't say these kinds of things even as a joke, alright?"

"Mhmm… Even if you find a cure, you are still heartless for rejecting my genuine proposal." Bai Qingyue nodded his head at her words, but his playful grin revealed that he had no intention of changing his ways.

"I didn't reject," Li Meirong stammered, avoiding his penetrating stare, "I just need some time to think about it." She spoke so quickly, her words were almost unintelligible, yet the man seemed to have understood her all the same.

"I shall wait for you."

Following his statement, Li Meirong stayed quiet. However, her whole face turned as red as a tomato and a somewhat foolish-looking grin was plastered across her face.

Pleased by her reaction, Bai Qingyue moved on to the next step in tonight's dinner and lifted his hand up high, snapping his fingers.

On cue, the assigned servants came out of the house at once, their faces were as red as that of their deceived mistress. Each of them carried a plate covered with an opaque lid.

"They are…?" At once, Li Meirong's shoulders grew tense, the corners of her upturned lips suddenly stiffened. She was apprehensive and confused by the newcomers. Two beautiful, young girls had suddenly stepped out of the residence of the man who has been so insistent on marrying her... What was the meaning of this?

Bai Qingyue glanced at his wife's distraught expression and felt a strange sense of satisfaction perceiving her unease, though he had no intention of providing the girl with the opportunity to entertain any suspicions about him.

"These outer sect disciples are your new maids from this moment henceforth. Their names are Xiao An Hua and Xiao An Fei. They are not very competent but I hope they will be able to assist you with your daily activities."

The maids stayed silent, their heads bowed low and their expressions hidden from her view. Otherwise she would have been able to see their silent tears, shed due to the injustice of this most grievous insult.

'Sire, we are demi-goddesses from the Heavenly Realm. How can you call us incompetent?!'

Li Meirong had certainly not expected this. She stared surprised at the girls, "This…"

Without being given the chance to refute, Xiao An Hua took a step forward and presented the main course, uncovering the dish in her hand, "We brought the main dish as requested, slow roasted short ribs."