"Evil?" Li Meirong repeated his words with one speculative eyebrow raised. She inwardly scoffed at his accusation. On what grounds could he possibly declare such a thing?

Mo Cheng thrust both his hands skyward in exasperation at seeing her disbelief. "Yes. He's an evil trickster, a deceiver." he earnestly explained, drawing in a deep breath. "When I saw him the first time, I didn't recognize him, but afterwards, I remembered his identity. You've been siding with the wrong person in this story."

Li Meirong thought many things of Mo Cheng, but she had never considered the notion that he might be a lunatic too. The earnestness with which he spoke began to make her reconsider the possibility. She looked at him as though he had grown a second head.

She then noticed out of the corner of her eye the way Shu Qianqian kept her eyes occupied on the table surface. Her cheeks were slightly reddened in embarrassment, as if she was used to this kind of talk.

Li Meirong looked back at Mo Cheng in confusion, cocking her head to the side. She knew that she wasn't very good at handling lunatics, and she certainly didn't come over here to bicker with Mo Cheng over other people. She came here to officially settle her business with Shu Qianqian, and that was all she planned on doing. She refused to be distracted by this useless and vexing conversation.

Almost instinctively, she ruffled Snowball's soft fur, taking a small measure of comfort in his warm, soft presence. Her clouded eyes turned clear once more.

"It sounds like you know my senior personally, but so do I, and my business with Senior Zhu is my own. You call him evil, but he's never acted evil or malicious towards me." She paused forming her words carefully. "On the contrary, he's been sweet, and kind. He has constantly helped me, even at a time when he had to concentrate on curing his own illness. He saved me years ago, and stood up for me when I was being accused. He taught me martial arts."

Her words trailed off as she sank deep into her own thoughts remembering all that he had done for her and the times that they had spent together. Li Meirong shook her head. "No, I won't forget the good things he's done for me."

Bai Qingyue silently raised his little snout upwards from his wife's lap and stared at her chin with a strange look on his face. He couldn't see her expression as she spoke, but her words alone seemed to echo in his soul, enchanting enough to make him feel unsettled. Watching her defend his honour made his heart beat erratically.

In this lifetime, Bai Qingyue was called many things, but 'sweet', and 'kind' were never one of them.

"Impossible!" Mo Cheng blurted out in agitation."He must have tricked you into thinking this way. That's what his kind does."

He spoke as he leaned against the wall, raising one foot at a time and clearing the ceramic shards away from his bloody soles.

A few strands of dark hair fell over his forehead, veiling Mo Cheng's pain-filled expression. He looked troubled, but not from the small cuts on his feet. There was a distant, faraway look in his eyes, clutching a few moments longer on one foot in particular. "I'm not strong enough to take him on now, that's why I have kept my distance. But after the tournament…. Yes, after the tournament things will be very different."

Again, he spoke as though he knew more about Zhu Qingyue, and more about the future.

'I suppose he really must be crazy. But he has been exceptionally good at hiding it.' Li Meirong concluded on the spot.

A small smile spread across Li Meirong's face, but it wasn't a kind smile. She placed Snowball aside and rose to her feet, her hands cupped together and concealed beneath her sleeves. She didn't know why, but hearing any sort of slander about Zhu Qingyue seemed to bother her.

Her problems with her boyfriend were her own. That didn't mean outsiders could badmouth him!

"If you keep talking about Zhu Qingyue this way, I will no longer be courteous with you. And since you wish to talk about tricks so much, let me tell you about a little trickster I encountered yesterday." Finally, Li Meirong found an opening to redirect the topic of conversation back to her purpose of coming here. She pointed a finger at Shu Qianqian. "My dear friend here paid me a visit last night. She told me your brother was in danger, and that only I could save him. She took me to a secluded island where I was ambushed and nearly killed!"

It was Mo Cheng's turn to look perplexed. "How is that possible? Shu Qianqian spent the night with me yesterday."