Originally, Li Meirong's plan was to make a quick visit to Mo Cheng's residence and then resume her studies. However, she made a change to her plans once clumps of skin began to fall from her face. Her little fox spirit kept his eyes fixed on her, his curiosity growing with every piece that was shed.
As she returned home, she felt a strange mix of conflicting emotions upon finding the place empty. Could she have actually still been hoping to see Senior Zhu? Though, she didn't wish to ponder upon those emotions and promptly transferred Feng Huang back into the dimension. She was about to transfer Snowball too, but the Fox Spirit was particularly insistent on staying, to a point where she could do no more than oblige him.
Li Meirong left Snowball to sprawl on the bed as she rushed to rummage through her kitchen cabinets. In her frantic search, she tossed out a collection of pots and pans, spices, and stalks of dried herbs. A few ladles and wooden bowls were dumped from the cabinet and strewn all over, causing a tremendous racket as they hit the floor.
Since she couldn't find what she was looking for in the kitchen cabinet, she undertook the eager task of messing up her living quarters by scouring the closet, flinging badly sewn sheets and worn, tattered blankets left and right.
Snowball patiently lounged on the soft mattress basking in Li Meirong's pleasant scent as he waited for her to fiddle around with her myriad of mortal items. Sensing an object getting thrown his way, he narrowly avoided being hit by a rather odd clothing accessory by rolling quickly over to the other side of the bed. It appeared to be a peculiar looking type of contraption.
He delicately grabbed ahold of the undershirt with one claw, curiously studying it from side to side. From the shape and length of the clothing, the Fox Lord deduced that the weirdly designed item was a bodice, but not a dudou, meant to conceal one of his most favourite things in this whole world.
In fact, the bodice seemed different than any he had seen before, for it to be so accurately fastened that the shapely pair of twin serving cups were nearly the exact same size as his wife's bountiful steamed buns. It wasn't as though he had seen that many, due to the curse. Still, this one was rather short for a bodice.
As he busied himself with that single bodice, another similar piece of clothing was thrown his way. Unfortunately, he was too preoccupied to avoid the oncoming piece and it fell right on top of his head, wedging itself with the straps between his ears.
"..." Bai Qingyue felt a little grateful that he was a Sovereign Lord at that moment. With a messy wife like this one, he'd surely require numerous servants to maintain a proper household.
After the room became messy enough to put a garbage heap to shame, Li Meirong finally turned around to face the chaos, brushing her hair back in frustration. "I can't find the stupid vial!" she fumed.
Following the chaotic mess that she made of her one room home, Li Meirong's eyes landed on her Fox Spirit, who busied himself with putting one of her bras on top of his head while clawing another bra with his paws.
Her cheeks were stained pink as she reached to grab her bras from the Fox Spirit, unlatching the straps of her form fitting undergarment from each of his white furred ears. "Snowball, you shouldn't play with these kinds of things. I don't have a lot of bras here and I'm not very good at sewing them to begin with, so I have to care for what I already have."
'Is there any point mentioning that I've been wrongly accused?' Bai Qingyue wisely kept the dry remark to himself. Instead, he perked up his freed ears and asked his wife, "What is this thing you call a bra?"
Li Meirong silently opened and closed her mouth like a gaping fish a few times. At length, she settled for answering, "It's an undergarment meant for holding them in place, otherwise when ladies move around, it can feel a bit uncomfortable." she opened her palms wide over her chest in a cupping motion to better express herself.
'Them?' Bai Qingyue thought in amusement about her choice of words. Though as she raised her hands, his pupils enlarged, glued to her every move.
"Luckily for you, a male Fox Spirit will surely never have to worry about this sort of trouble. All you have to do is make sure your fur is clean!" said Li Meirong, stroking Snowball's fur and laughing in embarrassment.
Bai Qingyue looked up and stared at her with a mischievous look in his eyes, rising to meet her palm with the side of his head. "Master's troubles are Snowball's troubles!" he exclaimed in the most innocent tone he could muster. "If Master requires support to keep those special parts in place, Snowball will do his utmost to help!"
'Wait, that's not at all what I was trying to explain here…' Li Meirong helplessly thought.
However, as soon as she tried to explain herself again, another clump of skin fell from her face. The scars she had been concealing all these years with a medicinal concoction became visible on her face one again.
"Master, are you in pain?" Snowball asked in faint concern, drastically changing the topic to one that concerned him greatly.
"Remember how I once told you that a friend of mine helped concoct a medicine for the scars on my face? That medicinal brew temporarily conceals the scars, but the effects don't usually last more than a year or so. I have to renew it every time, but I can't find the vial that I prepared." Li Meirong's voice came out muffled as she hid her face with a sleeve at seeing the wide-eyed look on Snowball's face. "Don't look at your Master, alright? Master is very ugly and doesn't want to scare you."