"Muuuuuaaaaaahhhhh."
Zhao Yao looked towards the sound. There in the corner, alongside the dead remains of a rabbit, the reason for his shame stood. Chewing some leaves, the silver fur Merp also stared at him.
Zhao Yao wasn't an expert who could differentiate between beasts, but he could recognize this Merp because of the leash on its neck. He could still feel that tinge on his wrist that was tied to the other end of the leash.
"Immortal Lu, why is this Merp here?" He asked.
"Isn't she yours?" Immortal Lu rotated the rabbit beast leg gently, the oil that dripped from the meat made a sizzling sound when met with the fire.
"What do you mean?" Zhao Yao feared Immortal Lu knew about the shameful event.
"Look at her. She is awake." Immortal Lu looked at the Merp, who switched to eating fruits instead of leaves. "When I saw you jump off the cliff, this Merp was with you."
"Why is it here in this cave?" Seeing this Merp, reminded Zhao Yao of the humiliation and suffering he had faced and will face in the future.
"She had a leash on her neck, so I thought you own her." Immortal Lu looked at him curiously. "She waited up on the cliff and stayed there like she was waiting for you. I couldn't leave such a loyal beast out there, so I brought her here. Such loyalty is rare from a low-level beast, you must have treated her well."
Zhao Yao looked at the Merp in silence. He didn't notice the Merp until it made the sound. When he woke up, there were two animals in the corner, but he thought both were beasts Immortal Lu hunted and didn't pay much attention to them.
"The poor thing had some injuries on its back. I healed its injuries, and it fell asleep." Immortal Lu stared at Zhao Yao as if he was the one who attacked the Merp.
Zhao Yao didn't want to continue talking about the injuries since he was afraid it was indeed him who harmed the Merp.
"Muaaahhh."
"Zhao Yao, what's her name?"
"She doesn't have one."
"Why? You didn't give the Merp you are raising a pet name?" Immortal Lu shook his head. "That's sad. You are not affectionate."
"Why should I, since this Merp is not my pet?" Zhao Yao knew that this Merp was under his ownership based on the 'Marriage' verdict of the clan elder. But he didn't want to admit that he had any connection to this Merp.
He knew very well that he was just blindly attempting to escape from the stinking shame associated with his 'Marriage.'
Zhao Yao associated the previous Yao's humiliation with the Merp and unjustly wanted to blame the Merp for it.
"It's not your pet? Then what's with the leash and cliff."
"It's a bit complicated, involves why the previous Zhao Yao tried to jump off the cliff." Zhao Yao didn't want to talk about it. But, if he didn't talk to Immortal Lu, he wouldn't get help from him. He needed the latter's advice and help to escape from the predicament.
Zhao Yao knew it was best to tell Immortal Lu,
"I wasn't planning on asking for your reasons, instead I would like to tell you something." Immortal Lu stopped roasting the leg and fully concentrated on his conversation. "Life is very precious, so don't give up on it even if you fail. If you fail 100 times, try 1,000 times. If you fail 1,000 times, try 10,000 times. You will definitely win, and that victory will be enough to wash up all your failures."
"Thank you for your guidance, Immortal Lu." Zhao Yao bowed out of courtesy. "But the situation the previous Zhao Yao got caught is very troublesome and won't be easy to solve."
"You can't solve anything that you never tried." Immortal Lu said with a smile.
"Yes. That's right." Zhao Yao agreed and then started speaking about the previous Zhao Yao's past. "The previous Zhao Yao had a tragic childhood."
"The previous huh." Immortal Lu looked at him with a smile.
"His mother left his father and even threw him down a cliff." Zhao Yao looked towards the entrance.
"What's with you and the cliff? You are quite lucky to survive two times."
Then Zhao Yao continued to explain how he became an orphan and his childhood full of bullying. He tried to narrate it in a way that evoked the emotional cord of Immortal Lu.
"That's sad." Immortal Lu seemed to be affected. "But you don't have a reason to even think about taking your life. You have your girl to take care of you, Su Ruo."
"Yes, he held on because of Su Ruo..." Zhao paused, he found it hard to continue speaking about the 'Naked' incident and the 'Marriage' after that.
As he thought about it he had an idea.
"So, what happened after that?" Immortal Lu was fully hooked in the story.
"Immortal Lu, I will tell you what happened differently," Zhao remembered an Irish bar joke he heard. He remembered the story very well. His situation was exactly the same as that joke. His future will end up like the person in the story if he didn't do anything fast and effective.
"I will tell you a story from my world, that is similar to my situation." Zhao Yao told Immortal Lu. He didn't want to say his situation straight out. As a storyteller, expressing the situation like a story made it easier for him to tell.
"Story from your world? Great...Let me hear it." Immortal Lu acted excitedly. He put away the meat and gave full attention to Zhao Yao.
Zhao Yao didn't delay and started narrating the story with slight changes so that Immortal Lu can better understand.
['"There was an old country called Ireland.
A traveler, who was in Ireland, had to stop in a town due to a storm. To pass his time, he visited a nearby tavern. The only other person at the tavern was an old man staring at his wine. After a few moments of silence, the old man called Greg turned to him and said:
"You see this tavern? I built this tavern with my own bare hands. I cut down every tree and made the lumber myself. I worked away through the wind and cold, but do they call me Greg the bar builder?"
"No."
He continued "Do you see that stone wall out there? I built that wall with my own bare hands. I found every stone and placed them just right through the rain and the mud, but do they call me Greg the wall builder?"
"No."
"Do ya see that dock out there on the lake? I built that dock with my own bare hands, driving each piling deep into the ground so that it would last a lifetime. Do they call me Greg the dock builder?"
"No."
"But you f**k one goat..."']
Despite whatever great things Zhao Yao may accomplish in the future, if he didn't somehow erase the shame, he will forever be branded by this name.