When a man much larger than herself, even several times her size, acted coquettishly towards her, Su Baiyue felt that the male lead wasn’t being sweet and endearing, but more like a giant pressing down on her.

This creature was too big, and she found it a bit too much to handle.

“Would the lady like to visit the zoo?” the man asked, straightening up and tilting his head towards Su Baiyue after his display of affection.

The dragon throne was broad, and the beauty was delicate. The pure white beauty was forced to lean awkwardly against the deep yellow of the dragon throne, her narrow shoulders and waist slender as jade. Below her was the clawing dragon, and before her was a man with knowing, deep eyes. The beauty’s fair hand rested on the dragon-handled armrest, her tender fingertips trembling slightly, her face showing panic, though she tried hard to hide it, her clear, distinct eyes betrayed her fear completely.

Lu Gan thought, if he could press her down on this dragon throne and tease her thoroughly, listening to her cries like those of a kitten, it would indeed be a delight.

His gaze rested on Su Baiyue’s fair skin against the dragon throne, thinking how beautiful that color looked against the yellow gold.

Su Baiyue leaned against the cold dragon throne, and upon looking up into the man’s deep, dark, inscrutable eyes, she felt as if she were sitting on pins and needles. She quickly stood up and, in a fluster, dismissed it as “Too dirty.”

She didn’t want to sit on the dragon throne ever again, sob sob.

Lu Gan reached out, brushing aside a lock of hair from Su Baiyue’s fragrant shoulder, tucking it behind her ear.

Su Baiyue shrank her neck slightly, tilting her head to expose more of her delicate neck.

The cool touch of his fingertips slid past her tender earlobe to her slightly upturned lips, pressing lightly, almost tempted to go further.

Su Baiyue immediately widened her eyes and swatted Lu Gan’s hand away.

Lu Gan twiddled his fingertips, eyes downcast. After a long while, he huskily said, “My wife is the cleanest.” So clean that it made one desperate to thoroughly dirty her, to stain her with the same filth as himself. Yet Lu Gan felt a reluctance; such pristine beauty, if truly dragged down into hell by him, would surely suffer terribly.

“Didn’t you say we were going to the zoo?” Su Baiyue quickly changed the subject. She distinctly felt something was off with the man’s breath, that scorching, intense gaze sticking to her skin and face as if about to devour her completely.

The man was briefly stunned, then reined in his aura, looking at the visibly frightened beauty before him and said gently, “If the lady wishes to see it, we shall go.” There was no trace of the bloodshot madness from moments ago.

Su Baiyue secretly rubbed her chilled arms, quickly sidestepping the man, eager to distance herself from that unsettling dragon throne.

The man grabbed Su Baiyue’s arm, his smile growing warmer, “The ground is dirty; let me carry the lady instead.”

Just as Su Baiyue was about to decline, she was lifted off her feet and carried in his arms again.

Su Baiyue instinctively struggled, receiving a firm pinch on the buttocks. “Lady, do not squirm,” the man’s voice carried an undeniable restraint, and virgin Su Baiyue, inexperienced yet not naive, suddenly understood his implication.

Her cheeks flushed red, Su Baiyue suddenly felt like a maiden violated by a hooligan.

Hee hee, that little thing of yours is quite unique! Can you not cling to her anymore QAQ!

Carried all the way to the zoo by Lu Gan, Su Baiyue felt her face burning with embarrassment.

The man’s strength was extraordinary, carrying her so long without faltering, his face flushed as if he were a youth in the throes of spring, making Su Baiyue tremble with fear the whole way, dreading that he might lose control and seek a harmonious union with her right under the open sky.

Fortunately, they arrived at the zoo safely.

The so-called zoo was a place specifically for confining rare and exotic animals, equivalent to a private zoo nowadays.

As soon as Su Baiyue was carried in by Lu Gan, they heard a pitiful screaming.

“I won’t go, I won’t go!”

This sound? Su Baiyue instinctively looked up at Lu Gan. His handsome face was indifferent, seemingly unaffected by the wailing.

The only one with such a voice and manner, aside from the former emperor, Su Baiyue couldn’t think of anyone else so lacking in brains.

As they passed around a rockery, Su Baiyue looked up to see a man clinging to a pavilion’s column, sobbing miserably.

“I won’t go, I won’t go… sob sob…”

The once supreme emperor, now in rags, his pampered white skin turned dark from exposure.

What could be so terrible that he cried so miserably? Su Baiyue suddenly remembered what Wei Shengwan had told her—could it be that Lu Gan really intended to chop the former emperor into pieces to feed the tigers?

“If you press me further, I’ll jump down from here…”

The eunuchs, who were pulling at the former emperor, suddenly let go, sneering, “That would be perfect, it would save us the trouble.”

The former emperor cried even more miserably, and Su Baiyue, feeling somewhat pity, said, “You aren’t really going to kill him, are you?”

Hearing Su Baiyue’s words, Lu Gan stiffened noticeably. He tightened his hold on the beauty in his arms, and when he looked down, his black eyes betrayed a significant grievance.

Su Baiyue: ???

Su Baiyue didn’t understand what that meant; hearing the wailing near her ear, she swallowed hard and said, “Let him go.”

The man didn’t speak, just stared at Su Baiyue intently for a long time before asking, “Who do you think will win, the tiger or the lion?”

Su Baiyue was taken aback, not expecting the man to suddenly change the topic.

She turned her head to glance at the cages not far away, where a small and slender tiger was rolling on the ground licking its paws, and a robust lion lazily basked in the sun.

“If I guess right, will you let him go?” Su Baiyue ventured.

Lu Gan paused, staring at her for a long time, then reluctantly and somewhat sullenly nodded his head, his entire body as stiff as a rock.

Unaware of the man’s unusual behavior, Su Baiyue patted his arm, saying, “Let me down.”

The man walked a few steps forward, and immediately a eunuch brought over a soft couch. Covered with pure white fox fur, the purple sandalwood table held a plate of fresh fruits, some delicate pastries, and a steaming cup of warm milk.

Lu Gan set Su Baiyue down on the couch, then confined her on his lap.

Su Baiyue felt even more pinched.

She tugged at Lu Gan’s wide sleeve, putting some strength into it, her mind turning as she said, “Bring me pen and ink.”

Held in Lu Gan’s arms, Su Baiyue tilted her slender chin up, revealing her pale neck. Her body, light as ever due to her thinness, appeared particularly fragile and sickly pale. From Lu Gan’s perspective, those cold, beautiful eyes always seemed moist, giving off an air of delicate, pitiable charm.

She had the sickly, romantic beauty of Lin Daiyu.

The eunuch quickly fetched paper and ink.

Su Baiyue slowly wiped the wolf-hair brush with a cloth, then switched to a new cloth to cushion it as she turned her body to write on the paper.

After hiding what she had written, Su Baiyue tossed the brush aside, sitting on Lu Gan’s lap, her light body hardly touching the ground, her embroidered shoes dangling. Her naive charm was quite apparent.

“I’ve made my choice.” After speaking, Su Baiyue patted the folded paper in her hand.

Lu Gan didn’t know what Su Baiyue had written. He asked, “Who wins, the tiger or the lion?”

Su Baiyue didn’t answer but counterasked, “How do you know whether the tiger or the lion is stronger?”

“Just let them fight.” After saying that, Lu Gan had someone put the tiger and lion together.

Honestly, Su Baiyue was quite curious about this question, but her naturally gentle nature made it difficult for her to watch the bloody scene of the lion and tiger fighting to the death.

But what she never expected was that the lion, many times larger than the tiger, couldn’t even withstand three moves before being sat on by the tiger.

Su Baiyue: …

“The tiger wins,” Lu Gan said quietly, pulling the paper from Su Baiyue’s hand. It had a bright “King” character on it.

“It’s my win,” Su Baiyue proudly raised her little neck.

She had been cunning. The “King” character could represent either the tiger or the lion. The tiger was the king of the forest, the lion the king of the savannah—no matter who won, she would win.

The man stared at the “King” character for a long while, under Su Baiyue’s expectant gaze, finally opening his mouth, “Throw him into the stables, to clean the horse troughs.”

The former emperor, still clinging to the column, was dragged down and thrown into the stables.

Having successfully saved a life, Su Baiyue felt as triumphant as if she had built a seven-tier pagoda, quickly rewarding herself with a fruit.

“I heard His Majesty was at the zoo, so I took a detour to see, and it turns out Mistress Ling Yun is also here,” Wei Shengwan led her personal maid, curving around the rockery.

Su Baiyue frowned slightly. Every time she saw Wei Shengwan, she sensed trouble.

As expected, Wei Shengwan said, “I’ve long heard that Mistress Ling Yun is a celestial being descended to earth, with the heart of a Bodhisattva, even showing such mercy to the enemy who abducted her.”

Now, the narrative within the palace was divided. One side claimed the cold, pure Mistress Ling Yun was forcibly taken by the former emperor. The other side claimed Mistress Ling Yun was greedy for glory and had come a long way to commit adultery with the former emperor.

Su Baiyue believed that after today’s events, the narrative would entirely shift to the latter.

Su Baiyue could even see the big words “Unfaithful, Greedy for Glory” floating above her head. She had reason to believe that today’s lion-tiger fight was also instigated by Wei Shengwan to use the former emperor to sow discord between her and Lu Gan, whose relationship was already as fragile as cotton candy.

Lick once, and it’s gone.

In truth, Su Baiyue was a kind and loving woman. She couldn’t bear to see the former emperor torn to pieces by a tiger, so she took the initiative to plead for mercy.

So, the man’s aggrieved and stifled demeanor earlier wasn’t because he was too pent up to vent his adolescent frustrations, but because he was jealous again?