“Quick, Mistress, to the mountains!” The guards fend off the men in black while protecting the fragrant carriage behind them.

Lu Gan holds the reins, snapping the whip, driving the fragrant carriage deeper into the mountain woods.

The path is rugged, and the carriage jolts, tossing Su Baiyue inside until her headdress falls off.

“Mistress! The horse can’t go on,” Lu Gan calls out urgently from outside.

Su Baiyue thinks to herself that it’s finally unable to run any further; if they kept going, she feared she’d be jolted to death.

“Mistress, forgive me.”

The thick felt hanging from the carriage is lifted, and Su Baiyue, stars in her eyes, is hoisted onto Lu Gan’s shoulder.

Su Baiyue: !!! What happened to the princess’ carry?

The lightly floating beauty, all in white, looks like a long fluffy tail draped over the man’s shoulder, not heavy at all. It seems like it should naturally belong to him.

Lu Gan runs through the mountain path, one deep step followed by a shallow one, his tall frame taut, his long legs moving fast and furious, with the men in black in relentless pursuit.

The guards catch up and clash with the men in black. Lu Gan takes the opportunity to carry Su Baiyue down a narrow path and ducks into a cave, narrowly escaping the pursuers.

“Mistress, given the unclear friend and foe situation and the chaotic circumstances, please deign to hide here with me for half a day.” The cave is so narrow, it’s already cramped with just the slim-bodied youth, let alone with Su Baiyue added.

Although Su Baiyue is slim as a willow, she unavoidably ends up squeezed into Lu Gan’s embrace.

The youth, facing her and with his back to the cave entrance, is well-hidden by the hanging vines and dead branches at the cave mouth.

Su Baiyue, carried all the way by Lu Gan, feels a pain in her stomach. She curls up tightly, pressing against the rock wall behind her, not caring how dirty she is now. Her complexion is frighteningly pale.

“Mistress…” Although the youth is lean, he’s still a man. He lowers his eyes to Su Baiyue, who is trembling in his arms, and uncontrollably straightens his arms, tentatively embracing her.

The beauty’s clothes are disheveled, lying in his arms like a frightened kitten, emitting soft sobs. Her fair and snowy face pressed against his chest, soft and sweet like the rock sugar white jade cake he made just yesterday.

Su Baiyue doesn’t notice Lu Gan’s movements; she’s pondering the lines she must deliver next.

In the book, the Mistress of Lingyun, a proud daughter of heaven, would naturally think first of self-preservation when faced with such disasters. Given the current situation, with only her and a horse servant, she might have a chance at survival if the servant stays. But if he abandons her to flee first, she would surely perish.

Thus, the Mistress of Lingyun comes up with a plan, making a promise to Lu Gan.

“As long as you take me back to the Weinan Royal Mansion, I will grant you a wish, whether you want wealth, jewels, or a beauty’s position. As long as I can do it, I will not go back on my word.” Su Baiyue, mimicking the tone of Mistress Ling Yun, finishes these words and immediately gets moved to tears by her own acting.

Look at this acting that’s cold yet seductive, seductive yet enticing, enticing yet threatening—a perfect performance! What an absolutely brilliant and unparalleled treasure she is!

People live in this world just to chase these vanities. Mistress Ling Yun clearly grasps this weak point in human nature, but she never expected that this lowly horse servant would covet her.

“I, I want to marry Mistress as my wife.”

Sure enough. This big, deluded fool!

When Su Baiyue hears Lu Gan’s uncontrollably hoarse voice overhead, she cooperates and reveals a hint of shock.

Truly worthy of the male lead, so bold to speak. For such a man who takes advantage of a crisis, if he were not the male lead, he would have been hacked into a hundred pieces already. Unfortunately, this man is the male lead, and since he is, he possesses the halo skill of making outrageous demands and then spectacularly proving everyone wrong.

At that moment, Mistress Ling Yun, after weighing the options, agrees. But once they are out of danger, she switches her previous demure demeanor, allowing the Princess Weinan to ruthlessly drive the male lead away, and coldly and nobly marries the crown prince. She epitomizes the term “scumming brilliantly.”

“Mm.” Su Baiyue hums from her throat, showing dissatisfaction and reluctant compromise. Her slightly trembling brows and eyes perfectly reveal her disdain for Lu Gan’s “toad wanting to eat swan meat.”

Lu Gan, unable to contain himself, hugs Su Baiyue tightly.

“Cough cough cough…” Poor Su Baiyue, her delicate body nearly suffocated by the male lead’s vice-like arms.

“Mistress, I…” Lu Gan, in a flurry, starts to pat Su Baiyue on the back.

“Stay away from me.” Su Baiyue quickly extends a finger to poke Lu Gan’s chest, forcefully pushing him away.

At that moment, Lu Gan suddenly remembers that this Mistress is indeed a person of extreme cleanliness.

But now, Su Baiyue is far from her usual fairy-like demeanor. Her white clothes are the easiest to get dirty, her plain white embroidered shoes have turned to gray-black with all the mud, and even her fair, cold face has somehow gotten dirt on it.

Lu Gan thinks this might have rubbed off from his chest.

Looking at the dirt on her snowy white cheek, just thinking it came from him makes the youth’s heart beat uncontrollably.

Wanting, wanting to dirty her more…

“What are you doing?” Su Baiyue’s beautiful eyes glare fiercely at Lu Gan.

Lu Gan’s fingertips are just half a finger’s distance from Su Baiyue’s fragrant cheek. He snaps back to reality, meets her cold eyes, and stammers, “It.. it got dirt…”

“No need for you to care.” The ice-clear and jade-clean Mistress Ling Yun, even if she feigned agreement to the little horse servant’s foolish fantasy, would never let him touch her.

The cave is very narrow, forcing Lu Gan to squeeze out a bit, with half his body sticking out.

But fortunately, they weren’t discovered by the men in black.

As night falls, the deep mountains are fraught with danger, and wild beasts roam around following the scent of blood.

To avoid the men in black from finding them, Lu Gan dares not light a fire to drive away the beasts, instead, he moves a large rock to block the cave entrance, further shrinking the already tight space.

“You, you move over a bit…” In the pitch darkness, where not a single light is seen, Su Baiyue can clearly feel the hot breath of the youth at her neck.

Their bodies are pressed tightly together, Lu Gan can smell the cool fragrance of Su Baiyue. This is the scent that entwines in his dreams every night, taking him to paradise.

“There’s no more room, Mistress.” Lu Gan, his voice hoarse, sits on the ground, his long legs bent, squeezing the curled-up Su Baiyue in the middle. The two are stuck together like a red bean cake, without a single gap.

In the dark, Su Baiyue blinks, stretching her arm slightly to touch the large rock behind Lu Gan.

It seems indeed too tight to pass.

In the cramped space, their breaths intertwine, yet Su Baiyue doesn’t sense any strange atmosphere; she droops her eyelids, knowing her nightly beauty sleep is about to start.

Lu Gan listens to the shallow breathing of the woman in his arms, identical to her usual sleeping rhythm.

Despite the situation, she’s actually asleep.

Lu Gan unconsciously curls his lips into a smile. He leans forward slightly, his chin resting lightly on Su Baiyue’s silky black hair.

The ice-pure beauty is in his arms at this moment, stirring immense excitement in him; he knows he probably won’t be able to sleep at all tonight.

The silky hair under his chin feels like satin, carrying an aroma that’s uniquely irresistible. Lu Gan closes his eyes, and his arms, initially loosely around her, now gently encircle Su Baiyue.

The woman looks delicate, her body even more so, as if a bit more pressure might truly melt her like ice.

In her sleep, Su Baiyue smells the sweet scent of pastries, smacks her lips, and thinks it’s great to sleep with so many pastries to eat.

Su Baiyue, who chewed on pastries in her dreams all night, wakes up with drool on her lips; her body curled up all night, now feels stiff.

“Umm…” Su Baiyue struggles to make a sound from her throat.

“Mistress?” A raspy voice of the youth with a hint of hidden anticipation reaches her ears.

Su Baiyue moves, and the warm heat source in front of her suddenly recedes.

She shivers a bit and looks up to see the youth who has just stood up at the cave entrance, blocking most of the mountain wind, looking down at her, “Mistress, people from Weinan Royal Mansion have arrived.”

Su Baiyue blinks and looks down.

Noticing Su Baiyue’s gaze, Lu Gan hastily covers up and turns around, his face flushing.

Su Baiyue coolly states that this is a normal morning phenomenon for every man, and there’s no need to be shy. But those princesses do have sharp eyes; indeed, they are quite endowed, hehehe. The official female lead and the ladies of the harem will be fortunate later.

“Mistress!” An urgent call from Jing Wen not far ahead.

Su Baiyue immediately adopts her aloof demeanor, just getting up when her legs give way, and she falls onto the little horse servant.

The quick-reacting horse servant catches Su Baiyue.

With her legs numb and without any feeling, Su Baiyue for a moment thinks she’s suddenly lost the legs she depends on for survival.

Lu Gan, bumped by Su Baiyue, grunts, a sound mixed with pain and pleasure.

“My darling daughter, Ling’er!” Princess Weinan’s wail, like a mourning, echoes through the mountains.

Lu Gan stiffens and instinctively lets go of Su Baiyue, thankfully she can already stand on her own.

When Princess Weinan heard that Su Baiyue had encountered misfortune in the mountains, her motherly love drove her to come searching personally.

Seeing Su Baiyue standing at the cave entrance, dirty, pale, and devoid of any divine demeanor, she couldn’t help but run over sobbing uncontrollably, forgetting her own poise.

Su Baiyue, mindful of her lofty and detached persona, uses her dirty wide sleeve wrapped around a branch to poke at Princess Weinan’s shoulder, successfully stopping her in her tracks.

Princess Weinan’s tears are held back in her eyes, the picture of misery.

Oh dear.

Su Baiyue feels a bit guilty.

“Princess, let’s quickly get Mistress into the carriage. We can’t let her freeze in this cold,” the old nanny accompanying Princess Weinan quickly steps in to diffuse the awkward atmosphere.

“Yes, yes, back to the carriage, back to the carriage,” Princess Weinan immediately makes arrangements, “Where’s the sedan? Bring it over quickly!”

A few sturdy old nannies carrying a sedan covered with fluttering curtains run up the slope as if it were flat ground, then invite Su Baiyue onto this pretentious artifact.

Su Baiyue inexplicably feels like she’s become an empty young master, especially seeing the faces of the four old nannies and the atmosphere of the surrounding deep mountains.

After composing herself, Su Baiyue doesn’t look back as she gets into the sedan, following Princess Weinan away.

Lu Gan silently follows behind, his slender figure appearing even more delicate as the mountain wind blows around him. But his face betrays an undeniable flush of excitement.