“Why can’t I?” said the man with his eyebrows slightly lifted, “Helian Xiu.”

“What?” Jing Yue turned to him, confused by his words.

“It’s my name,” said Helian Xiu, cupping his chin in his hand and squinting the little snake on the table, “Why is it so obedient to you?”

“Oh…that’s because I saved its life.” Jing Yue poked Funeral Flower who was gobbling down the food, “Don’t eat too much. I won’t take you anymore if you grow too fat.”

“Hiss…” Funeral Flower turned around reluctantly and went for a smaller piece of meat.

Witnessing the obedience of Funeral Flower to Jing Yue, Helian Xiu squinted at her and asked with a smile hanging by the corner of his mouth, “It’s said that you were raised up by a grey wolf and had been living in Roman Forest until Xiao Chen led you to the Imperial City?”

“Wow, how do you know that?” Jing Yue straightened herself up and looked Helian Xiu up and down, “Are you investigating me?”

“As the wife anointed by Ninth Imperial Uncle himself, your background is so well-known that I don’t need to investigate it at all.” Helian Xiu said calmly with his eyebrows slightly frowned.

“…” Jing Yue suddenly became low-spirited and sighed ruefully as soon as she heard Xiao Chen’s name. She knew misfortune would hang over her once she had some relationship with Xiao Chen.

“Why did you catch me? I hope this is not a plot for Xiao Chen to save me.” Jing Yue lay back and squinted at Helian Xiu. She said in a lazy voice, “If that’s your plan, you will be disappointed, because he is not at home and he won’t come for me anyway.”

“Let’s bet that if Xiao Chen will be here within two hours. You wanna bet?” Helian Xiu stood up and said to Jing Yue with his eyes narrowed.

“All right. I am just in lack of money these days, so I need thousand taels of gold be your stakes (Tael refers to a traditional Chinese way of counting money, usually silver or gold by weight). Are you in?” Jing Yue said to Helian Xiu with a cheerful smile.

“Deal! But what can you give me if you lose?” Helian Xiu answered without any hesitation, which made Jing Yue a bit surprised.

‘Should I ask for more money for the bet?!’

“Tell me what you want?” Jing Yue looked at Helian Xiu and said with her tiny feet dangling.

“If you lose…you should promise me three requests.” Helian Xiu said with his eyes squinting. The smile hanging at the corner of his mouth made him look like a sly fox.

“What kind of requests?” asked Jing Yue with her body straightened up and her eyes blinking at Helian Xiu.

“I’ll let you know once I get some idea.” Jing Yue jumped up suddenly as soon as Helian Xiu finished. She stared at him with astonishment and wrapped herself in her arms. “I can’t agree with you. What if you let me marry you!” said Jing Yue.

“…” Helian Xiu looked at Jing Yue’s underdeveloped body and said, “Relax, I have no interest in you.”

“That’ll be great…great…” Feeling relieved, Jing Yue added, “Then I can do whatever you request even it’s illegal.” Jing Yue nodded to Helian Xiu, in agreement with his bet.

“Oh, it’s still early. Can I tour around your place?”

“Yes, of course.”

Jing Yue happily ran to the garden far away. Surrounded by those beautiful flowers, she was surprised that there were even some she had never seen before. Moving forward, she could see artificial hills, flowing water and many exquisite courtyards. “Gee…there is such a gorgeous house here, which is quite outstanding from other houses in the Imperial City.” Jing Yue looked up at the house with cornices, her eyes full of admiration.