Chapter 647: A

"Huh?"

Bai Liang raised his head, Meng Lan lowered hers—one beneath the wall, one atop it—and human and bear locked eyes just like that.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment.

To be fair, Bai Liang had never petted a panda.

He actually had the chance before, but in 2018 the relevant regulations came out.

They required every major panda captive-breeding unit to quickly establish internal review and supervisory management mechanisms for close-contact with giant pandas, strictly prohibiting the organization of commercial close-contact activities such as feeding and photo-taking with captive giant pandas, and forbidding the use of "volunteer" as a cover for commercial close-contact with captive giant pandas.

Before that, plenty of entertainment-industry stars had actually gotten up close and personal with giant pandas.

There was even a Ya'an Panda, Animal and Nature Film Week that held a special celebrity-panda goodwill event where you could hold a giant panda in your arms for a photo.

But Bai Liang arrived a bit too late and missed out on that kind of great event.

Looks like today he's going to make up for that "regret"!

So here's the question: Meng Lan is in the middle of escaping, and Bai Liang is right there on the scene—should he lend a hand?

Feels like it could get him in trouble~

After staring at Bai Liang for several seconds, Meng Lan—who had been perched on the wall, wavering over whether to climb down—suddenly steeled her resolve to "break out"!

Meanwhile, the evil little kitty, who had already walked several meters ahead, finally noticed the male fox by her side was gone. She turned her head and was scared out of her wits!

A giant panda always looks adorable in photos and videos, but up close you realize this thing is genuinely a bear, not a cat.

What a huge one!

No doubt about it—this cutie could swat a person to death without breaking a sweat.

"Male fox, male fox, run!"

The evil little kitty was even a little moved by herself at this moment. Seeing such a massive bear drop down from the wall right in front of her, she actually didn't bolt first thing—instead she was thinking, just how much does this old lady love Bai Liang?

But Bai Liang was clearly being a bit "ungrateful." Facing Li Yitong's whispered warning, he just casually waved her off.

Before she could get worked up, he let slip a "devil's whisper": "Do you want to pet the giant panda?"

Yes!

What Chinese person wouldn't? They'd even want to keep one as a pet~

But then again, everyone has read the story of Lord Ye who loved dragons.

The cute thing cooing cutely on video and the wild beast you're about to get up close to in real life are two completely different things, okay!

Still, the evil little kitty could understand why this "lunatic" Bai Liang wasn't running. After all, he had a prior record!

In Africa he'd messed with lions and honey badgers; at Zhufeng he'd handled a snow leopard. Now a giant panda shows up in front of him—not going up to grab a couple of tufts of fur really wouldn't be his style.

The evil little kitty swallowed hard, feeling her legs go a little weak, her eyes not daring to leave Meng Lan's seemingly slow movements, and said very obediently: "I'm a little scared."

"I'm right here."

The same tone as always, but somehow oddly reassuring.

The evil little kitty tiptoed over to Bai Liang's side and grabbed his arm tightly.

At that moment, Meng Lan finally landed!

At the same time, the Beijing Zoo staff were about to lose their minds!

The reason they noticed so late was mainly because the park's surveillance camera had been broken by Meng Lan.

So they only realized what she'd done after she'd already climbed the wall.

A keeper took food to try to lure her back—this trick should have worked—but for some reason, after Meng Lan glanced outside, she suddenly flipped over the wall with such determination.

What on earth is out there?!

A giant panda acting out Shawshank Redemption now?

Outside the wall, when a bear standing 1.9 meters tall and weighing three hundred jin sits down just about two meters away from you, the pressure is real—actually, it's not that bad~

Because while Li Yitong was still hesitating and a little scared, Bai Liang had already charged in without a moment's hesitation.

He pulled an apple from his pocket and stuffed it to Meng Lan, then very naturally reached out. He'd prepared it in advance—after arriving and finding out feeding wasn't allowed, he'd planned to eat it himself, but in the end he still got to feed her.

Meng Lan didn't stand on ceremony either—she took the apple and started eating.

After all, she'd already performed a prison break; she deserved it!

Seeing such a harmonious scene, the corner of Li Yitong's mouth twitched slightly. Hold on—are you two that close?

But Meng Lan's good behavior and Bai Liang's unceremonious boldness naturally infected her too, making her heart flutter.

A giant panda! A live one! Right in front of her!

But she still didn't quite dare reach out and touch it, only lowering her voice to ask Bai Liang: "How does it feel? Soft?"

"Quite a bit worse than I imagined—its fur is a bit stiff," Bai Liang shared his hands-on experience very objectively, then felt Meng Lan seemed to sneak a sideways glance at him, as if to say: If you don't like it, don't touch~

"Then can I try too?"

When the Beijing Zoo staff arrived, what they saw was a man and a woman unceremoniously going to town rubbing Meng Lan's big head.

In the distance, someone was shouldering a camera and filming.

It genuinely left them dumbfounded—wait, what's going on?

The cameraman who had recorded the whole thing, and the production crew behind him, were also a bit at a loss for words.

That was freaking absurd!

Just visiting a zoo to film some date material, and they actually ran into a giant panda breaking out of prison, then got up close and personal with it like that. No planner could have come up with this plot—mainly because the conditions were too demanding.

First, you need a panda that breaks out; second, the guest can't be afraid of it. When Meng Lan came down from the wall, even the cameraman couldn't help scrambling back over ten meters, only daring to edge a little closer once Bai Liang made his move.

Scrambling back was survival instinct; edging closer was professional discipline.

Further out, some tourists were holding up their phones to film. Today's little show was definitely not going to be kept under wraps—it was bound to trend!

After all, Meng Lan, the Third Prince of Xizhi Sect, is the top celebrity among giant pandas. Now there's a crossover—top star meets top star—and the traffic that would explode from that is scary just to think about.

Director's team:

He didn't know why, but he just felt lost.

The way and angle Bai Liang used to provide entertainment value was way too damn tricky, leaving them momentarily at a loss for words.

At this moment, their feelings should be similar to those of the "Chinese Restaurant" crew before—when Bai Liang hooked that sturgeon thought to have been extinct for twenty years, they had a similar feeling.

A little happy, a little scared, but mostly at a loss, beyond imagination.

But no matter what, this time it was still a happy ending for all.

After all, in this incident, no person or bear was hurt.

Meng Lan climbed over the wall out on its own, not because Bai Liang lured it out. Hmm~ it shouldn't be.

If Bai Liang had lent a hand, things might have gotten complicated, but he did nothing—just stood there watching, though a normal person probably would have run.