He sat opposite, at ease, holding a storybook, with freshly brewed tea placed beside him.
At this moment, Bai Qi, acting as the coachman, drove the carriage with great steadiness and slowness.
However, Gu Qianying could no longer remain seated.
"Ninth Imperial Uncle, it's getting late. Shouldn't you ask Guard Bai to speed up a bit?"
"Mm, alright, this King understands."
Nangong Mo put down the storybook in his hand and called out towards the outside of the carriage, "Bai Qi, did you hear?"
Bai Qi replied, "Yes, Master. Please brace yourselves."
"Giddy up!"
The carriage suddenly picked up speed.
But it was swaying, stumbling, and extremely unstable.
The teacup beside Nangong Mo, at some unknown time, rolled to his feet. Fortunately, the tea that splashed out did not scald Nangong Mo.
As for Gu Qianying, she hadn't expected Bai Qi to drive the carriage so fast and so unsteadily. She stumbled, and without managing to steady herself against the carriage window, she fell directly into Nangong Mo's arms.
Nangong Mo looked down at her, a slight smile playing on his lips, "If you want this King to hold you, just say so."
"..."
"No, no, no, Ninth Imperial Uncle, you misunderstand. This humble maiden..."
Gu Qianying hastily tried to get up.
Suddenly, the carriage lurched again.
Before Gu Qianying could sit up, she fell onto Nangong Mo once more, landing precisely on his lap.
Her smooth, delicate skin pressed against the area below his waist.
A certain spot suddenly changed.
A wave of heat surged.
"Hoo!"
Gu Qianying was stunned, as if she had lost her mind, and remained frozen, forgetting to get up.
Nangong Mo, who had intended to tease Gu Qianying by holding her, suddenly tensed up, also stunned.
The two maintained their suggestive, intimate pose for a moment.
After they both regained their senses, Gu Qianying quickly pulled away.
Nangong Mo also quickly reached out to help her. Being inconvenient to move, he could only let Gu Qianying get up first and move away from him.
But Bai Qi, driving the carriage outside, was still merrily creating opportunities for his master, unaware of what was happening inside the carriage. It wasn't until Nangong Mo spoke in a cold voice, "Bai Qi! Drive the carriage properly!"
"Yes, Master."
Upon hearing this, Bai Qi immediately became much more obedient.
The carriage stabilized, and the speed increased slightly.
Inside the carriage, it was very quiet.
"This King did not mean to offend you."
Nangong Mo, fearing that Gu Qianying would misunderstand him as a lecherous hypocrite, spoke. He had never lowered himself to apologize to anyone before.
"This humble maiden understands. This humble maiden wishes to be quiet for a while," Gu Qianying responded immediately.
Pretending to look at the scenery outside by lifting the curtain, the blush on her cheeks had yet to fade.
"Are you hungry?"
A sudden question broke the silence in the carriage.
Gu Qianying turned her head to look at Nangong Mo. Without speaking, she saw that a small plate of lotus pastries had appeared before Nangong Mo.
Nangong Mo pushed the lotus pastries forward and said, "This King asked Bai Qi to buy them specifically. Although their taste isn't as good as what this King makes, they are still quite good. You can try them."
Gu Qianying was stunned.
Lotus pastries were her favorite snack since childhood.
How did Nangong Mo know her favorite food?
Perhaps it was a coincidence!
Gu Qianying raised her hand, picked up a lotus pastry, and took a small bite before placing it down.
The taste was alright, but she felt something was missing, and it wasn't particularly delicious.
In her memory, she seemed to have eaten lotus pastries before, and they tasted somewhat different from the ones she was eating now.
Wait a moment!
If she heard correctly just now, Nangong Mo said he could make lotus pastries?
Was that right?
Nangong Mo, a prince of such noble status, could actually make pastries?
This seemed unlikely.
With doubts in her heart, she voiced them, "Ninth Imperial Uncle can also make pastries?"
"This King cannot."
Gu Qianying: "??"
So, she had misheard?
"However, this King can only make lotus pastries, plum blossom snow dumplings, golden plum rolls, colorful beef strips, Penglai tofu, and red bean imperial porridge."
"..."
Gu Qianying strongly suspected that Nangong Mo was teasing her.
He said he couldn't, yet he could make so many dishes?
Did this guy have a logic problem?
Also, he *only* knew how to make these? Was that not much? No, that wasn't the point. The point was, a prince, besides making pastries, could also make other dishes?
Was this behavior, so contrary to a prince's image, truly Nangong Mo's way?
Gu Qianying couldn't figure it out.
But what she couldn't figure out even more was that the dishes Nangong Mo had just mentioned were all her favorites.
Was this a coincidence or deliberate?
But if Nangong Mo knew these, what was his intention?
He couldn't possibly be trying to curry favor with her, could he?
He was the Ninth Prince! He was also the Ninth Uncle to several princes and princesses. With such a noble status, how could he be trying to curry favor with her?
Even she didn't believe that.
With so many doubts in her heart, Gu Qianying couldn't make sense of it.
As her thoughts raced, Nangong Mo looked at her and spoke again:
"When this King's legs are healed, this King will personally cook all of these for you to taste."
As he said this, Nangong Mo's mind conjured the image of a little girl who used to chatter incessantly by his side many years ago.
"I like lotus pastries, plum blossom snow dumplings, golden plum rolls, colorful beef strips, Penglai tofu, and red bean imperial porridge. Remember these well. When you grow up, you must make them for me. My mother said that to capture a woman's heart, you must first capture her stomach. So, you must learn to make these quickly, or you won't be able to marry me. I am a very picky eater."
These words, along with the figure that always lingered in his mind, gradually overlapped with her appearance before him.
A faint smile, unknown even to himself, graced Nangong Mo's lips as he gazed at Gu Qianying for a long time.
Suddenly.
A shout rang out from outside the carriage.
"Kill the dog prince, kill him!"
More than a dozen masked men in black, wielding long swords, charged towards Nangong Mo.
Bai Qi immediately drew his sword and stood on the carriage, protecting his master and Miss Gu's safety.
On their way back to the manor, to create an opportunity for his master to be alone with Miss Gu, his master had specifically sent the Third Prince back first, asking him to think about how to make Du Chun's pet, the Seven-Colored Silver Snake, recognize Miss Gu as its master. He had also dismissed the hidden guards lurking in the shadows.
Who would have thought they would encounter an assassination at this time?
Amidst the clash of swords.
Bai Qi personally dispatched two or three assassins.
However, five or six of the surrounding assassins pinned him down, preventing him from protecting those inside the carriage.
"Master, Miss Gu, there are assassins! Hurry and leave!"
Bai Qi shouted into the carriage, simultaneously jabbing the horse's hindquarters fiercely with his long sword.
The horse startled and galloped forward with the carriage.
The remaining assassins who had clung to the carriage, intending to kill Nangong Mo, were all violently thrown off.
At this moment.
Another group of assassins suddenly appeared.
They surrounded Nangong Mo and Gu Qianying.
Upon realizing there were assassins outside, the two inside the carriage reacted accordingly.
Nangong Mo immediately reached out and pulled Gu Qianying into his arms.
Although his mobility was limited, his internal energy was still intact, making it feasible to repel a few assassins.
However, as Gu Qianying was pulled into Nangong Mo's embrace, she subtly raised her palm and struck Nangong Mo, knocking him unconscious.