Chapter 61

Gu Yanling had agreed with Xiao Xinghan to return to the Prince's Mansion this evening. Seeing that it was almost dark, she thought that if she didn't leave now, Xiao Xinghan might come and arrest her.

An An was playing with the grasshopper his father had made for him. When he heard his father say he was leaving, he was very reluctant.

Gu Yanling held his little face in her hands and said, "Daddy will take you out to play tomorrow. How about watching a magic show with fire breathing? After that, we can go to the shadow play."

An An: "Okay then."

Gu Yanling shook his little face: "Come on, smile for Daddy."

An An then smiled: "Then Daddy must come early tomorrow. An An wants to see Daddy as soon as she opens her eyes."

Gu Yanling: "Okay! I promise that An An will be able to see Daddy when she opens her eyes."

Anyway, Xiao Xinghan gets up early, so he can just get up too.

The little guy was finally coaxed into submission and put down his toy: "Then An An will take Daddy out!"

Gu Yanling picked him up and said, "Let's go."

Zhaocai followed behind the two of them, muttering, "Master, why are you leaving again?"

Gu Yanling was not in a position to tell him about this, so she just said, "When I'm not around, take good care of An An."

Zhaocai didn't ask any more questions: "I understand, don't worry."

An An nodded in agreement: "Don't worry, Daddy, An An will be a good boy."

Gu Yanling kissed the baby on the cheek and praised him, "You are such a good son, Daddy!"

After leaving the Gu residence, An An hugged Gu Yanling tightly and whimpered, "Daddy."

Gu Yanling coaxed him for a long time and repeatedly assured him that he would see her as soon as he opened his eyes tomorrow. Only then did An An let go of him and was taken from his father's arms by Zhaocai.

"Master, is that carriage waiting for you?"

Not far from the gate of the Gu residence, a carriage was parked. Gu Yanling recognized it as the carriage that Xiao Xinghan had taken them back in yesterday afternoon. "Well, I'm leaving now. You take An An back quickly."

"Don't cry at night, An An. You will see Daddy when you open your eyes tomorrow morning."

An An nodded.

Zhaocai held An An in his arms and took another look at the carriage before turning around. It was so majestic and solemn that the owner of the carriage must be no ordinary person.

After Gu Yanling walked over, Li Youfu hurriedly bent down to place the footstool and opened the carriage door. When Gu Yanling got on the carriage and saw Xiao Xinghan, she was stunned for a moment, "Your Highness, why are you here?"

Xiao Xinghan pulled him into his arms: "I'll pick you up."

Gu Yanling didn't expect him to come over, so she just stayed in the carriage. She seemed to have heard what he said yesterday, so she hugged his neck back and kissed him actively, and soon their lips and tongues were entangled together.

Xiao Xinghan's kiss was as domineering and strong as his others. After a while, Gu Yanling softened and leaned on his shoulder, complaining that he kissed her too fiercely. Xiao Xinghan quickly kissed her again, and this time he was finally gentler, and stopped just before losing control.

Gu Yanling took a deep breath and sniffed him: "What's that scent on you?"

Xiao Xinghan stayed in the imperial study for a long time today, and his body was stained with the smell of ambergris. Even though he had changed into regular clothes, he could still smell the fragrance, which was particularly obvious in the confined space of the carriage.

"The Imperial Study ordered ambergris, don't you like it?"

Gu Yanling tugged at his sleeve and sniffed it again: "It smells good."

Xiao Xinghan's wide sleeves covered his entire face. Gu Yanling became playful and blew air into his sleeves.

Xiao Xinghan felt the warm breath, pulled him out by the back of his neck and began to kiss him again. Whenever the two were together, Xiao Xinghan's mouth or hands would never be idle.

After getting off the carriage, Gu Yanling's lips were red and swollen, the base of his tongue was sore, and even his throat was uncomfortable. He glared at Xiao Xinghan unhappily. When this man kissed him, he wanted to stick his tongue down his throat!!!

Xiao Xinghan got off the carriage and acted like a gentleman in front of others. He no longer had the hungry wolf look that wanted to eat him alive in the carriage. Gu Yanling rolled her eyes and cursed him in her heart for being so hypocritical.

Gu Yanling sat on a stool, picked up the hot tea brought by the servant, blew on it a few times to moisten her throat, and turned around to see Xiao Xinghan staring at her. She asked in confusion, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Xiao Xinghan: "Remember some things in Yangzhou."

Gu Yanling: “…”

Xiao Xinghan: "You burned yourself while drinking tea, and you still blame me for not holding you in my arms and loving you, and not saying things like 'My dear, the pain is in my heart even though you're hurt.'"

Gu Yanling naturally remembered this incident, and felt embarrassed when he suddenly mentioned it. At that time, the storybooks he read described it this way, but Xiao Xinghan not only did not say this, but also said that he was impulsive. He was very angry at that time.

Xiao Xinghan never called him darling under the bed, but he would occasionally call him darling in bed. The softer his voice, the more ferocious his actions.

Gu Yanling heard the teasing in his words and didn't want to pay attention to him, so she pretended not to hear.

Seeing his expression, Xiao Xinghan knew that he remembered, and pinched his earlobe. "There will be an autumn hunt at the end of the month. I'll take you to see it then."

Gu Yanling looked up from her teacup and asked curiously, "What's Autumn Hunting?"

Xiao Xinghan explained to him, "Every autumn, the emperor holds a royal hunt. Whoever hunts the most and the most ferocious prey will be rewarded."

When Gu Yanling heard that it was a royal hunt, she immediately shook her head and said, "Then I won't go."

Xiao Xinghan: "Why?"

It's a ceremony hosted by the current emperor, so it's easy to tell that there are many rules. Gu Yanling said: "I'm timid. There are so many dignitaries here. Besides, I'm just a commoner. Why would I join in the fun at the royal hunting ground?"

Xiao Xinghan played with his delicate and smooth hands and stared at him: "Are you hinting at me?"

Gu Yanling asked doubtfully, "What's the implication?"

He didn't.

Xiao Xinghan pinched his slender fingers and said, "I will find a chance to talk to my father about the Crown Princess. I will bring it up again after my father's birthday next month."

Gu Yanling quickly withdrew her hand and said in panic, "You misunderstood. I didn't hint to you. You don't have to tell me. You really don't have to. Don't accidentally anger His Majesty. If he thinks I instigated and seduced you, he'll want to chop off my head. I haven't lived enough. I don't want to die young."

Xiao Xinghan originally thought that Gu Yanling would be happy, but he didn't expect that his promise would make him so panicked. He felt a little complicated for a moment.

Gu Yanling was genuinely frightened when she heard he was truly planning to bring this up. Xiao Xinghan was the Crown Prince. Putting his status aside, there had never been a man in history to be a Crown Princess. What was a Crown Princess? She was the future Empress, the mother of the nation. Don't let the Emperor think he had led the Crown Prince astray by not getting his imperial decree, and instead hold him accountable.

The entire Gu family was implicated...

"I know you have me in your heart, so you don't have to rush. I don't care about whether she's the Crown Princess or not."

Xiao Xinghan didn't say anything.

Even though he knew that Xiao Xinghan was unhappy, Gu Yanling still didn't give in. He was telling the truth, and this was not a trivial matter!

Life is the most important thing.

Until he went to take a shower, Xiao Xinghan's expression remained indifferent.

Gu Yanling thought this man was really hot-tempered. After soaking in the pool for a while, she moved to Xiao Xinghan's side, took his hand, and said to him, "When I was in Yangzhou, I saw Liu Qingsong being so humble and servile to you. That's why I had the idea to disguise myself and sneak into your house."

Xiao Xinghan didn't want to dwell on this matter, so when he brought it up, he said, "What's past is past."

Gu Yanling was also reluctant to talk about the past: "I want to say that the prefect is nothing to you, but in Yangzhou, he is a very high-ranking official. Hu Jiawei relied on his power to bully people in Yangzhou, asking my father and others to donate money at every turn. My family's cloth shop was doing well, but he opened up the cloth shop soon after he came, and he also forbade others to cooperate with our family. My father went to his house to argue with him in a nice manner, but he humiliated my father and made him sick with anger."

Xiao Xinghan was unaware of this. Seeing him crying, he held him on his lap and coaxed him, "Why are you still crying? It's all in the past. Your father is doing business well in the capital now. This kind of thing won't happen under the emperor's feet."

Not to mention he's still there.

Gu Yanling sobbed, "If you hadn't come to Yangzhou at that time, wouldn't he still be tyrannical? How could the common people compete with the officials? There are so many cases of people using power to oppress others. You are His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. If you are unhappy, I have to coax you and make sure the head on your neck is strong and intact."

Xiao Xinghan: "...What nonsense are you talking about."

Gu Yanling complained, "I'm not talking nonsense. This is just the way it is. You always have a cold face. If something says something that makes you unhappy, you just keep silent."

Xiao Xinghan saw him crying pitifully, feeling distressed but also a little helpless: "You are allowed to be angry, but I am not allowed to be angry. Okay, stop crying, I can't bear to chop off your head."

Gu Yanling thought to herself, "You like me now, so naturally I can't bear to let you go. Who knows what the future will be like?" Fortunately, he was a person who lived in the present. She cried for a while in Xiao Xinghan's arms, looking at him with misty eyes: "I don't like you always playing tricks and making people guess what you say."

Xiao Xinghan: "..."

Gu Yanling sniffed: "If you have anything to say, just say it nicely."

Xiao Xinghan saw that his watery eyes were filled with grievance, his cheeks were as white as jade, and there were tears on his face. He was so touching that people couldn't help but want to pity him.

Gu Yanling dodged when Xiao Xinghan kissed him. There was something he had forgotten to ask. Xiao Xinghan kissed the corner of his lips, "What's wrong?"

"You, how did you recognize me?"

Xiao Xinghan kissed him from the corner of his lips to his earlobe: "You only remember to ask now?"

Gu Yanling's ears were also sensitive, and she avoided his mouth. "When I was in Yangzhou, I ran into my mother, but she didn't recognize me, let alone my father. How did you recognize me?"

Xiao Xinghan's hand slid across his back. Gu Yanling's skin felt as soft as the finest satin. "Even if you turned into ash, I would still recognize you. No one knows you better than me."

"You're bragging. How can I recognize you when you've turned to ashes? Tell me now. Hey, stop touching me." Gu Yanling shuddered when he touched her.

Not only his neck was sensitive, but his waist, chest, lower abdomen, and ankles could not stand Xiao Xinghan's erotic touch.

Xiao Xinghan: "I felt familiar with you the first time I saw you. I asked Chang Feng to bring you here. The tone of your voice and the expression you showed, these can't be deceived. The most important thing is-"

Gu Yanling saw his hand moving downwards and didn't react, "Didn't you tell me to take good care of it!?"

Xiao Xinghan bit his white jaw lightly: "Don't touch it, you have a small mole here."

Gu Yanling suddenly realized something and took away his hand that was touching her buttocks: "Okay! I was wondering why you made me take a shower! And you even peeped at me while I was showering!! Aren't you afraid that you might recognize the wrong person?"

Xiao Xinghan laughed: "I won't admit my mistake, but who would have thought that it looked like a crow before and is now a white swan."

Gu Yanling could tell he was laughing at her and said dissatisfiedly, "What crow? It's not as dark as you say. I'm not even as dark as Brother Chang Feng!!"

He was not really that dark before, but he was definitely not white, and his skin color was about the same as that of farmers working in the fields.

When Xiao Xinghan heard him mention other men, he pinched his waist.

Gu Yanling patted the back of his hand and looked at him: "When did your taste change?"

Xiao Xinghan held the tender, fragrant, and soft jade in his arms, not to mention that the guy in his arms was squirming around. "What flavor?"

Gu Yanling's small hand pressed the eagle's head to prevent him from pecking her: "That's right, didn't you like Yuanbao's appearance before? Now I've returned to my original appearance, how come you accepted it so quickly?"

Xiao Xinghan: "...Who told you that I like Yuanbao's look?"

Gu Yanling snorted: "Stop pretending and don't admit it!"

Xiao Xinghan took his hand and placed it on his eagle: "I like you, I like you no matter what you look like."

Gu Yanling asked uncomfortably, "Do you like my previous appearance or my current appearance?"

Xiao Xinghan: "What do you think?"

Gu Yanling angrily threw his eagle away and refused to let him touch it: "You do this again!"

Xiao Xinghan stopped teasing him: "Of course I like you more like this."

Gu Yanling snorted, "Superficial!"

"What about you? If I hadn't been in Yangzhou at that time, and you saw Liu Qingsong groveling to others, would you have done the same?" Xiao Xinghan couldn't stand it just thinking about it, and was just glad that he was the one who went to Yangzhou.

Gu Yanling said angrily: "I already said that I wanted to be a servant in the beginning!!"

Xiao Xinghan didn't let him go: "Then why did you change your mind in the end?"

"You're the one who won't let me get close to you."

Gu Yanling said proudly: "Besides, I'm not stupid. You're not ugly and you're so tall. I won't suffer any loss if you become my male concubine. No matter how good a servant is, it's not as convenient as being a male concubine."

Xiao Xinghan sneered: "Heh."

Gu Yanling accidentally said what was in her heart and covered her mouth. Thinking about what else her hand had touched, she quickly spat twice and took it away.

But he was telling the truth. If Xiao Xinghan was not handsome, tall, or good in bed, he would definitely not be willing.

Alas, it seems that not only Xiao Xinghan is superficial, he is also a superficial person.