Chapter 102: Phoenix Seeking Phoenix
Zhong Min felt awkward upon realizing she was being held in Xiao Mingzheng's powerful arms. She quickly thanked him and casually pushed his hand away. However, her heart was now even more flustered. Her entire body was slightly stiff, and she stared straight at the curtain in front of her, not daring to move an inch.
Seeing Zhong Min's appearance at this moment, Xiao Mingzheng couldn't help but smile, and the curve of his mouth made his already handsome face even more beautiful.
It was the first time he saw Zhong Min like this. This woman, who had a personality like a man, had never had much understanding or feeling about the boundaries between men and women. But at this moment, her involuntary nervousness and embarrassment made her look particularly cute and charming.
"Are you nervous?" Xiao Mingzheng looked at Zhong Min's fixed gaze and said casually, "I really thought you were fearless."
"Who said I was nervous?" Zhong Min quickly calmed down and retorted, "Why should I be nervous?"
She didn't want Xiao Mingzheng to misunderstand her. In fact, she just felt that it was too stuffy and suffocating in here, and she was not used to sitting next to him for so long. Not to mention her, anyone would feel the same way. She was not a piece of wood, so how could she act completely calm?
"Then why are you blushing?" Xiao Mingzheng moved closer to Zhong Min, looking at her carefully.
In an instant, Xiao Mingzheng's breath hit Zhong Min's face, and her face, which was originally not red, suddenly turned red under the stimulation of the warm current.
"Who are you talking about? I'm blushing!" She turned her head to look at him and retorted unconvincedly: "I'm just..."
Before she could finish her words, Zhong Min's flushed face instantly turned even redder. She realized how close their faces were, so close that their noses were practically touching. Suddenly, a burning sensation spread from her face to her neck and then all over her body, making her feel as if she were being roasted on fire. She felt extremely embarrassed.
"Just what?" Xiao Mingzheng seemed not to notice Zhong Min's abnormality. He asked naturally, and at the same time, he had no intention of moving back a little to increase the distance between their faces.
"You, you are too close!" Zhong Min finally reacted and quickly retracted his head to keep some distance.
"Is it close? It's not my fault. The sedan was originally only this big." Xiao Mingzheng smiled, but seemed to be explaining seriously.
Zhong Min suddenly felt like she was being teased. Only then did she realize that the normally serious and stern Prince was deliberately playing a trick on her. She had never expected Xiao Mingzheng to have such a nasty side; it was completely impossible to connect him with his usual self.
"It's not that the sedan is too small, it's that your head is too big!" She turned away angrily, not wanting to be polite to him anymore. She had no obligation to play along, no matter if he was a prince or something else. She simply ignored him to prevent him from getting more excited.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing Zhong Min's words, Xiao Mingzheng not only didn't get angry, but actually laughed out loud, a rare occurrence. This was the first time he'd heard someone talk to him like that. It wasn't that the sedan chair was too small, it was that his head was too big. He couldn't help but laugh. Only Zhong Min would have come up with such a rebuttal as a first reaction.
"You're still laughing!" Zhong Min was really annoyed. She couldn't help but turn her head and said to him again, "Your Majesty, please pay attention to your image. Do you think it's fun to tease others for no reason?"
Seeing that Zhong Min was actually a little angry, Xiao Mingzheng stopped laughing and nodded, saying, "I won't laugh anymore."
Seeing that Xiao Mingzheng had stopped laughing and looked more serious, Zhong Min pursed her lips and began to adjust her mood. After all, she was a professional, so how could she let others control her emotions?
After a moment, Xiao Mingzheng seemed to have thought of something and turned to Zhong Min and asked, "Do you know what the last song Ning Zhiyuan played was?"
"I don't know!" Zhong Min's tone remained unchanged. Seeing that Xiao Mingzheng had tactfully changed the subject, his anger subsided a little: "I never understood those things!"
"'The Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix.'" Seeing this, Xiao Mingzheng didn't care about Zhong Min's attitude and gave the answer directly.
"What?" Zhong Min didn't understand for a moment. He blinked twice and asked Xiao Mingzheng, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, the song Ning Zhiyuan played just now is called 'Phoenix Seeking the Phoenix.'" Xiao Mingzheng smiled slightly and completed his previous answer: "He said that this song was specially played for you, and you just said that you like it very much."
"Cough cough!" Hearing this, especially Xiao Mingzheng's additional explanation afterwards, Zhong Min almost choked on her own saliva. She couldn't help but cough, and her face turned red again.
What? Why is he playing "Feng Qiu Huang" for no reason? She didn't graduate from the music department, so how would she know what the hell Ning Zhiyuan was playing? It was so embarrassing. If she had known, she wouldn't have acted like she appreciated it. She even said she liked it, but what the hell was she liking it for? Now, not only is she embarrassed, but she must not let Ning Zhiyuan misunderstand that she is interested in him!
"I always say yes to things I don't understand." She sighed and said helplessly, "It seems that I still need to be educated more in the future. If someone plays the game of "Ten Sides Ambush" in the future, I will ambush him first!"
As soon as these words came out, Xiao Mingzheng couldn't help laughing again. For the first time, he found that he could actually laugh so heartily. This long-lost ease and truthfulness made his tightly locked heart gradually loosen. And Zhong Min was like a ray of sunshine, quietly shining in through the loose gap.
Although it took a little longer than the original route, Xiao Mingzheng and the others finally made it back to their lodgings. Half an hour later, the dozen or so guards driving empty carriages who had returned the same way also returned. The situation wasn't too bad. Although two people were seriously injured, neither was fatal. Others had minor injuries, or were lucky enough to be completely unharmed.
The returning soldiers reported that the ambushers had opened fire upon seeing them. Luckily, they had been prepared, and after a delay, following Zhong Min's instructions, they deliberately let them see that the carriage was empty. Only then did they realize they had been tricked. Seeing that their target was gone, and fearing trouble if they continued, they decided not to fight any longer. At the leader's command, they quickly withdrew.
After hearing the report, Xiao Mingzheng immediately let the injured people go for treatment first, and then asked Xie Feng to readjust the defensive personnel so that other people with minor injuries could get better rest.
After Xie Feng left, Zhong Min suggested that Xiao Mingzheng temporarily change his sleeping room tonight, and dispatched several external protection personnel to quietly enter the room where Xiao Mingzheng originally stayed and wait for him.
"You mean, they'll come again tonight?" Xiao Mingzheng took Zhong Min's cautiousness seriously. Zhong Min's intuition was always accurate, and she was quite professional in this area. Many of her conclusions were based on reasonable inferences, not just intuition.
"I can't be 100% sure about this, but the possibility is very high. So for the sake of safety, Your Highness would have to be more cautious. After all, there is a serious shortage of internal defense personnel, and other outer defense personnel can only act secretly. There are still some loopholes that cannot be solved." Zhong Min analyzed objectively. Of course, she could only make suggestions and could not force them. If everything was calm at night, she would not be able to say much.
After hearing this, Xiao Mingzheng thought for a while, and agreed after a moment. It was a good defensive trick, combining both truth and falsehood, and it was not too troublesome, so there was naturally no reason for him to disagree.
However, what Zhong Min hadn't expected was that the nasty Xiao Mingzheng would go to her room instead of anywhere else, claiming it was the perfect distance away, safer and allowing her to keep an eye on any activity there. Zhong Min was extremely reluctant, but he was the boss after all, and she had no choice but to obey him for a day under his command.
Fortunately, it was summer, not as cold as winter. It was just one night, so she could just find a place to stay. However, Xiao Mingzheng didn't seem to think so. He even said that if she moved to another place, it would definitely arouse other people's suspicion, so he asked her to stay in this room as well.
Zhong Min was naturally unhappy. Thinking of what happened in the sedan just now, she suddenly felt that Xiao Mingzheng was deliberately teasing her again. But seeing that he looked serious and sticking to the point, she didn't know what to say for a moment.
On second thought, he was, after all, a prince who had seen the world. It was fine for him to tease her occasionally, but he wouldn't take advantage of such a moment to do anything vile. However, he had only been out of Prince Mu's mansion for half a month without a woman, so he shouldn't be so desperate. Besides, after all, Xiao Mingzheng was a gentleman, not a rogue.
It was probably out of caution that this was the case. Zhong Min secretly gritted her teeth. If this stinky prince dared to do anything he shouldn't do, she would not be easily bullied. She would make him pay and make him never dare to do anything disrespectful again.
"Your Highness, please bear with it and sleep here tonight." Zhong Min pointed to the bed he had slept on the previous night, then glanced at the reclining chair behind the beaded curtain. "I'll go rest over there. If there's any movement, Commander Xie will come and report it."
With that, Zhong Min grabbed a thin blanket and headed for the recliner. She'd been feeling dizzy all day, so before the assassins arrived, she needed a nap to replenish her energy. She'd be busy and unsure when to sleep.
But who would have thought that she had just taken two steps over there when she heard Xiao Mingzheng say calmly and unhurriedly: "No need, come to the bed and sleep."
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