Time travel is risky, and love requires caution

Lu Cheng hesitated for a moment, but finally opened his mouth obediently.

Ling Qiqi stuffed the thing in her hand into Lu Cheng's mouth without hesitation.

"Swallow it and don't spit it out." Ling Qiqi ordered again.

Lu Cheng swallowed it in confusion and asked:

"What did you feed me?"

"Antidote."

"What antidote?"

"Different paths."

"When did I get poisoned?"

"You haven't gotten it yet. This is a preventive vaccine so that you can poison others."

"Where's the poison?" Lu Cheng asked.

"Here, that's all. Use it sparingly." Ling Qiqi handed him the small box in her hand.

"How do you use this thing?"

Ling Qiqi carefully introduced the instructions and precautions for using the special path to Lu Cheng, and then said:

"Aren't you going to establish your authority in the tribe? Perhaps this poison can help you achieve twice the result with half the effort."

"Well, it's indeed a good thing."

"Because of me, all checkpoints in Nan Shen are strictly checking outsiders, and Pei Chufeng is also keeping a tight watch on the surrounding security. Even if your people enter Nan Shen, it will be difficult for them to get close to Sanqi Medical Clinic. If you need to pass on a message to me, you can go through Qi Qing. Pei Chufeng allows Qi Qing's people to deliver the message to me."

"We have to go through Beiwei, which will take too long and may cause delays."

"Hehehe, come on and praise me for my resourcefulness, quick." Ling Qiqi grinned smugly.

"I think you are spooky, but it's just conspiracy at best."

"I have asked Qi Qing to find someone to train a group of homing pigeons in Beikui, Nanshen, and Ximo to facilitate communication between the three places. Flying in the sky is much faster than running on the ground. We tried it two days ago and it can fly an average of 1,500 miles a day. It only takes two and a half days to get here from Beikui. Ximo is even faster and can arrive in about two days. I will send you a few after they are trained. What do you think? Am I resourceful?"

"It's just a carrier pigeon. It's not your original creation. Why are you so proud of it? And isn't it safe to use a pigeon? If it's caught by an eagle or shot by someone, it will not only delay things, but also easily leak secrets."

"Just release a few more pigeons at a time. There will always be some that slip through the net."

"Then how many pigeons do you have to train continuously?"

"So just reimburse me for the money I spend on raising pigeons."

"What if the secret is leaked?"

"Simple, I've thought of it a long time ago, so I'm going to use a code. One word is translated into six numbers, the first three numbers are the page number of the book, and the last three numbers are the number of the word on the page. I use Arabic numerals, and no one here knows Arabic numerals unless they are from another time. Books can be changed regularly, as long as the version is consistent, otherwise it will be troublesome if the number of pages or words is different. Qi Qing and I are currently using The Analects, and we've tried it, and it's quite convenient. I'll give you a copy of the same version later. Oh, by the way, currently only you, me, and Qi Qing know the code. How is it? Is it thoughtful? Is it shrewd and calculating?"

"Well, you are quite cunning."

"It's really hard for you to praise me. I'm far worse than Pei Chufeng."

"I'm warning you, don't compare me with him."

"Tsk, there's no way to hurt without comparison. If I don't hurt you, how can you make progress?"

"I won't be a lapdog."

"Don't worry, with your mean-mouthed and hard-hearted personality, you can't be a bootlicker, you can only be a single dog."

"I admit that I have a bad mouth, but I don't think I have a hard heart."

"Yes, yes, you are not hard-hearted, you are cold-hearted. You are too clear-headed and always give people the feeling of being a bystander."

Lu Cheng remained silent, thinking seriously about Ling Qiqi's words.

"I'm just talking nonsense, don't take it seriously. I have something more important to tell you. I suspect that Queen Beiwei is connected with the Ninth Prince. I've asked Qi Qing to investigate, but there's no solid evidence yet. But I'll let her continue investigating."

"Why do you doubt it?"

"Why do you think the Queen has hated me since childhood?"

"It must be because you are the daughter of Concubine Chen."

"Then why do you think she hates Concubine Chen? Just because she is the emperor's favorite concubine? As the saying goes, the deeper the love, the deeper the hatred. But do you think the queen loves the emperor that much?"

"What do you want to say?"

"I always feel that this matter is not that simple. I have a bold guess, but I dare not tell anyone."

"Don't be so pretentious, just say it quickly."

"When my mother was not yet the Concubine, she had secretly married the Ninth Prince. It was with the support of the Queen's family that the Northern Emperor became the Crown Prince and married my mother as a concubine. If the person the Queen liked was also the Ninth Prince, her behavior would have a new explanation. She didn't want the Ninth Prince and my mother to end up together, and wanted to break up the couple, but ended up inviting a wolf into the house and fell out of favor with the Northern Emperor. And if the Queen wanted to sow discord between the Northern Emperor and my mother, the best way was to take advantage of the demise of the Crow Kingdom. Because of the hatred of the demise of the country, my mother asked to go to the cold palace on her own."

"You guessed these?"

"Well, just a blind guess."

"What else did you guess?"

"You said that if the Queen is a love-brained person, she has been obsessed with the Ninth Prince and wants to help him seize power and usurp the throne, so the Northern Emperor has been unable to give birth to a son. Even if the Northern Emperor has a son now, the prince is young, which gives the Ninth Prince precious time to grow and develop. If the Northern Emperor dies accidentally, the Ninth Prince can use the emperor to control the princes, or even directly change the dynasty and ascend the throne himself. The Queen can help one man to ascend to the throne, and she can also help a second man."

“You should write a novel.”

"The script of a locked room is similar to a novel. One is about immersion, the other is about substitution, and the main theme is empathy. But no matter which one it is, it must have a main line logic, otherwise the plot can't go on, right? The plot is nothing more than revenge and conspiracy, love and development, farming and infrastructure, and so on."

"Then I understand. You are immersing yourself in a relationship."

"Maybe the script I got is a love story, but our scripts are definitely different. Yours should be a conspiracy and counterattack or something like that."

"I'm not going to listen to your nonsense anymore. It's getting late. I have to go back to Ximo."

"Okay, if anything else happens, let's keep in touch via pigeon code. Oh, and take this bag of food with you to eat on the way back."

After saying that, he turned to the desk and took out a copy of "The Analects of Confucius" which he used to translate the code and gave it to him.

Lu Cheng said nothing more. He carefully put the small box of poison and the Analects into his arms, picked up a bag of food, and walked out.

Ling Qiqi followed behind, ready to symbolically see him off.

As soon as they walked out of the house, they found the witch doctor and Pei Chufeng were waiting for them in the yard.

After saying goodbye to the two of them, Lu Cheng walked towards the door. After taking two steps, he seemed to remember something and turned back.

"What did you forget?" Ling Qiqi asked puzzledly.

Lu Cheng said nothing, but walked directly to Ling Qiqi, and in front of the witch doctor and Pei Chufeng, he hugged her into his arms, lowered his head and kissed Ling Qiqi on the lips, and said in a neither loud nor soft voice:

"Don't flirt with other girls. Wait for me to pick you up."

After saying that, he let go of Ling Qiqi and walked out of the door without looking back, looking like he was running for his life.

Ling Qiqi finally reacted, wiping her mouth while cursing:

"Bah, bah, bah, you are sick, how dare you take advantage of me? Don't let me see you, or I will smash your stinky mouth."