Time travel is risky, and love requires caution

Ling Qiqi and Liu Nian'an arrived at the outskirts of the capital at night. There was a curfew in the city, so they couldn't get in.

After the city gate opened the next morning, they observed from a distance for most of the day. Not only were there twice as many soldiers at the city gate as usual, but the inspection was also very strict.

Ling Qiqi didn't dare to take the risk and could only look for opportunities outside the city to sneak into the city.

As it turned out, the lucky ones didn't have to worry, and she caught an opportunity.

There was a carriage delivering wine to the city. She disguised herself as a weak willow and stopped the carriage. She successfully won the sympathy of the wine delivery man, who allowed her to take a ride into the city. After getting on the carriage, she used poison powder to knock the man unconscious.

Ling Qiqi called out Liu Nian'an who was hiding nearby, exchanged clothes with the waiter, took the waiter's identity badge, delivery receipt and pass to enter the city. As luck would have it, this truckload of alcohol was actually delivered to Yuehualou.

Ling Qiqi and Liu Nian'an hid the servants in the bushes and drove the carriage towards the city gate.

When they were almost at the city gate, Ling Qiqi picked out a large wine barrel from the carriage that could accommodate one person while there was no one around. She asked Liu Nian'an to carefully cut the circle of wax sealing on the barrel lid with a knife. After opening the lid, she dived into the wine barrel.

The smell of alcohol made her feel very comfortable, but he did not forget to instruct Liu Nian'an to use a fire stick to melt the sealing wax and seal the lid of the barrel tightly, so that no one could easily tell that it had been opened. The air layer she left was not large, and it could only last for half a cup of tea at most. After entering the city, find a deserted place to open the lid quickly, so as not to suffocate her.

After Liu Nian'an carefully sealed the lid of the barrel, he hurried the carriage towards the city gate.

As expected, the carriage was stopped when passing through the city gate, and an object as large as a wine barrel naturally became a subject of serious suspicion.

"What's in the bucket?"

"Sir, it's wine." Liu Nian'an said humbly.

"Where did you send it to?"

"It was booked by Yuehualou. Here is the order receipt."

"Take it aside. I can't read."

"Can I come in, then?"

"No, open the barrel and let me see."

"Master Bing, this wine barrel is sealed. If you open it, Yuehualou will not accept it."

"I don't care, I have to open it."

"Uncle Soldier, please don't make things difficult for me. Boss Li from Yuehualou needs this truckload of wine urgently. I can't afford it if it's delayed." Liu Nian'an hurriedly took out some silver coins and stuffed them into Uncle Soldier's hand. He didn't know whether Boss Li was anxious or not, but he was anxious anyway. He was afraid to open the barrel for inspection, and he was also afraid that if he didn't open the barrel for too long, the Seventh Princess would suffocate to death.

The soldier looked at the silver in his hand and put it into his arms decisively. Yuehualou is well-known in the capital, and even his superiors would give Boss Li some face. As a soldier, he simply did a favor and said:

"We are doing this for official business. Otherwise, we won't be able to explain to our superiors. It's okay not to open the package, but we must inspect it."

After saying that, he walked to the big wine barrel, pushed it, it was quite heavy, knocked it, it was quite dull, then looked at the wax seal on the barrel lid, it was quite tight, nodded, and suddenly drew out the knife.

"Master Bing, what are you doing?" Liu Nian'an's heart was about to jump out of his throat.

"Poke a knife in there and see if it contains wine."

"No, Master Bing, wouldn't the wine just flow away?"

"I'll try to stab from the top. Your barrel is sealed. If the top is full of wine, then there won't be anyone hiding in the barrel. Don't worry, I'm quick with my knife. At most there will be a crack, and not much wine will be wasted."

"Then my bucket is useless."

"You kid, is this barrel more expensive, or is the wine inside more expensive? You should feel sorry for the barrel, or should we open it and check it?"

"Then you better do it, hurry up, I'm anxious."

The soldier raised his knife and slashed the upper side of the barrel. After the knife was pulled out, the wine spurted out along the cut. Seeing this, the soldiers swarmed over and took turns catching the spurting wine with their mouths, exclaiming from time to time, "Good wine."

Only when not a drop of wine could flow out of the gap between the blades did the soldiers give up, wave their hands, and let Liu Nian'an go.

Liu Nian'an thanked him and hurried into the city. The road was full of people and there were occasional patrolling soldiers and constables. He did not dare to stop the car, fearing that he might encounter another car inspection on the way, so he did not delay for a moment and drove straight to Yuehua Tower.

Arriving at Yuehua Building and walking around to the back gate, Liu Nian'an held up a waist sign and shouted to the guard:

"Open the door, quick."

When the doorman saw the sign in his hand, he quickly opened the door to let the carriage in, then ran inside to report.

Liu Nian'an drove directly into the yard. Before the car stopped, he jumped in and pulled out the small knife he carried with him. He quickly cut the wax seal on the wooden barrel where the Seventh Princess was hiding and pried open the lid of the barrel.

He leaned into the barrel and saw that the knife stabbed into the barrel by the soldier actually gave the Seventh Princess a gap to breathe. So, fortunately, she was still breathing, but she seemed to be very drunk.

As long as he didn’t suffocate to death, he closed the lid of the wine barrel and jumped out of the car.

Just at this time, Mr. Li from Yuehua Building rushed over after hearing the news. He looked Liu Nian'an up and down and asked:

"Let me see your badge."

Liu Nian'an threw the badge over directly, and Boss Li looked at it carefully for a long time.

Boss Li was Li Chuan. He knew that the waist badge was specially made by the Seventh Princess for Du Jingshan, and Du Jingshan told him that he left the waist badge to the Seventh Princess when they separated. Li Chuan did not dare to neglect it and asked seriously:

"What do you need me to do?"

Liu Nian'an pointed at the big wooden barrel with his chin. Boss Li guessed something and ordered his men to close the gate and have everyone in the backyard leave.

After making sure that everyone had left, Liu Nian'an returned to the car, opened the lid of the barrel, and fished out the Seventh Princess.

Li Chuan hurried over to help, and together they carried the wet and drunk Seventh Princess out of the car.

Before the two of them had time to catch their breath, they heard someone knocking on the door outside the yard.

Li Chuan did not dare to delay, so he asked Liu Nian'an to carry the Seventh Princess on his back, and then took them to the woodshed. After fiddling around, a secret passage appeared. Liu Nian'an did not hesitate and directly carried the Seventh Princess into the secret passage.

After Li Chuan cleaned up the woodshed and locked the door, he pulled the carriage to the well in the yard, drew a bucket of water from the well and placed it next to it, and then opened the door.

The people who came in were a group of soldiers from the Inspection Office. They went straight to the carriage, obviously following it. Their purpose was very clear.

"Why is there less wine in this barrel?" asked the officer leading the inspection team after looking at the barrel.

"The guy who delivered the wine said, please have some drink for the soldiers at the city gate."

"Drank so much?"

"It's not too little indeed. Besides, the guests in front wanted some wine, so I just scooped some out and sent it to the front."

"Who is the guest in front?"

"Uncle Cai."

The officer said nothing. He had seen the incident at the city gate from the tower. As for the wine given to the guests, it was difficult to verify. If it was really Uncle Cai, he could not afford to offend him. However, he could not take it lightly, so he said:

"Someone, go to the front and see if it's Uncle Cai."

A soldier took the order and went.

The officer continued to question Boss Li:

"what is your job?"

"Li San is the manager here."

"It's Boss Li. I've heard of your name for a long time, but I've never met you. I'm so sorry." The officer saluted hastily, and Boss Li quickly returned the salute modestly: "I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it."

"What are you doing here alone, Boss Li?" The superior put away his hypocritical politeness and looked at him with a cunning look in his eyes.

"I..." Boss Li hesitated to speak.

"Why? You can't tell me? But is there something you are hiding?"