Chapter 56
Yin Yang Pot
According to Lu Qin's plan, as soon as they saw Zhang Gui, they would shower him with flattery to lower his guard, and then desperately try to get him drunk.
Zhang Gui was fond of drinking, but his alcohol tolerance was not very good. He would get drunk and unconscious after just a few drinks. At that time, they could just try to get information out of him. As long as he said anything suspicious, the Prince of Pingfan would have a reason to immediately arrest him and bring him back to the capital for interrogation.
As for Qian Yuming, his alcohol tolerance was unknown, so she prepared a sleeping potion in the Yin-Yang pot. When the time was right, she would take it out and coax him to drink it as if it were imported fine wine, so as not to cause him to act recklessly.
In this way, Xuande Street will at least have a few days of peace and quiet, and the county magistrate will surely be thrown into disarray, achieving two goals at once.
With everything prepared, the two handsome young men and the masked, ugly guard went to the street to keep their appointment.
On the way, Chang Le praised, "Your technique is truly superb. It's exactly the same as yesterday, comparable to a disguise."
Lu Qin said modestly, "Your Highness is too kind. If Your Highness wishes to learn, I can teach you when I have time. It's very simple!"
Chang Le's eyes lit up: "Great! Great! Then you're my master now. Once this is all settled, I'll go back to the palace and get some treasures as a gift for you when I become your disciple!"
"Your Highness is too kind."
"Ahem." Upon hearing that Lu Qin was going to teach Chang Le how to do makeup, Hao Jingshi said resentfully, "We've been married for over three years, and my wife has never once said she would teach me."
Chang Le stabbed him, "What's it to you?"
Hao Jingshi: "This is my wife."
Chang Le: "Yes, yes, yes, go up to the city wall and shout it so the whole world knows."
"..."
"I think you're completely obsessed."
“.
The group went to a restaurant and met with Qian Yuming and others. They ate and chatted warmly.
Meanwhile, outside the three tables, the Prince of Pingfan, dressed in casual clothes, was secretly watching from inside, muttering to his subordinates, "This Chang Le, I wonder what she's up to this time. She insisted that I come to watch her performance, and even said she would give me a big gift."
The subordinate chuckled, "Young master is quite lively; who knows what new and interesting things he's prepared for you this time."
The Prince of Pingfan still had some expectations, so he watched with great interest, but as he watched, he suddenly realized something was wrong.
Among the group, the masked guard huddled silently in a corner, the pot-bellied man smugly enjoyed the flattery, occasionally revealing a blank expression as if he didn't understand what was being said, the weasel-like man served food, and the thin, handsome young man raised his glass in a toast.
Everyone else was normal, except for Chang Le, who was disguised as a young man, who was holding a wine glass and spitting into it, his face twitching, and laughing foolishly.
"Absurd! To make my precious daughter play a fool!" Prince Ping clenched his fist. "Once this play is over, I'll teach those who put this on a good lesson..."
"Ahem, Master."
His subordinates spoke up to stop him, signaling him not to reveal his identity while out in public.
The Prince of Pingfan then angrily stopped talking, staring intently at the other side, waiting for Chang Le's signal to smash the cup.
After several rounds of drinks, Zhang Gui was already showing signs of drunkenness, and Qian Yuming was also secretly pleased with the huge deposit he had received, so he was completely unguarded. Seeing this, Lu Qin had Hao Jingshi bring out the yin-yang wine that had been prepared in advance.
She took it with both hands, immediately put on a professional smile, and said to Zhang Gui in clear and fluent language: "Lord Zhang, take a look. This is grape wine that we saw when we passed through the West. This stuff is very valuable. I heard that it took ninety-nine skilled people picking grapes overnight and brewing it for nine hundred and ninety days to make this one pot. I heard that you like to have a little wine, so I brought it to you."
As she spoke, she filled Zhang Gui's cup, gestured for him to fill it, and then removed the red bead from the lid of the pot to fill Qian Yuming's cup as well.
"Brothers, come and have a taste! Everyone says it has a really rich and mellow flavor, and that you'll feel incredibly good after drinking it."
Although he couldn't understand what she was saying, Zhang Gui realized she was pouring him wine, and good wine at that, so he held the glass to his nose and took a sniff.
"It's truly fine wine!" He beamed, his words slightly slurred with drunkenness. "The grape flavor is overflowing, so fragrant!"
Lu Qin smiled at him and quickly raised her hand to invite him to taste it.
How could it not overflow? These were out-of-season, exorbitantly priced grapes that she and Hao Jingshi had searched all over the city last night to buy. She had thrown them into the wine and stirred them for a long time, then filtered and purified them repeatedly to finally get this pot of essence.
"Brother Qian, you should try some too!"
Lu Qin smiled and invited Qian Yuming to taste it, praying in her heart that nothing would go wrong, since success or failure depended entirely on this step.
"Okay!" Qian Yuming picked up his wine glass under the silent gaze of the three people opposite him. He took a light sniff and suddenly frowned.
"Something's not right. Why does my wine taste like this?"
As he spoke, Qian Yuming raised his wine glass to his eyes again, squinting as if he were using a telescope.
Seeing this, Lu Qin held her breath and kept quiet, fearing that he had discovered something. Chang Le and Hao Jingshi, who were standing to the side, also secretly broke out in a cold sweat.
Just as he was worrying, Zhang Gui turned his head to look at the cup, laughed loudly, slapped Qian Yuming on the back, and pointed at the white oil droplets inside, saying, "Are you stupid? You, you picked up some food and dropped some minced garlic in there!"
"..." The tension that had been building in everyone's minds eased, and they finally let out the breath they had been holding.
"That's really true!"
Upon hearing this, Qian Yuming burst into laughter and beckoned to the waiter to change the cup.
Lu Qin refilled his glass, and Qian Yuming leaned over to smell it, exclaiming, "Hmm, this is truly excellent Western wine. I've certainly learned a lot from you today!"
He raised his glass to Lu Qin: "Come, come, brother, how can we waste such fine wine? You drink too, let's have a toast together!"
"Okay, okay." Lu Qin calmly adjusted the teapot's bead and poured herself a cup. "Brother Qian, please."
She raised her glass and clinked it with Qian Yuming's.
Unexpectedly, when the two cups were almost touching, Qian Yuming suddenly stopped, glanced at the Yin-Yang wine pot a few times, then bent down to examine it carefully, focusing his eyes on the lid.
"Hey, your wine jug even has a switch?"
...These words sent a chill down Lu Qin's spine, and she felt as if the wine glass in her hand had become a solid weight, making it impossible to hold.
"A switch?" Zhang Gui squinted and joined the crowd. "Nonsense, where is it?"
“That’s right, brother, you’ve got it wrong,” Lu Qin laughed. “It’s just a broken wine jug, what switch could it possibly have?”
“Oh dear, though I am not very knowledgeable, I have heard of this thing. You can’t fool me!” Qian Yuming confidently reached out and flicked the bead on the lid. “Look, the bead on the lid can move, which means this pot can hold two kinds of wine!”
Zhang Gui: "Oh, it really is!"
Qian Yuming: "Brother, what good wine do you have left in this pot? You're reluctant to let us drink it!"
"Yes, yes, yes." Lu Qin chuckled awkwardly and casually agreed, "I was thinking that the best things should be shown last, like a surprise, but I didn't expect you to see it..."
"Brother Zhang, look at him! He really is someone who has been to the West; he even knows these things!"
Qian Yuming joked with Zhang Gui, and then casually exchanged cups with Lu Qin, saying with conviction that he wanted to try it.
Lu Qin hurriedly said, "Brother, brother, I've already used this cup, it's dirty, you..."
"Glug," Qian Yuming had already drunk it before he could finish speaking.
After finishing his drink, he paused for a moment and said repeatedly, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm used to roughing around with my brothers, I didn't know you had different customs."
"This cup of mine was just changed, it hasn't been used yet, it's clean, you can take this one."
The wine glass was slowly pushed closer by his withered, twig-like fingers. Lu Qin looked at the wine in the glass, feeling as if ants were gnawing at her heart, and she felt like she could hardly stand.
She couldn't tell whether Qian Yuming had seen through her or not, so she could only reply without changing her expression: "That's great, thank you, brother, that's so thoughtful."
"Don't be so formal." Qian Yuming laughed heartily, poured himself another glass, and wanted to drink with her.
Lu Qin raised her glass in response. At this moment, Zhang Gui also joined in the fun, asking Qian Yuming to fill his glass, saying he wanted to try another kind of wine. Qian Yuming gladly poured it for him.
The two raised their wine glasses and clinked them together with Lu Qin's glass.
The three cups made a very small "clink," but it seemed to have an aftershock, causing Lu Qin's fingertips to tremble slightly.
She swallowed hard.
Oh no, everything's in complete chaos now.
The wine was laced with a strong sleeping potion; one cup would knock him out. If Zhang Guiruo drank it, how could they extract any information from him? If she drank it, how would they handle the aftermath?
Lu Qin hesitated before bringing the wine to her lips, moving extremely slowly, trying every possible way to delay taking it in.
At the critical moment, Chang Le suddenly stood up, shouted, ran over, snatched Zhang Gui's wine cup, splashed it all over Qian Yuming's face, and giggled.
"..." Qian Yuming subconsciously closed his eyes, wine dripping down his face, looking quite disheveled.
People around them turned to look at her, and Lu Qin quickly took the opportunity to bow and apologize in all directions, explaining that her younger brother had lost his mind, and also pretending to have accidentally spilled the wine.
She put the empty cup back on the table, pressed Chang Le to sit down, thinking she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
But Qian Yuming then wiped his face with his sleeve, slowly picked up the wine pot, poured himself another cup, handed it to Chang Le, and looked at her with a smile, "Oh my, you're... craving it too?"
Chang Le was taken aback.
To avoid giving herself away, she could only cheerfully accept it, humming softly as she did so.
“He’s not mentally sound, we can’t give him the drink.” Lu Qin snatched it away and quickly clinked glasses with Qian Yuming, “Brother Qian, I’ll toast you.”
Since things have come to this, we can only take advantage of Zhang Gui's lack of reaction time and deal with Qian Yuming as soon as possible.
As long as Zhang Gui doesn't fall into a deep sleep after drinking sleeping potion, there's still room for maneuver.
Lu Qin gritted her teeth, downed the wine in one gulp, and then chuckled as she showed Qian Yuming that she hadn't left a drop.
Unexpectedly, Qian Yuming put down his wine glass, took her empty glass, and filled it up for her.
"Oh dear, you drink so fast, brother! You've done me a great favor, how can I accept your toast? I should be the one toasting you!"
He handed her the wine glass, and Lu Qin took it with slightly trembling hands. Looking at the dishes that were gradually floating in front of her, she couldn't quite manage a smile anymore.
We're doomed, we miscalculated...
The glass goblets on the table transformed into a layered display, and opposite them, a weasel spirit grinned wickedly. Two… oh, it's Qian Yuming. He must have realized there was something wrong with the wine; the plan was going to fail…
"Slap."
Lu Qin's hand went limp, the wine glass fell to the ground, and she collapsed to the ground with a thud.
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