Liu Yifeng watched the tired, panting staff member and gave him a hundred yuan bill as a tip, asking him to check on the room periodically.
He would be leaving soon, and he wouldn't be at ease without someone keeping an eye on his two friends.
The staff member had never encountered such a generous customer and immediately promised to look after his two friends well.
Afterward, Liu Yifeng took off their shoes, covered them with blankets, and then left the hotel.
Perhaps it was thanks to Tongtong's foresight, but around two in the morning, traffic police were still out checking for drunk drivers.
Although he had taken Tongtong's hangover pills beforehand, Liu Yifeng was still somewhat nervous.
After all, he had drunk seven or eight bottles of beer, and only half an hour had passed; he wasn't sure if the alcohol in his system had fully dissipated.
Soon, car after car passed through. Under the traffic police's direction, Liu Yifeng pulled over.
"You smell of alcohol. Have you been drinking?" As soon as the traffic officer approached Liu Yifeng, he detected the scent of alcohol.
Liu Yifeng, of course, couldn't admit it. He shook his head repeatedly, "No, how can I drive if I've been drinking!"
"It's not up to me or you to decide if you've been drinking. Come on, blow into this!" the traffic officer said, extending the breathalyzer to Liu Yifeng's mouth for him to blow.
With a nervous heart, Liu Yifeng blew hard, then anxiously watched the traffic officer, fearing the next words would be an arrest.
Only when the traffic officer glanced at the blood alcohol reading and let him go did Liu Yifeng heave a sigh of relief. He hadn't expected Tongtong's hangover pills to be so effective.
In such a short time, they had cleared the alcohol from his system.
Otherwise, if he had been caught drinking today, he would have been detained for drunk driving.
As he passed an intersection near Shengmi Bridge, he saw two cars that had collided severely. The front of one car was heavily deformed. There was an ambulance nearby, and traffic police were actively trying to rescue the driver trapped in the cockpit.
There was also someone lying on the ground, covered in blood, with doctors providing emergency care.
An accident this severe, occurring in a deceleration zone, strongly suggested drunk driving.
This made Liu Yifeng understand why there were traffic police checking for drunk drivers in the dead of night; it was likely triggered by this car crash.
It was fortunate that he had prepared in advance, or he would have been in trouble too.
When the red light turned green, he drove away. Driving truly required sobriety; otherwise, a car accident wouldn't just affect one family.
He arrived home close to three in the morning, waking up Da Hei, who had been sleeping in the yard. The dog smelled Liu Yifeng's scent and didn't bark at him, instead lying down with its eyes half-closed, continuing to sleep.
Liu Yifeng closed the yard gate, found a clean set of clothes, and went to take a bath. Although he had no alcohol in his system, his clothes still carried a strong smell of alcohol, which would be problematic if Tongtong detected it.
The next day, he was woken by his alarm clock. He had only slept for three hours last night. Despite desperately wanting to sleep more, Tongtong's kindergarten was the priority.
He groggily sat up, stretched, and forced himself out of bed. Otherwise, he would have fallen back asleep immediately.
After washing up, his head felt much clearer. It seemed that if he wanted to drink in the future, he should do so when Tongtong wasn't in class so he could sleep in.
He planned to take Tongtong to kindergarten and then head to the hotel to find Lu Fei and the others for a nap; his body simply couldn't take much more.
"Yifeng, you came back so late last night. You need to be alert when you drive later," Liu Chunsheng reminded him with concern over breakfast.
Liu Yifeng nodded, "Dad, don't worry. Aren't you confident in my driving!"
After breakfast, he took Tongtong to kindergarten.
Da Hei and Da Bai, the two dogs, ran alongside Liu Yifeng's car for a long way until they could no longer keep up and stopped.
Liu Yifeng looked at the two dogs in the rearview mirror. Seeing them turn back, he drove forward with peace of mind.
"Daddy, can you buy me sixteen 1.5-inch silver needles at the pharmacy later?"
"Yes, Tongtong. When do you plan to remove the love蛊 from Uncle Zhao?" Liu Yifeng asked.
Tongtong replied, "The sooner the better. I plan to perform the acupuncture at noon. This time is when the acupoints are most vulnerable, and acupuncture can seal them effectively."
"Alright. I'll talk to the principal later. Didn't you develop a calming medicine for Daddy when you were making the hangover medicine last night? Did you bring it?"
Tongtong opened his backpack and took out a small transparent glass jar containing white powder. "Daddy, this is the calming medicine.
Just give the principal a fingernail-sized amount to mix into Uncle Zhao's food. Make sure he eats it all, so he won't wake up during my acupuncture treatment."
Liu Yifeng glanced at the item in Tongtong's hand and nodded, "Okay, remember to give it to me when we get out of the car. I'll pick you up at noon, and we'll go together to perform the acupuncture on Uncle Zhao."
At 7:55, Liu Yifeng's car stopped precisely in the parking spot outside the kindergarten.
He held Tongtong's hand and walked into the kindergarten gate, then handed him over to the teacher.
As Tongtong went in, he didn't forget to hand the small white jar to Liu Yifeng.
Liu Yifeng casually put it in his pocket and then, as usual, delivered the vegetables to the back door.
Learning that Zhao Qing had not yet arrived, he waited for a while.
Zhao Qing had also been waiting for Liu Yifeng's call all last night. She fell asleep and woke up at dawn without any missed calls from Liu Yifeng. She guessed that Tongtong might not have had any other solutions.
So, early in the morning, she visited her father, thinking that if all else failed, she would send Shu Bo to Country T. They couldn't just stand by and watch him marry this woman from Country R.
Zhao Dewang had no better ideas and agreed. He prepared to arrange for someone to buy the earliest flight tickets to Country R for the earliest flight that day, and the whole family would go.
Zhao Qing knew that her trip to Country T would likely be a long one, so she came to the kindergarten to hand over and deploy some work. Otherwise, with her absence, who knew what chaos might ensue.
As she got out of the car, she saw Liu Yifeng standing at the kindergarten entrance. The children had already started classes; why hadn't he left yet?
Just as she was about to ask Liu Yifeng if something was wrong, Liu Yifeng also saw her and walked straight over, "Director Zhao, good morning."
"Mr. Liu, good morning. Are you waiting for me?" Zhao Qing also walked over and asked.
"Director Zhao, have you forgotten what you came to me about yesterday morning?" Liu Yifeng countered.
Zhao Qing immediately smiled, "Of course, I haven't forgotten. I know this is difficult. Even if Tongtong couldn't come up with any other solutions, I wouldn't be angry. Mr. Liu doesn't need to wait here to explain."
"If there is no third method, how do you plan to handle this, Director Zhao?" Liu Yifeng didn't rush to tell her but wanted to hear her perspective first.
Zhao Qing gave a bitter smile, "With what happened, my father and I are helpless. We don't know anyone with expertise in this area, but we don't want him to marry the woman who cast the love蠱 on him, so we can only go to Country T to find a master to remove it."
Liu Yifeng immediately smiled, "It seems I can save you a few ticket fares. Why go to such trouble to remove a love蠱 by traveling abroad?"
Zhao Qing was stunned by his words. Then, she looked at Liu Yifeng excitedly, "You... you mean there's another way to remove the love蠱 from my brother?"