Don't mess with that Miao boy, he's sickly and perverted.

The waiter laboriously moved a loose brick in a corner of the cellar, revealing a hidden compartment.

The "handling" the shopkeeper referred to was simply hiding the items here.

Although he didn't understand why a jar of rice wine needed to be hidden so secretly, he assumed it contained some ancestral recipe and was afraid it would be stolen. Normally, they were only allowed to lift a small opening to scoop out the wine, and no one was ever allowed to open the entire seal.

"Girl, you..."

He had just picked up the pottery urn and turned around when his words abruptly stopped.

A sudden pain shot through my neck, my vision went black, and I collapsed limply to the ground.

Song Yueyao deftly caught the pottery urn before it fell to the ground, then gestured with her chin towards Chai Xiaomi: "Xiaomi, hurry up!"

For someone skilled in martial arts, climbing ladders is useless. She steadily held the wine jar with one hand, and with a light leap, she darted out of the cellar entrance like a swallow.

Seeing that Song Yueyao was about to put the pottery jar on the ground and then come down to help her, Chai Xiaomi quickly waved her hand: "No need to help me, I can climb up by myself. You quickly take the wine to show them."

The rice wine we finally got is wasted if something goes wrong.

"Xiao Mi, are you sure you can do it?" Song Yueyao was still worried. The ladder got steeper and steeper as she went up, and with her current physical condition, she couldn't afford to fall.

"I can do it." Chai Xiaomi just wanted her to leave quickly. Struggling to maintain her "pregnant" persona, she could only pretend to be careful and climb slowly, waiting for Song Yueyao to leave before she could nimbly climb up.

But Song Yueyao stubbornly waited at the cellar entrance. Seeing that she had climbed halfway up, she bent down and reached out her hand: "Come on, I'll help you."

This cellar was similar to the armory in her grandfather's military camp. The entrance was narrow and deep, making it easy to go down, but climbing back up required skill. People unfamiliar with the structure often needed someone to lend a hand to get up smoothly.

Seeing Song Yueyao's outstretched hand, backlit by the light and shadow, Chai Xiaomi was momentarily stunned.

Without warning, the word "family" popped into my mind.

A warm sensation reached her nose, and she sniffed, her voice light and cheerful: "Okay, I'm coming right now!"

Just as she reached out to touch Song Yueyao's fingertips, a clear, crisp voice suddenly cut in—

"Sister, don't trouble yourself, I'll do it."

As if afraid that Song Yueyao would insist, the young man added softly, "Jiang Zhiyu is looking for you everywhere."

"Alright." Seeing Wu Li appear, Song Yueyao felt relieved. "Then pull Xiaomi up here, I'll take this wine to be tested first."

The light in front of Chai Xiaomi dimmed a bit, as Wu Li's taller figure blocked a large portion of the light from Song Yueyao.

The boy was backlit, his outline bathed in a hazy halo, and his hand was longer than Song Yueyao's, hovering quietly in front of her.

He remained motionless, waiting for her.

Chai Xiaomi was backlit, so she couldn't see the expression on his face, but she always felt that this helping hand was not well-intentioned.

After all, she had just bitten him.

So, she stubbornly ignored the hand and continued climbing the rough bamboo ladder.

After being pranked so many times, you'll always have to be more careful.

A very soft laugh drifted down from above.

He withdrew his hand: "Don't beg me later."

Chai Xiaomi scoffed at his arrogant tone. What a joke! It's just a cellar entrance; surely she can climb out herself!

The next second, they were proven wrong.

I wonder if the person who designed this cellar did it specifically to prevent wine thieves, as the exit is extremely narrow and there is an inconspicuous inward slope on the inside.

Going down was easy, but coming back up required sheer arm strength.

For Chai Xiaomi, a good-for-nothing who lacks exercise, there's clearly only one option left—

"Um... handsome, could you please lend me a hand?"

A furry head cautiously peeked out from the cellar entrance.

Chai Xiaomi felt like the sneaky, peeking mole in the whack-a-mole game. If the onlooker above her got annoyed, he could easily smash her back into her hole with a single blow.

However, Wu Li simply squatted down unhurriedly, resting his chin on one hand, his drooping eyelashes casting small shadows under his eyes, and looked at her with great interest, as if he were watching some interesting trapped beast.

"Beg me."

Ah, here we go again.

She almost suspected that Wu Li's ultimate life goal was to be gilded in a temple and become a Buddha statue, otherwise why would he be so keen on listening to people plead!

Do you really think she's a spineless pushover?

...Yes, that's her.

"Please, Lili~~ help me!" She instantly switched to a lisp, emphasizing her flexibility and lack of psychological burden.

Wu Li gave her a deep look, but remained unmoved: "Not enough."

"...!?"

"Just now down there, when you asked someone for rice wine, you weren't so perfunctory." His gaze lingered on the corners of her eyes, still red from her earlier fake crying, her pupils glistening with moisture. He smirked, "You were practically dying of thirst! Lake water, rainwater, well water—what couldn't you drink? Why did you insist on waiting for a 'kind person' to bring you rice wine? Next time, at least put some thought into your story."

He had witnessed the entire dramatic performance in the wine cellar.

A somewhat awkward social death.

After all, she had shed tears in front of Wu Li quite a few times, some genuine and some feigned. She wondered what he was thinking right now. Chai Xiaomi could only offer a dry, dismissive reply: "I'm just picky, is that wrong?"

His eyes held a deep, probing look. He couldn't understand how someone who had been sobbing like a weak kitten just a moment ago could suddenly become aggressive and argumentative with him.

Was her tears a desperate act of using people as a weapon, or a habitual means of manipulating people's hearts?

He never cried; he didn't understand.

Seeing that Wu Li remained silent for a long time, Chai Xiaomi's arms, which were gripping the ladder, grew increasingly weak and trembling: "What do you want from me to pull me up?"

Urging him to come back to his senses, Wu Lirun's eyes flickered slightly, and he smiled, clearly having a new idea:

"An eye for an eye, let me bite you back."

OK OK.

What a brilliant example of an eye for an eye!

Chai Xiaomi conceded defeat: "Fine, then you can pull me up first."

Seeing that Wu Li was finally willing to let her go, Chai Xiaomi's legs, which had been tense and sore, subconsciously relaxed a little. But she didn't expect that this little bit of laziness would cause the bamboo ladder she was standing on to suddenly slip!

Before she could even touch his fingertips, she suddenly lost her balance and plummeted straight into the deep cellar!

Everything happened so fast that she only had time to gasp halfway through her speech before the wind filled her ears, forcing her to close her eyes tightly.

This cellar is extremely deep, estimated to be seven or eight meters high. If you fall in, you'll be severely injured, if not killed.

Chai Xiaomi's mind went blank; she could almost foresee the terrible state of herself falling to her death.

However, in just two or three seconds, the sharp wind was suddenly replaced by a series of crisp, chaotic clinking sounds of silver ornaments, and the next instant, she landed safely in a cool yet broad and steady embrace.

The immense impact caused the person who caught her to groan, but they tightened their grip on her, then used the force to spin around and dissipate the impact of the fall.

"You'll be the death of me one day!" The boy said coldly, each word seemingly uttered through clenched teeth.

He lowered his eyes and glared at her fiercely, his face extremely ugly.

Chai Xiaomi, still shaken, curled up in his arms, her gaze wandering until it settled on a broken silver hair tie on his forehead, revealing a faint red scratch.

The cellar entrance was not only narrow, but the stones along the edges were jagged and rough, covered with sharp protrusions. Was it damaged because he rushed down to rescue her?

Before Chai Xiaomi could get a good look, Wu Li, without saying a word, leaped onto the ladder, pushed her out of the cellar, and then lightly jumped out of the cellar entrance.