Chapter 2349

Nie Xiaolou realized. This little spy, his thoughts were quite deep.

"When I fed the cat, your men were probably watching not far away. But a cat has four legs, plus a tail that could block the view, and at the time it was curled under the table, blocked by the table and chair legs—how would they notice which leg the stray cat I fed was lame on? Just remembering it was a white cat would be good enough."

People's energy is actually limited; the watchers focus on Tong Yiyi, so they often overlook other details.

"Aren't you afraid I might really send people to look for the cat?" He also didn't believe Tong Yiyi was just being willful.

"You really did look, didn't you?" The Qinggong State Preceptor does things very thoroughly.

Nie Xiaolou said nothing.

"That little cat was very ill, though it struggled to live and ate hard, I knew it was a rally before the end, because later I saw it vomit up everything it had eaten." Mei Wuniang said quietly, "It had acute plague, and being too weak and thin, its vitality was very faint—it couldn't last till dawn. You probably won't find it, and even if you did, you couldn't confirm it was the one I wanted."

"So which leg the cat was lame on isn't the point, right?"

Mei Wuniang smiled and nodded.

If you really told Tong Yiyi you couldn't find the cat or that it died, wouldn't you be asking for trouble yourself?

And the nightmare fabricated this dream to quickly complete the task assigned by the Qinggong Lord, so of course it tends to avoid trouble and hurry to "send her back to the country" to facilitate later interrogation.

In the dream, what can't be made up?

So Mei Wuniang indeed got a white cat lame in the left hind leg that kept meowing at her nonstop.

So she knew all this was an illusion.

Herself and her secrets had not escaped danger.

"If you spoke the truth, I might have taken the dream as reality." She said faintly, "Too bad, for people like us in this line of work, the hardest thing to say is the truth."

"Since you saw through it, why not expose it right then? Why go through the whole dream before killing?" Going through the whole dream also consumes a lot of vital energy, especially for someone like her with severe soul wounds urgently needing rest.

In the latter half of this trap, who knows who was accompanying whom in the act.

"How could it be so easily let go?" Mei Wuniang leaned her body slightly forward, speaking softly, "I suffered torture, committed great crimes, and you just wave your hand and it's all lightly blown over?"

Her eyes were like a she-wolf's—even with severe injuries, she wanted to tear a piece of flesh from the enemy.

Of course she couldn't tear flesh from Nie Xiaolou, but she could inflict loss. Being able to craft a nearly flawless dream shows that nightmare's power is strong; killing it would make things inconvenient for Nie Daguoshi later.

Nie Xiaolou remained silent for a few breaths, then stood up: "No wonder the Jiugou Great Emperor personally recruited you. Someone like you is indeed a fine blade in his hand."

This woman is his prisoner, in the most unfavorable situation, yet she bursts forth with astonishing initiative and vigilance, making full use of all her cards, bit by bit turning the tide.

After securing her own path to survival, she immediately began counterattacking.

Once an ordinary spy's identity is exposed, all they seek is to escape with their lives—unlike her, who must repay grudges overnight.

So, does she still have a fourth secret?

Mei Wuniang gave him a charming smile: "People like me are still unknown in number on the Jinjin Plains. Wait and see—Cangyan will sooner or later stab you full of holes!"

Nie Xiaolou still had his bearing: "Rest well. Tomorrow morning I won't come to see you off."

As he left the guest room, he still heard her commanding the Qinghui rudely: "I'm hungry, get me something to eat. I think this inn's minced meat and bamboo shoot buns are good—bring another bowl of fish and spinach soup."

She even ordered the dishes.

Nie Xiaolou shook his head. To be able to produce a character like "Tong Yiyi," the Jinjin Plains truly is a miraculous place.

Just as he walked out of the inn, a child attendant came toward him and bowed.

"Nie my lord, our palace master summons you."

"Your Xia Palace lotuses have all withered, and now you ask me over?" Though he said so, Nie Xiaolou still stepped forward.

"You just love to joke. The lotuses of Xia Palace bloom constantly, never withering, even in the chill of winter." The child attendant was quite familiar with him.

……

Mei Wuniang's body was too weak to ride flying beasts, so Nie Xiaolou, following the dream's specifications, truly gave her the floating barge to use.

Ten Qinghui escorted Mei Wuniang back to Cangyan, and the flight path matched the dream exactly.

The journey took half a month, during which she mostly rested and recovered her vitality.

But every time the floating barge landed, she would request to go down to the town streets to walk around, buy things, and experience local customs and atmosphere.

If the nightmare could still fabricate all this—including the textures of the local specialties she ate—then that would be truly amazing.

That's why the journey was delayed by three days.

When she arrived at the southern part of Ju City's Xianyi Forest, the maple leaves had quietly turned red.

Those ten Qinghui delivered her to the place, bowed to her, and then took the floating barge away. This was Nie Xiaolou's special instruction: during the escort, no extra conversation with Mei Wuniang was allowed.

Everything looked so much like the dream.

But this time Mei Wuniang did not see Du Shan at the station; the Jin Temple guards who came to meet her escorted her into the Chixiao Jin Temple, where a mirror slowly unfolded beside her.

After entering the mirror, the next second she stood on the Liufang Stream.

Here the stream murmured, flying springs struck stones. Due to the season, only half the flowers by the stream bloomed, but the leaves began to change color—from pale yellow to orange-red, then to apricot-red, truly a gradual layering of forest hues.

From the pavilion by the Liufang Stream, one could overlook most of Ju City.

Mei Wuniang glanced once and couldn't look away.

As it turned out, Cangyan's capital was actually this vast and magnificent!

If compared with the former capital of Sai State, it truly was like a dim star beside the bright moon—not worth mentioning.

Fifteen years ago, who would have dared imagine the Jinjin Plains could also have such a prosperous great city and such splendid mountains and rivers?

A hint of mist appeared in her eyes.

At this moment the mirror opened again beside her, and a person stepped out.

Mei Wuniang turned her head and saw him, blurting out: "Du Xiang?"

Collapsed nose bridge, dark skin—wasn't that the Du Shan from the dream?

Except his beard had been finely trimmed into a standard eight-character mustache, which differed from the dream. Probably Nie Xiaolou didn't know Du Shan had recently changed his appearance, and the nightmare's information was a bit delayed.

"Mei Wuniang?" Du Shan smiled very kindly, "How do you know it's me? We seem to have never met before?"

After being recruited by the Emperor, Mei Wuniang underwent secret training and then went to Mao State, never having crossed paths with the entire administrative entourage of Cangyan. Du Shan was quite certain he had never met her before.

Mei Wuniang laughed: "In my dream, I vaguely saw it."