Chapter 1491 - 1486: Thinking of a Way to Get Information
After resting for a night, early the next morning, Mu Shuangshuang, Lu Yuanfeng, and Xing Beichen met up at the inn to eat breakfast together.
All kinds of customs in Da Wei are different from those in the Da Ning Dynasty.
Even mornings are different!
First thing in the morning, it’s big fish and fatty meat being served; if you want a bowl of rice porridge, that’s pretty much impossible.
And the breakfast doesn’t even taste good.
Xing Beichen told Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng about running into Wen Xiaoya last night.
Unexpectedly, neither of them looked particularly surprised.
"How come you two aren’t curious at all about why Wen Xiaoya came along with us?"
Mu Shuangshuang shook her head. "I’m guessing it’s Senior’s idea!"
"Yeah, besides Senior, no one would know what our mission is this time!"
To put it bluntly, even Wen Nantian wouldn’t want the three of us coming to Ye City to snoop on the Da Wei Army’s movements and have other people find out.
Let alone his precious daughter.
"Why’s that?" Xing Beichen couldn’t grasp the logic.
"To protect our safety." Mu Shuangshuang lowered her eyelids slightly and went on, "With Wen Xiaoya here, Wen Nantian naturally won’t dare to act rashly!"
"Oh... such a simple reason and I didn’t think of it! I should’ve had Wen Xiaoya stick with us last night!"
Xing Beichen smacked his own head hard.
"It’s fine, it’s actually better she didn’t follow." Lu Yuanfeng said.
Lu Yuanfeng’s attitude hadn’t changed from the first time he met Wen Xiaoya until now; he didn’t like her and didn’t want to deal with her.
Mu Shuangshuang had even less goodwill toward Wen Xiaoya. Not to mention last time she came to provoke her and almost got her blamed for something she didn’t do.
Just her father, Wen Nantian, always wanting Fengzi to be his live-in son-in-law and constantly suppressing Fengzi’s talent—because of that alone, there was no way Mu Shuangshuang could feel anything good toward Wen Xiaoya.
She’s fiercely protective—extremely protective!
Touch her man and it’s worse than slapping her face!
"Shuangshuang, Fengzi, how are we actually going to carry out our plan? We can’t seriously just do what Senior said and come here to sightsee, right?"
Xing Beichen really wasn’t familiar with Ye City.
But Lu Yuanfeng was; years ago, he’d once infiltrated Ye City alone.
Though that time it was a training camp assignment.
He just hadn’t, like Shuangshuang, taken the trouble to really study the local food habits, temperaments, and customs.
"No rush. I’ve already asked around: Ye City’s city defense map is in the hands of City Lord Ye Tianfan. If we can get that map, then even if we go back, no one can say we returned empty-handed!"
The "military intelligence" Wen Nantian talked about is basically just that.
"The city defense map? That thing... is it really that easy to get?"
Xing City and Ye City are the last line of defense between Ning and Wei, so their city defense maps are bound to be far harder to get than those of other cities.
Besides, Wen Nantian only gave them no more than five days.
Counting yesterday, they already had only four days left.
"It’s not easy to get—but if we don’t try, we won’t know how it’ll end." Lu Yuanfeng said.
"My plan is to go into the City Lord Mansion as a cook and take a look around." Mu Shuangshuang said.
"Then what about me and Fengzi?" Xing Beichen asked.
"You two wait outside for now—wait for my message. When I need to contact you, I’ll reach out myself." Mu Shuangshuang said.
Xing Beichen hesitated for a moment. "Shuangshuang, can you really handle all this on your own? Fengzi, you’re not worried?"
"Saying I’m not worried would be a lie. But Shuangshuang analyzed it for me last night, and I think this trip is necessary—and aside from her, no one else can do it."
Mu Shuangshuang had already gone over it with Lu Yuanfeng the previous night.
As things stood, a young woman like her was actually safer than the two big men, him and Xing Beichen.
Just like she’d said: in wartime, the old, women, and children are never watched as closely as men like them.
On top of that, Shuangshuang was only fifteen, just newly of age. Whether in the Da Ning Dynasty or in Da Wei, no one would really treat her as a target to bully.
Plus Shuangshuang’s own abilities...
In short, Lu Yuanfeng had been convinced by her!
"You two, I..." Xing Beichen’s face was full of helplessness.
But he also felt there was too much he needed to learn from these two.
Forget it—he’d better do his job as the junior properly!
"By the way, Shuangshuang, when are you planning to go to the City Lord Mansion to work as a cook?" Xing Beichen asked.
"Today."
"Today? That fast? Are you sure the City Lord Mansion is actually hiring?" Xing Beichen was stunned by Mu Shuangshuang’s speed.
"The City Lord’s Wife just had a baby and is in her nursing period, but her milk still hasn’t come in, so the City Lord Mansion is recruiting people who can help stimulate lactation."
Mu Shuangshuang said this, then, worried Xing Beichen might not catch the point, added, "I know a few recipes that can bring the milk in. That cook’s position—I’m determined to get it."
They say, know yourself and know your enemy, and you’ll never lose a hundred battles.
Last night, Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng had seemed to just go out for fun, but all the information they needed, they’d already asked around and gathered.
Their efficiency really was astonishing!
"Fine, whatever you say goes. My attitude’s the same as Fengzi’s."
Xing Beichen said.
"Yeah, however Shuangshuang says we should do it, that’s how we’ll do it."
They were all in agreement on the plan they’d worked out.
After breakfast, the three of them split up.
Mu Shuangshuang headed to the City Lord Mansion to apply for the cook position, while Lu Yuanfeng and Xing Beichen stayed outside the Mansion to watch who was coming and going.
Just as Mu Shuangshuang had expected, once she explained things clearly to the guards at the gate, she was immediately invited into the City Lord Mansion.
Though Ye City’s City Lord Mansion wasn’t as grand as the General Mansion in Xing City, its guards—whether in appearance or in bearing—seemed to outclass the Da Ning Dynasty’s soldiers by a head.
To be honest, Mu Shuangshuang really didn’t know how this war was supposed to be fought.
If Da Wei was truly like the Qin State in the history she’d studied, then Da Wei unifying the Central Plains would only be a matter of time.
But her home was in Da Ning.
The taste of being a slave of a fallen nation is not something one can bear lightly, and besides, the Third Branch of the Old Mu Family still had a huge extended clan—if the country fell, they would probably lose their way to live as well!
So she had to get Ye City’s city defense map.
Da Ning must not fall, and she must not become a slave of a fallen nation.
While Mu Shuangshuang was thinking this over, the guard led her into the main hall where City Lord Ye Tianfan was.
Mu Shuangshuang had come a bit late; quite a few actual doctors who treated illness were already standing in the hall.
They were all waiting for that chance—the chance that could let them soar all the way up.
At first Mu Shuangshuang didn’t feel nervous, but once several white-haired old men who looked highly skilled in medicine walked in, she started to feel tense.
If one of these good physicians managed to get Lady Chengzhu’s milk flowing with some method, wouldn’t her trip be for nothing?
Resolving herself, Mu Shuangshuang decided to shamelessly push to the front.
"Brother, could you help me pass a message to the City Lord or the City Lord’s Wife? Just say that I have a way to bring in the milk without medicine or acupuncture, and it absolutely won’t cause any harm to the lady’s body!"