He Danggui cleared her throat and chatted with Xue Xiao in Japanese about the customs in Nihon, including people’s diet, costumes, furniture, and decoration in their courtyards.

She knew she could speak the language fluently and had ever talked to some men from Nihon in the Wuying Tower successfully in her previous life. However, one day Qing’er heard that she could speak Japanese and kept asking her to show it. She did that but after hearing what she said, Qing’er rolled in the aisles. Thus, she got a psychological shadow and never told anyone she could speak Japanese again. She wouldn’t say “Ohayou” or “Konnichiwa”, which meant “Good morning” and “Good afternoon”, again if she didn’t have to.

Xue Xiao looked at her aghast after she just said four or five sentences. He thought, “This woman can speak my mother language! Is she also sent here by the authorities in Nihon?” But after she said more, he found many mistakes in her wording and grammar. Even a four-year-old child in Nihon could speak it better than she did. It was indeed brave of her to talk to him like this.

However, thinking from another perspective, he would be offered timely help if a local person in the Central Plain who knew Japanese could talk to him when he, as a foreigner, just arrived here and was eager to adapt himself to the new environment. While thinking about this, he felt nostalgic because of He Danggui’s broken Japanese so he couldn’t help answering her in Japanese as well. One of them said, “Ohayou” while the other replied with “Konnichiwa” but they didn’t feel awkward because Xue Xiao was tolerant and He Danggui didn’t realize she had made mistakes at all given that she hadn’t learned the language well.

Thus, just because her words had triggered his nostalgia, they called a truce for now even though they were at daggers drawn a moment before. They chatted happily. He Danggui tickled his ears by introducing to him the scenery and customs in the Central Plain. She had recited these before so she could talk about them very fluently. Except for feeling amazed, Xue Xiao was also very considerate. He dispensed with complicated sentence patterns and talked to her slowly so that she could understand him better.

Although Duan Xiaolou who was lying on the floor couldn’t move freely, he was conscious. At first, he bitterly regretted what he did. After having believed Xue Xiao, a mysterious man from Nihon, he not only made himself suffer but also implicated He Danggui who had nothing to do with this. He would rather die first than become crazy for seeing her get hurt. As soon as he thought that a weak lady like He Danggui was about to be captured and bullied by a vicious man, Duan Xiaolou couldn’t wait to sit up but the anesthetic was so strong that he failed to do that after trying hard twice.

He fell back onto the legs of He Danggui again. When he thought he reached an impasse, he suddenly heard He Danggui saying something he couldn’t understand at all in a euphonic voice. Judging from the cadences, her words must’ve been meaningful. While he was curious, Xue Xiao began to reply to her with strange words. After hearing their conversation for a while, he finally realized that He Danggui was talking to Xue Xiao in Japanese.

Looking up at her in shock, Duan Xiaolou wondered what happened? Why could she speak Japanese? How many secrets did she have? What else did he still not know about her? Meanwhile, He Danggui put one of her fair hands on his face and he smelled a delicate aroma. She massaged the acupoints around his eyes with her cool fingertips while he closed his eyes involuntarily and rested his head on her legs quietly to enjoy the ephemeral gentleness.

Duan Xiaolou couldn’t understand what they were talking about at all but judging from the expectant looks on their faces, he could tell they had a pleasant conversation. They seemed to be relishing the moment and looked very sweet… Duan Xiaolou rued that he hadn’t learned Japanese, or he wouldn’t be so helpless and distraught now!

In fact, He Danggui and Xue Xiao were talking about “eating fried sauries with cooked rice that had been soaked in advance and drinking sake after the meal”. That was why they were expectant. Duan Xiaolou misunderstood them.

About why He Danggui talked to Xue Xiao in her poor Japanese, which had made her be mocked by Qing’er, first, she wanted to trick Xue Xiao to make him less vigilant and make her words more convincing; second, she didn’t want Duan Xiaolou to know what they were talking about because there were many secrets only she knew from the previous life. She could use those secrets to cheat a stranger like Xue Xiao but if Duan Xiaolou who knew her well heard them, he would delve into the reasons why she was so well-informed.

He Danggui covered Duan Xiaolou’s face with her hand and sighed in her heart. Seeing him goggling at her, she knew how surprised he was about her “mastery” of Japanese. She would have to make up an excuse to explain to him in the future.

However, the priority right now was that she should gain Xue Xiao’s trust and figure out the situation outside. Would Imperial Guards be annihilated by the Wuying Tower? That couldn’t be possible. Zhu Quan got lots of restrictions on where he could go and how he should act. It was hard for him to gain support. Why would he use it to fight against Imperial Guards or members of the Changye Tower instead of saving it for defeating Zhu Di, Lord Yan, and Zhu Yunwen, the Eldest Legitimate Grandson? It wasn’t wise of him to annihilate them because they worked for Zhu Yuanzhang, his father. He should have wanted to take them under his wing for his own benefit, shouldn’t he? Moreover, when Lu Jiangbei mentioned Zhu Quan, his tone seemed to imply that he admired Zhu Quan very much and they were friends. Why would they suddenly fight against each other?

He Danggui was puzzled but she didn’t stop reciting the content in Classics of the Food in Island Countries. Seeing Xue Xiao being amazed, she felt slightly complacent. It seemed her Japanese wasn’t that broken. Even a native man had been bluffed by her, hadn’t he?

When she almost finished the recitation, she took a breath and started to talk to Xue Xiao with great confidence in her halting Japanese again, “Back then, the overlord dispatched 15 people to the Central Plain in batches to carry out several secret tasks. Each batch consisted of three people and they were responsible for one task. Some infiltrated into the Northwest Army as people from Nihon and some lurked in the South by disguising themselves as local people in the Central Plain. I guess you must’ve been a member of the former group. You joined the Northwest Army and were taken under Lord Ning’s wing later. Afterward it took you much effort to participate in Imperial Guards as ‘a member with special admission’. Am I right, Mr. Xue Xiao?”

Hearing this, Xue Xiao became startled and began to gasp. He looked at He Danggui in terror as if she was a ghost and stuttered in Chinese, “You… I…” After calming himself down, he regained the ability to speak his mother tongue. He asked, “Why did you know these things? Although you can speak broken Japanese, I’m certain that you will never be from Nihon. You’re too young to be one of the 15 people set to the West.”

While saying this, he receded to the back of an ice sculpture. It seemed he wanted to find somewhere to hide from her bright gaze. He Danggui was less than 15 years old but she exposed the deepest secret in his heart so easily. How could he not be frightened and suspicious that maybe one of the other 14 people in the team had been captured or had betrayed other members by exposing the secret they should keep together?

Xue Xiao looked solemn and was extremely vigilant. He Danggui was right. He was nothing like the other ordinary warriors from Nihon in the Wuying Tower who were gathered and brought back from Nihon to the Central Plain by Lord Ning in person. Instead, he got promoted when he “ran into” Lord Ning in the twenties of Hongwu Period. In other words, he neither pledged loyalty to Imperial Guards or the emperor nor worked for the Wuying Tower or Lord Ning. His real boss was the “overlord” in the North of his motherland. How would He Danggui know this confidential fact? Why could she speak Japanese?

The more fluttered he became, the more ferocious he pretended to look like. Hiding behind the ice sculpture and glaring at He Danggui, he showed only the upper part of his head and asked, “Who are you? Why did you poke your nose into our secret? I won’t be threatened by you. I can exert the best arts of lightness in the world and disappear anytime I want to!”

He Danggui chuckled and replied, “I’ve never said I’m an underling of the overlord, have I? Even if I want to impersonate anyone, it should be one lord’s wife or daughter, right? Mr. Xue Xiao, you don’t need to be so nervous. I’m not a cannibal. Why do you want to disappear? What’s more, I have nothing to do with the ‘task’ of you and your team members. Why don’t you let me finish my words first? I heard you and the other 14 people in the team were all the nobility from the South of Nihon. You must’ve suffered a lot on the way to the Central Plain.”

Xue Xiao compressed his lips and his nostrils bulged. After staring at He Danggui for a while, he said, “I don’t trust you. You look wily. My mother told me the more beautiful a woman was, the more vicious and wilier she would be. Once I was caught off guard, she would kill me. Show me your ace in the hold now. Why would you know our secret? What do you want from me?”

He Danggui compressed her lips as well and felt slightly uncomfortable. Xue Xiao was in his forties and looked like an awe-inspiring hero. But why did he say something like “my mother said”? That was really boring. Hum, it was him who tried to hurt Duan Xiaolou and her first. He asked for this so she would trick him hard this time. Was she vicious or wily? She just wanted to find a way to protect herself and the man by her side. The situation now made her desperate. Who could tell the right or wrong sides?