Headless Immortal

Chapter 16 Understanding Schemes
Wang Ruo began reading from the beginning: "Jiujiang Yunlongtan, the land of dreams and marshes, and the inn of the capital..."

As she read, she observed the old cat's expression. The old cat pricked up its ears and stared intently, as if waiting for the words she wanted. Wang Ru read the entire Jiujiang Gazetteer.

Jiujiang.

The cat held the book down.

"Nine, River."

One character at a time, Old Cat identified the character "Jiang".

As luck would have it, this book was the Jiujiang Gazetteer.

Zhao Jia started preparing for the escort mission in advance, and this book happened to be placed in the most conspicuous position in the study. Lu Xun was in a hurry, so he brought the book over directly. Although he had heard the name 'Xunyang River', Lu Xun still did not recognize it.

He couldn't guarantee that the Xunyang River he heard was the Xunyang River, as many words are pronounced the same, and the different accents in different regions could also cause misunderstandings.

Therefore, he only chose the character "Jiang".

……

"Bandits".

The old cat pressed down on the book again.

Wang Ruo read those two words again.

"Thieves—bandits."

Wang Ruo's expression suddenly changed. She seemed to vaguely understand what Lao Mao meant, and hurriedly instructed, "Xiao Yue, go and get paper and pen!"

"Okay." Xiaoyue went straight to the study.

After she gave the order, she saw a smile appear on the black cat's face, as if to say, "Smart!"

Wang Ruo is now completely used to it; she wouldn't even think anything of it if the old cat spoke directly.

"Madam, the paper and pen are here."

Xiaoyue spread out the Xuan paper and ground the ink.

Wang Ruo then wrote down the words she had just memorized on a piece of paper.

The black cat pointed to the words on the paper.

"River."

"Bandits".

"..."

"Tiger."

"hurt."

The black cat pointed to itself.

Wang Ruo pieced together the words and looked at the black cat again: "Tiger, hurt, you."

The black cat nodded.

Wang Ruo suddenly realized that the black cat had indeed been scratched by the tiger.

"Xiaoyue, go and move all the books from the master's study over here."

"Never mind, let's go straight to the study."

For the entire afternoon, the master and servant accompanied the black cat in searching for characters, flipping through dozens, if not more. By evening, they had finally found almost all of them, and many characters were written on the Xuan paper. Many of them were crossed out, while many others were preserved, and then they were rearranged and combined.

“City, bandits, prison, theft, messenger, Taoist priest, man, ghost, tiger, tiger hurt me, discussion, robbery, river, government, yamen runners…” Wang Ruo frowned. These words pieced together must be what the black cat wanted to tell her, or rather, what it wanted to tell her husband Zhao Jia.

"Robbing the river."

"Who is robbing the river, and whom are they robbing?"

Wang Ruo looked at the old cat, and she desperately wished that the old cat could really talk.

"Is there anything to eat at home, my lady?" Zhao Jia stepped across the threshold of the study. He had been so busy yesterday that his feet barely touched the ground. He had been investigating for a long time, but the clues ran out in the south of the city. Then, because of the monsters in the west of the city, he hadn't slept a wink all night and his stomach was empty. He couldn't sleep at all without food in his stomach.

As soon as he entered, he saw the cat pointing at him.

Wang Ruozheng was holding several sheets of Xuan paper with scribbled and rewritten characters.

"Kidnap him!"

Under Wang Ruo's shocked gaze, the black cat nodded seriously.

"Thank you for your help, Brother Jia."

"how?"

"look!"

Zhao Jia took the paper.

"I guess he means that there are bandits who want to rob you on the river. Are you going to cross the river to escort the tax silver?"

Zhao Jia was slightly taken aback. There were quite a few rivers to cross on the way to Jiujiang County, after all, Jiujiang had many waterways and well-developed shipping.

However, to avoid river bandits, he planned to travel by land this time. Most of the journey could be avoided, except for the wide Xunyang River, which required a ferry. That's why he was taken aback and then said, "I have to cross the Xunyang River."

Wang Ruo said seriously, "Then that's right. The cat said that bandits will rob the tax silver you are escorting in Xunyang River."

"There is indeed a gang of river bandits on the Xunyang River, whose leader is called Langli Tuolong."

"But how do they know so much?" Zhao Jia was completely baffled. The matter of escorting tax silver was not exactly a secret, and certainly not many people knew about it. The river bandits didn't even dare to enter the county town. So how did they obtain this information, and with such accuracy?

Wang Ruo pointed to the paper: "It's in the first half."

“City, thieves, prison, theft, and reporting.”

"Brother Jia, didn't you say a habitual thief escaped from prison?"

"That's right!" Zhao Jia immediately understood. No wonder Jin Sheng had been trying to find out about him, intentionally or unintentionally. It turned out that he was planning to collude with river bandits to rob tax silver.

While Zhao Jia sat down to consider his options, Wang Ruo had already had Aunt Chen heat up the food and started eating in the study. Then she fell into a deep sleep.

……

I was startled awake at dawn.

Zhao Jia pushed open the door and walked into the courtyard.

The moon is shining.

A black cat sat on the eaves gazing at the moon, its faint light swirling around it like fireflies.

The cat turned its head and approached, its golden beastly eyes shining brightly.

Lu Xun landed lightly and walked towards the main gate. Halfway there, he turned back and waved, signaling Zhao Jia to follow.

Zhao Jia didn't know where the black cat wanted to go, but he trusted it and followed it anyway.

Both were masters of scaling walls and leaping across rooftops. Due to the terrain and waterways that divided the city, it was narrow and cramped, perfect for leaping and bounding. Following the familiar scene from their memories, they arrived at the southern end of the city and entered a secluded alley. The solid wood door of the second-to-last house was still tightly closed, appearing even more solid in the night.

The black cat stopped, pressed down on Zhao Jia's wrist, and wrote a word in Zhao Jia's palm with its paw.

"bandit!"

Zhao Jia's expression immediately changed. He squinted, his hand already touching his waist knife, and looked at the black cat, asking, "Is this the bandits' temporary hideout?"

The black cat nodded.

"It is not advisable to alert the enemy."

"let's go."

The man and the cat returned to the yamen and dragged the magistrate, who was still in bed, out of it.

As the magistrate straightened his clothes, his face was filled with anger. He picked up his teacup and took a big gulp to suppress his rage: "Officer Zhao, look at what time of night it is."

"My lord, disaster has struck!"

Magistrate Mei Lan was greatly surprised, and his anger had vanished.

"What calamity?"

"Reporting to Your Excellency, the bandits on the Xunyang River know about the tax silver being transported and have already gathered men to gather information about me. The petty thief who escaped last night was one of their scouts, and now they are plotting how to rob the tax silver on the Xunyang River. This is a catastrophic disaster!"

"Oh dear, what should we do!"

Master Lü suddenly stood up and paced back and forth.

"Thanks to the great blessing of the lord, I was able to find the thief's hideout in the city while investigating the petty thief."

"Quickly send men to raid and confiscate their property."

"I believe it is not advisable to act rashly."

"Why?"

"The bandits on the Xunyang River have set up a stronghold on the river, gathering a large number of men, and are rampant. Now that we know their plans, the county magistrate only needs to lead a troop of soldiers to surely behead their leader, Langli Tuolong. This would be a great feat!"

Master Lü thought about it and realized that it made perfect sense.

The bandits on the Xunyang River were a major headache for the prefect. If he could really solve the problem, he would have a great achievement and could be promoted to a more prosperous place. Why would he need to be the magistrate of this poor and remote place with little to gain?

"Are you sure?"

"Sixty percent."

“This…” Master Lü hesitated.

Zhao Jia added fuel to the fire: "You can only be a thief for a thousand days, how can you guard against thieves for a thousand days? The tax silver must be delivered to Jiujiang County within the stipulated time. There is no other way."

"it is good!"

"I invited them to the county government office at noon."

……

Zhao Jia returned to prison.

Lu Xun, the black cat, yawned leisurely. He couldn't stand the strange smell that was mixed together, so he simply stood guard in the ventilated spot by the door.

"The magistrate plans to invite them to the county government office at noon."

"This matter is basically half done."

Zhao Jia ate the breakfast that the yamen runners brought him while talking.

The constables were somewhat surprised.

They didn't know what was going on.

Who would have thought that the words were spoken to a cat?

Lu Xun narrowed his eyes, a cold glint flashing within them.

You must avenge any wrong done to you.

Of course, the most important thing is the tiger's head with its piercing eyes and white forehead.

The three-legged old cat was already quite formidable, but in front of that tiger, it could only be kneaded and crushed, without even the slightest ability to resist.

If it weren't for the toad's head used as a ladder, it would probably have become the tiger's meal.

Tiger Head

He's taken a liking to it!

(End of this chapter)