in reply to s// with e option : evaluate, quote, evaluate

Hint: how would you concatenate the return from two sub calls in a normal not-inside-an-s/// expression?

(Unrelated, but prefixing your calls with & isn't necessary and may subtly change how the call behaves (see perlsub for the gory details).)

The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.