In the years of famine, I led a comfortable life with my husband

Xu Miao paused for a moment, then continued, "But I heard that the envoys seemed to have come prepared, and that the emperor also wanted to find a suitable princess for marriage. However, the emperor has few children, and even fewer princesses, and I..."

Xu Miao didn't finish his words, but Su Zhizhi understood Xu Miao's concerns after a little thought. It was indeed as Xu Miao said, the emperor had few offspring, and the number of princes and princesses was not large, otherwise the emperor would not have attached great importance to his offspring.

There are not many princesses in the palace, and even fewer princesses of marriageable age. Previously, there was Xu Wanqing in charge, but now Xu Wanqing is hated by the emperor for corruption and bribery, so the emperor is naturally unwilling to release Xu Wanqing.

As a result, Xu Miao was the only princess of royal age left in this huge capital city. Even if Xu Miao was unwilling, she dared not disobey the emperor's order.

Xu Miao lay on the table in frustration, muttering, "But, Zhizhi, you know what? I don't want to go through with the arranged marriage. I like Shen Wenjun, but my father..."

Seeing this, Su Zhizhi sighed deeply, reached out and rubbed Xu Miao's head, and comforted him, "Your Highness, although I can't interfere in the affairs between you and Lord Shen, I have a method that may be worth trying regarding the envoy marriage."

Xu Miao was stunned for a moment, then quickly sat up straight and looked at Su Zhizhi hopefully, "Zhizhi, do you have any ideas?"

Su Zhizhi gathered her thoughts and explained, "As far as I know, marriages aren't always decided by Your Majesty alone. Friendly dynasties still have to make the first selection. So, as long as Your Highness doesn't meet the envoy, there's a high probability that she won't be chosen. Furthermore, Your Highness is a blood relative of Your Majesty. If Your Highness truly doesn't want to, Your Majesty probably won't force it."

Xu Miao believed Su Zhizhi. Upon hearing this, he immediately asked, "Then what should I do?"

Su Zhizhi smiled mysteriously, "Of course... pretending to be sick."

"Pretend to be sick? Is that possible? The medical skills of the imperial doctors in the palace are first-class. If my father finds out that I pretended to be sick to escape the marriage, I will be finished." Xu Miao was still a little worried.

Su Zhizhi stretched out her finger and shook it. "No, no, no, Your Highness, you don't know. The feigning illness I'm talking about is not the same as the feigning illness you know."

"Look, this thing." Su Zhizhi flipped her wrist, took out a small porcelain bottle from the capsule, and handed it to Xu Miao.

"What is this?" Xu Miao was very puzzled. He held it in his hand and did not dare to move it.

"Your Highness does not need to know what this is. You only need to know that if you take this thing, it will cause rashes all over the body and high fever in a short period of time. Even if the imperial physician comes to investigate, they will definitely not find anything. However, this thing does not cause any harm to Your Highness's body. In other words, Your Highness will not feel any discomfort. Therefore, in order to avoid being discovered, Your Highness still needs to pretend to be very weak." Su Zhizhi explained.

Xu Miao became more and more curious about this thing. "When can I eat it? How long will it last?"

Su Zhizhi thought for a moment and said, "Your Highness, do you know the time when the envoy will arrive in the capital? Before the envoy arrives, take this medicine and then send an attendant to the palace to find the imperial physician. This will help Your Highness resolve this urgent problem. However, the effect of the medicine is very limited, only seven days. I hope Your Highness will take advantage of it."

After Su Zhizhi finished speaking, Xu Miao clenched the porcelain bottle in his hand tightly. "If my information is correct, the envoys should arrive tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. To be on the safe side, I'd better take it tomorrow."

Su Zhizhi nodded. "That's fine. Your Highness, please be extra careful and don't let anyone find out. Stay at home on weekdays. I'll come and keep you company."

After saying that, Su Zhizhi chatted with Xu Miao for a while before getting up and leaving.

The next day, Su Zhizhi heard someone from the princess's mansion delivering a message saying that Princess Changle had taken the medicine. Su Zhizhi's expression showed no emotion.

But Xu Miao was right. On that day, the envoy did come to Beijing, and Xu Miao managed the timing just right and happened to miss the meeting with the envoy.

With the envoys coming to Beijing, Xie Chengjin became increasingly busy and returned home later and later every day.

Although Su Zhizhi stayed in the mansion, she also knew some news about the envoy through Xie Chengjin.

The envoy this time was Sigoya from the Dayong Kingdom in the Western Regions. Xie Chengjin was more familiar with this Sigoya. After all, he was a good friend of Xie Chengjin's biological father in his early years, so Xie Chengjin naturally knew him.

When Xie Chengjin saw Sigoya for the first time, he recognized him immediately.

In order to welcome the envoys, the emperor specially asked Xie Chengjin to prepare a dinner, and Xie Chengjin was of course among them.

Sigoya came to the banquet and looked around, but unexpectedly saw a familiar figure.

After the banquet began, Sigoya went straight towards Xie Chengjin.

Xie Chengjin frowned and wanted to avoid it, but unexpectedly, when Xie Chengjin turned to leave, he was tripped by a minister beside him.

Xie Chengjin cursed madly in his heart while dealing with this minister absentmindedly. He finally got rid of this minister before Sigoya got close to him.

But even so, Xie Chengjin still couldn't avoid Sigoya.

"I'm Sigoya, your uncle..." Sigoya stood in front of Xie Chengjin and stretched out his hand to him.

Xie Chengjin looked at Si Geya expressionlessly for a long moment before reaching out and shaking her hand. "Envoy Si, my name is not important. You are the star of this banquet today. His Majesty will be seeing you soon, so you'd better make some preparations."

After saying that, Xie Chengjin turned around and didn't give Sigoya any chance to stop him.

Si Geya stood behind Xie Chengjin and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Interesting, really interesting. I didn't expect to see this familiar face here again. I just wonder what his relationship is with that person?"

Although Xie Chengjin's appearance has changed a lot compared to before, Sigoya still discovered some clues.

Xie Chengjin didn't want to confront Sigoya head-on, so he hid himself, fearing that his identity would be discovered.

Seeing that he couldn't stop Xie Chengjin, Sigoya couldn't help feeling frustrated, but after the frustration, he became even more determined to fight.

However, this time, Sigoya did not have much personal time. He came here with the mission of marriage alliance, but he stayed here for such a long time without finding a suitable candidate for marriage, which made the emperor very uneasy.