The little heroine investigates a mysterious case

Gu Zhanghua was in the room at this time, frowning, looking at a bowl of porridge on the desk in front of him. It was pitch black and made him feel sick just by looking at it.

The attendant urged, "Your Highness, please eat quickly, or it will get cold soon!"

Gu Zhanghua turned around and asked the secretary, "What are you stewing this time? Didn't I tell you I don't eat medicinal food? Just a regular meal will do!"

The attendant was a little embarrassed and muttered, "But this is a gift from the princess... The housekeeper dared not disobey. I also asked, and she said that what is being stewed this time is... deer penis!"

When Gu Zhanghua heard this, he almost vomited and turned his head away.

"Take it away! Take it away quickly!"

The secretary curled her lips: "How precious!"

"Then I'll give it to you!"

The secretary was delighted in her heart, but she refused: "Such a valuable thing, the princess spent a lot of money and effort to get one, just to nourish your body. If the princess knew that you didn't eat it but gave it to me as a reward, and blamed me, I..."

Gu Zhanghua picked up the bowl and stuffed it into Shishu's mouth, then pushed him out the door.

"Stop talking nonsense! Go back to your room and drink secretly. After drinking, have a good sleep. Naturally, you will have a golden house in your dreams! You will have a beautiful woman in your dreams!"

The secretary then grinned and said, "Then I would like to thank Your Highness!"

The secretary left happily. Gu Zhanghua then closed the door and sat down at his desk. He thought to himself, Tian Shiliu really had been fooled by that little medical fairy. She gave him extra meals every day and stewed all kinds of strange medicinal foods. At first, he was happy, thinking that the princess was interested in him and cared about his health. But after two days of nosebleeds, he suddenly realized! He couldn't let the princess be fooled and remain indifferent, squandering the family's wealth. He planned to have a good talk with Tian Shiliu about his health problems.

Gu Zhanghua raised his head and saw the painting hanging on the opposite wall.

The painting he painted for Tian Shiliu in Prince Zhen’s palace.

At this moment, Tian Shiliu in the painting was looking at him with a smile in her eyes. Her eyes were clear, and her black pupils were like two black gemstones, emitting a flickering and lively light in the azure lake...

Gu Zhanghua was so focused on staring at the portrait that he didn't notice the door was quietly pushed open. Zhao Xuan, wearing a nightgown and with her face covered, tiptoed to his side and raised her hand to pat his shoulder.

Gu Zhanghua suddenly smiled a little embarrassedly.

"I'm so good! The eyes are so lifelike!"

Zhao Xuan put down her hand and followed Gu Zhanghua's gaze. She couldn't help but touch her face. Just as she was about to say, "Am I really that pretty?", she touched the veil covering her face. Only then did she realize that she was now a little heroine!

Zhao Xuan coughed lightly, and Gu Zhanghua was startled. He stood up instantly and was surprised and happy to see Zhao Xuan standing beside him.

"Heroine?!"

Zhao Xuan tried to keep her voice hoarse: "How has the prince been?"

"It's, it's not so bad... Lady, you came here this time, have you found any clues about the Jiaoyang Valley incident?"

Zhao Xuan coughed again and continued to have a hoarse voice.

"You're right! Their eldest daughter listened to others' advice and agreed, but it's inconvenient for her to come to you in person, so she entrusted me to be the middleman to discuss the details of the amnesty with the prince!"

Gu Zhanghua stared at Zhao Xuan's exposed eyes, and unconsciously looked at the portrait again. For a moment, his mind was in turmoil, and he said "Oh" perfunctorily.

Zhao Xuan was a little anxious: "Could it be that the prince has changed his mind? He is not willing to adopt the policy of recruiting them, but is in favor of annihilation?!"

Gu Zhanghua finally came to his senses: "No, no, no, I've always wanted to recruit you! Lady, please take a seat!"

Zhao Xuan sat on the chair, Gu Zhanghua sat down opposite Zhao Xuan and looked at her sincerely.

"Lady, it's hot and humid, and we're old acquaintances. Can you take off your veil? There's no one else here anyway. Besides, since we're discussing recruiting, we'll be honest sooner or later. Why don't you show your true face today to demonstrate your sincerity?"

It was already summer, but Zhao Xuan was wearing a tight-fitting outfit, which was still her winter clothes. It was wrapped tightly around her body. She could feel the sweat sticking to her skin, and her face was also sweating. The mask was a little damp, and she had trouble breathing through her mouth and nose!

But at this critical moment, she didn't dare to take off the mask. She could only breathe slowly with the help of her internal energy, and did not respond to Gu Zhanghua's words, but followed her own thoughts.

"Since Your Highness has long intended to recruit us, I'm sure you've already thought through the details. Why don't you share them with us?"

Gu Zhanghua answered readily: "The principle can be summed up in eight words: treat the innocent kindly and sentence according to the law."

Zhao Xuan asked, "So, Your Highness still believes that there are evildoers in Jiaoyang Valley?"

"Of course! Let's not talk about the caravan robbery, let's just talk about Huang Huacai, the head of Jiaoyang Valley. He was an unforgivable crime when he became the Evil Slayer. This is intolerable!"

Zhao Xuan snorted coldly: "The prince is truly righteous!"

"I know you don't agree with what I said, but I have my own inferences."

Zhao Xuan became even more anxious. "I explained to you all the way back then that Jiaoyangyu was framed! Huang Huacai used the Evil Slaying Blade for other reasons! Why don't you believe me?!"

Gu Zhanghua raised his head and glanced at Zhao Xuan.

"I will believe you if you take off your veil..."

Zhao Xuan opened her mouth: "You!"

Gu Zhanghua was completely uncompromising: "If you can't treat others with sincerity, I can't repay you with sincerity! Please, lady!"

After Gu Zhanghua finished speaking, he opened the door directly and made a "please" gesture to the outside, as if he would not tolerate any objection.

Seeing that Gu Zhanghua had changed his attitude so quickly, Zhao Xuan thought that there would be nothing to talk about tonight, so she had to walk out the door. However, she still looked back at Gu Zhanghua unwillingly, and seeing that Gu Zhanghua still had an expression that said, "I have nothing to say unless you take off your veil," she had to give up.

Zhao Xuan habitually headed for her room, but halfway there she realized something was wrong. She was now a female knight! Not Princess Tian Shiliu! How could she possibly go back to her new home?!

Zhao Xuan quickly turned around and used her lightness skills to fly to the roof, and then she heard someone shouting in the yard.

"who!"

"who is it!"

"Who is it? How dare you act so presumptuously on the rooftop of Prince Xian's mansion?!"

Zhao Xuan was overwhelmed and had to quickly escape into the distance.

Gu Zhanghua, standing at the door, looked at Zhao Xuan walking away with a stern expression.

If there had not been that gathering at his third brother's house, if he had not painted the portrait of the princess, if he had not had only the time of a stick of incense, he could only use the facial features to vividly demonstrate his painting skills; if the heroine had not appeared in front of him again with a mask on tonight, he would not have dared to conclude that the heroine and Princess Tian Shiliu were the same person!

But now he can be very sure that the more the heroine wears a mask, the more it can highlight her smart, expressive and bright eyes!

When the heroine rescued him from Jiaoyang Valley and they parted at the foot of the mountain, it was these eyes that he saw; that night the heroine took the token and asked him to marry Tian Shiliu, it was still these eyes that he saw; tonight, comparing it with the portrait, he still saw the same pair of eyes!

As the saying goes, eyes are the windows to the soul, and it’s absolutely true!

Gu Zhanghua suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. If the heroine was the Yue Kingdom’s princess Tian Shiliu, how could she suddenly appear in Jiaoyang Valley in the Xia Kingdom?

So, the most likely scenario is that the female knight impersonated Tian Shiliu and married into the Xianwang Palace. Then, where did Tian Shiliu go? Was she killed by the female knight? Or was she hidden away? What was her motive for doing this? Was it to get closer to me? To keep an eye on me? Was it because I, against all odds, advocated for the pacification of Jiaoyang Valley?

Thinking of this, Gu Zhanghua was no longer panicked. He decided to wait and see how the situation would develop. He wanted to see when the heroine would reveal her true identity!

Let’s talk about Zhao Xuan who flew out of the mansion. The guards of the palace were chasing her closely. Zhao Xuan flew away quickly in front. Fortunately, she was very good at lightness skills and gradually got rid of the guards. However, she was almost dizzy. She wandered outside for a long time before she found the gate of Prince Xian’s mansion. Zhao Xuan did not dare to be careless now. She made a noise in the east and attacked in the west before returning to the bedroom quietly.

Qiu Ju, who had been waiting anxiously, hurried forward and asked, "Princess, how did the discussion go?"

Zhao Xuan took off her face scarf and gasped for air: "Wait for me to change clothes first, I'm almost suffocating!"

After everything was tidied up, Zhao Xuan sat down steadily, holding her chin in her hand and thinking.

"This is strange. Today, the prince insisted that I remove my veil to show my sincerity, otherwise he wouldn't discuss the details of the amnesty with me. Do you think he saw something?"

Qiuju speculated, "What can he see? Can he see that you are the head of Jiaoyang Valley?"

Zhao Xuan shook her head. "I'm completely covered up, and I've also masked my face. If he calls me a heroine, there's no way he can get in touch with the head of Jiaoyang Valley."

Qiu Ju suddenly thought of something and rubbed her hands vigorously, her face looking nervous. "I knew this was getting more and more troublesome, didn't I? You're always hanging around in front of the prince as the princess. Even if you're masked, the prince is not blind. He should be able to see something, right? For example, similar figure? About the same height?"

Zhao Xuan was horrified: "You mean... he figured out that I'm Tian Shiliu?!"

Qiuju nodded: "That's possible..."

Zhao Xuan slammed the table and said, "What the hell are we even talking about! Just the fact that she's impersonating the princess is enough to get her into trouble!"

Qiu Ju said, "It's just a possibility. Besides, it wasn't us who killed Tian Shiliu..."

Zhao Xuan gritted her teeth and said, "But think about it, how much time would it take to explain the whole story to him? And he might not even believe it!"

Qiu Ju was at her wit's end and asked hurriedly, "What should we do then?"

Zhao Xuan angrily said, "I'm going to pretend to be sick for the next two days and try not to show my face in front of him. I'll talk to him again in a couple of days! If he dares to mention this damn face towel to me again, I'll kill him!"

Qiu Ju looked bewildered: "Ah? Did it?"

Zhao Xuan snorted coldly: "By then, you will all be my people. How dare you disobey me?!"

Qiu Ju looked embarrassed and whispered tentatively, "You... you know what to do to make the prince yours?"

Zhao Xuan thought about it, seeming to know and not know, but her face suddenly turned red. She blew out the candle, jumped onto the bed and got into the quilt.

Then two words sprang out from under the quilt: "Sleep! Sleep!"