The little heroine investigates a mysterious case

Hao Xiong looked at the five people and felt uneasy, fearing that they were worried that the fake princess was unreliable.

"Don't worry! Put your heart at ease! This fake princess was chosen after careful selection! And she's completely willing to do it! Not only is she as beautiful as a flower and intelligent as ice and snow, she's also a master of poetry, song, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting! She's a true celestial being! My Lords, do you think she's up to the task?!"

At this time, Zhao Xuan was hiding in a big tree behind Hao Xiong. At first, she was happy to hear Hao Xiong and the other members of the delegation's analysis. But when she heard Hao Xiong praising herself as a flower in the sky and on the earth, she felt as uncomfortable as if she had suffered an internal injury.

In the more than ten years since she and Huang Shuo had secluded themselves in Heyan Village, Huang Shuo had taught her everything he had learned, but only in martial arts. At the age of five, his master had sent her to the imperial academy, but he only studied for a year. He had no problem recognizing words, but when it came to poetry, songs, qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting, he wasn't proficient in anything at all! If the Yue delegation believed her and continued to brag to the Xia Kingdom, they wouldn't be able to last a single day, let alone a year or two!

Thinking of this, Zhao Xuan wanted to jump down from the tree immediately and beat up Hao Xiong. Wouldn't this just be shooting herself in the foot?!

At this moment, Zhao Xuan saw the man in the lead waving his hands vigorously at Hao Xiong, saying repeatedly: "No! No no! No no no!"

Zhao Xuan quickly hid on a tree branch and listened carefully.

When Hao Xiong heard the man's repeated rejection, his heart sank.

"Gentlemen, do you think my idea is too absurd?!"

The five of them immediately waved their hands vigorously at Hao Xiong, saying in unison: "No! No no! No no no!"

Hao Xiong smiled bitterly: "That's right, how can it be so easy to pretend to be a princess?"

Zheng Shi was staring at Hao Xiong with hungry wolf-like eyes. The other people didn't care about anything else at this time. They all lifted up their cloaks, revealing their faces. They also had green eyes and stared at Hao Xiong.

Hao Xiong subconsciously stood up and stepped back repeatedly.

"What are you doing? Even if the deal doesn't work out, there's still righteousness! Let's make a deal, no murder to silence anyone!!!"

The envoy suddenly rushed towards Hao Xiong, grabbed one of Hao Xiong's hands with both hands, held it tightly, and shook it up and down, with tears of excitement flashing in his eyes.

"No, no, no, no need! You don't have to go to all this trouble, benefactor, benefactor! Your idea is simply brilliant. We don't need some angelic figure, just a woman around twenty years old who is completely willing and fully cooperative. Beauty, talent, or intelligence are all unnecessary!"

The other four people also rushed to Hao Xiong, grabbed Hao Xiong's other hand, and shook it up and down vigorously, all of them with tears in their eyes.

Hao Xiong looked at the five excited people in front of him in disbelief, his mouth opened into a big O shape in shock.

"Is it such a simple request?!"

The envoy wiped his tears and sighed, "We're so excited! To be honest, little brother, if we could have found such a woman earlier, we would have done it a long time ago! I discussed it with them a few days ago, and they all thought that finding someone to pretend to be the princess would be the most reliable, but such a person is hard to find! The most important thing is that they are willing! We are in Qi Mansion, or even the entire border town. We can't just pick up a woman on the street to cooperate with us, right?"

The other four nodded frequently and echoed, "That's right!"

Only then did Hao Xiong breathe a sigh of relief.

"I see! Our thoughts are so similar, we're practically on the same page! Aren't you all worried that the fake princess might be exposed at any moment? I'm afraid she won't be able to keep up the pretense before we even reach Liyang?"

The five people looked at each other tacitly and laughed. This made Hao Xiong confused. These smiles looked creepy. What did they mean?

The envoy pulled Hao Xiong to a large rock and asked him to sit down. The others also sat down. The envoy then said to Hao Xiong:

"Little brother, listen carefully. You don't know this, but this princess is called Tian Shiliu. But she originally had no name! She was called Sixteen according to her birth order. It wasn't until she was chosen to marry into the Xia Kingdom that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince bestowed upon her a name. The homophone for Sixteen, pomegranate, means good fortune and many children. That's why she's called Tian Shiliu!!"

A deputy envoy continued, "This princess's mother was of low status and died after giving birth to her. It is said that she was sent to the palace as soon as she was born. No one cared about her and no one asked about her. I guess even the emperor himself didn't know he had such a daughter. If the other princesses hadn't been reluctant to come, and someone had mentioned her to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, she might have suffered in the palace for the rest of her life! No one would even know she died! So she doesn't need any talents, she doesn't have any! She's just good-looking!"

Hao Xiong covered his mouth in surprise: "So miserable?!"

Another deputy envoy continued, "That's right! This princess has a miserable life. She thought marrying your Xia Kingdom's prince would give her a good home, but her health wasn't good enough. She fell ill right after reaching the border town. We had no choice but to stop and stay at the Qi Mansion until she recovered before continuing our journey. Who would have thought that you would kidnap her in the middle of the night!"

The envoy continued, "We are all panicking when she falls ill. If she dies on the way, none of us will be able to clear ourselves of the charge of failing to escort her properly. Our emperor is getting old and confused, and if he charges us with murdering the princess, we will be in big trouble! So we have all been thinking of a solution these days. If all else fails, we will simply not return to Chuyang. The emperor is far away, how can we be afraid of not having a way out?"

Hao Xiong was kind enough to think for the delegation: "You can blame me for losing the princess. That's how it was!"

It made me sigh.

"Little brother, you're overthinking it. The court of our Yue Kingdom is very complicated. There are so many princes, and they're scheming and deceiving each other every day. Even the crown prince is walking on thin ice every day. What if we lose the princess and someone with ulterior motives uses her as a pawn to deal with any prince or crown prince? Just think about it! We'll all be killed without a burial place!!"

Upon hearing this, Hao Xiong couldn't help but sigh, "Your Kingdom of Yue is truly a den of tigers and wolves! How terrifying!"

The envoy stood up, walked to Hao Xiong and patted him on the shoulder.

"Thank you, little brother! Thank you! Thank you very much!"

Several other people also walked up to Hao Xiong, patted him on the shoulder, and expressed their sincere gratitude.

After hearing the facts told by these people, Hao Xiong felt really uncomfortable. He shed tears for Tian Shiliu's life experience and was deeply moved by the difficult situation of the Yue delegation.

"Don't thank me, it's fate! But there's one more thing I need your help with."

The envoy said, "Little brother, just tell us what you want. As long as we can successfully complete the mission of escorting the bride, we will do anything! Even if it means climbing a mountain of swords, diving into a sea of ​​fire, or even stabbing you in the back..."

Hao Xiong hurriedly stopped the envoy: "It's not that serious! It's not a dangerous matter! It's just that many people in the Qi Mansion should have seen this real princess, such as her doctors, those who serve her medicine and food, and..."

A deputy envoy immediately patted his chest and made a promise.

"I understand! You don't have to worry about any of this, little brother. We'll take care of it all! Little brother, we're all grateful people, and we'll definitely give you a satisfactory result! All we have to do is set a specific time and place, and you just need to get the fake princess onto the carriage!"

The envoy glared at the deputy envoy with dissatisfaction.

"What fake princess? That's how you spin this story! Tonight, out of sheer desperation, we're willing to take enormous risks, braving death headfirst, and personally go to Yanwangzhai to demand the princess. We'll engage in a heated debate with the robbers! We'll analyze the stakes with reason and logic! The robbers, moved by our sincerity and even more intimidated by our commanding presence and prestige, are instantly intimidated and agree to return the princess! Remember that?"

The other four people immediately straightened their backs and hurried to flatter the envoy.

"That's right! Your Excellency is absolutely right!"

"Yes, that's what I said!"

"Your Excellency is truly thoughtful and considerate. I admire you deeply!"

“No problem!!”

The chief envoy looked at the four deputy envoys with complacency.

"Also! Because the princess was seriously ill, the robbers couldn't do anything bad even if they had robbed her! Instead, they treated her first. Surprisingly, she's almost recovered now, and they agreed on a time and place to return her to us in perfect condition!"

Hao Xiong stood aside, watching these five people acting out their own performance with great enthusiasm. He couldn't help but secretly criticize these people for being so shameless, but on the surface he nodded frequently.

Finally, the two sides agreed to hand over the princess at Yuelai Inn, the largest inn in the border town, around noon tomorrow.