The little heroine investigates a mysterious case

Chunlan and Qiuju had just entered the palace less than a day ago and hadn't even figured out which way the gate faced. When Zhao Xuan assigned them such a seemingly simple task, they were dumbfounded as soon as they stepped out of the door!

It was the middle of the night, the wedding banquet had long since ended, and everything was quiet. There were not many servants in the mansion to begin with, and the two men wanted to find someone to ask for directions, but they didn't know where to find them, let alone ask about the princess's dowry, the ten jars of wine.

Chunlan, who was always nosy, was worried. Fortunately, Qiuju was more thoughtful and thought of the kitchen first. But the mansion was so big, where was the kitchen?

The two men carried a lantern and wandered around the mansion. After getting lost several times, they finally found the kitchen. They rummaged through the drawers and cabinets and finally found a room with a locked door.

Chunlan stared at the lock and said bluntly, "We've been out for a while, the princess must be getting impatient, just smash it!"

Qiu Ju hesitated, "That's not good... We don't have to leave it in there. Besides, even if we don't bring the wine back, the princess won't be angry, right?"

Chunlan walked around with a lantern in her hand and finally found a sharp bone-cutting knife on the chopping board. She handed the lantern to Qiuju and chopped at the door lock with the bone-cutting knife.

"Help me follow this... You can't think of the princess as a princess anymore. Think of her as our boss! Do you still think she won't be angry? Besides, this Changxiangju originally belonged to us. What's wrong with us coming here to take our own things?"

Qiuju shut her mouth and held up the lantern to help Chunlan light the way. Surprisingly, after just a few cuts, the padlock fell to the ground. Chunlan threw the bone-cutting knife and chain aside, pushed open the door, and walked in with Qiuju.

After a while, the two men came out happily, each holding a jar of Chang Xiangju in their arms, thinking that two large jars of wine would be enough to satisfy the princess's craving. However, as soon as they walked out of the warehouse door, they were caught red-handed by two guards with swords.

Guard A shouted, "Who are you two? Why are you stealing from the warehouse in the middle of the night?! What are you holding in your arms?!"

Guard B carefully examined the padlock and chain on the ground, picked up the bone-cutting knife, and turned to Guard A.

"It's absolutely certain! We've caught the thief and the stolen goods! We've caught him and the evidence! Look, the chain was cut! It was cut with this very knife!"

Qiu Ju hurriedly explained, "We're not thieves! We're the princess's maids! We've always been by her side! Today, our princess married your virtuous prince, so you must have seen us!"

Chunlan also walked up to the two guards holding a jar of wine.

"Yes, yes, yes, look, it's a jar of wine, for the princess to satisfy her craving. Our princess, also known as the virtuous princess, has a craving for alcohol!"

Qiu Ju said, "Who dares to disobey the princess's orders? As maids, we have no choice but to put the princess first. That's why we had to break the chain. We really didn't steal the wine!"

The two guards were half-believing and half-doubting when they heard a loud shout: "Who is it?!"

The four looked in the direction of the sound and saw two more guards rushing over with lanterns.

Guard C asked, "We're here to take over. What are you doing? Have you caught the thief?"

Guard A quickly said, "He's currently being interrogated! You've arrived just in time, let's join the interrogation!"

Chunlan raged, "What's there to interrogate? We've already said she's the princess's maid, but you won't believe us!"

Guard Ding shouted at the top of his lungs.

"You say it is?! Then I say I am His Royal Highness the Wise King, will you believe me? We need evidence! Evidence! Words are not enough! Why should we believe you?!"

When Chunlan heard this, she immediately put the wine jar on the ground and stepped forward to grab the guard Ding's arm.

"Just having a loud voice is such a big deal! Don't you believe it? Don't you want evidence? Let's go! Let's go to the princess and discuss the matter!! The princess can testify for us, right?"

Guard Ding sneered, "Don't pull me! Just leave! Who's afraid of who?! Even if it's the Jade Emperor, he still has to be reasonable!"

Guard B looked Chunlan up and down calmly.

"Even if you were the princess's maid, that doesn't prove she ordered you two to fetch wine because she wanted it. What if you were greedy and stole the wine? How do you explain the broken chain?"

Chunlan shook off Guard Ding's arm, threw away the wine jar, and glared at Guard B fiercely.

Anyway, nothing she said would work now, so let's get down to business! Go straight to the princess!

Thinking of this, Chunlan strode towards the bridal chamber. Guard Ding immediately followed her, but suddenly stopped and turned to look at the other three guards and Qiuju who were standing there in a daze.

"What are you standing there for? Come on, hurry up! Take this girl with you!! And don't forget the evidence, the knife, the lock and chain, and the wine jar!"

Qiu Ju stamped her feet vigorously: "What kind of thing is this?"

As the group passed through a moon gate, they saw an old man putting on his coat, followed by four men who were obviously dressed as servants in the mansion. They were walking in the opposite direction of Chunlan and the others.

Guard Ding hurriedly called out, "Butler Li! You've arrived just in time. We..."

Steward Li interrupted Guard Ding with a scolding.

"What a disgrace to be making such a commotion! It's the middle of the night! If you startle the prince and princess, I'll ask how many heads you have!"

Everyone fell silent immediately.

Butler Li looked at everyone and pointed at Guard B: "Tell me, what exactly is going on?"

Guard B was stating the facts to Butler Li. Butler Li's wife, the only woman in Prince Xian's mansion, was in charge of warehouse management and daily purchases. She was worried that her husband would follow her, but she was so busy that day that no one had time to take a closer look at what the maidservant beside the princess looked like.

The housekeeper couldn't tell for a moment whether Chunlan and Qiuju were the princess's maids.

The noisy movement towards the bridal chamber soon alarmed the attendant who was guarding Gu Zhanghua.

Now, except for the main owner Gu Zhanghua, everyone else in the Xianwang Mansion gathered at the door of the new house, waiting for the princess to come out and speak a fair word.

After Chunlan and Qiuju left, Zhao Xuan took off all the unnecessary clothes and jewelry, washed off her exquisite makeup, and revealed her bare face.

She was only wearing ordinary plain clothes and skirts, and combing her hair was a delicate job, and she didn't know how to do complicated styles, so she simply braided her hair into a long braid and casually placed it on her chest.

The taste of the pot of wedding wine was so bland that Zhao Xuan had already drunk it all.

At this moment, she was holding an empty pot in her hand, waiting for her favorite Changxiangju. Moreover, ever since she heard Uncle Guo talk about the origin of Changxiangju and the fate of the four drunkards Zhao, Huang, Guo and Wang, whenever she thought of her master, she wanted to have a sip, as if her master was right in front of her, drinking with her.

And tonight, no matter whether it was true or not, she got married anyway, and she missed her master even more.

Thinking of the jokes her master often played on Concubine Shu when she was a child, that he would let Xiaowu marry her when she grew up, every time Concubine Shu was scared to death, and her master would burst into laughter.

Those scenes are still vivid in her mind. Her master is really good at making jokes! These are the most beautiful and warmest memories in her heart.

Until today, Xiaowu has not realized that she is Zhao Xuan, but what the master said as a joke has now come true. The master should be very happy, right?

If Master were here now, he would definitely hold her and spin her around like he did when they were little, kiss her face, and say some cheesy, sweet words...

Thinking of this, Zhao Xuan bit her lips and tried to hold back her tears, but the tears still flowed like a spring onto her clothes.

Just then, she heard a commotion outside the door. She hurriedly wiped away her tears with her sleeve, walked quickly to the door, opened it, and then she was dumbfounded.

There were about ten people gathered at the door. Chunlan and Qiuju were holding jars of wine, their faces tense and they stood at the front with a sullen look on their faces.

Zhao Xuan was about to ask a question when she saw a middle-aged woman pointing at her and screaming, "Oh my! Who is this village girl? It's haunted! The princess is missing!!"

Chunlan glared at the housekeeper with dissatisfaction.

"Housekeeper! Please don't startle me in the middle of the night, okay? The princess is standing right in front of you, are you blind?!"

The others also looked at Zhao Xuan's outfit, almost dropped their jaws in shock, and started talking about it.

Butler Li said to the housekeeper, "How could the princess be dressed similarly to our daughter?"

Guard A said, "She's dressed like my sister. That's how my sister likes to dress!"

Guard Ding was very disdainful: "The maid Jiao'er in the palace who I have a crush on is dressed better than her! How can this person be the princess?!"

Finally, the secretary walked up to Zhao Xuan, looked her over carefully, and then turned to the crowd and said firmly:

"It's absolutely genuine! It's definitely the princess! I just saw her, but it was a peasant version!"

When the secretary said this, she suddenly realized something and hurriedly bowed deeply to Zhao Xuan: "Princess, I am honored to meet you!"

Everyone started chattering again, but this time there was no more doubt but more curiosity.

Zhao Xuan stood in front of everyone, acting like a princess, and looked at them seriously.

"Are you all finished talking? Now it's my turn, right?"

Everyone quickly stopped talking and waited respectfully for the princess to lecture them.

Zhao Xuan looked at Qiuju and said, "Qiuju, tell me, why did you come to my place so late at night? What happened?"

Qiuju was holding a jar of wine, feeling a little aggrieved.

"Princess, I just followed your orders to steal... oh no, to get the wine for the dowry. I didn't expect to run into the night watchman, and he framed me and Chunlan for stealing the wine, which alerted all of us in the palace! You must come in person to prove that Chunlan and I were not lying!"

Zhao Xuan glanced at Qiuju unhappily, then looked at Chunlan.

Chunlan hurriedly explained: "It's really not that this servant deliberately provoked them and disturbed the princess's peace..."

Zhao Xuan waved her hand at Chunlan. "You don't have to explain. I understand. You didn't disturb my peace. I just want to ask you, with such a large group of people, are you only bringing two jars of wine enough?"