The little heroine investigates a mysterious case

In Prince Xian's mansion, while the prince and princess had gone to the palace to pay their respects, housekeeper Li and his wife were taking a break from their busy schedule and calling everyone to a meeting in the kitchen.

Butler Li was in tears.

"This is all the blessing we earned in our past lives! To be able to serve such an approachable, generous and magnanimous princess! She doesn't treat us as outsiders at all, let alone servants, but is simply family! Tell me, let alone the Xia Kingdom, even in the Yue Kingdom and the Song Kingdom, can you find such a good master?"

Everyone said in unison: "No! No! That's absolutely not possible!"

The housekeeper touched the gold bracelet on her wrist and smiled from ear to ear.

"Pure gold! Pure, pure gold! When I married the old man, he gave me a pair of silver earrings. Look how generous the princess is, giving me a gold bracelet as soon as we met, and two at once!"

Guard Ding took out an exquisite jade hairpin from his bosom and wiped away his tears.

"Finally! I can finally propose to Jiao'er with a piece of jewelry I can show off! For so many years, I've been too embarrassed to say all the things in my heart. Fortunately, the princess despises money!"

Guard A also felt sympathetic.

"My sister was supposed to get married two years ago, but my family couldn't afford a decent dowry. She was afraid she would be looked down upon by her husband's family, so she kept putting it off. Early this morning, I gave my sister the two large, whole pearls the princess gave me, and the wedding was immediately set for tomorrow!"

Others also spoke highly of the princess’ kindness and said she helped them realize their dreams!

Butler Li waved his hand and made a final summary.

"Everyone says the servants of the Zhen Palace are the richest, and the ladies need their help in their battles, giving them benefits from time to time. They also say the servants of the Cheng Palace are the most blessed, and as long as they abide by the rules of the palace, the princess will treat them equally! But what's going on now?! If you ask me, the servants of our Xian Palace are still the richest! The most blessed!"

Everyone couldn't help but laugh.

The housekeeper suggested, "When you drink water, don't forget the well-digger! We all need to have a conscience! Last night was all arranged by the princess. I discussed it with the old man, and we all did our best, contributing money and labor! Tonight we will hold a thank-you banquet for the princess. Don't let the princess look down on us. We are all people who know how to repay kindness!"

Guard A immediately agreed: "That's right, the housekeeper is right! I'll give you one ounce of silver!"

Guard Ding also said, "I have three coins here, which is a little less, but my vegetable garden has a good harvest this year, so I'm responsible for all the fruits and vegetables!"

A servant said, "My wife has a few chickens. I'll bring them over to you in the evening!"

Another servant said: "My elder brother is a butcher. I'll take the meat. Give me two more taels of silver!"

Everyone was excited and rushed to work. The kitchen was bustling with activity. They quickly assigned their tasks and were all looking forward to giving the princess a thank-you banquet that was full of respect and surprises in the evening.

By the time Gu Zhanghua finished telling Zhao Xuan about his past with his father, the carriage had already left the palace and was heading towards Prince Xian's Mansion.

After hearing this, Zhao Xuan cursed inwardly, thinking that it was all his fault. If he had not brought Xiaowu with him to join the delegation, Xiaowu would not have gotten the strange disease, and he would not have not seen his father for many years. But it was too late to say anything now.

"I understand. I will find an opportunity to help you in the future and will definitely let you meet your father as soon as possible. I mean what I say!"

The more determined Zhao Xuan was, the more worried Gu Zhanghua became.

"What can you do? Don't mess around. I'm telling you this to make you understand. My mother can't do anything about the situation between me and my father, so don't make things worse!"

"We're no strangers, you don't have to be polite to me! We have to be of one mind as husband and wife!"

"I'm not being polite..."

Zhao Xuan said readily, "That's fine!"

After Zhao Xuan finished speaking, she lifted the curtain and looked at the carriage behind her. Qing'e, the big troublemaker, was still sitting in it.

Chunlan and Qiuju were unaware of her other identity, and had no idea that her ultimate plan was to investigate an old case. Last night was a stroke of genius; she wanted to drink but ended up attracting everyone in the mansion.

So she took advantage of the situation and used this opportunity to capture all the servants in the mansion and make them express their loyalty to her.

Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, Qing'e was forced in by Concubine Shu. From now on, not to mention her identity as a fake princess, she would probably be monitored even when she went out. Zhao Xuan felt very worried when she thought of this.

Zhao Xuan lowered the curtain and sat back in her original position, thinking to herself:

We must think of a win-win solution, which is to win Qing'e over to our side while preventing Concubine Shu from noticing Qing'e's betrayal.

In fact, this cannot be called betrayal. Apart from what Zhao Xuan and Huang Huacai need to do, Qing'e can report everything Princess Tian Shiliu says and does, and she promises not to stop her.

But this brings us back to the original question: how do we deal with Qing'e? We can't drive her away, and even if we can, we can replace her with Luluo, who seems to be much more cunning than Qing'e...

Gu Zhanghua saw Zhao Xuan's eyes rolling around and asked, "What are you thinking about? Don't think about it!"

Zhao Xuan blurted out: "I'm thinking about Qing'e, this big trouble..."

"Why is Qing'e in trouble? Mother means well!"

Zhao Xuan knew she had let the cat out of the bag the moment she opened her mouth. She still mistook the wise king in front of her for the young Xiao Wu, and subconsciously was not on guard against him. But Uncle Guo had reminded her that after so many years, people would always change, not to mention that she had a deep blood feud, and every step she took was like walking on thin ice. It seemed that she would have to think before talking to Xiao Wu in the future!

Zhao Xuan smiled at Gu Zhanghua ingratiatingly.

"You're right. I was just wondering where Qing'e should live. After all, she served Mother, so we can't neglect her!"

Gu Zhanghua corrected it seriously.

"Look, I knew you were mistaken. You were just imagining things! Even if you served Mother, you were still a servant. How could you expect to be a master in our house? Just treat them the same as everyone else in the house. Talk to Butler Li about this later and have him handle it."

Zhao Xuan fully accepted Gu Zhanghua's suggestion: "That's right!"

The two were speechless for a moment. Gu Zhanghua thought for a moment and then asked directly, "Tian Shiliu, I think you still have my dagger. Can you give it back to me?"

Zhao Xuan's IQ immediately came online and she turned into Tian Shiliu in seconds.

"That won't do. Everyone knows it's me who stabbed you that day. The dagger is mine! Of course it should be with me!"

"Why not?" Gu Zhanghua said anxiously, "You and I both know the actual situation. The dagger originally belonged to me, and you must return it to me! If you like it, I'll have someone buy you a new one, guaranteed to be better than this one!"

Seeing that Gu Zhanghua was getting anxious, Zhao Xuan suddenly felt like teasing him.

"Is this dagger so important to you? Do you absolutely have to take it back? Then tell me, why is it so important?"

"Will you give it back to me if I tell you?"

Zhao Xuan smiled and said, "A gentleman does not take away what others love. I understand this principle."

Gu Zhanghua finally felt relieved: "I'm glad you understand... This dagger was given to me by one of my sisters..."

Zhao Xuan deliberately teased Gu Zhanghua, raising an eyebrow and saying, "There's only one princess in the entire Xia Kingdom, the fourth princess of the family, five years older than you. She married the eldest son of the Minister of Personnel five years ago, and now has a son and a daughter. Could it be her?"

Gu Zhanghua was a little surprised: "You know everything about my sister's family?"

Zhao Xuan said proudly, "Of course! If you want to marry into this family, you naturally have to find out more about her in advance. Just tell me, is it her?"

"No."

Zhao Xuan laughed inwardly, but said, "Who is that? If you can tell me clearly, I will return the dagger to you when we get home!"

"Is this true?"

“Once a word is spoken, it’s hard to follow it!”

As Zhao Xuan spoke, she took Gu Zhanghua's hand and high-fived him as an oath.