General Hu could only helplessly nod. "We are currently in the same boat. I also want to find the princess justice and at the same time, protect my own life too..." Knowing those dirty secrets, if the Han Emperor found out, there was only one ending for him -- death. He had no choice but to be on the same boat as Xiao Fang. He sighed and somehow he felt guilty for his prejudice toward the princess.

"Thank you, General Hu," Xiao Fang bowed once again.

General Hu quickly tried to help her up and say, "No need... no need..." He didn't dare to receive Xiao Fang's bow, after all, she was still the daughter of the Left Prime Minister. Not only that, he didn't have the heart to see her hurting herself. The blood started to flow down and he was afraid that it would leave a scar --- a taboo thing for women, especially for the unmarried ones.

However, before he could touch Xiao Fang, someone beat him to it first. Lin Jian quickly interrupted General Hu's hand and he helped her up easily. Xiao Fang was surprised by the sudden pull and she fell into Lin Jian's embrace. She didn't have time to be embarra.s.sed because Lin Jian quickly fussed over her and asked Yao Ling for an ointment for her wound. Not only that, he also demanded that the ointment had to be good enough so it wouldn't leave a scar.

Xiao Fang was touched by his worry.

Yao Ling was speechless because Lin Jiab behaved like a mother hen, but she complied and gave him the ointment. Xiao Fang felt awkward when Lin Jian softly cleaned her wound and her face became red in shyness. He didn't even let Han Yi to attend her young miss. General Hu saw this and he even felt embarra.s.sed to see their intimacy. He noticed that there was something blossoming between the two people but tactfully enough not to say anything.

Yao Ying paid them no mind and instead, talking in a low voice with Yao Ling at the corner of the room. He asked softly, "Please be honest! Do you want to help her?" They could help Xiao Fang even though it was quite a hard task, but not impossible. It was all depended on Yao Ling. He would do whatever she wanted to do. He sighed inwardly... he had planned a romantic confession for her, but it was delayed because of Han Xiang's matter. Even though Yao Ying knew that he needed to act fast, it seemed inappropriate because of Han Xiang's death. He could only cancel his plan and do it another time.

Yao Ling looked hesitant but she finally nodded her head. "I do... but what about w.a.n.g Fu's matter?"

"I will ask for Father's permission and I will handle everything else," Yao Ying answered.

"But... I want to handle the main culprit that wants to kill us ah~" Yao Ling said sadly. If it took for a long time for them to drag that matter, she was afraid that the woman would be able to calm her nerves and did something more brazen.

Yao Ying smiled. "If you worry about that matter, then don't! I will handle it for you too... Let Feng take care of this matter! I will make that woman feels like she's living in h.e.l.l due to her own fear," Yao Ying said in a sly voice.

Yao Ling laughed. "I only worry about that matter. Anything else, we can handle it after we come back. Oh... when you send a message to Feng, please also tell him to pa.s.s a message to Xiao Er... I need her to take care of Liu Li just like usual. Pay attention to her and don't let her go astray! That Liu Li isn't so easy to handle."

Yao Ying murmured his agreement. The matters back at home weren't really urgent, as long as they were handled correctly by their subordinates. However, the couple trusted that they could manage everything back at w.a.n.g Fu. Besides, this way, they would be able to see their subordinates' skills and cleverness.

The couple looked at Lin Jian and Xiao Fang. Judging from their closeness, they believed that Lin Jian would certainly try to help Han Xiang --- with or without their help. In their heart, all of them actually already made a decision to help Xiao Fang from the start.

After everything had calmed down, Xiao Fang was happy when the trio had given their promise to help her. First of all, they needed to deal with Han Xiang's matter. After that, they would start to oppose the Han Emperor by using some sly methods. In this case, they would need A Thousand Words' help. They felt lucky that they had made friends with Hei Yue beforehand, even though it was by accident. This would certainly make their plan easier to execute.

They didn't tell others that Han Xiang was already dead and General Hu pretended that he was falling ill again after he went out that day. No one should know about Han Xiang's corpse that day and they would start their plan the next day.

The morning next day, the day was started with a loud scream from Han Er. The inn was quite busy in the morning. The servants and maids had started the day and they were doing their jobs, on the other hand, there were a few guests that were already woken up. They were surprised by the loud scream and in the end, they quickly tried to find the source and there were a lot of people already gathering in front of Han Xiang's room.

Han Er deliberately said in a loud voice, "The... the princess..."

Those people heard clearly Han Er's words... The princess? They looked at each other in surprised and murmured to each other, "Princess? Did she just say Princess?"

Some of the clever ones quickly guessed who the princess was and said, "There is only one princess that should be pa.s.sing by Lin Zhou around this time... It must be... Princess Han Xiang from the Han Kingdom?"

"But... isn't there supposed to be a grand wedding entourage for her? No wedding entourage has pa.s.sed by for the past few days..." Some people were still oblivious to the fact that Han Xiang's wedding entourage had been attacked back then. The news hadn't been spread widely, it seemed.

"I heard that the wedding entourage had been robbed by bandits and it even made the Han Emperor angry. It seems like the princess goes here in disguise so no one will notice her presence. After all, it's quite embarra.s.sing for that to happen to a royal family's entourage..."

"Hmm? Something like that happened?"

The crowd kept talking because they couldn't see what's inside the room.

One of them quickly asked Han Er out of curiosity, "Young Lady, what happened?" The others followed along and asked Han Er at the same time. It made quite a commotion and attracted more crowds.

"That... That is... the princess..." Han Er pointed inside the room while trembling in fear.

"What ah?"

"Yes, the princess' what?"

"What happened?"

"Tell us?"

"We are so curious..."

The onlookers didn't stop to ask with voices full of excitement, after all, not many of them had seen a real princess before. They really wanted to know what happened to the princess.

However, they were flabbergasted after listening to what the young lady said. "The... the princess is dead."

The inn became silent at once. They tried to digest the news that they had just heard. The princess... was dead? How come? After a brief moment of silence, the crowds suddenly burst into a loud commotion once more.

"Dead?"

"The princess is dead?"

"Was she killed by a.s.sa.s.sins?"

"Was it because of the scholars' instigation a few days ago?"

"This is such a shocking news ah~"

They were in disbelief and some of them started to feel scared when realization came to them... This could lead to a war ah~!