cao xiong was briefly mentioned in the 14th-century historical novel "romance of the three kingdoms". in 220, when cao cao died, cao xiong refused to go to luoyang to attend his father's funeral. acting on hua xin's suggestion, cao pi sent a messenger to reprimand his brother, but the messenger returned later and reported that cao xiong had hanged himself for fear of receiving punishment. cao pi had his brother buried with full honours and gave him the posthumous title "prince huai of xiao".