294. V4C294: Leading Character and Supporting Character (III) Translator: Ning LL

Minglan, startled by those words, regretted her own negligencejust now. It mustbebecause her married life had been too easy that she had already forgottenhow cautious she had been in the Sheng's family. It seemed that she needed to train herself after she went back home. Her past experiences told her that it would be better for her to act naturally instead of remaining calm.

I, I, I, how dare I laugh at our Empress Dowager? Minglan even started to stammer with a scared look on her face.

As expected, that gesture worked very well. Empress Dowager De and Princess Consort Yu both looked at Minglan smilingly, seeming to be very pleased.

Afterthe subject had been changed, Little Shen shi let out a sigh of relief. Seeing that, the Empress said hurriedly, Princess Consort Yu, please don't say that. Madam Gu is a sensible woman and would never act rudely. Don't be so intimidating, she's not like my tough sister. Behave yourself, don't scare her!

The Empress reproached thatina half-jokingtone. Except for the two Empress Dowagers,shedaredto scoldany woman inthe world.

With an awkward look on Princess Consort Yu's face, she stopped saying anything. As Empress Dowager De opened her mouth and wanted to say something, Madam Zhang turned around smilingly and said to Minglan, What were you laughing at just now?

Since there was a way out, Minglan then said right away,

Our Empress Dowager said that this is ahappyevent, how can I make a joke about this? It's just Minglan covered her mouth with her sleeve and chuckled bashfully, I felt that the god who unites persons in marriage should be quite busy now, there are lots of young men and women waiting to get married. I will have toactas a matchmaker several times lately.

What do you mean? Empress Dowager De seemed to be quite intrigued.

Minglan answered respectfully, Your Highness, a few days ago, Master Gu said thatour country needs to station troops in the northern border and that it would be better if the soldiers could bring their families there in order toraisethe morale of the troops. Therefore, he hoped that the soldiers who haven't got married could allhavewives. Then he asked metomatchthe unmarried maids in our mansion with the soldiers who would go to the northern border, unluckily

She tried to make herself soundquite hesitant and weak.

Little Shen shi who was like the anton the hot pan suddenlywidenedher eyes and said loudly, I've heard of that too. Most of the soldiers who have been assembled this time would go to the northern border.Thatplace is full of chaos caused by war. Almost all the houses there are empty, there is no way the soldiers would find wives there.Mostof the parents would already be very unwilling to let their daughters leave their hometown and go far away, not to mention letting those girls marrythe soldiers who would bring them to the northern border.

That was true and Little Shen shi wasn't lying now. However,the situation wasn't that serious now.

That's right. Minglan said with a worried look, I can't force the girls from others' families to marry the soldiers, so I could only ask the maids of my own family. Even so, I still couldn't solve the problem. That really gives me a headache lately.

The Empress couldn't help but ask, Are those girls willing to marrythe soldiers?

She had lived in the remote andpoorarea before, so she knew that not so many people would be willing toleavetheprosperous capital.

Minglan spoke haltingly,seemingto be super bashful, Your Highness, I have added some silvers into the dowry of the girls who are willing to go to the northern area, then some of them finally agreed. However, those were all the maids inthelowclass.

Madam Zhang looked at Minglan and said with a smile, Girl,it's really difficult for you. Then she turned to her daughter, No wonderyou asked me if there are any maids who will stop serving in our mansion soon. I didn't know you were thinking of this.

The Empress kept nodding while Zhang shi only chuckled without saying anything.

Hearing their chitchat, Empress Dowager De frowned slightlyand didnot knowhow to change the subject. In the meantime, Little Shen shi already stepped forward excitedly. Perhaps the excessive stress had stimulated her potential.Little Shen shisuddenly thought ofsomething,turned to the Empress and Empress Dowager De and said loudly, I'msure your Highness understands, why don't we let those girls who are over the marriageable age marrythe soldiers?

Nonsense!

Rubbish!

Empress Dowager De and Princess Consort Yu rebuked at the same time. Little Shen shilookedmutinousand wanted to say something,andthe Empress who was afraid that Little Shen shi would bring trouble to herself said in a hurry, Don't talk nonsense! Those maids have served our Empress Dowager, how dare youinterferein the arrangement of their marriage?

With tears in Little Shen shi's eyes, she wanted to say something again. Suddenly, an old voice suddenly sounded behind her back, What do you mean by nonsense! I think that's a great idea!

Everyone looked back,andthen they saw two old noble ladies, one of whomwas Empress Dowager An.Shewalkedinsidethe Palace whileholding hands, followed by two long groups of maids.

Aunt, mother-in-law! The joyful tone in the Empress's voicecouldhardlybehidden.

Then, all the women in the Palace except for Empress Dowager De all stood up to give obeisance to the Great Grand Princess and Empress Dowager An.

Since you got great tea, why didn't you invite us and only drank it by yourself? Tell me, why is that?! Great Grand Princess, having sat down,lookedaskanceat her surroundings and chuckled vigorously.

Empress Dowager De seemed to feel a bit embarrassed and apologized at once, If I knew you were here, I wouldhaveinvited you for sure.

'Judging from her manner andbehavior, shemustbe Qing Ning Grand Princess.' Minglan guessed.

After they chatted for a while, Qing Ning Grand Princess suddenly pulleda long face and said to Princess Consort Yu, Iheard youscolding the Empress's sister from the outside just now. What's so wrong about her proposal?

Princess Consort Yu stood up in fear and said with her teeth gritted, The private maids of Empress Dowager can't condescend to marry the soldiers. It'll be so humiliating for our Empress Dowager.

So, that's what's on your mind. Don't worry. Qing Ning Grand Princess waved her hand, There must be lots ofofficers in the army.Iguess marrying those men wouldn't be a disgraceful thing to those maids, right? If those men couldgain great merits, the girls who marry them would enjoy happy lives for sure. Isn't it better than being others' concubines?

Those straightforward words made Empress Dowager De and her daughter-in-lawspeechless.

Since Emperor Wu's later years, Qing Ning Grand Princess had been the most powerful princess. It had to be admitted that she had been favored by God.

She had been given birth by a maid. However, in that year, a few days after her blood motherpassed away, the Empress at that timehappened to lose her daughter. In order to soothe the grieved Empress, Emperor Wudecided to let the Empress raise Qing Ning who had only been three years old. Qing Ningwasa very clever and sensible girland the way in which she dealt with peoplewasbrilliant and favored by Empress Jing An. At last, the Empresswastrulyfond of Qing Ning.

Because of the love Emperor Wuhad for Empress Jing An, hetreated Qing Ning as his legal daughter and loved her a lot. The former Emperor Wutreated Qing Ning as his blood sister and respected her a lot. The other princesses whose mothershad been the Consorts should all benoblerthan her, but were actually in lower status than her at last.

After Qing Ning had grown up, shemarrieda handsome noble childe from a wealthy family.Sheand her husband were acouplein loveand had lots of children together.Fordecades, she nearly had no difficulties in her life.

The only thing which troubled her was herfoppishson whom she had given birth to at the age of forty.In the year when the new emperorascended the throne, her sonwasarrested and sent tothelabor camps because he had hung out in the red-light district during the mourningperiodof the former emperor. However, Qing Ning Grand Princess truly was a tough woman. She could live a pleasant life for decades not onlybecause of her bond with the former emperor, but also hercertainabilities.

After the emperor had invited her to the Royal Palace to have a chat, shechanged her attitude at once. Then, the aunt and the nephewreconciledwith each otherveryquickly.

The Empresssuffered a great grievance just now, so she, having someonebackingher up right now, said in a hurry, Aunt, you are right. Just now,mother-in-law also said that those girls were from the countryside and already lost their parents.

That'sperfect. Qing Ning Grand Princess thumped on the table and said cheerfully, Let's talk about this with the Emperor later. Actually, when our former Emperor has passed away, some of the servants in the Palace should be sent out. Now we havea perfect opportunity to do that. For them, this will be better than having no man to marry. What a great way to satisfy both sides! What do you say?

Empress Dowager An said gently, Youalways do things in a rush, even at an old age.

The two old ladies almost settled the matter by chatting with each other leisurely, making the others stunned.

Empress Dowager De was a bit irritated and said with a sullen face, The girls in the Palace are all delicate like the flowers. Sending them to the norther border is no differentfromsending the lamb to the tiger's cave. That's impossible!

Qing Ning Grand Princess stood up with her chin up while sayingin anexcitedtone, If none of us contributesto the country's affair, who will? Now, there are girls who don't have parents and are above the marriageable age in the Royal Palace and there are boys who garrison the border for our countryandwant to get married.Thisis awonderfulmarriage, what's so wrong about it?

The atmosphere got extremely tense. Minglan stood by the wall silently with her head lowered and kept saying inwardly, 'I am just awalk-on player here, I'm not the leading character'