Lady Meilin is seduced by her green tea brother-in-law everyday-Chapter 291: Arguments for a foreign marriage alliance.

The Empress Mother really hated having to deal with some of her in-laws because they acted oblivious. Wasn’t the reason as to why she wanted to be the one to pick out her son’s next wife obvious? "I am his mother." She said, spreading her arms out and scoffing. "Isn’t that more than enough reason?"

"His father is also right here." Prince Long Bo looked at the Emperor Emeritus [retired emperor]. "Aren’t you going to say something brother?"

The Emperor Emeritus sipped his peach juice and ignored Long Bo.

Long Bo sneered, angry because he was being ignored. Someone else sniggered.

"My husband stands with me." The Empress Mother shared with them. "The matter of MY SON’S next marriage is already settled. Nothing anybody says here is going to change my mind or his father’s. We don’t want another disastrous empress joining this family."

Princess Ruoxi peeked at Junjie and decided to speak on his behalf. "Has anybody asked our Emperor what he wants?"

"Kids should stay out of this." Long Bo told her.

"And yet this kid has more sense than you." Ruoxi snapped at him. "Let’s be honest, half of the people at this table have candidates they want to endorse for selfish reasons which have nothing to do with my uncle’s happiness. Some of you are going to propose women that you would not even marry yourselves if you were given the opportunity. Let the Emperor do what he wants."

Everyone that had a candidate in mind decided to hold off on sharing their names for a while and see how things would go.

The Empress Mother had been with Ruoxi until she suggested that Junjie do as he wants. Junjie was the Emperor, his life was not his own--most of it anyway. It was the sacrifice one made for the crown.

There was a reason why they said the crown was heavy and not everyone could wear it.

Princess Si Si was the first to raise her voice. "Before any final decisions are made can we revisit the idea of a foreign princess. I understand that we like to keep these marriages in a close traditional circle and a foreign empress is a source of discomfort. But discomfort should not block the path of progress."

The Emperor Emeritus dropped his fork and groaned. This again!!

Around the table, people muttered but kept their opinions to whispers. The older generations were already grimacing, showing their disapproval.

The Empress Mother narrowed her eyes. They flashed with a reflection of gold that was bouncing back from the window. It was the light from the gold combs which were pinning her silver hair together. She had inherited them from the Empress dowager and planned to pass them on to Junjie’s wife but the former Empress had not been found worthy of inheriting them. "I told you to quit it with the foreign empress agenda. The bloodline of the royal family is sacred and we are not going to taint it with foreign genes. Anyone else here can marry a foreign woman but never the emperor."

Princess Si Si was would not give in. "Princess Lysina of Cyprus is the perfect fit for next empress. I raised her myself so she is familiar with some of our traditions. She speaks our language, loves our culture and enjoys our cuisine."

"So she is marrying for food." Chi Rui mumbled.

Princess Rize snorted and laughed.

Princess Si Si glared at them. "She is not marrying for food, she is marrying for diplomacy. Her pledge is to the Emperor and through the union two nations will come closer."

"We have many princes here," The Empress dowager swept her hand out. "Choose your pick and let your princess marry any of them."

"I don’t want to marry." Twelve year old Prince Long Wu Ping said in a horrified voice. He was Prince Long Feng’s youngest son, very playful and yet responsible in carrying out royal duties.

"Not you dear." His mother told him.

Princess Si Si barely spared the boy a glance as she pushed on with her idea. "Princess Lysina has brokered more peace between Cyprus and her neighbors than all their former rulers. Do not underestimate her intelligence and fame. She is one of the most beloved royals in the world. Men would kill to marry her."

"And yet she is still unwed." The Empress dowager commented. "My daughter-in-law is right, blood is important. Any child between Junjie and that foreign princess will be the end of the Long dynasty. The people will not accept a half blood to rule. In fact, this house will be the first to fracture as some of you will use that very fact to discredit the next heir."

The room stirred. What she said made a point, a very good point.

"Bloodlines are important to nobles and nobles back us. If they don’t back us, we are weak." The Grand emperor said.

Prince Si Si turned to him. "Blood does not build the strength of an empire, alliances do."

"Which is why you were married into the Cyprian royal family." The Emperor Emeritus reminded her.

Prince Long Feng grunted. "Foreign wives bring foreign alliances and troubles. One of the biggest ones being foreign wars. There is a reason as to why big royal families are not intermarrying anymore. It is because nobody wants to bleed for the war of another."

Rize leaned towards her husband and whispered, "I don’t support a foreign union as well but those babies would be so damn cute. Like Rose’s kids."

Princess Si Si could see that she was not going to get any support from the older generation. Maybe the younger one was open to the idea but the ancient crocodiles in their family were not going to watch the so called blood dilution happen.

The Grand Emperor put his glass gown slowly and said, "Do you know what will happen if the next heir is of mixed blood and he also decides to marry a foreign princess or noble woman? The throne will not belong to us anymore, except in name. Blood is not something simple, Si Si. You cannot ignore it for the sake of diplomacy or this progress you speak of. As long as the Emperor does not need a marriage alliance to strengthen his rule, there will be no such thing. Even if there is a need, he will marry from the noble families. That is why they exist."

Si Si thought the royal family--all royal families were hypocritical. They married off to their daughters to build alliances but they never allowed their sons that sat on the throne to marry foreign women. It was because of them that progress was stagnant.

"I give up." She said. "keep....."

The Empress Mother jumped in. "Very good, because your cause was not going to find support here. If the princess wants to marry into our family, we have prince’s that will take her. We even have nobles....."

Princess Si Si cut in, "Jun Mingzhe."