Lady Meilin is seduced by her green tea brother-in-law everyday-Chapter 301: The cause for the betrothal.

When Mei Mei rushed into the Empress dowager’s sonar, her daughter’s loud voice was the first thing she heard.

"I will not marry him, he smells like a flower." Mingzhu shouted.

Mei Mei arrived just in time to see Mingzhu stomping her foot after sharing her reason for rejecting the marriage. She stopped short and looked at her daughter in mild surprise.

Of all reasons that anyone had ever given to reject a marriage, it had to be the most unique one.

"I will not marry her, she is barbaric." Prince Long Wu Ping bellowed as deeply as his twelve year old voice would allow.

"You...you...." Mingzhu stomped her foot. "You smell like a flower."

Chi Lian covered her face with her right hands and moaned sadly. "Oh, she doesn’t know how to fight back with her mouth. No wonder she is always letting her fists do the talking for her."

The Empress dowager was sitting in a single chair near the window and she raised a brow. "Mingzhu darling, a man that smells wonderful is a good man. Hygiene is very important."

Mei Mei cleared her throat.

Mingzhu noticed her mother and run to her. "Mommy, mommy, I won’t marry. Tell the Empress dowager that I won’t marry the flower smelling prince."

Mei Mei took Mingzhu’s hand and she faced her parents before turning to the Empress Dowager. As etiquette demanded, she greeted her first. Then she followed up by greeting the other royals.

Junjie sent her an apologetic smile. He had also been pulled into this sudden betrothal declaration without prior knowledge

"Might I ask what is going on here?" Mei Mei asked.

One of the royal attendants stepped forward and explained how it all started. The young prince had been sparring in the gardens when Mingzhu found him. She challenged him and he turned, telling her that he would not fight a girl.

Mingzhu--the ever brave general decided to prove that she could fight just as fiercely as any other boy. She told the prince that she had something to say to him and when he leaned down, she punched him on the nose and lip, bursting them both.

The Empress dowager decided that Mingzhu had disfigured the prince and she had to take responsibility for him by becoming his wife in future.

Mei Mei looked at Prince Long Wu Ping who was sitting between his parents with a dark scowl on his face, a busted lip, cotton up his nose and an even bigger bruised ego.

She moaned sadly like Chi Lian had done. "You assaulted the prince!!!" She hissed at her Mingzhu.

"She punched me!" Long Wu Ping barked. "Not once but twice and then she asked me if she punched like a girl. Oh and she said I look more like a girl than she does."

Mei Mei tried not to look at the long soft curly hair on Long Wu’s head which was shinier that Mingzhu’s or his angelic like face with beautiful eyes. She could guess why Mingzhu had dared to say such a thing.

"Did you by any chance say anything to provoke her?" Mei Mei asked him.

"No." He replied.

"Yes he did." Mingzhu jumped in. Her feet even lifted a little off the ground as she pushed herself up on her toes and leaned forward with two hands on her waist. "You said you would not fight with Mingzhu because she is a weak girl. Mingzhu showed him that she is not weak."

"I was being polite." Long Wu Ping replied.

The Empress Dowager smiled cunningly. "Well, who knew that our two families would be able to come together again like this? She punched him and now they must marry."

"She is six great grandmother!! She still drinks milk from a bottle." Long Wu Ping groaned.

"And you are twelve and you drink juice out of a bottle." The Empress Dowager retorted.

Chi Lian had been walking towards Mei Mei slowly as the conversation was ongoing. She reached her just as Long Wu was claiming Mingzhu drunk milk out of a bottle. "What kind of bottle are we talking?" She whispered to her daughter. "Please don’t tell me that she is still using a baby bottle!!"

Mei Mei huffed. "Of course not. And that is not what is important right now mother."

"I am not marrying him." Mingzhu declared again. "He is not nice and he looks like a toothpick."

Mei Mei covered Mingzhu’s mouth with her hand and sent an apologetic look at the prince and his parents. "She is usually well behaved."

Prince Long Wu snorted. "Ha! Well behaved, that reincarnation of a war goddess is not well behaved. She tackled me before my valet pulled her away from me."

The Empress dowager and Jun Muyang exchanged glances.

Mingzhu folded her arms on her chest and she glared back at Long Wu. They were like enemy generals across a battlefield.

"Forget it, I won’t argue with a kid." Long Wu waved his hand like he was dismissing the whole thing.

Mingzhu boiled even more and her eyes narrowed.

"How about an apology." Mei Mei quickly shouted. "Mingzhu can just apologize and the whole thing can be put to bed. The prince is right, she is just a kid."

"And children grow up into adults." The Empress Mother said, "Alliances must be made early sometimes. Like bamboo. The roots must intertwine before the stalks rise."

All the smart people in the room noticed that her eyes had darted towards Jingzhe who was quietly standing beside the Emperor. Mei Mei figured it out. This was a contingency plan to tie Jingzhe to the royal family if he married her.

"Damn scheming royals she muttered." she whispered.

That noble title the Empress Mother intended to award Jingzhe was coming with strings attached just like other noble titles the royal family awarded.

"My granddaughter is not a pawn." Chi Lian said strongly.

The Empress Mother smiled. "Of course not. That would mean we are using Long Wu as a pawn as well and that is not the case. Alliances are not always bad, the children are bridges."

"How about this." The Emperor cut in. "The betrothal can stand but when the children grow up, they will be allowed to withdraw if they are not interested in the marriage."

Mei Mei’s chest felt a thousand times lighter. Junjie was 90% back in her good books.

As much power as their Jun family had, they could not just come out and directly reject the betrothal, especially not after Mingzhu assaulted a prince. It was a crime to assault a member of the royal family.

No doubt, some people like Prince Long Bo would have loved to use the opportunity to sow discord between the royal family and their family.

In a way, the Empress Dowager’s solution had saved both families from unnecessary tension and secret grudges. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Alright, we all agree to that." The Empress Dowager smiled. She walked towards Mei Mei and patted her on the shoulder. "You have always been my favorite person in the world after my husband and parents. You should bring Mingzhu to visit me more often especially now that she is to marry my great grandson."

As she walked away, some of her children that were in the room raised their brows or gasped. They were her biological children. If Mei Mei was her favorite, what about them?