Quick Transmigration: Reversing the Life of a Cannon Fodder Female Supporting Character

Cui Yao understood that she had chosen option two. "Caihe, don't be afraid. You are so young and from a noble family. Once this storm has passed, you can remarry if you want. I will ask the Emperor to grant you a marriage. If you don't want to remarry, I will try to get you an imperial title. I will make sure you live a long and peaceful life."

Wang Caihe gritted her teeth, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed: "This humble daughter thanks Princess Fu'an for her kindness!"

"Go ahead, Xiao Qingzhi can never enter this courtyard again. Do whatever you want."

"Yes." Wang Caihe wiped away her tears, stood with her hands at her sides, and watched Princess Fu'an leave.

"Young Madam!" Wang's wet nurse rushed to her side, her voice trembling. "What did you say, Madam? Is there anything that can make the young master settle down?"

"Get him back? How? Even if I suppress him and send him back to the manor now, who knows what he's really thinking? If he resents me then, won't my life be miserable?" Wang Caihe said coldly.

"That,"

"Bring me pen and ink. I need to write a letter to my father. Have someone compile my dowry list."

"Young Madam!" the wet nurse raised her voice.

"Go on, we're preparing to divorce and go home!" Madam Wang calmly ground the ink, looking at the wet nurse with unwavering eyes.

Tears streamed down the wet nurse's face. After a few moments, she wiped them away with her handkerchief. "Miss, don't worry, I'll stay with you. I'll personally oversee the preparation of the dowry and make sure not a single penny is left for the Xiao family."

Wang Caihe couldn't help but laugh: "Nanny, Princess Fu'an is very generous. No one will covet my dowry."

"What's the use of being generous? You still can't control your offspring!" the wet nurse muttered resentfully.

"Hmph, just wait and see. Without the protection of the family and the status of the eldest son of the Xiao family, we'll see if Xiao Qingzhi can still remain faithful to that woman."

"Miss, do you mean...? Is that even possible? After all, he is the eldest son of the Marshal and his wife."

"Think about Princess Mingxin's methods and temperament. How could her only daughter be weak-willed? My mother said that Princess Fu'an was not an indecisive person back then. It's just that with the support of the Marshal from both inside and outside the palace, she has indulged in pleasure and thus appears weak."

The wet nurse still didn't believe it. After all, he was her eldest son. Could it be that he was just trying to coax the young lady into giving up her position as the eldest young mistress so he could marry that slut from outside? But she figured she might as well leave this quagmire behind!

Cui Yao sat in the main seat, slowly sipping her tea, not glancing at her eldest son kneeling on the ground, nor saying a word. Xiao Qingzhi, however, who was not used to kneeling for so long, couldn't help but move his knees.

"Mother, even if you punish me by making me kneel until my legs break, I will not yield. I will never wrong Yan'er."

"Hmph!" Cui Yao scoffed coldly, calmly asking, "Are you sure? You're willing to pay any price for that woman outside?"

Xiao Qingzhi panicked for a moment, but then defiantly stuck out her neck: "Mother, for Yan'er, I would give up gold, silver and jewels, fame and fortune."

"Okay, you won't regret it."

"No regrets!" Xiao Qingzhi said loudly.

"Men, tie him up!"

"Mother, are you going to imprison me?" Xiao Qingzhi resisted. Although he was a military general, the people who came in to subdue him were Princess Fu'an's personal guards. He was no match for them.

Cui Yao stood up, bypassed him, and led her people to the Xiao family's ancestral hall.

Outside the ancestral hall, the elders of the Xiao clan and prominent figures from various branches were invited one after another. Xiao Wuyuan, the second younger brother of Marshal Xiao, bowed first: "Elder sister-in-law, is there something you need to ask us to come to the ancestral hall so suddenly?"

"Everyone, I have invited you here today as the matriarch of the Xiao family to deal with the matter of Xiao Qingzhi, this wretched child. He is perverse, unfilial, disrespectful to his wife, and disregards the family's reputation. He is unfit to be the eldest son of the Xiao family."

Xiao Qingzhi was still unconvinced and argued, "Mother, I have only found true love. What is wrong with that? Why are you going to such lengths? Even if you invite the family elders here, or even if you beat the petition drum, I will still not have done anything wrong."

"As the future leader of the family, you are indulging in love and unable to distinguish right from wrong. Do you even know that marriage is a union between two families? With these actions, where does this place the Wang family stand?"

"The Wang family has long since declined; they're just putting on airs as a noble family. I, on the other hand, am the eldest son of the Marshal and the Princess, and my status is extremely high."

Cui Yao looked at him coldly: "The Xiao family has more than one heir, and I have more than one son. As the matriarch of the Xiao family, I absolutely cannot hand the Xiao family over to such a muddle-headed person."

"Mother, you and Father have been a harmonious couple your whole lives, yet now you want to hinder my love. You are two-faced."

"Shut up! Your father and I were betrothed through proper channels, with the consent of our elders and the Emperor's decree. What does this have to do with your illicit marriage without any matchmakers?"

Xiao Wuyuan, who had been brought back from the military camp, was dressed in full military uniform. He stepped forward and kicked his nephew, saying, "You bastard, how dare you speak to your mother like that?"

"Second Uncle, I have my parents' teachings, so you don't need to meddle in my affairs."

Xiao Wuyuan kicked him again in anger: "Today I'm going to take charge. I'm going to teach you a lesson on behalf of your dead father."

At this moment, the princess's guards who had been suppressing him had retreated outside the door. Although Xiao Qingzhi did not fight with the beast or his second uncle, he did not obediently take the beating either, and dodged skillfully.

Cui Yao closed her eyes, suppressing a primal pang of sorrow in her heart. She opened them again, her gaze calm: "Today, as the matriarch of the Xiao clan and the legal mother of Xiao Qingzhi, I open the ancestral hall to expel Xiao Qingzhi from the Xiao family. Cui, the eighth-generation matriarch of the Xiao clan, has failed in her duty to raise her son. I humbly beg our ancestors for forgiveness!"

After saying this, he knelt properly in the center of the ancestral hall, kowtowed, bowed again, kowtowed again, bowed three times, and kowtowed three times.

Xiao Wuyuan, who was already panting with anger at his nephew, hesitated upon hearing this: "Elder sister-in-law, this unfilial son is, after all, a member of the Xiao family, isn't he?"

"Second brother, if we lightly forgive such arrogant behavior today, how will the various branches of the Xiao family teach their younger generations in the future? How will I have the face to be the matriarch of the Xiao family? Which family would dare to marry into the Xiao family? Can all the Xiao family members afford to marry down?" Cui Yao knelt upright, staring directly at the ancestral tablet on the offering table, and asked loudly.

Xiao Qingzhi's behavior has already crossed the family's bottom line and reputation. Even if you like her, you can bring her into the mansion. Even if you neglect your wife, in a world where men are in charge, such behavior is highly acceptable. But you can't make a scene by divorcing your wife and remarrying, turning good in-laws into enemies.

The one who proposed expelling her from the family is still the matriarch of the Xiao family, the only daughter of Princess Mingxin, and the birth mother of Xiao Qingzhi. The elders offered a few symbolic words of advice and then tacitly agreed.

Xiao Wuyuan felt a pang of reluctance, but he had three sons who were still unmarried and two daughters who were of marriageable age. He couldn't let a nephew ruin his children's future.

Most importantly, the Xiao family has a large number of offspring. The eldest son is of great importance, but the main branch has more than one son. Princess Fu'an also has a second son.

Xiao Qingzhi was dumbfounded: "Mother, are you going to expel me from the Xiao family?"