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

The following spring, during the spring sacrifice, the crown prince behaved improperly, which angered the emperor. The emperor ordered the crown prince to reflect on his mistakes in the Eastern Palace. Several months later, a locust plague broke out in several southern prefectures. Instead of providing disaster relief, the court began to investigate the crown prince's crimes.

The reason given is that the main purpose of the spring sacrifice is to pray to Heaven for a successful harvest and favorable weather. However, the crown prince, as the heir apparent, behaved improperly during such a grand ceremony, which led to Heaven's punishment and the locust plague.

The crown prince has lost his virtue and should naturally be deposed!

The Valiant Marquis's Mansion

Cui Yao dismissed the head steward who had come to deliver the message, sat down in a chair in silence, and after a long while said, "Heh, what a powerful reason."

Jixiang, who was guarding the door, stood upright inside. She heard her master say something, but the voice was too soft to hear clearly. She stood still, as a servant should not know what she should not know.

Since the incident with the eldest son, the master's thoughts have become increasingly difficult to fathom. Although he is much kinder than before, his servants, who serve him closely, have become more cautious.

Meanwhile, the master had some secret expenses, and often brought in unmarked gold ingots, the whereabouts of which no one knew.

"Jixiang, bring a plate of the dried meat made in the small kitchen," Cui Yao instructed.

"Yes." Jixiang reached out and lifted the curtain. Ruyi, who was outside the door, knew that she could go in and serve her master when she saw the curtain being lifted.

Ruyi went in first with several maids, and then Jixiang went out and personally went to the small kitchen to fetch a food box.

"This jerky is pretty good, not too hard, and it tastes quite good." Cui Yao took a bite of the jerky and put it down.

She didn't really like eating the dried meat; it was for future preparation.

"By the way, any news about the caravan?"

The new maid, Cui, who had just entered, reported: "We already have news; they'll be back in the capital in about half a month."

"Okay, besides the normal goods, I request that everything else I bring back be delivered directly to the estate, so I can go there to check on it."

Cui Yao's main purpose in organizing caravans was not to make money, but to bring back special crops and novelties from various places.

The caravan thing happened even before the ballista.

The Crown Prince has just been deposed and is still in the Eastern Palace, while the Empress and the Crown Princess's families and children are still working hard.

Once some of the Empress's family members have been exiled, the rest have been demoted back to their hometowns, the Crown Princess has died of illness, and all of her family members—her father and brothers—have resigned from their official posts, then the remaining princes will take action against the Crown Prince. It won't be too late for her to make her move then.

Half a month later, the caravan returned, and Cui Yao took Xiao Lan to the manor.

"Mother, it's fine if you come, but why did you make me come? We're all gone, how will the household be managed?" Xiao Lan said worriedly.

"Lan'er, you're only eleven years old. Don't be so serious. Aren't you tired?" Cui Yao said helplessly.

"Mother, I'm just worried."

"What are you worried about? Such a large marquis's mansion, surely it can find someone to manage the household affairs? Don't we still have your fourth aunt?"

"Didn't you take back the power to manage the household?" Xiao Lan asked curiously. Shouldn't her mother be wary of her fourth aunt?

"Lan'er, you're wrong. I took back the power to manage the household not to keep an eye on your fourth aunt, but to let the servants in the mansion know who the matriarch of the Xiao family is. Also, your fourth aunt comes from a lower social class, and your grandmother doesn't manage things very well. I was worried that your fourth aunt might fall into a trap, so I took over and went through the process."

"So, from now on, Fourth Aunt will be in charge of the household?"

"Does it matter?" Cui Yao asked calmly. "Your fourth aunt is just supplementing her own little family's income. How much is that? Managing such a large marquis's mansion is not that easy. The future title of the marquis's mansion will have almost nothing to do with your fourth uncle and fourth aunt. So let's think about it from another angle. When we are busy with other things, we can spend some money to hire your fourth aunt to help manage the household."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"Normally, the title of Marquis belongs to Huaizhi. Even if it weren't for Huaizhi, there would still be your second and third uncles' families. It would never be your fourth uncle's turn. So why should your fourth aunt work for free?"

"Since it's my brother's, I'll take care of it when Mother is busy," Xiao Lan said directly.

"Lan'er, under normal circumstances, these things have nothing to do with you. I put you in charge so you could practice. You did it for your mother and brother. But what I want to tell you now is that it doesn't matter who manages the inner quarters of the Marquis's mansion. What matters is who is truly in charge. When you have absolute power, you must know how to use people wisely and delegate what you can. Don't make yourself too tired."

"But, in the inner quarters of a marquis's mansion, there aren't many masters. I'm not tired."

"What if there are two marquisates? Three? Four? You'd handle everything personally?"

Xiao Lan was taken aback by the question, and after thinking for a moment, she asked, "Mother, do you mean we need to train capable managers?"

"That's right. A true leader isn't good at doing things, but good at managing people."

Xiao Lan fell into deep thought.

Cui Yao didn't continue. Xiao Lan was a smart child and could understand.

Ever since Xiao Qingzhi's incident, this little girl has been under too much pressure. In the original owner's life, this little girl didn't have a good life either. Her mother and elder brother had a tense relationship, and her sister-in-law was only good at fighting and couldn't handle any important matters. Xiao Lan had to worry about everything at a young age, and her marriage was not smooth. She was almost nineteen years old when she got married. When the Xiao family had a disaster, she was directly divorced by her husband's family and exiled with the Xiao family. She died on the road in less than ten days.

On the farm, Cui Yao saw something familiar: sweet potatoes! High-yield, great for both cooking and as a staple food. It was a pity they were small, but she had large ones in her space. She just needed to make sure the large sweet potatoes in her space appeared in a reasonable way.

"Your Highness, this servant has already learned how to cultivate these red clay eggs from the locals."

"Really? Tell me how."

The planting method in this world is to put the sprouted sweet potatoes directly into the soil, and also to fertilize and prune the tips.

However, Cui Yao has seen more scientific methods, such as early seedling cultivation.

"We'll plant some using local methods, and for the rest, we'll try other methods."

Xiao Lan looked at the unfamiliar object with curiosity: "What kind of method?"

"I don't know, I'll just give it a try, whatever, the worst that can happen is it doesn't work," Cui Yao said nonchalantly.

After that, she carefully had her servants dig out the intact, sprouting seeds, found an empty room, and started cultivating seedlings. She also personally cultivated some, of course, those she planted were excellent seeds from her space.

"Mother, why are they all kept inside the house?"

"I have seen the gardener in the manor plant flowers before. He would first plant a lot of them together, then select the best ones and transplant them into separate flowerpots, and finally select the best ones to present to the master."

To make it more realistic, Cui Yao's high-quality seeds were scattered in various seedling areas, and she would transplant the strong seedlings separately later.