doomed to be cannon fodder

Chapter 18: Got Nothing To Do So I Might As Well Try To Seduce the Supporting Male Lead

Of course, when she had nothing to do, she should still try to seduce the supporting male lead. Even if she didn’t mess with the female MC, who knew if she would turn into cannon fodder by staying here?

The old madame was very pleased by her girly response. Who wouldn’t want their son to marry a pure and cute woman? She quickly called Old Servant Ye 1 over. After introducing the two to each other, she dismissed the two.

Bai Xiangxiu knew this old granny servant belonged to the old madame. As a result, she treated her very courteously. Bai Xiangxiu arranged a room for her, and didn’t assign any work to her. But this Ye-mama had come with a mission in mind. Her task was to teach Mistress Xiu on how to lure the prince to bed.

Since she wanted to please her new mistress, just as how newly appointed officials always itched to make their mark, Ye-mama got straight to her lessons. It wasn’t like the concubines in the rear court had anything better to do anyway. Their only purpose really was to wait for the master to sleep with them, and hopefully produce a son or daughter as a result. Based on Mistress Xiu’s face, she could tell that the old madame purposely wanted to promote her. Therefore, she smiled the moment she saw her, hoping to leave a good impression. But she was very surprised. Although Bai Xiangxiu’s room was simple, it certainly didn’t lack a personal touch.

The atmosphere felt very spiritual, and that was primarily due to all the plants in the various corners. Aside from the one plant she couldn’t name, everything else was very delightful to the eyes. She had done a great job with the decor, and there also weren’t any other fragrances when one entered. No wonder the prince had already made the effort to come twice.

But for Bai Xiangxiu, she was confused about these so called lessons. What was with the first lesson of making a gift for the male lead? Ye-mama said regardless of how rich a man is, he cannot be arrogant forever. If a man receives a woman’s gift, it will make him happy. Therefore, she had to hand make him a gift.

Bai Xiangxiu was a bit depressed, but she didn’t have a choice. Since she had to deal with it, she started to learn needlework. Surprisingly, perhaps the former host of her body actually had some skills that she passed on, so she was actually doing alright. But needlework took time, so Ye-mama came each day to guide her a little bit. For the remainder of the time, she sat on one side making a pair of shoes.

Bai Xiangxiu started to toss and turn at night. Deep down, she was wondering why the second male lead hadn’t arrived yet. In the novel, it was said that he would come to the Prince’s residence every few days. There were also times he would wander off without the male lead. If not, how else would he have stumbled across the female lead? Could it be that he wasn’t here because the female lead wasn’t here? No!!

She needed to seduce the second male lead. She definitely wanted to leave this place. She found it extremely embarrassing that her mother-in-law was sending a servant to teach her how to seduce her own husband and she wasn’t going to be able to hold on for much longer.

Although Bai Xiangxiu might appear stupid, she clearly knew why the old madame was doing this. The male lead was a very responsible and diligent person. He was always on the front line. It took him seven or eight years to obtain his title of a common prince, and it was one that could be passed down to his heirs. He was originally a nobleman in the imperial city to begin, and now he was royalty. His treatment would be obviously different!

Naturally, some things had to be delayed in order to climb to his position. For instance, he was still a virgin. In the novel, when the male lead had given his virginity to the female lead, it had actually been awfully embarrassing. Thinking about the other male leads in other novels, they would always coax and lie to get their way. But this male lead? He had the heart but had no idea where to put his hands. When she’d been reading, Bai Xiangxiu would laugh and frighten the old people she was working with. They thought something was wrong with her!

Thinking of the plot from the novel, Bai Xiangxiu thought that the old madame was very wise. She wanted the male lead to gain some experience first. Or else it would be awfully embarrassing for him when he was faced with his actual wife. Also, it wouldn’t be appropriate for the old granny servant to teach the wife how to seduce a man. However, a concubine was different. If something went wrong, they could simply sell or beat her to death, and no one would care.

In the end, she was still being used as cannon fodder!

The more she thought about it, the more depressed she became. It was wrong if she tried to seduce the male lead, but if she didn’t, she would be wasting the old madame’s efforts. She might simply find a reason to beat her to death. For her, it would be as easy as stepping on a few ants.

After pondering for a while, she decided to embroider something while waiting for her opportunity. She was banking on the fact that an opportunity would rise when the supporting male lead wandered around in the male lead’s residence!

The timeline of a day turned out to be a few days. She was almost finished with her creation. It was a pair of nice mandarin ducks. Very common. Very common indeed. Ye-mama wasn’t that impressed, but Bai Xiangxiu’s embroidery skills were limited, so she had to make do. She didn’t make Bai Xiangxiu waste her efforts either. When the mistress was finished with the mandarin duck, the old granny sewed it onto a perfume satchel for her.

As Ye-mama was fixing her work, Bai Xiangxiu closed her eyes for three minutes and started mumbling to herself. The only one who heard her ramblings was Huo’er. She murmured, “I’m so tired. So tired. When is the supporting male lead going to arrive?”

“What kind of thing is a supporting male lead?” Huo’er asked in a cute tone. It had been quite healthy recently. Most importantly, it had a lot of vitality, so it’d been fine even after being dropped.

“The supporting male lead isn’t a thing. His name is Song Jiaoyue.” His name sure sounds nice. When can I seduce you?

“Brother Song, what have you been up to lately… si, si,….sit…”

All of a sudden, Huo’er sounded like the male lead. It was true. The male lead usually spoke very slowly, as if he needed to taste each word before spitting them out and Huo’er seemed to do just that.

“Huh? How do you know that?” Bai Xiangxiu was shocked. She didn’t think Huo’er had the ability to imitate humans.

Huo’er responded, “I can hear them. A part of me is still in that person’s finger. But it’s going to disappear soon.”

“That person?” It must be Long Heng’s pageboy, because he’d tried picking Huo’er up and one of the thorns had poked his finger. This was a stroke of luck! How come she hadn’t realized this until now?

“Then, where is he now? At this moment?” Was the supporting male lead coming? She felt a bit flustered and regretted not asking sooner. Perhaps he might have been around a few times these past couple of days already!

“He’d already arrived before you started speaking about him.” Huo’er responded cutely, feeling great because it was able to help its mistress.

“Huo’er, you’re too amazing! Could I borrow your thorn?” She wanted to stick a thorn into the male lead, so that the next time Song Jiaoyue was around, she would know immediately.

“It will be a bit painful, but if that’s alright if that’s what Mistress wants!” Huo’er said generously. But it didn’t think its master would want to pull an entire thorn out! “Ow ow ow!!”

It must be very painful! Bai Xiangxiu instantly stopped. She realized that harnessing this stroke of luck would be very difficult. She didn’t want to cause Huo’er so much pain.

“Mistress, the thorns at the top don’t hurt.” Huo’er couldn’t move, so it could only direct her by speaking.

Oh yeah, the top thorns are to protect it! Of course they won’t hurt. Bai Xiangxiu seemed to have thought of something. She smiled and said, “Wait a moment.”

She ran outside and saw Ye-mama working on the perfume satchel. The granny servant had already cut out the shape of it earlier when Bai Xiangxiu had been embroidering. She was now just sewing and looping it together.

Bai Xiangxiu ran to her side as she was looping it, “Ye-mama, is the perfume satchel finished?”

“I’m almost finished.” Why is she so proactive all of a sudden? Ye-mama looped the strap onto the perfume satchel and handed it to her. Bai Xiangxiu smiled, “I’m going to put the spices inside now. I don’t need to trouble you any longer, Ye-mama.”

Ye-mama had never seen Mistress Xiu this proactive since she’d arrived. Was it actually a good thing for a woman to be so sprightly? What if the prince disliked her? Leaving Ye-mama to her musings, Bai Xiangxiu went back to her room with the perfume satchel. She stuffed the bag with herbs and also placed the thorn she had pulled out from Huo’er into the bag as well.

The perfume satchel was supposed to be carried around all the time. This meant that she would find out whenever the supporting male lead was coming. This was even more useful than a surveillance camera from the modern world!

She beamed and kissed the perfume satchel. Ye-mama happened to see this and couldn’t help but think, this Mistress Xiu sure has her heart set on the prince, but the way she’s expressing herself is a bit over the top.

1. A certain type of old granny servant, referred to as “(surname)-mama”

Chapter 18: Got Nothing To Do So I Might As Well Try To Seduce the Supporting Male Lead

Of course, when she had nothing to do, she should still try to seduce the supporting male lead. Even if she didn’t mess with the female MC, who knew if she would turn into cannon fodder by staying here?

The old madame was very pleased by her girly response. Who wouldn’t want their son to marry a pure and cute woman? She quickly called Old Servant Ye 1 over. After introducing the two to each other, she dismissed the two.

Bai Xiangxiu knew this old granny servant belonged to the old madame. As a result, she treated her very courteously. Bai Xiangxiu arranged a room for her, and didn’t assign any work to her. But this Ye-mama had come with a mission in mind. Her task was to teach Mistress Xiu on how to lure the prince to bed.

Since she wanted to please her new mistress, just as how newly appointed officials always itched to make their mark, Ye-mama got straight to her lessons. It wasn’t like the concubines in the rear court had anything better to do anyway. Their only purpose really was to wait for the master to sleep with them, and hopefully produce a son or daughter as a result. Based on Mistress Xiu’s face, she could tell that the old madame purposely wanted to promote her. Therefore, she smiled the moment she saw her, hoping to leave a good impression. But she was very surprised. Although Bai Xiangxiu’s room was simple, it certainly didn’t lack a personal touch.

The atmosphere felt very spiritual, and that was primarily due to all the plants in the various corners. Aside from the one plant she couldn’t name, everything else was very delightful to the eyes. She had done a great job with the decor, and there also weren’t any other fragrances when one entered. No wonder the prince had already made the effort to come twice.

But for Bai Xiangxiu, she was confused about these so called lessons. What was with the first lesson of making a gift for the male lead? Ye-mama said regardless of how rich a man is, he cannot be arrogant forever. If a man receives a woman’s gift, it will make him happy. Therefore, she had to hand make him a gift.

Bai Xiangxiu was a bit depressed, but she didn’t have a choice. Since she had to deal with it, she started to learn needlework. Surprisingly, perhaps the former host of her body actually had some skills that she passed on, so she was actually doing alright. But needlework took time, so Ye-mama came each day to guide her a little bit. For the remainder of the time, she sat on one side making a pair of shoes.

Bai Xiangxiu started to toss and turn at night. Deep down, she was wondering why the second male lead hadn’t arrived yet. In the novel, it was said that he would come to the Prince’s residence every few days. There were also times he would wander off without the male lead. If not, how else would he have stumbled across the female lead? Could it be that he wasn’t here because the female lead wasn’t here? No!!

She needed to seduce the second male lead. She definitely wanted to leave this place. She found it extremely embarrassing that her mother-in-law was sending a servant to teach her how to seduce her own husband and she wasn’t going to be able to hold on for much longer.

Although Bai Xiangxiu might appear stupid, she clearly knew why the old madame was doing this. The male lead was a very responsible and diligent person. He was always on the front line. It took him seven or eight years to obtain his title of a common prince, and it was one that could be passed down to his heirs. He was originally a nobleman in the imperial city to begin, and now he was royalty. His treatment would be obviously different!

Naturally, some things had to be delayed in order to climb to his position. For instance, he was still a virgin. In the novel, when the male lead had given his virginity to the female lead, it had actually been awfully embarrassing. Thinking about the other male leads in other novels, they would always coax and lie to get their way. But this male lead? He had the heart but had no idea where to put his hands. When she’d been reading, Bai Xiangxiu would laugh and frighten the old people she was working with. They thought something was wrong with her!

Thinking of the plot from the novel, Bai Xiangxiu thought that the old madame was very wise. She wanted the male lead to gain some experience first. Or else it would be awfully embarrassing for him when he was faced with his actual wife. Also, it wouldn’t be appropriate for the old granny servant to teach the wife how to seduce a man. However, a concubine was different. If something went wrong, they could simply sell or beat her to death, and no one would care.

In the end, she was still being used as cannon fodder!

The more she thought about it, the more depressed she became. It was wrong if she tried to seduce the male lead, but if she didn’t, she would be wasting the old madame’s efforts. She might simply find a reason to beat her to death. For her, it would be as easy as stepping on a few ants.

After pondering for a while, she decided to embroider something while waiting for her opportunity. She was banking on the fact that an opportunity would rise when the supporting male lead wandered around in the male lead’s residence!

The timeline of a day turned out to be a few days. She was almost finished with her creation. It was a pair of nice mandarin ducks. Very common. Very common indeed. Ye-mama wasn’t that impressed, but Bai Xiangxiu’s embroidery skills were limited, so she had to make do. She didn’t make Bai Xiangxiu waste her efforts either. When the mistress was finished with the mandarin duck, the old granny sewed it onto a perfume satchel for her.

As Ye-mama was fixing her work, Bai Xiangxiu closed her eyes for three minutes and started mumbling to herself. The only one who heard her ramblings was Huo’er. She murmured, “I’m so tired. So tired. When is the supporting male lead going to arrive?”

“What kind of thing is a supporting male lead?” Huo’er asked in a cute tone. It had been quite healthy recently. Most importantly, it had a lot of vitality, so it’d been fine even after being dropped.

“The supporting male lead isn’t a thing. His name is Song Jiaoyue.” His name sure sounds nice. When can I seduce you?

“Brother Song, what have you been up to lately… si, si,….sit…”

All of a sudden, Huo’er sounded like the male lead. It was true. The male lead usually spoke very slowly, as if he needed to taste each word before spitting them out and Huo’er seemed to do just that.

“Huh? How do you know that?” Bai Xiangxiu was shocked. She didn’t think Huo’er had the ability to imitate humans.

Huo’er responded, “I can hear them. A part of me is still in that person’s finger. But it’s going to disappear soon.”

“That person?” It must be Long Heng’s pageboy, because he’d tried picking Huo’er up and one of the thorns had poked his finger. This was a stroke of luck! How come she hadn’t realized this until now?

“Then, where is he now? At this moment?” Was the supporting male lead coming? She felt a bit flustered and regretted not asking sooner. Perhaps he might have been around a few times these past couple of days already!

“He’d already arrived before you started speaking about him.” Huo’er responded cutely, feeling great because it was able to help its mistress.

“Huo’er, you’re too amazing! Could I borrow your thorn?” She wanted to stick a thorn into the male lead, so that the next time Song Jiaoyue was around, she would know immediately.

“It will be a bit painful, but if that’s alright if that’s what Mistress wants!” Huo’er said generously. But it didn’t think its master would want to pull an entire thorn out! “Ow ow ow!!”

It must be very painful! Bai Xiangxiu instantly stopped. She realized that harnessing this stroke of luck would be very difficult. She didn’t want to cause Huo’er so much pain.

“Mistress, the thorns at the top don’t hurt.” Huo’er couldn’t move, so it could only direct her by speaking.

Oh yeah, the top thorns are to protect it! Of course they won’t hurt. Bai Xiangxiu seemed to have thought of something. She smiled and said, “Wait a moment.”

She ran outside and saw Ye-mama working on the perfume satchel. The granny servant had already cut out the shape of it earlier when Bai Xiangxiu had been embroidering. She was now just sewing and looping it together.

Bai Xiangxiu ran to her side as she was looping it, “Ye-mama, is the perfume satchel finished?”

“I’m almost finished.” Why is she so proactive all of a sudden? Ye-mama looped the strap onto the perfume satchel and handed it to her. Bai Xiangxiu smiled, “I’m going to put the spices inside now. I don’t need to trouble you any longer, Ye-mama.”

Ye-mama had never seen Mistress Xiu this proactive since she’d arrived. Was it actually a good thing for a woman to be so sprightly? What if the prince disliked her? Leaving Ye-mama to her musings, Bai Xiangxiu went back to her room with the perfume satchel. She stuffed the bag with herbs and also placed the thorn she had pulled out from Huo’er into the bag as well.

The perfume satchel was supposed to be carried around all the time. This meant that she would find out whenever the supporting male lead was coming. This was even more useful than a surveillance camera from the modern world!

She beamed and kissed the perfume satchel. Ye-mama happened to see this and couldn’t help but think, this Mistress Xiu sure has her heart set on the prince, but the way she’s expressing herself is a bit over the top.

1. A certain type of old granny servant, referred to as “(surname)-mama”