A Bride for Mother, a Groom for Father

She had barely transmigrated when she learned her husband had kicked the bucket. Well, dead was dead, but usually when someone died, everyone was heartbroken. This fellow, though, had the whole country celebrating, while the people at the gambling houses wept harder than if their own parents had died! Why? Her husband left behind a fortune, a toddler, a restaurant, more than a thousand mu of fertile farmland, and several mountains. She had nothing to worry about, except that so many people were clamoring to “eat meat,” which made her a very worried widow indeed! Her husband was famous throughout the world, so everyone knew that Qing Niang was a widow, and that she had a cute, scheming little tagalong. What was she supposed to do? Everyone in the Great Yan Dynasty knew Qing Niang was a widow with a child in tow, and a beautiful young widow at that. But her late husband’s reputation was so formidable that no one dared marry her. So every day, Qing Niang either chatted with people, played cards, or dressed herself up and paraded through the streets with the child in her arms. She claimed she was looking for a father for the little one, but really, she just wanted to find a man! The emperor gazed up at the sky at a fifteen-degree angle every day and thought sadly, “My life has been such a failure. The country is wealthy, the people are strong and prosperous, and everyone lives in peace. The soldiers at the border get along with those of other countries as if they had the same mother. There are no wars to fight at all. It makes me feel completely useless.” The people below saw their leader looking so sorrowful and all agreed that he was a good ruler who cared deeply for his country and his people. The realm was flourishing, yet their ruler still worried about the people and worked even harder. So the country grew more prosperous, and their ruler grew even sadder. Everyone below worked overtime every day, and the emperor put in overtime being sad. Then he remembered that several of his brothers stationed at the border were still unmarried. Why not find something entertaining to watch? When the unfortunate emperor heard that Qing Niang was worried about finding a husband, he decided to play matchmaker, too. The people below saw that the Great Yan Dynasty’s leader truly cared for his people. He even worried about widows remarrying, and had worked himself into a state worrying about so many people. Other countries followed suit. They were so bored they could have burst, only to grow new ones! So every country came up with various excuses to trick their unmarried men into going to Anle Town. They called it a vacation! The unmarried daughters of ministers from every household flocked to Anle Town, where all the wealthy and capable men were gathered. Surely they could do better than a widow, and a widow with a child in tow at that? And so, rulers from every country placed bets on who would find Qing Niang a husband! Then they uncovered a shocking secret. This was bad, very bad! If this got out of hand, they’d all be finished! And so the curtain rose on a grand drama