Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Chapter 1602 Substitute Bride 6
The reason we still need to keep an eye on Consort Ding is that Consort Ding's name appears in both the original owner's world and Li San Niang's world. Since Consort Ding's name appears, it means that this person must be a bit strange. If we don't keep an eye on her, who else should we keep an eye on?

Indeed, according to Linlang's surveillance of Li Sanniang, there were also people in Li Sanniang's world spreading rumors about Prince Qinghe's fondness for Consort Ding.

Li San Niang was quite different from the original owner of this body, who was usually composed. She spoke her mind and didn't keep things to herself. So when she heard the news, she went to question Prince Qinghe about it. However, Prince Qinghe ignored her, ordered her to be thrown out, and warned her not to talk nonsense, lest she bring danger to the palace and lose her position as a princess.

Only then did Li San Niang remember Ding Fei's current status, which meant she couldn't speak carelessly. So she never dared to mention Ding Fei and the Prince of Qinghe again.

Because of Prince Qinghe's reaction, Linlang didn't know if he and Consort Ding had really had a relationship. After all, Prince Qinghe's cold attitude could mean that he was annoyed by Li Sanniang and threw her out, but it didn't mean that he really had a relationship with Consort Ding.

As for why he didn't explain if he really had nothing to do with Consort Ding? ...Given the Prince of Qinghe's cold attitude towards Li San Niang, even if she really had nothing to do with Consort Ding, he wouldn't be interested in explaining to her. He just wanted her to keep quiet.

Although she was still keeping an eye on Consort Ding and those who spread rumors, Linlang deduced that the mastermind behind the murder might be someone who, after the original owner of this body fell in love with Prince Qinghe after marriage and wanted to kill Princess Qinghe to take the throne, started targeting unmarried young girls from families that had dealings with Prince Qinghe's mansion.

That's a huge area, and it's not easy to find, so Linlang hasn't made any progress yet.

When his daughter returned home after three days, Marquis Changning was overjoyed to see that she had become a princess. After all, his daughter had married into the royal family, which raised his family's status in the capital. Those families who had previously looked down on them because they thought they had no real power and were just fallen nobles no longer dared to look down on them and were now willing to associate with them. How could Marquis Changning not be happy to see such a change? So he praised the Prince of Qinghe to a very high position.

However, the original owner's mother, Lady Changning, was not only concerned with interests but also with whether her daughter was doing well. When she saw Prince Qinghe go to the front to chat with Marquis Changning and his sons, Lady Changning asked Linlang whether Prince Qinghe, the Princess Dowager Qinghe, and the other people in the Prince's mansion were treating her well.

Linlang naturally wouldn't say anything negative, lest she worry the Lady of Changning, who cared about her daughter.

Then Lady Changning asked if the Dowager Princess Qinghe had handed over the management of the household to her. It was not easy to lie about this, since Lady Changning could find out by asking her attendants and others. So Linlang told the truth and shook her head, saying, "No."

Seeing that Lady Changning frowned, Linlang said, "Actually, I don't care about those things. She likes to manage the household, so let her manage it. It will make my life easier."

Lady Changning said, “I heard that she is somewhat biased and loves her youngest son more. I’m afraid that if she keeps holding onto the power of managing the household, she will siphon money from the mansion into her private savings and give it to her youngest son. When she passes away, she will leave you with a bankrupt mansion, while her youngest son’s family will live a life of luxury on mountains of gold and silver.”

Lady Changning's worries were not unfounded; the Dowager Consort Qinghe was indeed that kind of person. Since Linlang had been monitoring the Qinghe Prince's Mansion since entering this world, she naturally knew what the Dowager Consort Qinghe had done.

Just as Lady Changning said, the Dowager Princess Qinghe took money from the Prince's mansion, put it into her private funds, and then gave it to her youngest son.

The reason for this was that Prince Qinghe's younger brother, unlike Prince Qinghe, was not averse to women. His personality was the complete opposite of Prince Qinghe's; he was extremely fond of women. After experiencing love, he would bring any woman, no matter how dirty or smelly, into his house. He had already slept with all the maids around him, and he would even seduce many maids in the mansion, and even the head maid's wife, as long as they were pretty. Not to mention those outside, he already kept several women brought back from brothels in his courtyard.

The Dowager Consort Qinghe was worried that her son's health would be ruined, so she tried to persuade him several times and scolded the women around him a few times, but it was no use. It wasn't entirely the women's fault; it was her son's character that was so difficult for her to control.

Such reckless behavior inevitably leads to many expenses. Not to mention, bringing women back from brothels always requires redemption fees, so he is always short of money. Every now and then, he would run to the Dowager Princess Qinghe and act coquettishly, asking her for money. The Dowager Princess Qinghe loved this coquettish youngest son, so although she complained about his naughtiness, she would still give him money after she had calmed down.

Fearing that she would run out of her private savings, Consort Qinghe would take money from the public funds, convert it into private funds, and then give it to her youngest son. This was to avoid the situation where the eldest son would be unhappy if she directly took money from the public funds and gave it to the youngest son. Since the eldest son would not see the account, he would not react if she took money from her private funds and gave it to the youngest son.

Because her youngest son was too unruly, the Dowager Princess Qinghe wanted him to get married as soon as possible so that she could keep him in line and discipline him. So, she arranged a marriage for the Prince of Qinghe and then arranged a marriage for her youngest son, who will soon be entering the family.

Linlang just wanted to laugh at the behavior of the Qinghe Consort. After all, if she, as a mother, couldn't even control her son, how could she expect her wife to be able to control him?

Unfortunately, many people in the world think this way: if you can't control your son, just get him a wife and he'll be able to control him; if he can't even control his wife, he can blame her for being useless and unable to control her husband. In short, he can shift the blame for his own actions.

Those wives who were married into the family to take care of their sons were truly unlucky, having to take on the garbage that even the parents didn't want to deal with.

Upon hearing what Lady Changning said, Linlang replied, "I've only just entered the household, so it's not appropriate for me to get involved in these matters. Let's wait until we're more familiar with each other. Besides, the Prince isn't stupid. If he cares, he'll definitely intervene. If he doesn't care, my intervention might just upset him."

Actually, she didn't even need to say it. One of the servants around Prince Qinghe had already spoken up about it to him. After all, the people around Prince Qinghe would eventually become his servants. If the Dowager Princess Qinghe emptied the Prince's mansion's money and gave it all to the Prince's brother, leaving the mansion heavily indebted, then when the Dowager Princess passed away and the Prince took over the mansion, the servants' income would definitely be affected. If the mansion was wealthy, their income would certainly be higher; but if the mansion was poor, it might cut expenses, which would definitely impact their income.

Just thinking about that future, even without Linlang uttering a word, those around Prince Qinghe would inevitably jump out and talk about what the Dowager Consort Qinghe and the Prince's brother had done.