Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Chapter 1700 The Country Girl Looked Down Upon 21
As far as Linlang knew, the Prince Ying's Mansion, like the Prince Yonghe's Mansion, had a rather distant relationship with the royal family.

The earliest English king was the son of Emperor Taizong of this dynasty, which was a hundred years ago.

This is quite normal. If it were the current emperor's brother or uncle, such a close relationship, he would certainly be very successful and have plenty of wives. The grandson of the King of England would not marry a girl from the countryside.

Although its relationship with the royal family is relatively distant, the Prince of Ying's Mansion is still a Prince's Mansion, which is different from a Prince's Mansion.

Therefore, although the relationship with the royal family is relatively distant, the Prince Ying's Mansion is still much more respectable than the Prince Yonghe's Mansion.

Some might say, "Isn't the current dynasty supposed to promote the hereditary system of titles based on rank? How come there are still distant branch princely residences?"

The reason is simple: although it is a demotion in rank, a prince can inherit the title for five generations, a duke for four generations, and a general who protects the country can inherit it for three generations, and so on.

After a few generations, it will be downgraded.

The line of the King of England has already been passed down for five generations. Once this King of England passes away, his line will become a Prince of the Second Rank.

However, the King is currently in his fifties or sixties and is in relatively good health—this is the result of Linlang's observation—and barring any unforeseen circumstances, he should have no problem living for another one or two decades.

Linlang would also try her best to let him live a little longer. After all, living in the Prince's Mansion was different from living in her own mansion. It wasn't a matter of money, but a matter of social status.

After all, Li Yu and his son's salaries were all paid into the public fund, and their family wasn't very large, so their branch of the family didn't benefit from the public fund at all.

Although they wouldn't gain any financial advantage from the mansion, they would gain a significant advantage in social status. After all, if the Prince of Ying were to pass away, they would be separated from the main mansion. The status of the General of the State's Mansion would be worlds apart from that of the Prince's Mansion.

Moreover, once the King of England passes away, the title of King of England will be lost, and the main branch will become a prince, which is not a good thing for those of them who separated from the main branch. After all, it would be better if a prince became the main branch.

Therefore, Linlang naturally wanted the King of England to live longer. The longer he lived, the more advantageous it would be for them, since social status is sometimes something that money can't buy.

The population of the Prince of England's palace is not large among the royal family members, after all, some royal family members are really prolific and can have hundreds of children.

The King of England did not have many children, only eight sons and seven daughters.

Of course, there were definitely more than that many born; that's a solid fact.

Leaving aside the daughters, of the eight sons, two were born to the Queen, and the rest were born to the King's concubines.

Li Yu's father was the oldest among these illegitimate sons, so he was naturally quite old.

Li Yu's father was quite old, so his biological grandmother was naturally also quite old.

Since they're not young anymore and are getting older, they naturally don't receive much pampering now.

However, because she had been with the King of England for a long time, and because other concubines did not outlive her, she was the longest-lived among them.

Because of this timing, it was only three years ago, after the death of a concubine, that she was made a concubine by the Prince of Ying. Before that, she was just a concubine of a concubine. Since Li Yu's biological grandmother was not very favored, his family had no conflicts with the Princess of Ying, unlike those who were favored, who often had conflicts with her.

The main reason for the conflict is that a prince's mansion in the capital set a bad example.

In a prince's family, after the princess passed away, the prince promoted one of his concubines to the position of principal wife, making her the second wife.

Now that's settled, the new queen consort devised a plan to kill the former queen's son, the crown prince, and then made her own son the crown prince.

Of course, on the surface, it was said that the former queen's son was not killed by the new queen; it was simply an accident.

But we're all shrewd people, we all know each other. After all, she was a perfectly healthy person, an adult, how could she just die in an accident? Who would believe she didn't do it?

With such an example preceding them, the previously harmonious relationship between the various princely mansions suddenly became strained.

Originally, everyone in the royal family had a title, so there was no need for them to fight like fighting cocks.

But with one princess dying, another concubine being promoted to the position of principal wife, and then the principal wife's son being killed, it would be strange if other families didn't become wary.

Speaking of which, Li Yu's grandmother was able to become a concubine three years ago thanks to the successor of that family. After all, Li Yu's grandmother was not favored and was only a concubine. After the Princess Consort of Ying passed away, she probably wouldn't be promoted to the position of Princess Consort by the Prince of Ying. If those who were favored were to take the position, then it was hard to say.

Therefore, Li Yu's family also benefited from this arrangement. After all, a prince's concubine still holds a certain status, and she also receives a considerable annual salary, as well as a substantial monthly allowance and annual stipend from the household.

Although Li Yu and others had to hand over their salaries to the public treasury, the salaries of the women in the inner quarters did not have to be handed over to the public treasury; they could keep them as their own private savings.

With a salary and monthly allowances from the manor, their lives in the manor were much better than before.

Previously, the other families either had mothers who were concubines and received good treatment, or they were favored and could get money from the Prince of Ying, so they all had a lot of private savings. But the Li family had nothing except for the monthly allowance and annual stipend from the government. This was because Li Yu's grandmother was not favored and was only a concubine, so she did not receive a salary from the court. The monthly allowance and annual stipend from the household were also not much, so she could not save much private savings to support her sons and grandsons.

Now that Li Yu's grandmother is also a concubine, her treatment has improved, and their family's life has naturally become better.

Even though Li Yu's grandmother was out of favor and couldn't get money from the Prince of Ying, these benefits were still quite good.

Actually, it's quite good to live on the salary from the imperial court and the benefits from the household. If I could get money from the Prince of Ying, it would easily attract envy and resentment. If someone were to try and do something to me, that would be bad.

For insignificant people like them, being able to avoid envy and still have some money to spend is the best outcome.

For example, the favored Eighth Wife's birth mother, a concubine, has always been a thorn in the side of the Princess Consort. Three years ago, a concubine passed away, and the Prince originally intended to make the Eighth Wife's birth mother a concubine, since she was currently in the Prince's favor. However, the Princess Consort kept persuading the Prince to make Li Yu's grandmother a concubine, saying that Li Yu's grandmother was an honest person and was so old that she might pass away one day. Why not let her be happy before she passes away?
The King of England thought this made sense. The younger concubines would have plenty of opportunities to become secondary consorts in the future. The older one was the only one left, and all the others of the same age had passed away. So he agreed to the Queen Consort's suggestion and let Li Yu's grandmother become a secondary consort, thus allowing Li Yu's family to live a good life.

Although she was a concubine like the second aunt, a concubine of a prince of the second rank was not comparable to a concubine of a prince of the first rank.

There are relatively few princes in the capital, but there are a lot of dukes. Things are valued for their scarcity; if there are too many, they become worthless.