Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Cao's attempt to spy on Zhao was destined to fail.

Because Master Li didn't give Zhao much money.

In fact, Master Li had indeed given all the money that Consort Zhang had given him to Zhao.

But he later discovered that Zhao would subsidize her youngest son but not her other sons and daughters, which was unacceptable.

His biological mother favored his eldest son; she was his biological mother, and the money belonged to her, so he couldn't say anything.

The money in Zhao's hands wasn't actually hers; it was given to her by him to use for the second wife. But Zhao outwardly complied while secretly giving it to her younger son. How could that be? It wasn't Zhao's money. How could Zhao act like his birth mother, only giving it to a child she favored?

Since Zhao couldn't treat everyone equally, Master Li stopped giving money to Zhao after receiving it from Consort Zhang. He simply gave Zhao all the monthly allowance from the household without deducting anything from her, which was enough.

In retrospect, it was thanks to Zhao's early exposure that Zhang Concubine was not only not in charge of the household, but had not even been promoted to concubine yet. She was still a concubine of lower status and was not favored. She didn't have much money to give him, so he didn't have much money to give Zhao to subsidize his youngest son.

If it were now, Consort Zhang could give him a lot of money every month. If he trusted Zhao and entrusted all his money to her, and she then gave all the money to his youngest son, he would really be furious.

So now, like his father, he keeps some money for himself and only gives the public funds to Zhao.

Zhao only received a monthly allowance, and since her dowry was not much, she couldn't provide Li Sanlang with much financial support afterward.

Madam Zhao had also inquired with Master Li, asking if Consort Zhang hadn't given him any money. Master Li didn't say that Consort Zhang hadn't given him any, since that would be a bit of a lie; he only said that he had spent a lot on social expenses abroad and had used it all up.

Zhao came from a scholarly family and respected her husband. Hearing him say this, she naturally didn't dare to scold him, saying that he shouldn't squander the money and should give it to her so she could use it to support her youngest son. So, although she was unhappy to hear her husband say this, it was his money, and he could spend it however he wanted, which she couldn't control, so she could only let it go.

Because she dared not ask her husband for the money given to her by Consort Zhang, she was always broke. Since she had no money, she could only use her monthly allowance and annual stipend to subsidize Li Sanlang. She had no money to subsidize Linlang. Then Cao Shi discovered this and jumped out to accuse Zhao Shi of not giving them money.

The Cao family alone caused quite a bit of trouble for the second branch of the family. And now, things are about to get even more lively, because not long after Cao entered the family, Li Sanlang's wife is also going to enter.

Li Yu's wife was chosen for him by his second aunt at the Yonghe Prince's Mansion after he overheard her talking about Linlang's upcoming marriage. Zhao Shi did not interfere.

Now that Li Sanlang is getting married, Zhao Shi, who dotes on her youngest son, has chosen the bride herself.

When her son was fifteen, she had already asked people to search for noble ladies throughout the capital. In the end, just like Consort Wu had chosen for Master Li, she selected a merchant's daughter. The woman was rich but powerless and was looking for a backer, so she naturally agreed to the marriage and promised to bring a dowry of 10,000 taels of silver, including 500 mu of estate. In the future, Li Sanlang and his wife would not only have Li Sanlang's salary as Assistant General of the State (the eldest son of a General of the State inherits the title of General of the State without being demoted, the second son inherits the title of Assistant General of the State with a one-rank reduction, and the son of a concubine inherits the title of General of the State with a two-rank reduction, so Li Erlang is General of the State and Li Sanlang is Assistant General of the State), but also the income from the 500 mu of estate. In addition, when Master Li Er passes away, he will surely leave something for his youngest son. So their family would live quite well, no worse than Li Yu and his wife.

This was the future that Zhao was planning for her youngest son.

A dowry of 10,000 taels is quite a lot for a member of the imperial clan of the youngest son's caliber, especially considering that it includes 500 mu of estates. These are real assets, unlike some families who make grand pronouncements about how much dowry they provided, but are actually exaggerating the figures. After all, the prices of goods can be inflated, but only land, estates, shops, houses, and cash dowry are real assets.

Among them, Zhuangzi is even better than the silver in the chest, since the silver in the chest cannot generate more money, and it will be less if you use it. But Zhuangzi is different; Zhuangzi can generate more money.

However, it is very difficult to develop a farm around the capital, since the land and farms around the capital have all been bought up by wealthy and powerful families in the capital.

Therefore, the value of Grandma Li's 500-mu estate is much greater than the 5,000 taels of silver she keeps as a treasure.

For example, the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion gave Linlang a dowry of 5,000 taels of silver. Apart from a small dowry, the rest was all silver for keeping in the chest. It sounds like the value is about the same as the value of Grandma Li's 500 mu estate. However, silver for keeping in the chest cannot generate more money. It will be used up little by little, so it is actually inferior to the estate.

Zhao believed she had found a better marriage for her youngest son than the one her husband had arranged for Li Yu. However, she was unaware that Linlang was actually a cheat code. The Duke of Zhenguo's mansion had given Linlang nearly five thousand taels of silver as a dowry, and now it had not only not decreased but had increased. The reason was simple: Linlang knew that the dowry could not generate more money, so as soon as she entered the mansion, she had her maids search for people in the capital who wanted to sell their houses or shops. She had already bought a large house at a low price.

That family had a very prestigious past, but this generation of descendants, like the original owner's great-grandfather, gambled. So, in order to pay off the high-interest loans caused by gambling debts, they were eager to sell, fearing that if they were slow to sell, they would incur more interest. Therefore, they offered a price much lower than the surrounding houses, and Linlang quickly bought the house.

Linlang made a profit just by buying this house, because the price offered by the seller was about a thousand taels lower than the market price. If Linlang didn't want it, she could put it up for sale and turn her savings from five thousand taels into six thousand taels in one go.

In fact, Linlang could make money by buying and selling like this, since she has the "little bee" cheat code, which allows her to know where there are cheap houses for sale in the capital at any time.

But Linlang didn't want to bother with it. After all, buying and selling required keeping an eye on the market every day to see where there were cheap houses for sale, then going to see the houses, buying them, and then transferring the ownership to the government. Selling was the same. Even if she could have her servants sell the houses for her, it would still be troublesome. So Linlang didn't sell the house. Instead, she renovated it and rented it to a wealthy merchant from out of town for 500 taels of silver a year.

The other party did not live in the capital permanently; they only used it as a temporary stop when selling goods. Therefore, they did not spend a lot of money to buy a house worth several thousand or tens of thousands of taels of silver, but simply rented a large house.

Although the annual rent is only five hundred taels, the house is in the capital, so she can keep track of the situation at any time, and the rent is easy to collect. This is much easier than buying and selling, which suits Linlang's plan to live a leisurely life.

As for the Third Grandmother Li that Zhao told Li Sanlang about, although she had a 500-mu estate, the estate was located in a very far place. If something happened, it would be very troublesome to liquidate it. Moreover, the estate's profits were unpredictable. If the estate owner was a rogue, he would report disasters every year, and the estate's profits might not even reach 500 taels.

This is a conclusion Linlang reached after frequently traveling through such ancient times. (End of Chapter)