Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Chapter 1744 The Country Girl Looked Down Upon 65
Linlang used to like buying estates, but later she found that buying houses and shops in the capital was not as comfortable as buying estates. So she started to prefer buying houses and shops in the capital. They were readily available, easy to control, easy to liquidate, and the rent was basically stable—if it fluctuated, it would only increase—and no one would report any disasters or give her less profit.

Linlang didn't want to argue with those cunning estate managers, so she preferred to buy houses and shops in the capital.

Zhao was unaware of these things because Linlang bought the house with Li Yu without telling Zhao. So Zhao naturally didn't know that the five thousand taels of silver that her eldest daughter-in-law had kept as a dowry had been exchanged for a large house in the capital worth six thousand taels, and the annual rent alone would be five hundred taels.

Then recently, Consort Zhang, the housekeeper, gave Li Yu more money than before. Combined with what Li Yu had saved up before, it amounted to about three thousand taels. Linlang also used her little bee to find another cheaper house and asked Li Yu if he wanted it. When Li Yu heard that it was cheaper than the market price, he naturally wanted it. So, she bought a house for Li Yu and rented it out. The annual rent was three hundred taels.

Of course, to prevent Li Yu from suspecting how she knew about the cheap house, Linlang had the robot put up a fake real estate agent's name outside, saying that an agent she knew had told her.

So now, the couple earns eight hundred taels a year just from rent. In addition, Linlang massages Consort Zhang, and Consort Zhang gives Linlang some rewards every now and then. Consort Zhang also gives Li Yu some personal money. The two of them are not short of money every year. Buying some food and necessities is not an easy matter. After all, the mansion provides food and lodging. They only need to buy some things that the mansion does not provide to try, which does not cost much.

Since Zhao didn't provide any subsidies to Linlang and her husband, only taking their monthly allowance and occasionally giving Li Sanlang some financial assistance, Cao couldn't find any fault with Zhao and had to let it go for the time being. After all, the monthly allowance belonged to Zhao, and she could give it to whomever she wanted, so Cao couldn't say anything.

Soon after Grandma Li San entered the house, the second branch of the family became even more lively. Grandma Li San was rich, as were Li Yu and his wife, while only Cao Shi was poor. Cao Shi couldn't stand it, so she started to sow discord between Grandma Li San and Linlang and his wife, saying that Consort Zhang favored Linlang and his wife, often giving them money but never giving any to Li Sanlang and the others.

And sure enough, this provocation was quite effective. After all, Granny Li could see that her husband's relationship with Li Yu and his wife was very cold. As Li Sanlang's wife, she had to follow her husband's wishes. Otherwise, if she went against her husband, how could she live a good life in the future? So Cao's provocation was successful.

Of course, the main reason was that Grandma Li felt that even if she had money, it didn't mean it was right for her husband to be ignored. So when she heard from Madam Cao that Consort Zhang only gave money to Li Yu and his wife and not to them, she was naturally unhappy.

Cao was pleased to see that she had successfully sown discord among Li San's grandmother, making her dislike Li Yu and his wife just as much as she did. She thought that when the two sisters-in-law stood together, they would ostracize Linlang, leaving her with no one to associate with in the second branch of the family, making her miserable.

She had no idea that Linlang simply couldn't be bothered with them and wasn't upset at all.

After getting Grandma Li to stand with her, there was another benefit: she could take advantage of Grandma Li.

Grandma Li was a very wealthy woman. In addition to her dowry of 10,000 taels of silver, she could also bring back many gifts from her parents' home every time she returned. Cao followed behind Grandma Li and not only ate and drank well, but Grandma Li would also give her some small items as gifts. If she ran out of money, she would pick out some of the gifts that Grandma Li gave her and sell them. With the money, she could buy the things she wanted. Finally, she managed to live a life where she had a little money.

Seeing that Cao was able to get money from Granny Li, Li Erlang's sister followed suit and went to flatter Granny Li. Granny Li was pleased by her flattery and gave her gifts in return. Li Erlang's sister, who was also Aunt Cao's daughter, was already engaged to Aunt Cao's nephew.

When they got engaged, Aunt Cao's daughter was still young and didn't understand. Now that she's fifteen and about to get married, she understands and knows that everyone else has married well—like Aunt Chen's daughter from the fourth wife, who, like herself, is also a concubine's daughter, and married Linlang's brother, and will become a duke's wife in the future—while she herself married a country bumpkin, so naturally she's unhappy.

But Aunt Cao said that it was her maternal family, and the two families were relatives. She would definitely live well in her husband's family. But if she married into a stranger's family, not a relative, they might not treat her well. If she was bullied, she, as an aunt, couldn't help her.

Li Erlang's sister thought the same thing. Anyway, it didn't matter who she married, her husband would be a high-ranking official with a salary and a rank. It would be better to marry someone she knew, so she agreed.

Of course, the main reason was that Li Erlang's sister realized that it would be difficult for her to find a future duke to marry like Chen Yiniang's daughter. If she could marry well, she would definitely make a fuss.

But Li Erlang's sister never considered that, given her birth mother's subservient attitude towards her own family after marrying into the Cao family, if she suffered any grievances in her husband's family, would her birth mother dare to say anything to her own family? Impossible.

On the contrary, if she had married into a stranger's family, Aunt Cao would definitely have tried to help her get revenge if her daughter had been wronged.

Seeing that Li Erlang's sister had been fooled by Aunt Cao and was preparing to marry into her birth mother's family, putting aside the possibility of problems with offspring from such a close-kin marriage, Linlang naturally wouldn't explain the reasons to her since she was willing. After all, they weren't that close, and the other woman, brainwashed by Aunt Cao, felt unhappy that her family had received favoritism from Consort Zhang and was hostile towards Linlang and her husband. Since that was the case, Linlang naturally wouldn't interfere in other people's affairs. If she wanted to marry into her birth mother's family, let her do it.

Because Li Erlang's sister, Li Yuanniang, had her money taken away by Aunt Cao and used to subsidize the Cao family, Li Yuanniang, like her brother, was left with nothing.

Fortunately, she wasn't in a hurry because she knew that once she got married, she would have a salary and wouldn't have to worry about not having money.

—She was born into a wealthy family and probably never thought that in some families with no moral bottom line, the money never reaches the woman's hands; it's all in the hands of the men. Even if she has a salary, what can she do if her husband goes to the Imperial Clan Court to collect it and doesn't give it to her?
As for the Cao family, they have the audacity to keep complaining about being poor in front of Aunt Cao, which clearly shows that they are a family with no moral bottom line. It is uncertain whether she will receive her salary or even have money to spend.

However, Li Erlang's sister has not experienced these things yet, so for now she only feels that she has no money to spend in the Prince's Mansion and wants to spend money when she sees that other girls have money to spend. So now she sees that as long as she pleases Li San's grandmother, she can get things and spend money, so she naturally runs to fleece Li San's grandmother, just like Cao Shi.