Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

The Sixth Prince then said, "Please speak, Miss Zhou."

Linlang didn't beat around the bush with the Sixth Prince and went straight to the point, saying, "If you are dissatisfied with me in the future, let me go home. If going home is not suitable, give me a Taoist temple. I can become a Taoist nun and cultivate. You can't discard me after I've served my purpose. Can you do that?"

Although the Sixth Prince's guarantee is useless, since he can make a guarantee now and then go back on his word once he comes to power.

However, Linlang wouldn't believe his guarantee; it was just a pre-arranged agreement so that if the Sixth Prince went back on his word in the future, Linlang wouldn't feel any pressure dealing with him, since she had already made it clear beforehand.

Actually, she would rather become a Taoist nun, since she has plenty of money and leisure time, and she would live a very happy life.

The Sixth Prince was also taken aback. What Linlang wanted to talk about wasn't about the Zhou family helping him or what conditions he would have to pay, but rather a guarantee that she wouldn't kill him, fearing that he might go back on his word in the future.

In fact, no one likes a powerful maternal relative, so the Sixth Prince did have his own arrangements for the Zhou family.

Unlike the Third Prince, who killed the original owner of the body and the Zhou family as soon as he ascended the throne and secured his position, the Sixth Prince planned to wait for Master Zhou to pass away naturally.

After all, he had carefully observed the Zhou family. The Zhou family members were not good at the imperial examinations, and it would be difficult for them to become high-ranking officials in the court like Master Zhou in the future.

As long as no member of the Zhou family can pass the imperial examination and become a high-ranking official, the Zhou family will remain just an ordinary noble family, and it will be difficult for them to continue to grow stronger. At most, they will have some honors because they have an empress in the palace, but that is nothing and can be given.

We are truly grateful for the imperial examination system. Otherwise, if it were the recommendation system of the past, a powerful family like the Zhou family could have continued to grow stronger by relying on important officials like Master Zhou and the Empress.

Nowadays, the imperial examination system is in place, and everyone who wants to become an official must pass the examination and become a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest level of the imperial examination). This is a strict rule, making it very difficult for them to expand their influence.

This is why, although the sixth prince, like many others, disliked his maternal relatives, he was not afraid of them.

Since the imperial examination system matured, maternal relatives were no longer a concern. I don't know why Linlang was worried that he would discard her after she had served her purpose. In fact, he didn't need to do that at all. He could have just waited for Master Zhou to pass away, and the Zhou family would have declined and become just an ordinary noble family.

He wasn't afraid that Master Zhou would die later than him. Master Zhou was almost thirty years older than him, and as long as he took good care of his health, Master Zhou would definitely pass away before him, so what was there to be afraid of?

In fact, Linlang understood this as well. After the imperial examination system was implemented, relatives of the empress couldn't really cause any trouble and had no power to influence the court. The reason why someone like Master Zhou could have such power was because he rose through the ranks after passing the imperial examination and became a high-ranking official. In addition, his sister became empress in the palace, which gave him a certain amount of power. It wasn't because he was a relative of the empress that he became a high-ranking official. The order of events was very different. If he hadn't been able to rise through the ranks after passing the imperial examination, he would have just been an ordinary nobleman who was given a noble title because Empress Zhou became empress. There was nothing to worry about. And after Master Zhou passed away, the Zhou family would decline to become an ordinary noble family. So there was no need to deal with the Zhou family.

So sometimes she couldn't understand why the Third Prince wanted to kill the Zhou family and the original owner of this body. Wouldn't the Zhou family automatically decline once the eldest master of the Zhou family was gone?

Ultimately, it was because the Third Prince felt wronged when he pursued the original owner of the body, so after securing the throne, he wanted to take revenge.

Although the Sixth Prince didn't understand why Zhou Linlang was afraid he would abandon her after she had served her purpose and do something to her once he ascended to the throne, since Zhou Linlang had brought it up, the Sixth Prince naturally made a promise, saying, "I can promise you that. Actually, you don't need to worry. I'm not the kind of person who would abandon someone after they've served their purpose. As long as you and the Zhou family don't do anything illegal or criminal, if I really do ascend to the throne in the future, I definitely won't do anything to my wife."

He had never intended to do anything to his wife, so he naturally dared to agree. Seeing that the Sixth Prince's expression was upright and he didn't seem to be lying, Linlang nodded and said, "A gentleman's promise is worth a thousand pieces of gold. With Your Highness's guarantee, I have no worries."

No way, she didn't believe it at all. After all, people's hearts are fickle. Maybe the sixth prince thinks this way now, but the sixth prince in the future might have other ideas.

So all she wanted was a guarantee that if the Sixth Prince changed his mind in the future, she could go to her father's house to become Empress Dowager openly and without guilt.

The Sixth Prince was unaware that Linlang was referring to him because if he went back on his word like the Third Prince, she would punish him by letting him stay and become Empress Dowager. He was only happy to see that Linlang was relieved, that their matter was settled, and that the Zhou family, and even the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, might support him, so he wouldn't have to struggle as much as he did now.

Linlang went back and told Master Zhou that her talk with the Sixth Prince went smoothly and that the Zhou family could help him.

Master Zhou was curious about what she and the Sixth Prince were talking about.

Actually, he did send someone to follow Linlang, but when Linlang was talking to the Sixth Prince, she sent everyone away, leaving only her and the Sixth Prince to talk. So Master Zhou didn't know what she was talking about with the Sixth Prince.

When Master Zhou asked, Linlang replied calmly, "He didn't say anything, just that His Highness should promise to treat me well in the future."

She had no good feelings towards Master Zhou, who forced the original owner of this body into the palace, ultimately leading to a tragic life. So naturally, she wouldn't tell him her true intentions, only what she said on the surface.

When Master Zhou heard Linlang's words, he saw that they were indeed words of love and affection. He shook his head, thinking that his eldest daughter was always steady and reliable. How could she be so foolish now? Could a man's promise be trusted?
However, he didn't say anything, lest his daughter hear him say that men's promises are untrustworthy and then refuse to enter the palace, which would affect his plans.

Now that an agreement had been reached with the Sixth Prince, the Zhou family and the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion began to help him.

As long as the Zhou family and the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion helped, just like in the original world, the Sixth Prince indeed withstood attacks from all sides.

With the help of the Zhou family and the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion, the emperor soon made the sixth prince the crown prince.

The Emperor has been unwell lately, and the princes have been causing trouble until now, even later than the time it took to establish a Crown Prince in the original world. After all, in the original world, she was engaged to the eldest prince very early in her first life, at the age of thirteen; and in her second life, she was engaged to the third prince early as well, at the age of fourteen after dealing with the eldest prince.

Now it's Linlang's turn. After all this trouble, Linlang is engaged before her coming-of-age ceremony, when she is already fifteen years old.

So it's no wonder the emperor rushed to establish a crown prince; his health was failing him.

Not long after the emperor named the sixth prince as crown prince, the sixth prince married Linlang. (End of this chapter)