Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Now that the Chengen Duke's Mansion has lost its backer, it's clear that Madam Song's connections are quite impressive. Therefore, Madam Chengen also wants Madam Song to take her daughter to attend banquets around the world. After all, her daughter is thirteen years old and it's time to find her a good match. Relying solely on Madam Song to take her to banquets would be too time-consuming, as she has to manage the household and doesn't have time to go out to banquets every day. On the contrary, Madam Song doesn't have to manage the household and can travel around every day, having plenty of time to take people out to banquets.

She wanted Madam Song to bring her daughter to the banquet, but since Madam Song hadn't brought it up, and she couldn't bring herself to ask, she could only be unhappy. She then started complaining to her trusted nanny about how bad Madam Song was.

Linlang saw it but didn't take it to heart, because she knew that at most, Madam Chengen would only whisper about it to her trusted nanny or daughter in private, and wouldn't dare to dance in front of Madam Song. Even if she did dance in front of Madam Song, she didn't need to worry that Madam Song wouldn't be able to handle it. So she didn't need to tell Madam Song about this, after all, it would be difficult to explain how she knew about it.

By going to banquets with Madam Song, Linlang got to know quite a few people and was no longer an unknown figure in the Chengen Duke's Mansion.

However, it wouldn't be easy to marry into a family with better conditions than the heir of the Duke of Cheng'en. This is because the original owner of this body had lost both parents and had no support. High-ranking families sometimes consider marriage alliances when choosing a wife, and since she had no relatives or support, no one would consider her.

If the original family had uncles and aunts, things would be better, but the original family didn't have any uncles or aunts, otherwise, after the death of both parents, they wouldn't have had to rely on their maternal family, where their uncles and aunts would definitely have taken care of them.

Currently, in the capital, families with better conditions than the heir of the Duke of Chengen are: first, sons of dukes; second, sons of high-ranking officials in the court; and third, members of the imperial clan at the rank of General of the State or above.

The sons of high-ranking officials in the court are basically unable to marry, because important officials in the court usually like to form alliances through marriage to strengthen their power. As an orphan, she has no value to them.

Then Linlang also didn't really want to marry the son of a high-ranking official in the court.

Although high-ranking officials in the imperial court enjoy immense prestige, they also face great danger. A single misstep in the court can lead to their downfall.

On the other hand, nobles and members of the imperial family are quite secure if none of them hold official positions in the court.

If Linlang is to marry someone better than the heir of the Duke of Cheng'en, as the original owner of the body requested, then stability must be considered. Otherwise, if she accidentally offends the emperor and her family is raided, she will be finished.

Therefore, Linlang's target is the sons of the same duke's family, as well as members of the imperial clan.

The former is very difficult, because among ordinary people, the title of Duke is the highest level, and such a high-ranking family would almost never marry a helpless orphan.

It's possible that it's a member of the royal family.

There might be no hope for a prince or a duke, but there is a chance for a general who can govern the country.

These members of the royal family will have a certain social status in the future, but they will only receive a fixed salary, which is not much. It will be difficult for them to live the carefree life they had in the royal palace. Generally, such families will arrange for their sons to marry a wife with a large dowry so that their sons can continue to live a good life in the future.

In order to marry their sons a woman with a large dowry, they would even marry a merchant's daughter. So, for a daughter of an official with a considerable dowry like herself, getting married would not be difficult at all.

So Linlang had already spread the word through her friends that she had taken back her mother's dowry and was practicing managing the household, hoping it would reach the ears of her royal parents.

Those members of the royal family, knowing that her mother had a large dowry, might have become interested in her.

This is Linlang's layout.

Marrying a member of the imperial clan, a general who governs the state, is arguably better than marrying the heir of the Duke of Cheng'en. After all, the heir is a member of the royal family, and according to the rules of this world, their children could inherit the title for three generations and also become generals who govern the state. The heir of the Duke of Cheng'en, without special circumstances, will only become the Marquis of Cheng'en after the Duke of Cheng'en passes away, and his sons will only be able to be granted the title of earl, because for nobles, unless it is stipulated that the title is hereditary, it is inherited by succession.

In terms of both social status and future rank, marrying a general who protects the country is far superior.

Although Linlang has this plan, whether it will be successful is another matter.

Not only did Madam Song take her to the banquet, but the old Duchess also took her to the banquet as Linlang had wished.

Previously, when the old Duchess went out to banquets, she usually didn't take the original owner with her because she knew that the original owner didn't like going out. So after asking the original owner a few times and finding that the original owner was not willing to go out, the old Duchess didn't make things difficult for her.

But now that her granddaughter has come to terms with it and is willing to go out, the old Duchess will naturally take her with her.

Unlike Madam Song, the Dowager Duchess brought Song Yuanniang with her to the banquet.

This is quite normal. After all, Song Yuanniang is her granddaughter, and she's reached the age where she should be getting married. How could she not bring her along when she goes to banquets? Even if her mother tries to discourage her from being close to her, she still brings her along.

Linlang wasn't surprised that the old Duchess brought Song Yuanniang to the banquet, but Song Yuanniang was surprised to see Linlang going along as well. After all, the original owner of this body was always timid and didn't dare to go to such grand occasions, so she never attended banquets.

Although she was surprised, Song Yuanniang wasn't worried about the impact of Linlang going with her. After all, she was the daughter of a duke, while Shen Linlang was just an orphan. If they both took a fancy to a young man at the banquet, she was confident that he would choose her, not Shen Linlang.

Soon they arrived at their destination, the Duke of Anguo's Mansion.

The Duke of Anguo's mansion was the Empress's maternal family, so the people at the banquet were all of great importance, including wives of high-ranking officials, wives of members of the imperial family, and wives of meritorious nobles—people from all walks of life were present.

Thanks to Tu Linlang's recent trips with Madam Song, she quickly found someone she knew at the venue and started chatting with them.

These acquaintances introduced her to even more people, and Linlang thrived in the community.

Song Yuanniang had originally thought that Linlang would be timid and hesitant to approach these people, but she was surprised to find that Linlang was quite at ease with them.

However, seeing that she interacted with those members of the royal family quite a bit, he couldn't help but purse his lips.

She looked down on those members of the imperial clan. Although they had a secure future, their lives were predetermined, unlike the nobles and sons of high-ranking officials. As long as they were ambitious, passed the imperial examinations, and became officials, they had unlimited possibilities.

Linlang didn't know that Song Yuanniang looked down on the imperial clan. Anyway, she thought the imperial clan was quite stable and good. Look at Madam Song the Second. Although the salary of a county princess is not much, when the Chengen Duke's mansion was prosperous, Madam Chengen Duke looked down on Madam Song the Second's salary at all.

But now, the Chengen Duke's Mansion is on the decline. Soon, the Chengen Duke's Mansion will not have enough money to live a luxurious life. The Chengen Duke's wife will not be able to get much money either. She may have to take out the money she had previously earned to support her son. Soon, they will be living off their savings.

Even if Madam Song the Second had to use her money to support her son, her money, once spent this year, would be replenished next year. This was like someone with a pension. Madam Cheng'en, on the other hand, was someone with savings but no pension; once the money was gone, it was gone. Moreover, her children, knowing she had savings, would constantly find ways to extract money from her. She could refuse, but that would inevitably lead to complaints from her children, making it difficult to avoid spending it all. Therefore, receiving a yearly allowance was crucial. (End of Chapter)