Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

As mentioned earlier, the Crown Prince's wife feared that Linlang would be harmed by the Duke of Chengen's wife and son while she was in the Duke of Chengen's mansion, so she planned to marry Linlang after the formalities were completed.

Thirteen is too young, it's alright. We can consummate the marriage after she turns fifteen. The key is to prevent Lady Chengen and her son from harming Linlang.

She discussed this matter with the old Duchess, who was increasingly frail lately and naturally agreed. She was also worried about Linlang getting into trouble, and didn't want her daughter-in-law to commit a serious mistake. If word got out, it wouldn't be good for the Cheng'en Duke's Mansion. So she was willing to send Linlang away as soon as possible.

Since both sets of elders were willing, Linlang's marriage was put on the agenda shortly after the Crown Prince of Chengen's marriage.

When Lady Cheng'en saw that Linlang was engaged and about to get married, she naturally tried to persuade the old Duchess of the State, saying that Linlang was too young to get married.

She was still thinking about Linlang's dowry and figuring out how to get rid of it. She had already thought about it: she would cry to the old Duchess, saying that the manor was out of money and everyone was starving, and ask the old Duchess to tell Linlang to give her dowry to the manor. The old Duchess wouldn't want her son and grandson to starve, and no matter how much she loved her granddaughter, she would probably have to ask. In the original world, this trick actually worked. However, at that time, the old Duchess only said that she would lend it to Linlang temporarily and return it to the original owner when the money came from the estate at the end of the year.

Of course, what the old Duchess said was true, but the Duchess of Chengen did not repay it. By the end of the year, when she had money, the entire household quickly spent it all, and no one mentioned the money she owed. On the contrary, the following year, she came to borrow money from her. Seeing how hard the household was doing, she felt sorry for them and lent them the money. Once the money was gone, she became someone who ate and drank for free in the eyes of the Duchess of Chengen and her son, Liu Si Niang, and others. Those people treated her with contempt, especially Liu Si Niang, who was jealous of her and was the main one who caused her trouble.

Just then, the old lady passed away. They used the excuse that the old lady had doted on her and now that the old lady was dead, she should pray for her. They drove her to the family temple, saying they would give her some food, but no one in the temple would pay attention to her. She soon died of hunger and illness.

Linlang was furious after reading about the original owner's experiences, which is why she wanted to take revenge on the Duke of Cheng'en's mansion.

Now that Linlang is getting married, Madam Chengen will definitely not be able to get her dowry. How can that be? So she naturally has to persuade her. She thinks that if she can't borrow it, she can find a way to break into Shen Linlang's storeroom and steal her dowry and betrothal gifts. That should work, right? But this needs to be planned carefully. It's definitely not possible to steal so much stuff in just a few days.

But Linlang's imminent marriage shattered the dreams of Lady Cheng'en, preventing her from obtaining Linlang's belongings. Naturally, Lady Cheng'en was unwilling to let Linlang leave and wanted her to stay so she could have a chance to steal Linlang's dowry and betrothal gifts.

Looking at the face of the Duchess of Chengen who had come to persuade her, the old Duchess thought to herself, "Isn't it because you wanted to harm Linlang that the Prince of Zhou's Mansion dared not let Linlang stay in the Duke of Chengen's Mansion until she turned fifteen and came of age before getting married? And now you still have the nerve to come and persuade me?" So she naturally ignored the Duchess of Chengen.

Besides the fact that Lady Chengen was upset that Linlang had run away and she couldn't deal with her or get her money, there was another person who was also feeling uneasy: Song Yuanniang.

Song Yuanniang is a year older than Linlang, and she is already fourteen years old this year. Logically, she should be engaged, but because her mother's reputation has deteriorated, she has not yet found a husband.

In fact, there must have been people willing to propose marriage to her. After all, the Chengen Duke's family had a certain status and position, and her sister-in-law was the Empress's sister. There were quite a few people willing to marry her.

However, the men who proposed marriage to her were all men whose conditions were far worse than hers—actually, their conditions weren't that bad, just worse than the man Linlang married—she didn't like them at all, and the men she liked weren't willing to marry her.

For example, seeing that Linlang was married to Chu Yue and would become a prince in the future, she wanted to marry a prince's son so that she could surpass Linlang in the future.

But that prince's heir had absolutely no interest in her, so even if she wanted to, it wouldn't make a difference.

She did consider some underhanded tactics, like sleeping with him and getting him to marry her. Given her status as the emperor's cousin, the empress's sister, and her sister-in-law, he wouldn't dare refuse. But she didn't want to be hated in the future. She couldn't bear to see Chu Yue and Lin Lang living happily together while she was hated.

Of course, more importantly, the unmarried prince of marriageable age was surrounded by very shrewd people, making it difficult for her to get close to him, let alone successfully climb into his bed.

If she succeeds in getting into someone's bed, she might do it regardless of whether she'll be hated in the future.

She had her mother send someone to sound out the family, but they politely declined, leaving her only able to admire them but helpless. On the surface, they said it depended on their son's feelings, but knowing full well that their son had no interest in Song Yuanniang, this was essentially a rejection.

Actually, she could marry a prince, and in the future, a prince could become a prince. With her family's conditions, she could definitely marry a prince.

In this dynasty, the empress has a son. With the empress having a son, the other princes are relatively safe. As long as they do not vie for the throne, they will be able to smoothly ascend to the throne and become princes in the future.

But... there aren't many princes of marriageable age.

Think about it, Liu Si Niang's sister is the Empress in the palace, which means that the princes are all still very young. The oldest one is Liu Si Niang's sister's child, who is only about the same age as her. How can this be?

More importantly, if she were to marry a prince, it would be a matter of generational difference. She is the emperor's cousin and the princes' aunt. How could she possibly marry into such a family?

Therefore, there are women in the capital who are better than Chu Yue, but it would be difficult for her to get married.

The men who were willing to propose marriage to her used to be of similar status to the Duke of Chengen's family, but now, because of the Duke of Chengen's wife's bad reputation, they are a level below. Even those who are of the same level mostly come from families with problems, otherwise they would not marry a girl from a family with obviously bad morals like her.

She didn't want to marry someone like that, because she didn't want to marry someone inferior to Linlang.

Because she's too picky and not good enough for anyone, Song Yuanniang is still in a situation where she hasn't found a husband yet.

It's normal for Song Yuanniang to compare herself with Linlang, because Song Yuanniang is only a fourteen-year-old girl, which is the age when she likes to compare herself with others and doesn't want to be inferior to others. If it were twenty years later, even if she wanted to compare herself with others, she probably wouldn't show it on her face.

Lady Cheng'en was also very troubled by her daughter's marriage.

She also wanted her daughter to marry someone better than Linlang, but she couldn't find anyone. And if she wanted to arrange a marriage for someone worse than Linlang, her daughter wouldn't be happy. How could she not have a headache?

Adding to the problem is that the family doesn't have enough money, making things even more difficult. (End of Chapter)