"Oh?"
Princess Chengping slightly raised her eyebrows, a playful glint flashing in her eyes as if she had become interested. With a slight curl of her lips, she looked at the other woman and asked, "What are you going to do?"
Li Wanming lifted her eyebrows and replied in a crisp tone, "Meet the soldiers with a wall, meet the flood with an embankment. I'll just deal with whatever comes my way! Since she failed to get rid of me last time, it's a chance for me to turn the tables given by God."
However, before her voice faded, a thoughtful look flashed across her eyes. She let out a soft sigh and lowered her voice, saying, "But... this matter is indeed difficult to handle. I have to meet her first to find out her true strength. I can't just show all my thorns before she even makes a move and hurt her badly. If I did that, not to mention others, I'm afraid my in - laws would never forgive me."
Although Li Wanming's tone carried a bit of helplessness, upon closer listening, there was actually a faint edge in it.
"Well, you're not too stupid..."
Princess Chengping gave a soft smile and then said, "Since you already have a plan in mind, let me ask you, what's the most important thing when managing the affairs in a prince's mansion?"
"I know this!"
Li Wanming sat up straight and quickly replied, "The tokens! The money! The account books!"
In the Li family, although it seemed that Li's mother was in charge on the surface, Mrs. Yuan was the legitimate mistress. Accordingly, a considerable part of the matters such as account books, tokens, and servants were still in Mrs. Yuan's hands.
Even if one has never eaten pork, one has seen a pig run.
Li Wanming had occasionally caught a glimpse of how her mother handled such matters.
The tokens meant the right to withdraw goods from the warehouse and transfer personnel - it was power.
The silver and account books represented the expenses and cash flow of the prince's mansion - they were the foundation of the daily life in the mansion.
Theoretically, as long as one grasped the power and money, one could control the entire prince's mansion.
"Princess, I'm very familiar with inventorying goods and calculating accounts. You can rest assured."
Li Wanming was quite confident about this.
After all, she had once run a shop, and she was more than capable of keeping accounts.
She even secretly thought that if managed properly, she might be able to double the profits of the fields and shops in the Prince Ning's Mansion within a year.
Princess Chengping let out a snort from her nose and said, "Do you think managing a prince's mansion is the same as running a shop? You think you can solve everything just by controlling the costs and receivables?"
She sneered, dipped her onion - like fingertip in the tea, and wrote a character on the table. Then she calmly said, "If you really want to become the mistress of the prince's mansion, to be decisive and enforce orders strictly, the most important thing... is people."
Li Wanming lowered her head and stared at the faint water trace of the character "people" on the table. Suddenly, she felt that she might have overlooked something very important.
"I know about the situation in your Li family."
Princess Chengping glanced at her and continued, "Your mother is not liked by her mother - in - law, so she rarely goes back home."
"Although she left some trusted subordinates at home and managed to take over secretly, she still adopted a low - key approach, thinking that out of sight was out of mind."
"In a small family, this might barely work without causing any trouble. But in the Prince Ning's Mansion, it definitely won't do."
"The princess of the heir apparent in the Prince Ning's Mansion is a court - appointed lady, and her name will be recorded in the imperial genealogy. Every move of hers will be watched by the censors. No matter what you think in your heart, on the surface, you must be respectful, filial, and set a good example for the world."
"Therefore, after you marry into the mansion, not only can you not conflict with Mrs. Kang, but you also have to respect and love her. You can't ignore her, let alone deliberately alienate her. Even if you want to strangle her in your heart, on the surface, you must be gentle, harmonious, and intimate with her."
"Especially when my elder brother and sister - in - law feel guilty towards her and tend to favor her, you should be even more respectful, as if you were worshiping her like a Bodhisattva on the shrine!"
"Only in this way can you, as the daughter - in - law and the princess of the heir apparent in the Prince Ning's Mansion, achieve family harmony, be gentle and virtuous, and be barely qualified."
"Ah...?" Li Wanming was stunned. She blinked her eyes, and her face was full of disbelief. "Is this... what it means to be qualified?"
Princess Chengping let out a soft snort and slightly raised the corner of her eye. "What else? Do you think it's easy to be the mistress of a big family?"
"On the surface, they are glamorous, but in reality, they have to be very careful and walk on thin ice. Every mistress is like walking on the tip of a knife on tiptoe, under the prying eyes and gossips of others..."
Her tone was both sarcastic and helpless. In the end, there was even a touch of empty desolation in it.
She lowered her eyes and said, "Your tricks are still far from enough."
After hearing this, Li Wanming pursed her lips, and a trace of weariness flashed in her eyes.
"So... it's so difficult..."
She blinked her eyes and only then realized that she had underestimated this matter before.
According to her personality, she would definitely fight head - on, like a needle against a wheat awn, a sword against a spear.
If Mrs. Kang scolded her, she would scold back. If Mrs. Kang hit her, she would hit back. If Mrs. Kang resorted to underhanded tricks, she would just collapse the roof so that no one could live in peace.
As long as she was in the right and could distinguish Mrs. Kang's tricks clearly, explaining that Mrs. Kang had plotted against her first and she was just defending herself, there would eventually be a time when the truth would come out.
Even if the prince and the princess wanted to favor Mrs. Kang in their hearts, they couldn't escape the principle of justice.
But now, according to Princess Chengping, if she really did that, it would be a big mistake.
Because as long as the matter got out, no matter who was right or wrong, it meant family unrest.
And family unrest was the responsibility of the mistress.
If after she married into the mansion, the Prince Ning's Mansion was filled with small quarrels every three days and big fights every five days, then no matter who was right or wrong, it would be a sign of her incompetence and lack of virtue as the mistress!
When she fought against Mrs. Kang, she needed to fight quietly, without showing any signs.
No matter how fierce the fight was underground, on the surface, everything should be harmonious, with the father being kind, the son being filial, the brothers being friendly, and the nephews being harmonious, just like a utopia!
This... was in line with the interests of the Prince Ning's Mansion, but it didn't suit her personality at all.
In the past, when Li Wanming dealt with scheming and innocent - looking people, she would cut through the mountains when facing mountains and build bridges when facing rivers. She took a direct and straightforward approach, dealing with problems as they came.
When she saw a schemer, she would expose them. When she saw an innocent - looking person, she would expose their true nature. She was always direct and never beat around the bush.
But this time -
Princess Chengping asked her to endure humiliation and be more scheming than a schemer, more innocent than an innocent...
It was really killing her!
Princess Chengping looked at her gloomy expression but just smiled without saying a word.
She lowered her eyes to hide her smile, put down the tea cup in her hand, and ordered, "This tea has gone cold. Go and bring my Wuyi Rock Tea."
The palace attendant standing beside responded in a low voice and led the maids to change the tea.
The shell wind chime under the window slanted on the teak deck, making a tinkling sound.
Princess Chengping held the newly served Ru kiln tea cup with sky - white glaze. She still just smiled silently at Li Wanming. The curling steam blurred the fine lines at the corners of her eyes.
Li Wanming was a bit dissatisfied. She pouted and muttered angrily in a low voice, "If we could fight openly with real weapons..."
"If we could fight openly with real weapons, I believe you have a hundred ways to deal with Mrs. Kang."
Princess Chengping's fingertips brushed over the ice - crack patterns on the tea cup and softly said, "It's a pity that the prince's mansion is not a training ground, and Mrs. Kang is not those stupid people you dealt with in the business world."
"She has been in the prince's mansion for many years and knows best how to play to her strengths and hide her weaknesses, pretending to be weak to deceive others."
"You have a fiery temper and are straightforward. But your previous thunderous means and rambunctious behavior won't work on her."