Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Chapter 1444 A Maid's Fate 17
Linlang knew from Prince An's question that he probably thought the Zhou family was truly her family. So she had to think of a proper answer. Otherwise, Prince An might think that she had become successful and no longer recognized her family, which would not leave a good impression. She still wanted to live a peaceful life in the Prince's mansion, so she couldn't let Prince An dislike her and drive her away one day.

So Linlang immediately said, "I was very young when I left home, so I don't know if they are my parents unless they can provide concrete evidence. But so far, the evidence is not very conclusive. I'm afraid that someone has a grudge against me and deliberately finds a family of scoundrels to impersonate my parents and cause me trouble. So I have to be careful. I can't just accept anyone who comes. Otherwise, if I rashly accept them and they keep causing me trouble, but on the surface they are my family, I won't be able to deal with them. Wouldn't I never have a peaceful day?"

"I'm even afraid that because I've acknowledged these people, they'll come to the Prince's Mansion every day to cause trouble, making the mansion a laughingstock. After all, Your Highness, you see, they haven't even acknowledged our kinship yet, and they're already making a scene. If we do something after we've acknowledged them, and they're not satisfied, won't they take advantage of my status as my parents' family and cause a huge commotion? Wouldn't that make the Prince's Mansion a laughingstock?"

That's true. Prince An grew up in the complex environment of the palace and knows that there are many complicated things in this world. You can't just casually acknowledge your family and parents. After all, parents have too much power over their children. Once you acknowledge them, you'll be carrying a heavy burden on your shoulders. If that burden has ill intentions, it will indeed be very difficult to deal with.

Moreover, Linlang's later statement was absolutely right. This group of people were clearly not easy to deal with. They started making trouble before even recognizing each other. If they were to actually acknowledge each other, they would cause a scene over whatever it was, and their Prince An's Mansion would truly become a laughing stock.

So after hearing Linlang's words, Prince An's expression darkened. He thought that even if these people were Consort Zhou's parents and family, he couldn't ask her to acknowledge them, because he didn't want the Prince's mansion to become a laughing stock.

—Actually, Linlang's second half of her words was deliberately meant for Prince An to hear. She knew that Prince An definitely didn't want the Prince's mansion to become a laughing stock. So after hearing what she said, even if the Zhou family were her relatives, Prince An would probably find a way to make them not be relatives, so as not to have to acknowledge them and cause trouble in the future.

So Prince An immediately said, "I'll investigate the background of these people and see who gave them the information that you were a concubine in Prince An's residence, and then brought them to the capital."

Without someone with a powerful background leading them, who in this village would dare to go to the capital and cause trouble at the residence of a prince?

So Linlang was right about one thing: they were definitely being instructed by someone, and that person's purpose was clearly malicious. So it seems that this person has a grudge against Consort Zhou.

Since they had a grudge against Consort Zhou, Prince An naturally wanted to investigate who was hostile to Consort Zhou and had brought such a group of people to her.

This matter is not difficult to investigate, because the heir of the Duke of Zhenguo and his wife are not afraid of Prince An finding out. After all, in their view, their Duke of Zhenguo's mansion has great power, and Consort Wang is more respectable in front of the emperor than Prince An. There is also the future of the second prince, so what is there to be afraid of?

Of course, the main reason was that they had heard that Consort Zhou was not favored by the emperor, so they did not think that Prince An would be unhappy if they brought Consort Zhou's family to cause trouble. If Consort Zhou were Prince An's favorite concubine, they would certainly not dare to do such a thing, lest they anger Prince An.

Although they weren't particularly afraid of angering Prince An, the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion had always wanted to win Prince An over to side with the Second Prince, so they still had to give Prince An that much face.

But in their hearts, they didn't really care about Prince An. They felt that even if Prince An didn't side with the Second Prince, it wouldn't be a big deal. After all, Prince An was just a leisurely prince who didn't hold any real power in the court or the military. At most, he could say a few words to the emperor, which wasn't much of a power. So what was there to be afraid of?

Furthermore, they weren't causing trouble. The Zhou family really were Consort Zhou's parents. They were just kindly sharing the good news that their daughter, a maid from the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, had become successful. They wanted to inform her parents that their daughter had made it big, and the Zhou family wanted to come to the capital to reunite with Consort Zhou. It wasn't their fault. But what they didn't know was that Prince An was extremely displeased with the Zhou family causing a scene at his mansion. Even if the Zhou family were truly Linlang's family, he didn't want Linlang to acknowledge them. Moreover, he had discovered that the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion was behind this, and that the Zhou family's father and grandfather, the girlfriend's girlfriend, and the gambler were all clearly scoundrels, just as Linlang said, trash. The Duke of Zhenguo's mansion had obviously brought them here with ill intentions.

Once Consort Zhou acknowledges the Zhou family, a gambling addict like Zhou's father, once he gets heavily in debt and can't pay it back, will definitely come to Prince An's mansion to demand money. If he doesn't get it, gambling addicts lose their minds and will definitely cause trouble, just as Linlang said. If he causes trouble frequently, and word gets out, the Prince's mansion will be laughed at. Therefore, it is indeed not advisable to acknowledge the Zhou family.

Therefore, Prince An's impression of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, which had clearly come to cause trouble for Consort Zhou, instantly soured.

Then I remembered that the reason why the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion hated Consort Zhou was probably because Consort Zhou didn't greet the wife of the Duke of Zhenguo's heir that time.

It's truly unexpected that the wife of the Duke of Zhenguo's heir is so petty. Just because Consort Zhou didn't inform her, she brought in Consort Zhou's family members, hoping to cause trouble for Consort Zhou.

Also, I wonder if the poisoning of Consort Zhou by Consort Wang last time is related to the wife of the Duke of Zhenguo's heir.

Given that the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion has been causing trouble for the Prince of An's mansion, how could Prince An still like the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion?

He immediately started thinking about how to cause some trouble for the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.

The next day, when he entered the palace, he heard people discussing how Consort Fang had sought out all the imperial physicians but could not be cured, which worried His Majesty. Immediately, he had a thought and realized that Consort Fang's illness was very similar to the poison used by Consort Wang.

Consort Wang came from the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.

Consort Wang in the palace also came from the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.

If they came from the same place, then the poison that Consort Fang in the palace had the same symptoms as Consort Zhou and Consort Wang, could it be the same? If it is the same, the logic makes perfect sense, because they all came from the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. It wouldn't be surprising at all if they had the same poison.

Thinking of this, Prince An saw that his elder brother looked worried in the imperial study, so he asked his brother to dismiss the servants and told him that someone in his family had once had the same illness as Consort Fang.

If it really was Consort Wang who did it, then by dealing with Consort Wang, we can also deal with the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. Then we can finally vent our anger.