Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Chapter 1681 The Country Girl Looked Down Upon 2
After Linlang finished drinking the nutrient solution, she went back. As soon as she got back, her original sister grabbed her and said she had something good for her.

The original owner had four siblings: an older brother, a younger brother, and a younger sister. Their father was the eldest son of Old Master Zhou—who would become the heir of the Duke of Zhenguo if he went to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.

Grandpa Zhou's surviving children were also two sons and two daughters.

So the original owner also had an uncle's family, which currently has two sons and one daughter.

In addition, Grandpa Zhou also had brothers and quite a few people. Although the original owner's great-grandfather was a spendthrift, he had many children. It was just that the original owner's great-grandfather himself had no other brothers. Perhaps because of this, the old couple spoiled their only son, which led to him becoming a spendthrift.

So their family is a large one, with quite a few members.

This group of people, apart from Old Master Zhou who had enjoyed a period of wealth when he was young, had never experienced such a life. Moreover, the wealth Old Master Zhou experienced in his youth could not be considered particularly wealthy, because by the time he could remember, his family's money had been almost entirely squandered due to his father's frequent gambling. That kind of wealth was different from the wealth of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. Therefore, when they first entered the mansion, they were naturally manipulated by the servants of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion and suffered countless losses.

Leaving aside the future and focusing on the present, Linlang learned from the original owner's memories what her sister wanted to give her: a ring she had woven from foxtail grass.

It's quite normal to give the original owner something like this; the original owner's younger sister is still very young, what could she possibly give her?

When her original sister handed her the item, Linlang saw that it was indeed a foxtail grass ring. Although it was nothing special, Linlang still thanked her and accepted it, after all, it was a child's kind gesture.

Seeing her younger sister's happy expression, Linlang couldn't understand how she had become like that when she grew up. Indeed, people change as they grow up.

Let's not talk about the future, just the present. After dinner, the family went to bed.

Linlang also went to sleep. After all, there was still a tough battle to fight tomorrow, so she would not practice martial arts for the time being and would wait until she entered the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.

The next morning, after eating some unpalatable wild vegetable porridge, the Zhou family was preparing to go to the fields to work. After all, it was springtime, the busy season, and there was no time to rest at home.

Just then, a large group of people, riding horses, came along the road with a "clattering" sound.

The villagers had never seen so many people before, and they couldn't help but be curious. Many villagers ran out and chased after the people on horseback, wanting to see what they were doing. After all, the people had asked where Old Master Zhou's house was, and after the people pointed out the way, they wanted to see what these people wanted from the Zhou family. After all, these people were quite respectable, so why would such respectable people be looking for the Zhou family? Naturally, they followed them.

Then when they arrived at the Zhou family's house, they were terrified.

A well-dressed, clean-shaven man with a pale face announced in a high-pitched voice, "Zhou Bingyuan, receive the imperial decree!"

Although Old Master Zhou's family had fallen on hard times since he was young, and had gradually become this wretched, he had seen some of the world and read some books when he was young, so he naturally knew what it meant to receive an imperial decree.

Of course, it's impossible for these people, living in the outskirts of the capital, to be completely unaware of the affairs within the imperial city. After all, some people in the surrounding towns and cities had received imperial decrees because of the imperial concubines, so everyone naturally knew more or less what receiving an imperial decree meant. Immediately, Old Master Zhou hurriedly instructed his family to prepare an incense table, and then led the entire family to kneel down to receive the decree.

The decree was simple: it stated that the Zhenguo Duke's family line had ended. It was found that the old Zhenguo Duke had four sons: the eldest legitimate son (who would inherit the title), the second legitimate son, and two illegitimate sons.

According to the rites and laws, if the eldest son's lineage dies out, the lineage of the second son will inherit.

After investigating the branch of the second legitimate son, they discovered that Old Master Zhou was the eldest son of the branch of the second legitimate son—the original owner's great-grandfather had many children, but Old Master Zhou was the eldest son.

Therefore, this title will be inherited by Old Master Zhou's branch of the family.

When the Zhou family heard this news, they were all stunned.

When the Zhou family wanted their children to go to school, they did approach the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion. After all, they were still within the fifth degree of kinship with the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion and their relationship was relatively close. At that time, the head of the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion was the Zhou family's cousin. However, the man did not pay any attention to them.

After being rejected, Mr. Zhou and his wife returned home in embarrassment. They tried to teach their children to read themselves, but it was of little use. Mr. Zhou himself had only received a little education, as his father had squandered all his money and he had to stop studying. Therefore, his academic performance was also mediocre.

He was just an average person himself, how could he possibly teach his children? Besides, the family was short of money at the time, and he was busy adapting to the new environment and supporting his family, so he didn't have time to teach his children.

So for decades, my family has been poor.

Suddenly, upon hearing that the Duke of Zhenguo's family line had died out and that he was to inherit the mansion, how could Old Master Zhou not be stunned?
After being stunned, he was overjoyed, thinking that this was great, his children could go to school and would have a chance to make something of themselves in the future.

He knew he couldn't get too excited, after all, he was in his fifties or sixties, and if he got too excited, he might die. But under such ecstasy, who could control himself? His blood rushed to his head.

Linlang knew something was wrong as soon as she saw Old Master Zhou's condition.

In the original world, Grandpa Zhou collapsed in a moment of excitement. Although he was lucky enough to survive, he suffered a stroke afterward. Although the stroke was mild, he became mute, could no longer speak, could not walk properly, and could not hold a pen to write anything.

How could this be! You see, in the entire Zhou family, only Old Master Zhou knows anything about the affairs of wealthy families; everyone else is completely ignorant. This is why the Zhou family was completely fooled after entering the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, because the rest of the Zhou family members are all peasants who have never seen the world, including Old Madam Zhou.

When Grandpa Zhou got married and had children, his family was already dirt poor. It was impossible for him to hold onto his past glory and marry a wife with good conditions. It was already a miracle that he didn't remain a bachelor. So, the wife he married was naturally an ordinary person who had never seen anything like it.

You see, when Old Master Zhou was young, his grandfather was still alive and was the brother of the head of the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion at the time. Sometimes when the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion had important events, people from the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion would invite his family to be guests. So Old Master Zhou had seen some grand occasions. Although those were things that happened when he was young, after his grandfather passed away, his grandfather's brother in the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion also passed away, and the relationship between the two families became distant. He was never invited to the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion again, but at least he experienced these things when he was young and had some vague memories of them. This was much better than the rest of the Zhou family who knew nothing and were completely clueless, and who made a series of jokes after going there.