Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Chapter 1682 The Country Girl Looked Down Upon 3
Seeing that Grandpa Zhou was clearly about to collapse just like in the original world, Linlang quickly stepped forward to support him and asked with concern, "Grandpa, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

When Grandpa Zhou heard Linlang's question, he became more sober and knew that he couldn't afford to have any problems at this time. Otherwise, if his family ended up in a place like the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, there would be big trouble without his help to keep an eye on things. So, he held his slightly dizzy head and forced himself to say, "Let Grandpa sit down for a while."

Linlang said, "Grandpa, would you like to lie down and rest for a bit?"

When you are about to have a stroke, lying flat is the best option; simply sitting is not recommended.

Old Master Zhou was feeling extremely dizzy and didn't know what to say, so he could only say, "Okay, I'll lie down for a bit..."

The eunuch who was delivering the decree also noticed that something was wrong with Old Master Zhou. He was a man of the world and had heard that some people were prone to accidents when they were overjoyed or sad. He didn't want to come over to deliver a decree and send someone to their death, so he quickly said, "Everyone, please spread out and let the old master lie down and rest for a while."

The Zhou family members also snapped out of their surprise and were somewhat frightened by the state of Grandpa Zhou. They quickly helped him lie down on the ground, regardless of how dirty it was.

After lying on the ground for a while, Grandpa Zhou recovered and got up.

The eunuch who delivered the imperial decree was quite polite, saying, "Gentleman, given your condition, would you like to come inside and lie down again?"

Despite the polite tone of the imperial eunuch, Old Master Zhou, who knew a bit about the ways of the world, was aware that he couldn't afford to be disrespectful to these senior eunuchs in the palace. He quickly replied, "It's alright, it's alright. I'm much better now. Don't delay the old master's journey."

The eunuch, who identified himself as Zhang, immediately laughed and said, "Since the Duke is alright, let's hurry to the capital to express our gratitude."

Once Old Master Zhou received the imperial edict, he would definitely have to go to the palace to express his gratitude. It was impossible for him to simply take the edict, go to the capital, and take over the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion and be done with it.

When Old Master Zhou heard that the other party had already addressed him as Duke, he felt a surge of excitement. He never imagined that he would become Duke in his old age.

However, having already been excited, this little bit of excitement was nothing to him. He quickly told his wife, son, and daughter-in-law to pack their things and head to the capital to express their gratitude to the emperor, as this matter could not be delayed.

Grandma Zhou seemed a little flustered and whispered, "Shouldn't we take care of things at home?"

When Old Master Zhou saw that Eunuch Zhang and the others were staring at his house, and after hearing what Old Madam Zhou said, some of them showed amused expressions, probably thinking that there was nothing to do with this dilapidated house.

Old Master Zhou didn't care about their gazes. He had seen his own rise from wealth to poverty, and had been ridiculed in his youth. He had sworn to make something of himself and show others what he was made of, but he had never succeeded. So he no longer cared about their opinions. If he had seen such looks when he was young, he would have felt incredibly embarrassed and humiliated. Now, he was about to become a Duke, so why would he care about their opinions? He simply replied to his wife calmly, "Let the third and fourth sons look after us first. We'll go to the capital first, and we'll deal with things here later."

The original owner's great-grandfather had four sons, but the second brother of Old Master Zhou had already passed away. Old Master Zhou still had two brothers alive, which is why he spoke these words. Hearing this, Old Madam Zhou knew that Old Master Zhou was more knowledgeable than herself, so she naturally listened to him. The whole family changed into their best clothes, and Old Madam Zhou took all the family's money with them before leaving with Eunuch Zhang.

As for being instructed to look after the third and fourth branches of the family back in their hometown, how could they refuse? After all, their elder brother's family had become successful, so they would definitely be able to take care of their family. Naturally, they would take good care of their hometown, lest their elder brother's family use this as an excuse not to help them in the future.

Of the four brothers, Grandpa Zhou and the deceased second brother still had some memories of their childhood wealth, but the younger third and fourth brothers had little recollection of it, because by the time they could remember, the family had already fallen on hard times.

So when people joke that their family has become poor, the third and fourth children don't feel it because they've always been poor since they were little.

But the second son could never bear it, which was probably the reason he died young, passing away in despair.

As the eldest brother, Old Master Zhou bore a greater responsibility, so although he was also very upset, he persevered.

I never expected that I would hold on to the right path, and that in my later years, I would finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. How wonderful!

The other villagers were astonished to see those respectable figures coming to the Zhou family to invite them back to become high-ranking officials—country folk didn't know the difference between noble titles and official positions, they just thought they were both officials.

Although they had heard people say that the Zhou family used to be wealthy, but a spendthrift son squandered their fortune and led them to this state, some of the younger people thought that it was just the Zhou family exaggerating and that it was all a lie.

It's no wonder they think it's fake. The main reason is that they live in the suburbs of Beijing, and in the surrounding area, newcomers from Beijing often come over and boast about how wealthy their ancestors were. Whether they were really wealthy or not is another matter.

They just hadn't expected that the Zhou family wasn't exaggerating; it was actually true. Their ancestor was actually a Duke! A first-rank official! They had never seen such a high-ranking person before; it was truly astonishing.

Leaving aside how the villagers in Zhou's village talked about this strange event with great interest and spread the news far and wide, let's just say that the Zhou family members boarded the carriage arranged by Eunuch Zhang and others and arrived at the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion in the capital.

In fact, the people of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion already knew that the emperor was going to bestow titles upon the Zhou family. They had even considered sending a carriage to pick up the Zhou family, hoping to gain some goodwill from them first. After all, the first person to appear before the Zhou family would definitely be the one they liked the most. When they arrived at the mansion, it would naturally benefit the elderly members of the family. Otherwise, what if they hadn't won them over and the Zhou family replaced them all when they arrived in the capital?

They had all been dependent on the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion for a long time and were used to this kind of life. Once they were driven away, their lives would be difficult.

Unfortunately, the emperor acted quickly, and Eunuch Zhang had already prepared his own carriage, so there was nothing for them to do.

Now that they had arrived at the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion in the capital, these people rushed over to fawn over him. However, Old Master Zhou, who knew the situation of the large family, was not immediately flattered by their fawning. He said to Old Madam Zhou and his sons, "You should settle down in the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion first and do not do anything for the time being. We will talk about everything when I return."