Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Chapter 1683 The Country Girl Looked Down Upon 4
The Zhou family members were so frightened by the grandeur of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion that they were speechless. Now, after hearing Old Master Zhou's instructions, they could only nod and dared not say anything.

So, after seeing off Old Master Zhou to the palace to express his gratitude, everyone in the Zhou family obediently entered the mansion, temporarily following the instructions of the head steward without offering any opinions. If they had any complaints, they would wait until Old Master Zhou returned to discuss them—of course, they had no complaints anyway. After all, these servants of large families were very shrewd; who would dare to do anything to the Zhou family when they first arrived? At most, they would secretly observe the Zhou family from the sidelines, and then gather together to make fun of them when they made a fool of themselves.

For example, although the Zhou family members stayed obediently in the hall waiting for Old Master Zhou to return, who could resist looking around when they arrived in such a wealthy place? As a result, many people looked around the hall, appearing as if they had never seen the world before and were full of wonder.

That's normal; who wouldn't be surprised when they arrive in a new place?

But such behavior was noticed by the servants, who felt they were not respectable and looked down on them.

Indeed, even though they knew that the Zhou family would become the masters of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion in the future, the Zhou family was still like peasants at the moment. Therefore, the servants of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, who had grown up in such a large family and had a great sense of superiority, still looked down on them.

Of course, they knew that the Zhou family would be the masters of the mansion in the future, so they naturally wouldn't dare to laugh at them to their faces. But in private, they would certainly discuss and make fun of them with people they trusted.

This is the result of Linlang's observation using bees.

Through her observation of everyone in the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, Linlang discovered that the mansion was completely corrupt and decadent. Linlang felt that all these people had to be replaced, otherwise they would corrupt the Zhou family sooner or later. Because the Zhou family members, who had never seen much of the world, were no match for these cunning servants, who could easily lead them astray.

The Zhou family members, in their original world, later became various forms that the original owner found unfamiliar, and these world servants bear a great deal of responsibility for this.

According to the original owner's memories, and the results of the investigation conducted by Little Bee when Linlang first arrived, the reason why the last male descendant of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion died out was more or less related to these people.

Except for the first Duke who had more than one child, every generation from the second Duke onwards has been a single-line heir.

However, the single-lineage system does not mean that each generation only had one child. In fact, other children were born, but apart from the daughters, none of the male offspring survived.

To say that all the deaths were due to poor medical skills in that dynasty is certainly not the case. After all, even if the survival rate in ancient times was low, it couldn't have been that low. So, some of them were actually killed because of internal strife.

Furthermore, even if some people weren't killed by others, they were corrupted by these servants, leading to their early deaths.

For example, these servants, in order to please their masters, would send them beautiful women or pills with unknown ingredients. The master was pleased and valued the servant, but could those things be good? They could all be deadly, causing many people to live to adulthood but not to the point of getting married and having children.

This is the case for the last generation of male descendants.

He was born late in his parents' lives—his older brother hadn't made a name for himself. His parents were around thirty years old when he was born, which was considered quite old in ancient times.

Because he was born late and was the only one who survived, he was especially spoiled. As a result, after his parents passed away, he became even more self-indulgent. Coupled with the bad influence of the servants, he quickly deteriorated. In fact, he was already quite old, but his parents hadn't had time to arrange a marriage for him before they passed away. After their death, he didn't want to get married, so he remained unmarried until he was twenty, only caring about having fun.

As a result, he indulged himself too much and died at the age of twenty-two. At this time, he had not yet married or had children, and the concubines in the backyard of the mansion had not given him any sons or daughters, which led to the extinction of the main branch of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.

Therefore, Linlang naturally felt that all such servants should be replaced, otherwise the Zhou family would eventually follow the same path as the people of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.

They either instigated infighting, killing each other, or they were corrupted and killed by them.

Why would these people instigate infighting among their masters? First, the people in the mansion already have their own factions. Second, if they don't fight amongst themselves, how can they demonstrate their value and win the masters' favor?
That's why they were so keen on internal strife; a duke's mansion acted like some imperial courts, even engaging in factional struggles.

Fortunately, they could replace all the servants in the Duke's mansion, unlike the imperial court, where replacing all the servants might cause the court to shut down. With the Duke's mansion, they could simply replace the servants and bring in a new batch without fear of shutdown. Even if the court did shut down, they wouldn't be afraid, because they had just entered the mansion and had always taken care of themselves. Even if they dismissed all the servants and no one took care of them, they wouldn't starve.

Just as Linlang was observing the decaying state of the mansion, Old Master Zhou returned from the palace to express his gratitude, bringing with him some rewards from the emperor.

Clearly, Old Master Zhou performed well, which pleased the emperor, hence the reward.

In the original world, Old Master Zhou suffered a stroke, and in the end, it was the original owner's father who went to the palace to express his gratitude. His performance clearly did not satisfy the emperor, so he was sent back with just a "I know" and no reward was given.

The emperor's reward was very important. First, it was a matter of face, indicating that the emperor was satisfied with the new Duke of Zhenguo. Second, the mansion had been almost emptied by the last male member and the hereditary servants, and the accounts were all in deficit. The gold and silver reward could be used to eat.

After returning, Old Master Zhou briefly recounted what had happened in the palace, and then called his two sons to come to his study to talk.

After thinking for a moment, his gaze fell on Linlang. He hesitated for a while, then said, "Linlang, go over there too."

He remembered that back in his hometown, it was Linlang who first noticed something was wrong with him and then helped him up. Her observation skills were so good; this child was no ordinary person. You know, at that time, everyone else around was immersed in bewildered joy, including his two good-for-nothing sons. Only this eldest granddaughter was very calm and was able to notice that something was wrong with him and help him lie down. If she hadn't helped him lie down so quickly, who knows what would have happened by now.

He was quite knowledgeable and knew that older people are easily swayed by extreme joy or sorrow and pass away quickly.

He didn't know that in the original world, although he had suffered a stroke, he hadn't been sent away. He only felt that if Linlang hadn't quickly discovered the situation and helped him lie down, he might have died.

This child saved his life, so when discussing important matters, Old Master Zhou—no, he's now the Duke, so we should call him Grandfather Zhou—called out Linlang's name, wanting to see if she could say anything.

There's no one in this family you can count on, except for this child who's calm, collected, and observant; he might be someone you can consult with.