Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Chapter 1692 The Country Girl Looked Down Upon 13
Grandma Zhou felt that if her granddaughter got engaged, she would become the granddaughter of the Duke and would eventually marry a countryman. This was not an unfounded rumor, as there were already examples of this.

Her youngest daughter is only in her early twenties. When Master Zhou and Zhou Dalang came home this time, she secretly complained to Master Zhou, saying that the family had only obtained a title at this time. If only it had been earlier, she might not have been married yet. With her status as the daughter of a duke, she could have married into a good family. Now her father is a duke and her brother has become a wealthy man in the capital, but she is married in the countryside. She feels very unbalanced.

Their own daughter is already in her twenties, has been married for many years, and has several children. Even she can't bear the blow of seeing the family become wealthy. How much more so for their eldest granddaughter, who is only sixteen. If she has just gotten married or engaged, and hears that the family has become wealthy, but can't break off the engagement, people will say she is materialistic and will feel even more resentful.

Speaking of which, not only is the younger daughter feeling resentful, but even the older daughter feels a bit bitter.

The eldest daughter is already quite grown up, but she still feels a little bitter when she hears that her family has become a Duke's mansion. However, she is better off than the younger daughter, since she is already quite old and her son is about to get married. She has already accepted her fate.

The youngest daughter, however, seemed unwilling to accept her fate. Judging from her expression, she desperately wanted to divorce and remarry. She felt that as the daughter of a duke, even if she remarried someone less fortunate, she could never be worse off than a peasant. Old Master Zhou knew that his children would feel resentful and overthink things, so he specifically instructed his youngest son that if any of the girls felt resentful, he should persuade them to stop overthinking and to never even consider divorce. His daughters were not to be snobbish or materialistic.

When Aunt Zhou heard her father say this, she was heartbroken but there was nothing she could do. However, seeing that her father and brother were already wearing fine silks and satins, and that their complexions had become noticeably whiter and rosier after more than a month of care, and that they were different from her, she still couldn't bear it. After her father and brother left, she didn't give her in-laws a kind look.

She may not be very friendly to her in-laws, but they can't do anything to her because her family has become successful. Naturally, they wouldn't dare to do anything to her, because if they angered her and she left in a fit of pique, their family would lose their windfall.

Indeed, the path to prosperity is clear. Whether it's the sisters of Old Master Zhou or the sisters of Master Zhou, their in-laws all feel that the Zhou family's prosperity is an opportunity for their own family to prosper. After all, having such a prestigious relative means that even if their own family is just their children's in-laws, outsiders, not their own clan or relatives, as long as they let a little bit slip through their fingers, it will make them prosperous.

For example, giving them one hundred taels of silver might not mean much to a wealthy and powerful person, but to their impoverished family, it would mean they could buy ten acres of arable land, and their lives would be different from then on.

The Zhou family might give them more than one hundred taels. After all, a Duke's mansion must be incredibly wealthy. And since Old Master Zhou is his daughter-in-law's biological father, how could he not give her more money so she could live a better life? After all, he himself eats delicacies and wears fine silks and satins; he can't possibly watch his daughter eat coarse food.

Thinking about it this way, their family is bound to become rich.

But all of this depends on this daughter-in-law, so they naturally dare not offend her now, lest she get angry and run away, leaving them with nothing.

Also, it's a prayer that the daughter-in-law's father can live a few more years. After all, parents love their daughter and will give her money. But the older brother might not be willing to give his younger sister money. Even if the older brother is willing, it depends on whether the older sister-in-law or the older brother's son is willing. This is much more complicated. After all, parents can decide who gets their money, but the older brother can't.

But Old Master Zhou was quite old and could pass away at any time. After all, they had heard that when the emperor issued the imperial edict, Old Master Zhou almost had a serious accident. Given Old Master Zhou's health, who knew when he would pass away? Therefore, Aunt Zhou, Aunt Zhou, and the other women in the family all wanted to take advantage of Old Master Zhou's remaining life to make as much money as possible and prosper their families.

Little did they know that Old Master Zhou said the family owed countless debts and didn't know when they would be able to pay them off.

Clearly, they are still in debt, and it's not feasible to take advantage of them in the short term, which made Zhou Ergu and her family quite unhappy.

Although they were unhappy, they still dared not offend Zhou Ergu and the others. After all, they were unhappy because they hadn't made any money, but she was now the daughter of a duke. If they were unhappy and bullied her, and she proposed a divorce, then it wouldn't just be a matter of being unhappy, but a matter of not being able to benefit from her.

So although she was unhappy, she didn't say anything at Zhou Ergu's house.

Without mentioning the current situation of Grandma Zhou's two daughters, let's just say that after Grandma Zhou finished understanding the situation, she was about to leave, and then Grandma Zhou invited her to stay for a meal.

Grandma Zhou had heard that this family didn't allow the food to be too good in order to save money—of course, for the Zhou family who used to only be able to eat wild vegetable pancakes, this was already very good—so she was unwilling to stay for a meal. She immediately said that her child was only a little over a year old and especially liked to cling to her and couldn't be separated from her as his mother. She didn't have time to stay for a meal and had to go back quickly.

Old Madam Zhou was unaware that Aunt Zhou disliked the fact that the Duke's mansion's food had been reduced to the level of what the servants used to eat—of course, if the master's food had been reduced to the level of what the servants used to eat, the servants' food had been reduced even more drastically—and had no interest in eating it. She simply assumed that Aunt Zhou was telling the truth and immediately sent Aunt Zhou away.

Leaving aside the fact that Aunt Zhou has left, let's just say that in order to save money, the Duke's mansion reduced the masters' meals to the level of the servants' meals, and the servants' meals were reduced even more drastically. The Zhou family didn't think there was anything wrong with this. After all, the family was broke and didn't know how to increase their income, so they could only cut back on spending. Therefore, it was normal to reduce everyone's meals in order to save money.

In the Zhou family's view, even if the food had declined, even the worst servants' food was still much better than what they used to eat. At least there was rice and vegetables. Back in the countryside, they couldn't even get rice and vegetables and could only eat wild vegetable pancakes. Could this condition be called bad?
This was also the first reform that Old Master Zhou implemented after entering the mansion.

We have to reform. Just thinking about waking up every day and living such a luxurious life, which will lead to a huge debt, Old Master Zhou will definitely have to cut back.

There's no need to worry about the people below being unhappy. Just say that the mansion is heavily in debt. Even if they're unhappy, no one can say anything about it, and their reputation won't be damaged.

Even if some people laugh at them for being so stingy, considering their noble lineage, they won't laugh so much anymore.