Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Chapter 1693 The Country Girl Looked Down Upon 14
Unlike those families who were originally dukes and were living well, and then suddenly had their meals reduced and had to worry about being laughed at for not having enough money, the Duke of Zhenguo's family was already short of money. Old Master Zhou wasn't worried about being laughed at. After all, the Duke of Zhenguo's family wasn't his; he had inherited it. The other party had emptied the Duke of Zhenguo's family's coffers, and he was just saving money to pay off the debts. No one would laugh at him, since he wasn't the one who squandered the family fortune.

That's what Old Master Zhou thought, and he felt there was nothing wrong with doing it, but the servants didn't think so.

Old Master Zhou felt that he was right, after all, the family was heavily in debt, and it was only natural for him to save money to pay off the debt.
But what he didn't expect was that many people in the mansion, especially those in charge, had already been won over by the aunts, grandmothers, and even other random people, and were thinking of driving the Zhou family away and replacing them with other people.

Those who were won over previously thought that the Zhou family members were from the countryside and lacked the ability to fight within the household, so they might not be able to defeat those who were skilled in this art, which is why they sided with the aunt and others.

When Old Master Zhou ordered a reduction in food expenses, and the food was worse than that of pigs—they were used to good food and felt that the current food was worse than that of pigs—it wasn't about taking sides for the sake of taking sides, but because they genuinely felt that the Zhou family was failing. After all, they had lived in the Duke's mansion for decades and lived a good life. Who would have thought that one day the food would be reduced to this level? It was no wonder that they couldn't like the Zhou family. Naturally, they hoped that the plans of the aunt and others would succeed, so that a less stingy master could take over and they could continue to live the good life they used to have.

The aunt and others noticed that the stewards were becoming increasingly interested in bringing down the Zhou family. Upon inquiring, they learned that Old Master Zhou had said he wanted to live frugally, eating and using food similar to that of the servants, who in turn were fed like pigs. Old Master Zhou would certainly disagree if he knew they thought the servants ate pig swill, since if they called food with rice and vegetables pig swill, what had they been eating before? This made the servants unhappy, and the aunt couldn't help but feel pleased, thinking that the Zhou family was indeed foolish, treating even those close to them poorly. Who would be loyal to them then? They deserved to be betrayed by those close to them.

If Old Master Zhou knew that his aunt and the others thought he was mistreating the servants, he would probably cry foul, because he really thought the food he gave the servants was good.

Besides, the family is already heavily in debt, so isn't it normal to be frugal and not spend extravagantly? How come it's considered being mistreated by the aunt and others?
So when the aunt and others wanted to provoke Old Master Zhou so that he would die from the shock, the servants took action very actively.

Some people began to approach the greedy members of the Zhou family, such as Master Zhou, hoping to incite them to harm the eldest branch of the family. Others led the male members of the Zhou family astray, such as frequenting brothels and learning to gamble. Still others, seeing the Zhou family's troubles with their debts, used the pretext of helping them get rich, saying that the Duke's mansion owed a lot of debts and needed to repay them. They claimed that since they had lived in the capital for a long time, they knew many ways to make money and could mention them. In reality, they were leading them to engage in illegal and criminal activities, such as taking on lawsuits, since most ways to make money were written in the law.

Before these people could even report these things to Old Master Zhou, he quickly became aware of them.

—Actually, it was Linlang who told Old Master Zhou. After all, things like gambling and taking on lawsuits must never be allowed to succeed. Otherwise, if someone gets addicted to gambling, they'll be ruined. And once someone takes on a lawsuit, there's no going back. It will become a reason for the emperor to strip them of their titles and confiscate their property in the future. Either way, it needs to be stopped before it happens. Once it happens, it will be too late.

Linlang didn't have the status to stop this in the Zhou family, so she had to ask Old Master Zhou to intervene. When Old Master Zhou heard from Linlang that someone was gambling, although it was just starting and not yet addictive, stopping it now wouldn't cause any problems, he was already furious. He immediately called over the eldest son of the second master and started beating him with a stick.

Fortunately, Linlang comforted him, saying that he wasn't addicted yet and stopping him now wouldn't be a big problem, so Old Master Zhou wasn't so angry. Otherwise, if they had followed the servants' plan, waiting until Zhou Erlang had become a compulsive gambler and accumulated a lot of gambling debts, and then having the gambling den come to collect the debts, Old Master Zhou, who was suddenly shocked to hear that his second grandson had become a gambling addict, might have killed him.

It's understandable that Old Master Zhou would be so angry. When he was a child, the reason his family went bankrupt so quickly was because his father was a gambler. And the reason why the current Duke of Zhenguo's mansion is in debt is partly due to the gambling debts of the late Duke. Now that he hears that his second grandson is going to become a gambler again, it's normal for him to be furious.

Fortunately, Zhou Erlang hasn't become a gambling addict yet; he was just led astray once. That's why, although Old Master Zhou was angry, he wasn't furious enough to cause any serious trouble as those people had hoped.

When Zhou Erlang saw that he had been beaten, he was still protesting his innocence, saying, "I am different from my great-grandfather. He always lost money. I am better than him. I win money. I have made money for the family."

Zhou Erlang had naturally heard his family talk about his great-grandfather, who had squandered the family fortune through gambling. Everyone hated his great-grandfather, but he felt that he was more capable than his great-grandfather and was the one who won money, so why should he be beaten?

Having grown up in that kind of environment, Old Master Zhou had heard his mother and even his grandparents talk about the evils of gambling. Seeing Zhou Erlang still arguing and trying to justify himself, he flew into a rage and said, "You idiot! With a brain like yours, you still think you can win money! This is a trap set by the gambling den! They'll let you win some money first, make you happy, and make you gamble every day. Then they'll close the net, and you'll lose more than you win, until you're bankrupt and have to sell your children! And then you'll still think you can win back your losses, and you'll try every means to find money to do so. The last step is to borrow money from loan sharks, and when you can't repay the loan sharks, you're finished!"

His father almost lost so much money that he had to sell his children. Luckily, he died. Otherwise, his sisters and younger sons would definitely have been sold. He is now grown up and can bring income to the family, so things are a little better.

Zhou Erlang clearly didn't believe it and was still unconvinced. Linlang saw this, took some peanuts, and said to Zhou Erlang, "Second brother, here's what we'll do. We'll each share some peanuts and we'll bet. If you beat me, you can gamble from now on; if you don't beat me, you can never go to the gambling den again. If you go again, Grandfather will kick you out, so you don't end up owing a lot of money. The old debts of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion haven't been paid off yet, and now you have to pay new debts. I think the other brothers and sisters won't want to pay off your debts for you. After all, the money in the mansion belongs to everyone. Who would be happy to use it to pay off their debts?"

Some people won't give up until they're thoroughly beaten and made to submit; they'll continue to cause trouble in the future.