Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Old Master Zhou was unaware of what Aunt Zhou was thinking; he was simply delighted to see his two daughters visiting him.

He knew that he was nearing the end of his life and would soon die, so he was naturally happy to see his children around him before he passed away.

Thinking about my life, I had a wealthy childhood, worked hard in my youth and middle age, and finally enjoyed a good life in my old age. It wasn't easy.

He was already very content to be able to continue to be wealthy and prosperous in his later years, even better than he was in his childhood.

As the saying goes, a dying man's words are often kind. Seeing that his two daughters were not doing well, Old Master Zhou had his servants bring out two land deeds and said, "After I'm gone, try not to come to the mansion to ask your brothers for money. I've prepared fifty acres of land for each of you, which is enough for you to live a good life in the countryside."

With fifty mu here, plus the ten mu he gave them before, he gave each of his two daughters a total of sixty mu. In the countryside, that's considered being a small landlord, and they should be able to live quite well.

This is what makes a father different from his brothers.

Look, Old Master Zhou also has brothers and sisters. Although he takes care of them and gives them some subsidies, it's impossible for him to give them sixty mu of land. After all, sixty mu of land in the suburbs of Beijing costs about six hundred taels of silver. No matter how much he helps his brothers and sisters, he can't possibly help them that much. After all, the Zhou family has too many relatives. If he gave each person six hundred taels, the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion simply couldn't afford it.

That's all he had for his brothers and sisters. After he's gone, it's impossible to expect the Zhou brothers to give Zhou Da Gu and Zhou Er Gu any money. They come to beg for money every year, and it's already good enough if they give a little something. Don't even think about getting six hundred taels from the two brothers.

When Aunt Zhou heard that her father had left them fifty mu of land, she accepted it with a face full of gratitude.

With these fifty acres of land, her family's life will be greatly improved. They will become small landlords and live a very good life.

Aunt Zhou was grateful, but Aunt Zhou was not grateful at all, because she knew that the daughters of the Duke's mansion received a dowry of three thousand taels of silver, not to mention that when Zhou Linlang, whom her father liked, got married, her father gave her five thousand taels of silver.

Even if she doesn't please her father, she still has a dowry of three thousand taels. So, if her father allows her to divorce, she can take the three thousand taels dowry and remarry. Who cares about a few hundred taels? It's just a waste of money.

She never imagined that her husband's family could not provide any assistance to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. Old Master Zhou had already done a great favor by building a house for their family and giving them sixty acres of land.

According to rural customs, it would be impossible to give so many things to the son-in-law's family. After all, in their eyes, they are outsiders. Wouldn't it be better to use that money for their own family? Why should they benefit outsiders?

The reason why the daughters of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion are now given three thousand taels of silver is because they are married into different families. These families can bring assistance to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion through marriage. Therefore, they are given three thousand taels of silver. This is not poverty alleviation, but equivalent to an exchange of equal value.

Aunt Zhou was too ignorant to think of this. Of course, even if she could, she wouldn't listen, because she only felt that she had lost out and didn't think the land was any good.

When she went back and told her about it, her husband's family was overjoyed to hear that her father-in-law had given them another fifty acres of land.

Aunt Zhou's family was equally overjoyed. After all, with so much land, their lives in the countryside would be much better. From now on, the whole family wouldn't have to work in the fields anymore; they could just find someone to help them and watch them do the work.

Having money to spend without doing anything was something they had never dared to dream of before, so naturally they were overjoyed. Aunt Zhou's family was also happy, but seeing that Aunt Zhou seemed unhappy, they didn't dare show it, fearing they would be scolded by her.

Fortunately, Zhou Ergu didn't seem to care about them. Every day she would leave with a message to keep her old father company and then leave alone. They didn't dare to wander around the Duke's mansion and could only watch helplessly as Zhou Ergu left early and returned late every day.

In fact, Aunt Zhou was not going to accompany Old Master Zhou. After all, she disliked Old Master Zhou too much to be with him. She went to Master Zhou's place to discuss with him how to deal with Master Zhou.

On Tuesday, the old man told her about the current predicament.

“Ever since my eldest brother had several accidents, my father has arranged for more and more people to protect him. Unless he’s at home, he’s always surrounded by people whenever he goes out, making it very difficult to make a move against him.”

Zhou Ergu asked, "So you mean to do it inside the mansion?"

Master Zhou nodded and said, "It's most convenient to do it in the mansion. Besides, we're such close friends, especially you. He thinks you'll rely on him in the future, so he won't be on guard against what you do. If you secretly put some poison in his food and drink, he definitely won't notice."

This is the plan that Master Zhou came up with: to have Aunt Zhou poison Master Zhou.

He didn't trust the servants of Master Zhou and dared not bribe them to poison him, so he turned to Aunt Zhou, since their interests were intertwined and she was someone he could trust.

Some might wonder why the eldest aunt only offered suggestions but didn't help Master Zhou take action. After all, she should have been able to see that Master Zhou was quite stupid, and if he were to do it himself and succeed, who knows when it would be.

The reason for this is that it is not easy to cause trouble in the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.

Actually, when the Zhou family first entered the mansion, it was full of the eldest aunt, second aunt, and great-aunt's people, making it easy for them to cause trouble.

But later, Old Master Zhou gradually replaced almost everyone in the mansion, making it difficult for the eldest aunt to win people over. After all, the new people were brought in by Old Master Zhou, so they naturally trusted Old Master Zhou more than the eldest aunt. Unlike the older people, the new people didn't know the eldest aunt well. Some of the older people had probably watched her grow up, so they were naturally more loyal to the eldest aunt than to the newcomers like Old Master Zhou.

But the people that Old Master Zhou replaced were people he bought. They didn't know the eldest aunt before. So, without enough money, how could they possibly betray Old Master Zhou and do things for the eldest aunt?

This is the eldest aunt. Now she can only ask someone to say some encouraging words to Master Zhou, but she can't do what her great-aunt did back then, by having the Duke of Ying's mansion send someone to take action. This is because the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion is not what it used to be, and it's not easy to find spies now. If she goes out, with Master Zhou surrounded by his retinue, it's not easy to make a move.

It's already hard to find informants, let alone someone to target. So, the eldest aunt could only try to sow discord between Master Zhou and Master Zhou, hoping he would find a way to eliminate Master Zhou himself.

Her goal was simply to incite infighting between the two families, then expose Master Zhou's actions, thereby displeasing the emperor and causing him to revoke the titles bestowed upon the Zhou family. (End of Chapter)