Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Chapter 1758 The Country Girl Looked Down Upon 79
"Besides, you've already married into wealthy families, and you've married well. It's better than your mother's situation, isn't it? I'm the daughter of a Duke, and I'm still living in the countryside. Especially your second aunt, who always complains about why the Duke's family line didn't end sooner. If she hadn't gotten married earlier, she could have relied on her status as the Duke's daughter to marry into a good family. So it's all fate. You've already married into wealthy families in town, where you have plenty to eat and drink, and servants to wait on you. You should cherish it."

Aunt Zhou was worried that her other daughters would feel resentful when they saw that her youngest daughter had married well, and that this would cause trouble and strain their relationship with their husbands' families. That's why she advised her other daughters in this way.

It must be said that after listening to Zhou Dagu's advice, her other two daughters were somewhat comforted and realized that it was fate and there was nothing they could do about it. They stopped complaining and only thought that in the future, their daughters must be sent to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion to marry into a good family, which would fulfill their dreams.

With the arrival of three cousins, the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion naturally became much more lively. When Linlang returned to her parents' home for the festival, she also met these three cousins. At first glance, they seemed quite nice. She hoped that these three girls would not be troublemakers like Aunt Zhou and Master Zhou, and that they would live a peaceful life and not do anything that would lead to their own deaths.

Not long after Zhou Ergu passed away, Zhou's mother, due to her advanced age and the successive deaths of her husband, youngest son, and youngest daughter, also passed away, unable to bear the grief.

In this day and age, it's not considered a tragic event, considering he was not young at the time; it could be considered a happy death.

After Old Madam Zhou passed away, Zhou Erlang moved out of the mansion without even needing Master Zhou to mention it; he left on his own.

Of course he wanted to leave. After all, once he left the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, he would be the head of the family in his new home and could do whatever he wanted, which was naturally a good thing. Unlike staying in the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, where his uncle, who was also the original owner's father, would definitely control him no matter what he did. He couldn't stand that constraint, so he left.

Since Zhou Erlang insisted on leaving, Master Zhou and his wife naturally didn't try to stop him and let them go.

Leaving aside how Zhou Erlang went on his way after the family split, just at this time, the fact that the Princess Consort of Jin murdered the former crown prince and related personnel was finally exposed.

This was naturally not something that someone else discovered on their own initiative. After all, the Princess Consort of Jin had done something quite discreetly, and most people wouldn't have been able to find it. Rather, it was Linlang who saw that the Prince of Jin was getting old and nearing the end of his life, so she planned to expose this news and get rid of the Princess Consort of Jin.

If Prince Jin hadn't been dying, Linlang wouldn't have been exposed yet, because Prince Jin's wife was left to deal with Zhou Sanniang.

Now that Prince Jin is dying, it's natural to deal with Princess Jin, lest her son smoothly obtain the title after Prince Jin's death, which would make things difficult.

Linlang sent the evidence that the Princess Consort of Jin had killed the former prince and his entourage to the former prince's son, as well as to the Imperial Clan Court and the Court of Judicial Review.

The reason she also sent it to the Imperial Clan Court and the Court of Judicial Review was because she was afraid that Prince Jin was dying and didn't want to make a fuss anymore. Even if the son of the former heir wanted to bring it up, he would suppress it. Linlang wanted to make sure he couldn't suppress it.

Indeed, although the previous heir is dead, his son is still alive. Back then, he was young, and his maternal family was afraid that he would be killed by the Princess Consort of Jin, so they took him to their home to raise.

Princess Jin thought that since her father was dead and the title had fallen into her son's hands, it didn't matter whether this former prince's son lived or died, so she didn't kill him.

Of course, the main reason was that the child was protected by his maternal family, making it somewhat inconvenient for her to kill someone across the family lines.

Actually, back then, the former prince's in-laws suspected that his death was suspicious, believing that it was orchestrated by the Princess Consort of Jin to ensure her son became a prince. After all, they were all shrewd and experienced; what were they talking about? They knew each other perfectly well. However, they lacked evidence and therefore couldn't avenge their son-in-law. At most, they could only raise his son to adulthood.

Now that they had this evidence, they naturally went to Prince Jin's house and asked him to hand over Princess Jin to the authorities for punishment.

As expected, just as Linlang had thought, Prince Jin's health was failing. When his grandson told him that his former son had been killed by Princess Jin, he was furious that Princess Jin had killed his ex-wife's son. However, he was nearing his end and didn't want to cause any more trouble. So he decided not to get involved in the matter. He only told his grandson that he would compensate him and that he would make Princess Jin die of illness as revenge for him.

The grandson of the Prince of Jin was naturally dissatisfied. After all, no matter how good the compensation offered by the Prince of Jin was, could he still become a prince? You see, if his father hadn't been killed by the Princess of Jin, he could have become a prince.

Now, not only can he not become a prince, but the son of his enemy can still be a prince. Who would want to see that?

Moreover, the Prince Consort's son was not punished and will continue to be a prince, while he himself will be a county prince. If the other party finds out that his mother was punished by his father because he exposed her evil deeds to the Prince of Jin, he doesn't know how he will cause trouble for him. Naturally, he doesn't want to encounter such a thing in the future.

However, Prince Jin was unwilling to deal with this matter. If he were to take it to the yamen, as a son suing his stepmother, he would first be charged with filial impiety and then judged. He did not want to be punished because of this woman. So when Prince Jin offered to compensate him and then let Princess Jin die, the former prince's son hesitated.

If he could sue Princess Jin, he wouldn't be punished at all, because he really wanted to prevent Princess Jin's son from becoming a prince.

Just when the Prince of Jin didn't want to cause trouble and the former heir's son hesitated, the Imperial Clan Court and the Court of Judicial Review, having received the news, came knocking on their door.

Originally, this was a family matter of the Prince of Jin's residence, and the Imperial Clan Court and the Court of Judicial Review could not handle it without a complaint from the people. However, the person who sent the message said that if the Imperial Clan Court and the Court of Judicial Review did not handle it, he would send it to the emperor. This forced the Imperial Clan Court and the Court of Judicial Review to take action, lest the person behind the scenes actually send the evidence to the emperor. If the emperor discovered that they had obtained the evidence but did not take action, he would hold them accountable in the end, which would be bad. So they had no choice but to take action.

After all, they felt it was a family matter and didn't want to deal with it, but the emperor might not think that way. He might take action once he received evidence, and then they would be in trouble.

With the intervention of the Imperial Clan Court, Prince Jin's idea of ​​avoiding trouble was naturally shattered.

Soon, the Imperial Clan Court and the Court of Judicial Review summoned the Princess Consort of Jin for questioning.

Princess Jin had never seen such a scene before. Although she tried her best to remain calm, she quickly broke down in the face of the evidence Linlang had gathered and confessed to the circumstances of killing the Crown Prince and his entourage years ago.

After the Princess Consort of Jin gave these instructions, the Imperial Clan Court and the Court of Judicial Review reported the matter to the Emperor to see how he would handle the issue of the Prince of Jin's title.

—The Princess Consort of Jin killed so many people, including the heir apparent of a royal prince, and harmed the royal family. She will surely die a horrible death. But who gets the title of prince is not something that the Imperial Clan Court and the Court of Judicial Review can decide on their own. It must be decided by the Emperor.