Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Chapter 1800 My Aunt is the Empress 7
The reason why Zhou Erniang wanted to remove the obstacles from Master Zhou's side was because she thought that Linlang's refusal to marry the First Prince was Linlang's idea without Master Zhou's consent. So she thought that she could have Master Zhou force Linlang to marry him, and then Linlang would have no choice but to marry him, thus solving the First Prince's problem. She did not think that Linlang's decision to give up the First Prince was actually Master Zhou's idea.

Zhou Erniang's brain has limited capacity, and she may not be as smart as Qingcao. After all, Qingcao worked her way up from a lowly maid, and someone too stupid would never have made it this far.

As for Zhou Erniang, she was just like her aunt, all beauty and no intelligence – otherwise she wouldn't have flirted with the eldest prince even though she knew he wanted to marry her sister. She was clearly not a good person, yet he still managed to win her over.

It's normal for Qingcao to like the eldest prince. After all, Qingcao thinks that she will be the young lady's dowry in the future, and the dowry is to follow the young lady and warm the young master's bed. She is just warming the young master's bed in advance, which is normal.

However, Zhou Erniang is the original owner's younger sister. Since the First Prince married his sister, he definitely wouldn't dare to take her in, for fear of upsetting the original owner. If the original owner is unhappy, how could Madam Zhou be happy? If Madam Zhou is unhappy, the attitude of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion will become ambiguous. If he insists on taking her in, the original owner might even break off the engagement. In this era, other women who break off their engagements before marriage might find it difficult to find a husband, but the original owner isn't afraid. After all, if she breaks off her engagement, there are plenty of other princes who would take her in. She's not afraid of breaking off the engagement. Even if she gets married and the First Prince takes Zhou Erniang in, the original owner would dare to divorce and remarry other princes, because there are plenty of willing princes. In that case, how could the First Prince dare to take her in? He's clearly using her as a backup plan, and she hasn't even realized it yet.

Since Zhou Erniang didn't know that once the First Prince married Linlang, he wouldn't dare to take her as a concubine unless he ascended to the throne, Zhou Erniang naturally did her best for the First Prince, like a blade of grass. So she went to discuss this matter with Master Zhou.

In fact, Zhou Erniang was quite afraid of Master Zhou. Because she was not favored by her husband, she was not very brave. Master Zhou, on the other hand, was a cunning old fox. He had a very imposing presence and his aura was terrifying. Usually, when Zhou Erniang saw him, she was like a mouse seeing a cat. She would never dare to talk to him about anything.

There was no other way at the moment, so I mustered up my courage and went to talk to Master Zhou about this matter.

When Master Zhou saw his second daughter coming to see him, he couldn't help but wonder what she wanted to talk to him about.

Although this daughter was not as clever as her eldest daughter and seemed timid, not someone who could accomplish anything, his only requirement for her was to find her a suitable marriage after Linlang entered the palace, and that would be enough.

But since she was his daughter, when she contacted him saying she had something to say, Master Zhou didn't refuse to listen to her and still intended to hear what she had to say.

If she were to contact him every few days, he certainly wouldn't have the time to chat with her. But since Zhou Erniang had never contacted him before, and this was the first time she had something to say to him, Master Zhou was willing to listen.

"What do you find me for?"

Looking at Master Zhou's stern face, which was particularly frightening, Zhou Erniang stammered, "Father...Father, do you...do you know that Eldest Sister doesn't plan to marry the First Prince?"

Master Zhou was puzzled as to why Madam Zhou was asking this question, so he replied, "I know, what's wrong?"

Zhou Erniang asked, "You...you agree too?"

Master Zhou nodded and said, "The eldest prince has someone he loves, and he might not treat your sister well in the future. It's better if your sister doesn't marry him."

Since his second daughter was slow-witted, Master Zhou naturally didn't explain the political reasons to her, only giving her the most superficial ones.

As a result, Zhou Erniang said, "I heard that he has already sent away the person he likes, so there shouldn't be any problems, right? Will Father change his mind and let eldest sister remarry?"

Master Zhou said, "How could that be?" Madam Zhou, growing anxious, asked, "Why...why?"

Master Zhou still didn't mention anything about politics, but only said from the perspective of caring for his daughter: "Who knows if he will bring the person back in the future? There are so many princes to choose from, why make your sister take that risk?"

Then he asked Zhou Erniang, "Why do you care about these things? What does it have to do with you?"

"No one visits the temple without a reason." This second daughter, who usually trembles before him like a mouse before a cat, never daring to utter a word, has suddenly become so bold as to come and ask him these questions. If there's no reason behind it, he'd have to be out of his mind to not notice.

Seeing her father staring at her with a sharp, questioning gaze, Zhou Erniang was startled and stammered, "N-nothing... I was just... just asking out of curiosity..."

Then she ran away in fright, not daring to let Master Zhou force Linlang to marry the eldest prince.

Seeing that his second daughter was flustered, Master Zhou knew something was wrong. He immediately summoned his trusted aide and asked him to send someone to investigate why his second daughter was so concerned about the eldest prince.

The eldest prince was cautious, so it was difficult for him to detect anything amiss. But Zhou Erniang was a fool; she wasn't cautious at all and didn't hide her relationship with the eldest prince. So, the people sent by Master Zhou quickly discovered that the eldest prince was seducing Zhou Erniang. When Master Zhou heard this, his face immediately darkened.

This eldest prince is really a scoundrel. What is he trying to do?

Master Zhou is a smart man. If you put yourself in his shoes, why would he be trying to seduce two girls from the Zhou family at the same time? After a little thought, you'll understand. The eldest prince is probably afraid that he will fail in his attempt to seduce Linlang, so he has seduced Zhou Erniang as a backup. If he can't marry Linlang, he will marry Zhou Erniang. He thinks that even if he marries Zhou Erniang and his eldest daughter marries another prince, he will not easily take sides, and he will still have a chance.

Master Zhou understood, and couldn't help but sneer, saying, "This kid is really cunning. It's a pity. If he didn't have someone he loved, with this kind of cunning, he could have been helped to rise to the top."

But who would dare to help a scheming person who also has a loved one?

It's better if he's not scheming; the more scheming he is, the more Master Zhou knows that everything he did before was an act, without a trace of sincerity, and the less he dares to support him to the throne, lest he become a stepping stone for his true love.

Actually, after the Crown Prince's affair was exposed, he already regretted having a woman he liked.

He did love that white moonlight, but he loved the throne even more. Once he discovered that the white moonlight's existence was affecting his chances of seizing the throne, the white moonlight instantly lost its appeal.

This is also why he sent his beloved away; he truly dared not love again.

However, just as Master Zhou and Linlang thought, once he ascended to the throne, he instantly felt that he was capable and would definitely bring his beloved back. He would even feel guilty for sending her away back then, and thus develop a compensatory mentality, doting on her even more. So, although Master Zhou was not reborn, after hearing from Linlang that the eldest prince had true love, he quickly gave up on the eldest prince, which was quite decisive. He truly deserves to be called an old fox.

(End of this chapter)