Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Chapter 1807 My Aunt is the Empress 14
Linlang hadn't forgotten this half-sister. Several times, in front of her, she flirted with the eldest prince, then revealed a secretly gloating expression, knowing that her half-sister felt great about having her boyfriend stolen.

Faced with such a piece of trash who tried to steal her sister's boyfriend, it would be strange if Linlang didn't deal with her, let alone save her.

This kind of trash who tries to steal her sister's boyfriend is a perfect match for the First Prince. So let her flirt with the First Prince, and it would be best if she married him. Then, after she deals with the First Prince, she can suffer along with him.

Linlang ignored Zhou Erniang, who was becoming increasingly resentful of Linlang. She wondered why so many princes fawned over Zhou Linlang, while she only had one eldest prince who fawned over her, and that eldest prince was such a piece of trash. Why was she so unlucky?

Previously, Zhou Erniang wasn't so resentful towards Linlang because Zhou Linlang was the only legitimate daughter in the household. Every year, the original owner's maternal family, her stepmother, and her aunt, the Empress, would give her jewelry and ornaments. She could tolerate it, thinking that she was an illegitimate daughter, just like other illegitimate daughters, and it was normal for her not to have these things. After all, they were the original owner's maternal family and her biological mother, so it was normal for them to take care of their own children. As for the aunt in the palace, since they were all the Empress's aunt's nieces, not everyone received any rewards each time. Although the items were inferior and not as good as what was given to the original owner, at least she had some, and that was enough.

—Actually, Zhou Erniang didn't know that the reason the original owner was able to receive such good things from her maternal family and her aunt in the palace was because the Zhou family had long planned to send her to the palace. So naturally, they had to take good care of her, dress her up beautifully, and show such favoritism to get closer to her and make her willing to dedicate herself to the family and repay her family and maternal family in the future. Otherwise, with the status and position of the Zhou family, the original owner could have married into a prince's mansion and become a prince's wife, enjoying honor and privilege without taking any risks. Why would she need to go to the palace, a place where there is no sunlight, and fight with this person and that person?

The reason why the original owner's mother gave her special treatment is because Master Zhou didn't mention why Madam Zhou didn't give the same treatment to her illegitimate daughter. Otherwise, Madam Zhou wouldn't be so foolish as to openly favor her own daughter and treat her illegitimate daughter differently, lest people say she's not virtuous. Even if she wanted to favor her own daughter, she would do so secretly.

But wasn't this part of the Zhou family's plan to send the original owner of this body to the palace? The fact that Madam Zhou treats her own daughter well is an investment by the Zhou family in her, which will be able to repay the Zhou family in the future, so Master Zhou naturally won't say anything.

Zhou Erniang didn't understand these things. She only thought that the original owner of this body was the legitimate daughter, which was why she could have these preferential treatments. She was too young to understand before, and because she thought that way, although she was envious, she was more jealous.

Unlike now, I still feel envious, but not out of envy; instead, I feel jealous and even resentful.

Especially seeing the mothers of the princes sending Linlang expensive clothes and jewelry every year during festivals, she became increasingly annoyed with her.

As the New Year approached, the palace continued to send over a steady stream of supplies, which filled Linlang's storeroom. Madam Zhou had no choice but to allocate a courtyard specifically for her, allowing her to live alone in the main courtyard while Linlang herself used the side rooms as storerooms.

Previously, Linlang, being young, lived in the same courtyard as Madam Zhou.

She lived in the east wing of that courtyard. She had her own room, her maid lived in the side room next to it, the middle room was the living room, and the other room, plus the side room, served as a study and storeroom.

But now, the side room and half a study were already overflowing with things. Considering that Linlang would be fourteen next year and would likely receive even more gifts from various families, Madam Zhou decided to find a special place to store them. So, she specially prepared a small courtyard for Linlang and used all the side rooms in that courtyard to store Linlang's things, as a storeroom. It's no wonder that Zhou Erniang was envious and resentful, thinking that Linlang had so many things that two side rooms were needed to store them.

She still tries to stretch every penny she has, while Zhou Linlang's things are already overflowing in one study and one side room, so she has to use two side rooms to store them all. That's just too much.

They are all daughters of dukes. Which other family would divide their wealth so drastically? She asked other families, and they all said that, at least on the surface, the treatment of legitimate and illegitimate daughters is the same. Although legitimate daughters receive private subsidies from their wives, it is not made public to avoid gossip.

Unlike their family, where the mistress openly favors her daughter, this is hardly the behavior of a virtuous matriarch. Yet, Master Zhou doesn't say anything to her or tell her how she can do this, allowing Madam Zhou to openly favor her daughter and move public and private belongings into Zhou Linlang's room.

Zhou Erniang was very angry, so she went to her aunt and asked her to mention the matter to Master Zhou.

But her aunt was timid and dared not bring it up.

Although her aunt was just as foolish as she was—if she weren't, she wouldn't have been out of favor—she didn't know why the Zhou family favored the original owner of this body. Like her daughter, she felt that Madam Zhou was being too biased. Indeed, as her daughter said, no family in the capital dared to openly favor her daughter like Madam Zhou. But she was timid and could only whisper about it to her daughter in private. In fact, it was because of these private whispers that Zhou Erniang gradually understood as she grew up and realized that it was indeed unfair, which made her increasingly envious and resentful. But she dared not go to Master Zhou and ask him to say something to Madam Zhou.

She was out of favor, and now that she was getting older, Master Zhou almost never came to her room. And if Master Zhou didn't come to her room, she couldn't get in touch with him. How could she talk to him about this matter? Naturally, she didn't agree to her daughter's request.

Seeing that her aunt dared not mention the matter, Zhou Erniang felt sorry for her misfortune and angry at her lack of resistance. So she discussed the matter with Zhou Sanniang and the other concubine daughters.

Actually, it was just something she discussed with Third Sister and Fourth Sister. Fifth Sister was too young to understand, so there was no need to discuss it with her.

Currently, the Duke of Zhongguo's mansion has five daughters. After the New Year, Zhou Er Niang will be fourteen years old, just like Linlang; Zhou San Niang will be twelve; and Zhou Si Niang will be eleven.

In this world, with its complex family environments, children mature early; once they're over ten, they can generally discuss adult topics together.

Of course, the main reason is that Zhou Wuniang is young, and her aunt is also young and currently favored. Master Zhou gives her some things, which is enough for her to live very well. She also gives some subsidies to her daughter, so Zhou Wuniang is also doing well. Therefore, the ones who are worse off are the three in the middle, who are illegitimate daughters whose birth mothers are not helpful and who do not receive subsidies. This is also the reason why Zhou Erniang did not grumble with Zhou Wuniang.