Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Chapter 1822 My Aunt is the Empress 29
Of course, it's also possible that the late emperor administered the poison to prevent Empress Dowager Zhou from giving birth to a legitimate son, thus ensuring that the future emperor would be from the Zhou family and allowing the Zhou family's power to grow even stronger.

But, just as the Sixth Prince thought, even if a prince from the Zhou family became emperor, so what? As long as the Zhou family members are incompetent and fail the imperial examinations, once the eldest patriarch of the Zhou family is gone, the Zhou family will decline and become just an ordinary maternal relative. What can they possibly do? Therefore, the late emperor should not have such worries.

To be honest, the conflict between the late emperor and the Zhou family was not as deep as the conflict between the concubines who wanted their sons to become emperor and the Zhou family.

Therefore, the late emperor was a suspect, but he was by no means the most suspicious or motivated among these people. At most, he probably knew that Empress Dowager Zhou had been drugged, and then he condoned it and did nothing.

In fact, as long as the concubines wanted their sons to become emperor, they would take the initiative to poison Empress Dowager Zhou so that she could not have children. Therefore, even if the late emperor did not want the Zhou family to continue to grow stronger, he did not need to take action himself and dirty his hands. Someone else would do it for him.

Because the incident happened so long ago, nothing can be found out for the time being. However, Linlang is not in a hurry. She will just investigate slowly and find out eventually. If all else fails, she will use the illusion props to scare the concubines and see if anyone is acting strangely.

Right now, Linlang is also using some provocative methods to try to get those people to expose themselves. For example, when Empress Dowager Zhou says that she is old and might not make it, Linlang will say, "Aunt, don't talk nonsense. You will definitely live to be a hundred years old. I want you to stay with me forever."

Empress Dowager Zhou understood her feelings. After all, she had been like that before. There was no one to keep her company in the palace. She was always scheming against the concubines and even the emperor. There was no one she could talk to with without feeling guilty. She was very lonely.

So it's certain that Linlang hopes she lives to be a hundred years old. After all, only when she's alive can she have relatives to talk to; if she's gone, Linlang will be just like herself before, helpless and alone in the palace.

Although the new emperor seemed to treat Linlang well, she was the only woman he had, and there were no others.

However, it's uncertain whether this favor will last; we'll have to see how the emperor behaves after the three-year mourning period.

Historically, there are very few emperors who have only one woman, the empress. Empress Dowager Zhou did not think the new emperor was such a person.

Moreover, it is dangerous to place one's hopes on the emperor's favor, because one could lose it at any time. Family members like her are the most reliable, which is why Linlang is afraid of her dying.

So when Empress Dowager Zhou heard Linlang's words, she smiled and said, "Alright, I will try my best to live a long life and stay with you."

Linlang nestled her head against her arm and smiled, "Auntie is so kind."

Because neither of them mentioned keeping it a secret, the conversation between Linlang and Empress Dowager Zhou naturally got out.

Linlang wanted this effect. She wanted to see if anyone would say in private that Empress Dowager Zhou wouldn't live much longer and that her wishes would be in vain after she spoke to her. Even if someone was shrewd and didn't say anything, a cold laugh would reveal their thoughts.

After all, those who didn't poison her wouldn't know that Empress Dowager Zhou was in poor health; only the person who poisoned her would know that she wouldn't live long after being poisoned.

She should react when she hears Linlang's conversation with Empress Dowager Zhou.

Of course, if there is no reaction, there is no rush. Linlang will cure Empress Dowager Zhou. If Empress Dowager Zhou is still alive after two years, that person will probably find it strange.

Since the other party has such a poison, they should know how long a person can live under such toxicity. If it exceeds that time, the other party will definitely be curious, and then Linlang will be able to find this person.

If they still can't find the culprit this way, they'll have to use the illusionary props to scare them and see who did it. Fortunately, life in the palace is boring and there's plenty of time, so Linlang has plenty of time to slowly find the murderer; she's not in a hurry.

It has to be said that the culprit in the shadows is indeed quite composed. Even after she said all that, no one was seen saying anything behind Linlang's back, mocking her naivety. Not even anyone seemed to react negatively. It's unclear whether these people are particularly good at hiding their true intentions or if the culprit really isn't them.

Unfortunately, there weren't enough little bees. Otherwise, Linlang could have expanded her surveillance to include more people to prevent any from slipping through the net. If the culprit turned out to be someone she wasn't watching, all her efforts would have been in vain.

Linlang had no choice but to keep watching and occasionally say provocative things to see how the parties would react.

Not long after Linlang gave birth, Zhou Sanniang also got married.

Because Zhou San Niang had a good relationship with Lin Lang, and her aunt also had a good relationship with Madam Zhou, Madam Zhou helped Zhou San Niang find a good family to marry into.

Given the Zhou family's current immense power, even as a concubine's daughter, she could still marry well. Moreover, her aunts and sisters in the palace would often bestow gifts upon her, allowing her to accumulate a considerable amount of savings. With a good family background and a large personal fortune, it's easy to imagine that she would live a comfortable life in her husband's family.

But Zhou Si Niang is in trouble.

Her aunt had passed away, and her relationship with Linlang and Madam Zhou was not very good. So whenever Linlang gave Zhou Si Niang a reward, she didn't get any. After being targeted like that, Linlang wouldn't repay evil with kindness and be nice to Zhou Si Niang. After Empress Dowager Zhou learned about what Zhou Si Niang had done, she didn't like her very much anymore, so she didn't give her many things. So naturally, she couldn't save up any money.

As for marriage, Madam Zhou said she didn't know who to choose and let Master Zhou choose for himself.

Although Master Zhou was too lazy to deal with such trivial matters, the Zhou family was large and powerful, and as long as the word was spread, they could find a good marriage. So the one chosen for Zhou Si Niang was naturally quite good.

Zhou Si Niang was originally worried that her marriage would fall into the hands of Madam Zhou, and that Madam Zhou would cause her trouble and block her marriage.

She was relieved to hear that Madam Zhou hadn't been involved in her marriage and that her father had found the right person.

Finally, seeing that Master Zhou had chosen a good marriage for her, she felt even better.

However, she never imagined that men and women have completely different perspectives on choosing a spouse.

When Master Zhou was choosing a marriage partner, he only considered the alliance of interests between the two families and disregarded everything else. This was unlike Madam Zhou, who was looking for a marriage partner for Zhou San Niang, where she took into account both the alliance of interests and the character of the man, so as to avoid marrying a man of bad character and harming the girl.

Master Zhou wouldn't think that far ahead; he only cares about what's best for the Zhou family.

So when Zhou Si Niang married into that family, it was a tragedy.

That family's circumstances were indeed very good, at least from a worldly perspective—the father was a high-ranking official in the cabinet, holding a powerful position.

But Zhou Si Niang's husband was not so good. Not long after Zhou Si Niang entered the house, he came back crying and asked Master Zhou to make a decision for him.