Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

People like the Crown Princess of Zhou prefer those who are willing to listen and take instructions to heart. Those who give her instructions but don't understand the situation, or who understand the situation but are self-righteous, are the ones who give the Crown Princess of Zhou the most headaches and dislike.

Especially for self-righteous people, if they are truly intelligent and do better than the Crown Prince's wife, then she naturally won't say anything. But if they lack ability and still need her to give orders to do this or that, ultimately causing trouble, it's no wonder the Crown Prince's wife wouldn't like them.

There was a time when a son born out of wedlock got married and that's how it happened.

The family she chose was quite good, but the other party refused. Like the Princess of Qingyang, he was instigated by his mother, who thought that the Crown Prince's wife would harm him and wouldn't choose a good marriage for him. He insisted on choosing himself. Fine, he chose himself, but he ended up choosing a bloodsucking family. He didn't even know it and thought he had made a good choice, that the family was much higher in status than the family chosen by the Crown Prince's wife. He didn't realize that the family was only superficially glamorous, and that they were already living beyond their means like the Duke of Chengen's family.

The Crown Prince's wife noticed this and told him not to give too much in betrothal gifts, just use the amount given by the Imperial Clan Court according to regulations. She told the illegitimate son to keep the money given by the Prince's Mansion, saying that she was afraid the bride's family would withhold the betrothal gifts.

But the man didn't believe it. He thought that the family was a Duke's mansion, not some shameless poor family in the countryside. He thought that the woman should withhold the bride's betrothal gifts. In fact, under the instigation of his mother, he felt that the Princess Consort of the Prince of Zhou was humiliating him. He felt that other people's betrothal gifts were much more prestigious, and that it would be a disgrace for him to only receive the small amount of betrothal gifts given by the Imperial Clan Court. He even complained to the Prince of Zhou in anger.

The Crown Prince of Zhou, unaware of the woman's situation, assumed that the Crown Princess had mistreated her and instructed her to betroth the woman like everyone else.

The Crown Prince's wife, seeing that she had helped the other party twice and been rejected both times, and even complained to the Crown Prince, had long since lost heart. So she stopped explaining the situation of the woman's family to the Crown Prince and simply did as he was told.

In the end, the woman's family was already broke. When they saw that the man had given so many betrothal gifts, they were overjoyed, thinking that this was the thing to make up for their deficit. So they kept all the valuable items from the betrothal gifts and only returned the worthless things. As for the dowry, there was nothing there, only a few quilts were given—just like some poor rural families that the illegitimate son thought were shameless.

Only then did the illegitimate son realize that the Crown Prince's wife truly cared for him, unlike what his mother had said about wanting to harm him. He couldn't help but regret it, but it was too late for regrets, because he was concerned about his reputation and couldn't very well ask his wife's family for it back.

Besides, it's impossible to get it back, because the bride's family would have already spent all the money for the betrothal gifts during the long period from engagement to marriage.

By this time, he knew that listening to the Crown Princess of Zhou was useless, because his major life event was already completed, and things would be the same from now on. Besides, even if he were willing to listen to the Crown Princess of Zhou now, she wouldn't pay any attention to him. After all, she had given him good advice twice, but good words couldn't persuade a damned devil. If he encountered any difficulties in the future, even if the Crown Princess of Zhou knew, she wouldn't advise him anymore and would let him do whatever he wanted.

This man was none other than Chu Yue's second elder brother, who had recently married a new wife.

Logically, according to the order of seniority, Chu Yue's second and third brothers should have married first. However, due to the unusual situation at the Duke of Cheng'en's mansion, the Crown Princess of Zhou allowed Linlang to enter the family first. This is not a big deal, since the order of seniority is an unspoken rule. But it doesn't mean that those above cannot marry, and those below are never allowed to marry. There is no royal law for that.

The Crown Prince's wife chose for him the daughter of a third-rank official. The daughter of such a high-ranking official held a high position and had a lot of illicit income. Her family was not short of money, and for the sake of face, they would not withhold the betrothal gifts.

As a result, he felt that the other party's status was not high enough, and insisted on choosing the daughter of a duke, thinking that a duke was a first-rank official, with a higher status, and would be more respectable when going out.

Besides, if the father-in-law of an official were to lose his official position or even be demoted by the emperor, he would lose all face. He couldn't possibly marry a girl from such a family.

But he hadn't considered that as a member of the imperial clan, he would have a guaranteed salary regardless of future circumstances. What did his future in-laws' situation matter to him? The key was that he needed to ensure his betrothal gifts weren't withheld and that he received a substantial dowry from the bride's family—that was the most practical thing to do. He couldn't understand this logic and insisted on marrying that seemingly glamorous daughter of a duke. It turned out that she, like the Duke of Cheng'en's family, was already living beyond her means, desperate to sell her daughter. This forced him to use all the money from the public funds and the Imperial Clan Court as betrothal gifts for Second Madam Chu. In the end, Second Madam Chu's family withheld the gifts, leaving him with nothing but some worthless items. There was no dowry at all, unlike the large dowries his elder brothers and fourth brothers had brought with their wives. This infuriated him, and he began to give his new wife the cold shoulder.

He chose her himself, and she was the one he liked, but after marrying her, he stopped liking her.

However, this Second Madam Chu also has her problems.

It was one thing for her family to keep all the betrothal gifts, but they could also say that she was weak and dared not compete with them, so they couldn't blame her. Now that she had married into the royal family and was no longer under her family's control, she was no longer afraid of them and wouldn't have to give them money anymore. But her husband neglected her. She had cried and felt sad when she saw that her husband was not nice to her.

As a result, even though she was still heartbroken about her husband's mistreatment of her, she still had the mind to come to Grandma Chu and Linlang to borrow money, saying that her family was starving and she had come to ask her for money. She said she had no money and wanted to ask Linlang and Grandma Chu to lend her family some to help them out. Linlang was speechless.

Linlang knew that Second Madam Chu had also borrowed money from First Madam Chu because First Madam Chu had asked her about it.

That day, she was lying on a deck chair in the courtyard, basking in the sun and listening to a storyteller, enjoying herself very much, when Grandma Chu came to visit her.

As soon as Grandma Chu entered the room, she saw Linlang lying comfortably on a recliner, basking in the sun and listening to storytelling. She couldn't help but laugh and slap her arm, saying, "You silly girl, you really know how to enjoy yourself."

Linlang had her maid bring over a reclining chair for Madam Chu as well, and served her fruits and pastries. Then she asked Madam Chu, "What brings you here, sister-in-law?"

You should know that Madam Chu is the right-hand woman of the Crown Prince's wife, and she is very busy. Normally, she has no time to come to see her.

Grandma Chu lay down, picked up an orange, peeled it and ate it, saying, "I just wanted to come and see you, to see if you've been scammed."

Linlang's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this, and she asked, "What's wrong?"

Grandma Chu asked her, "Did the second son's wife come over to ask you for money?"

When Linlang heard that this was indeed the matter she was asking about, she nodded and said, "Coming."

Grandma Chu looked at her with an expression that said, "I knew it," and asked, "How much do you want to borrow?"

Linlang drawled lazily, "She asked me for five thousand taels right away, and when I ignored her, she kept lowering the price to four thousand taels, three thousand taels, two thousand taels, and then said that it couldn't be less than one thousand taels." (End of Chapter)