Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

But in reality, you can't trust what a gambler says. More likely, the Chu siblings will never pay back the money they borrowed.

Besides, it was his sister who wrote the IOU, so if she didn't repay it, it would be his sister who would come after him. What was he afraid of? Naturally, he would do whatever it took to get the money and persuade his sister to do it. As long as he could get the money, he would agree to any conditions—after all, once he got the money, all the conditions he had agreed to would be null and void, so what was there to be afraid of?

Actually, there was an even better way: borrow money from someone else first to pay back the money you owed the other party. That way, the other party would feel more at ease lending to you.

But this doesn't mean his credit is completely ruined, and he can't find anyone else to lend him money, so he has no choice but to ask for it outright.

They had a good plan, but the other party wasn't stupid either. They hadn't even paid back the money from last time, so how could they possibly borrow again?

Moreover, during this period, when people in the Prince's Mansion heard that she had borrowed money, some people who knew about the situation of Second Madam Chu's family leaked information to her, telling her not to lend Second Madam Chu any more money, lest she not be able to get the money back.

The woman was already afraid that she wouldn't get her money back. Now that she saw that Second Madam Chu had come to her not to repay the money, but to borrow more, she was unwilling to lend it to her. Instead of lending, she demanded that Second Madam Chu repay the money she had previously owed.

Where would Second Grandma Chu get the money to repay? If she had money, she could have just given it to her brother instead of coming to her to borrow more. So, very simply, the matter became strained.

The man then went to the Crown Prince's wife and said that Second Madam Chu was her daughter-in-law, demanding an explanation from the Crown Prince's wife.

The person who borrowed the money was one of the concubines of the King of Zhou. She also had a daughter, but she was already married. In a way, she was a half-elder of the Crown Prince's wife, since she was her father-in-law's concubine. Even a stepmother is still a mother.

Because she didn't have a son, she didn't usually have many expenses, so she naturally saved up her monthly allowance and annual allowance. Except for occasionally helping her daughter, she kept the rest there. But because she was soft-hearted and saw how pitiful Grandma Chu was, she lent her the money. Who knew that she would be cheated out of the money and couldn't get it back? This was unacceptable, after all, it was her hard-earned savings.

When the Crown Prince's wife heard the concubine's complaint, she summoned Second Madam Chu and instructed her, "Quickly return Concubine Li's money to her."

When Second Madam Chu saw Consort Li come to her door asking for money, she suddenly felt ashamed and her face turned bright red. However, she really had no money, so she hummed and said, "Mother, I have no money on me. Could you ask Consort Li to give me a few more days?"

Consort Li immediately refused, saying, "No! You must return the money to me today!"

She was afraid that if Second Madam Chu didn't return the money today, it would drag on indefinitely. She couldn't keep complaining to the Heir Apparent of Zhou, since the Heir Apparent was very busy, and she didn't want to upset her. So, she decided to resolve the matter today; she couldn't keep bothering the Heir Apparent. Although she was the Heir Apparent's stepmother, the Heir Apparent managed the Zhou Prince's residence. If she displeased her, even a casual remark from the Heir Apparent could affect the quality of her food, clothing, and other necessities. Therefore, she dared not keep bothering the Heir Apparent.

When Second Madam Chu saw that Consort Li was unwilling and kept asking her for the money, she became angry, but there was nothing she could do. So she could only stammer to the Crown Princess of Zhou, "Then... Mother, could you pay for it for me first? I will pay you back later."

When the Crown Princess of Zhou saw that Second Madam Chu was borrowing money from her, she couldn't help but find it amusing. Did she look even more foolish than Consort Li?

Consort Li had no relation to her, yet she dared to owe Consort Li money and not repay it. Now, she was nominally her legal mother. As a mother herself, how could she chase after her child for money? In the end, the money was said to be a loan, but it was actually a gift to her. Why would she give her such a large sum of money? Even her own daughter-in-law would be considered carefully, let alone her, who was a concubine's daughter-in-law. What business was it of her if she owed money? Therefore, the Crown Prince's wife naturally refused her request, saying, "Your father-in-law has so many sons and daughters. It's not appropriate for me to give money to only you and not to the others. But if I were to give money to everyone, I wouldn't have that much money. So you'd better think of another way."

After hearing the Crown Prince's wife's excuse, Second Madam Chu said, "I didn't ask my mother for money; I borrowed it from her..."

The Crown Princess of Zhou, seeing that she still wanted to fool her and deceive her, and that she was trying to save face for her, but she didn't want to save face and insisted that she expose her lies, decided to stop trying to save face for her. She coldly said, "Are you trying to fool me? You only get five taels of silver a month, and you have to use it yourself. You can't save much money in a month. How long will it take to pay back the money I borrowed from you? Besides, even if you save some, you won't pay me back. I bet every time your brother comes to you for money, you'll give it to him. In the end, you say you borrowed money from me, but you never pay it back. If you act like this, won't other girls and boys follow suit and come to me for money? I can't be biased, so I'll have to give to everyone, but where am I going to get so much money?"

Even if she had the money, she wouldn't give it away. She only wanted to give it to her son and daughter, not to anyone else, so naturally she couldn't set an example like Second Grandma Chu.

When the Second Madam Chu's lie was ruthlessly exposed by the Crown Prince's wife, her face flushed red and then turned pale, feeling extremely embarrassed, yet unable to defend herself.

No matter what she said, the Crown Princess of Zhou was unwilling to help her borrow the money, so she naturally felt resentful. She thought the Crown Princess of Zhou was too wicked, not helping her even though she had money. But she didn't have the time or mood to be resentful right now, since Consort Li was still here, waiting for her to repay the money.

Having no other choice, Second Madam Chu could only tell Consort Li to wait a moment while she went back and thought of a solution.

Consort Li was afraid that she would go back on her word and never return, so she said, "I'll wait here with your mother-in-law. If you don't bring the money, then wait for your mother-in-law to summon you."

Seeing how pressured she was, Second Madam Chu was furious. She knew that she was, after all, the daughter of a Duke. What was this Consort Li? She was just a former maid in the manor. Consort Li's family was so poor that they sold her into the Prince's manor. If she weren't the consort of Prince Zhou, how could she have the right to speak to her, let alone speak to her like that?

Because of Consort Li's background, Second Madam Chu was displeased that she dared to speak to her like that. (End of Chapter)