Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Since they were going to get rid of Second Madam Chu, the Prince of Zhou didn't want to see her sell the betrothal gifts. So he said, "Then don't let her sell the betrothal gifts. You're about to give out the clothes, jewelry, cosmetics, and monthly allowance for the next season, right? Tell Second Madam Chu's wife to use that buckle instead. Don't give her the clothes, jewelry, cosmetics, and monthly allowance for the next season. If that's not enough, let her sell some more betrothal gifts."

After all, the betrothal gifts were the second son's private property, but the money in the public treasury was different; it belonged to his father, so it was obvious which one should be used.

If it weren't for the fact that it was inappropriate to spend such a large sum of money directly, and also because he didn't want to use the public funds of the Prince's Mansion to cover up for Second Madam Chu's brother and encourage his appetite, then the Prince of Zhou would have wanted to use the public funds to pay off this debt.

The Crown Princess of Zhou understood and agreed.

He immediately told Second Grandma Chu about this solution.

Of course, she naturally said that this was how the Prince of Zhou dealt with her, and she couldn't say that it was her decision, lest the woman resent her and say that she had withheld her clothes, jewelry, monthly allowance, etc., which would not be good for her reputation if word got out.

Although it seems certain that Chu Erlang will divorce this woman, what if he doesn't? The Crown Princess of Zhou wouldn't want to make an enemy of hers.

As expected, when Second Madam Chu heard that this was the decision of the Prince of Zhou, she had no objections. Besides, as long as she didn't have to pay, she didn't care. She could use clothes and jewelry from the next season to pay for it, since she wouldn't have any new clothes or jewelry to use anyway.

The Crown Prince's wife then distributed the clothes and jewelry for the next season ahead of schedule. She then converted the portion belonging to Second Madam Chu into cash and gave it to her to return to Consort Li. Second Madam Chu made up the shortfall by selling some betrothal gifts, which finally resolved the lawsuit.

As for Chu Er Nai Nai's brother, he came again wanting to borrow money from her, but because of the orders of the Prince of Zhou, he couldn't get in at all. Of course, even if he did get in, he wouldn't be able to see Chu Er Nai Nai. The Prince of Zhou had ordered that, given Chu Er Nai Nai's family situation, not only should her brother not be allowed to come in, but Chu Er Lang should also keep Chu Er Nai Nai under house arrest, lest her brother or mother come to beg her for money and she sell the betrothal gifts and squander all of Er Lang's money.

Chu Erlang had long wanted to divorce Chu Ernai, that troublesome woman, but he insisted on marrying her, and now that she wanted to divorce him after only a few months, he was afraid of his father's scolding, so he had endured it without divorcing her. Now, he heard about Chu Ernai's debt, and then the Prince of Zhou spoke to him, telling him to get rid of Chu Ernai. Naturally, he was happy about this and obeyed the Prince of Zhou's orders, locking Chu Ernai up.

Chu Erlang planned to keep Chu Ernai locked up for a few months. Firstly, he could take this opportunity to earn more money for the clothes, jewelry, and monthly allowances he would give to Chu Ernai, especially since there would be annual allowances during the New Year, which he would want to get his hands on to make up for some of his losses. Secondly, it wouldn't be good to divorce her before the year was up. If he divorced her after the New Year, he could say that Chu Ernai hadn't given birth to a child after more than a year of marriage, which would be reasonable and justifiable. Actually, it would be more appropriate to wait until three years without giving birth before divorcing her, but Chu Erlang couldn't wait, so he only planned to keep Chu Ernai locked up until after the New Year before divorcing her.

Madam Chu was just about to sell some of the betrothal gifts to help her brother recoup his losses after finally getting back the money from Consort Li. It was clear that Prince Zhou was right to order her confinement, otherwise Madam Chu would have sold all of Chu Erlang's betrothal gifts for her brother. But then her husband ordered her to be confined, which stunned her. She immediately started shouting and yelling, saying that she was the daughter of a Duke, and how could Chu Erlang treat her like this?

Unfortunately, her family was dirt poor, so she only had one maid and one nanny with her as part of her dowry. They were powerless to help her now and could only watch helplessly as their young mistress was imprisoned. Actually, the two women also had reservations about their young mistress coming to the Prince's mansion and lending money to her brother for gambling. They had advised Second Madam Chu that after marriage, she should prioritize her husband's family, and that such behavior would make her disliked by them.

But Second Madam Chu just wouldn't listen. She always felt that the Prince's Mansion had plenty of money, and how much could her brother spend? What was wrong with giving her brother some money to use?
It's no wonder she thinks this way. There's nothing she can do about it. Her brother was the only male in her family since she was little, and everyone in the family said that her brother was the only hope for the family. They all wanted to support her brother in the future, and she thought that made sense, so she thought this way now.

Now things are really messed up. She insists on constantly supporting her brother, completely offending everyone in the Zhou Prince's mansion. She won't have a good ending—the maids and nannies have already heard the news that the Zhou Prince's heir is particularly dissatisfied with his master's daughter-in-law and has asked the second young master to deal with his master when he has time.

Even if the Zhou Prince's Mansion is kind-hearted and won't let their master die of illness, but simply divorces their young lady, she won't have a good ending when she goes back. This is because the news that the young lady's brother gambled away the family fortune has already spread because the young lady borrowed money from the mansion, and it will soon be known throughout the capital.

When the young lady returns, the Duke and his family will be happy because they can sell her again. However, once the Zhou Prince's Mansion tells them that the Duke's Mansion has a gambling addict who gambled away his entire fortune, resulting in the family not only not providing a dowry but also withholding the betrothal gifts, and that their young lady borrowed money from everyone to gamble for her brother shortly after entering the family, what respectable family would want to marry their young lady? The only ones willing to marry her will definitely be families with extremely bad character who can't find wives with good conditions.

Once the young lady is divorced and sent back to her family, she will be married into such a household. The people who accompanied Second Madam Chu in her dowry are also afraid, because they are with Second Madam Chu. Their fates are intertwined, and they are afraid of following Second Madam Chu into a family with bad character and suffering together with her.

So when she saw that Second Madam Chu had been locked up, she hadn't realized that something was wrong. She was shouting and yelling, saying that she was the daughter of the Duke and how could the Prince of Zhou's mansion treat her like this. She was naturally unhappy and thought that they were so unlucky to have such a master.

If such a mistress were to die of illness, that would be good. As servants of Second Mistress Chu, they would be taken in by the Prince's Mansion and would have somewhere to go. On the contrary, if they were sent back with Second Mistress Chu, their future would be difficult.

Thinking of this, the old woman had a different idea in her mind. She thought that it would be better if Second Madam Chu died, so that they could live a better life in the Prince's Mansion.

She felt that she couldn't do this alone, so she told Chu Er Nai Nai's maid about her idea.

When the maidservant heard the old woman's analysis of the future, she was terrified and immediately agreed to the old woman's suggestion. (End of this chapter)