Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Leaving aside the fact that Second Madam Chu's maids and nannies were planning to kill her so that if she returned home, her family would sell her to a worse family for money, and they would suffer the same fate, let's just say that now that Second Madam Chu is locked up, things have returned to normal for Linlang. No one is bothering her anymore, so she can focus on dealing with the Cheng'en Duke's Mansion.

As a result, before she could even tidy up the Cheng'en Duke's Mansion, the Cheng'en Duke's wife wrote to Linlang that day, saying that the Cheng'en Duke's Mansion was in dire straits and asking if she could give them the two sets of jewelry that the old lady had given her. She said that she knew that these were given to her by the old lady and that she should not accept them, but the Cheng'en Duke's Mansion really had no money and was about to go out of business, so she could only ask for her help. Since the Cheng'en Duke's Mansion had just experienced a death, she could not go to Linlang's door to ask for things, so she wrote the letter in this way.

Linlang couldn't help but laugh when she saw this, thinking that this Lady Cheng'en was really funny. She hadn't even dealt with her yet, and she dared to cause trouble for her first.

Moreover, this person is a complete liar.

The claim that the Cheng'en Duke's Mansion was short of money is false. In fact, when Empress Dowager Song was alive, the Cheng'en Duke's Mansion had more money than it could spend. She embezzled a considerable amount of it and kept it as her private stash. So the Cheng'en Duke's Mansion had plenty of money, but all of it was hidden in the private treasury of the Cheng'en Duke's wife.

It's ridiculous that she, as the matriarch of the household, doesn't use the money herself but comes to ask an outsider like me for money.

Linlang immediately decided to take action.

Before she could take any action, news came from the Duke of Chengen's residence that something had happened.

What happened? It's said that the practice of the Duchess of Cheng'en exploiting the people for personal gain has been exposed.

Linlang also knew about this. Back when she left the Chengen Duke's Mansion, the Chengen Duke's wife, in order to make money, lent out the little money she had at the time at high interest rates. Relying on her status as the emperor's maternal uncle, she dared to do this business, and so it was very successful.

To be honest, Linlang originally planned to deal with Lady Chengen from this angle.

As a result, before he could even make a move, what Lady Cheng'en had done was exposed.

What Linlang didn't know was that this was exactly the result of Chu Yue's plan.

Because Lady Chengen was a noblewoman in the inner quarters, he couldn't just arrest her, put her in a sack, and beat her like he did with the heir of the Chengen Duke. So he could only try to investigate her situation and see if there was anything he could do about it.

Then they discovered that Lady Chengen was lending money.

These days, there are many loan sharks in the capital, but it's rare to find one with such high interest rates and cruel collection methods that has resulted in the deaths of several people. So when Chu Yue discovered this situation, he quickly exposed what the Duchess of Cheng'en had done.

He had hesitated before deciding whether to do this, after all, she was Linlang's aunt. But when the old lady of the Chengen Duke's Mansion passed away, Linlang received two sets of jewelry, and the Chengen Duke's wife glared at Linlang fiercely. In addition, the things this person had done to Linlang before had completely angered Chu Yue, so he exposed the matter.

It just so happens that this is a lifesaver; otherwise, if Lady Chengen had continued down this path, who knows how many more lives would have been lost. It wouldn't have been so bad if it had only killed those who borrowed money, because most of the people who borrowed money from Lady Chengen at such high interest rates were not good people. They were either gamblers or had other vices, and they were poor, so they borrowed money everywhere.

But most of those she killed were the families of those who borrowed money. To force these scoundrels to pay off their debts, she would abduct the wives and children of the borrowing men and sell them, many of whom were sold into brothels. How many of those who ended up in brothels had a good ending? Chu Yue felt that he couldn't let the Lady of Cheng'en continue to force good people into prostitution. This was why Chu Yue exposed the Lady of Cheng'en's actions, both for Linlang's sake and to save people, killing two birds with one stone.

Although when Lady Chengen first started lending money, she boasted that she was the emperor's aunt and her daughter-in-law was the empress's sister, so she could do whatever she wanted without any trouble, there is no one in the world who will never get into trouble. Even if a prince commits a crime, the emperor will punish him. So what is the emperor's aunt?
Therefore, when the emperor heard that the Duke of Cheng'en's family had been lending money and had caused the deaths of many people, he was furious and immediately issued an edict to strip them of their title and confiscate their property.

—Although it was done by the Duchess of Chengen, it was done by the Chengen Mansion in public. No outsiders care who in the Chengen Mansion did it; they will only say that it was done by the Chengen Mansion. Therefore, the punishment will be for the Chengen Mansion.

If it weren't for the fact that the Duke of Chengen and his wife were the Emperor's uncle and aunt, and that Liu Siniang was the Empress's sister, the whole family might have been exiled or even beheaded. They've only had their titles stripped and their property confiscated, which is already quite good.

Although it was an extra favor to the emperor, it was a devastating blow to the Duke of Cheng'en's family.

Lady Cheng'en never expected that while she was still coveting the two sets of jewelry in Shen Linlang's possession, her family would be stripped of their title and their property confiscated by the emperor for causing the deaths of countless people through usury.

How could this be! Her hard-earned savings of over ten thousand yuan were gone just like that! She couldn't accept it!
At that moment, Lady Cheng'en naturally cried out that she had been wronged and that she had only lent money and had not killed anyone.

She had no choice but to cry foul. The Dali Temple and other places investigated and found out that she was the one who caused the trouble. They informed the people of the Chengen Duke's Mansion, and then everyone in the Chengen Duke's Mansion knew that she had caused such a big disaster. They immediately began to blame her and accuse her of bringing disaster to the family.

Because everyone in her family started criticizing her, and she heard that the emperor was furious and that even as his aunt, she couldn't escape the accusations, Lady Cheng'en panicked and cried out that she was innocent, saying that she had never killed anyone.

But did she really not kill anyone? How could that be? She was the one who instructed people to go and collect debts, and when they couldn't get the money, she would take away people's wives and children to sell. If they refused, she would beat them. In the end, for various reasons, countless people died at her hands. It would be strange if she wasn't found guilty.

Does Lady Cheng'en really not know that those debts can't be recovered without drastic measures? How could that be! Anyone who isn't a fool knows that most people who come to borrow at such high interest rates are scoundrels who are already planning to borrow money and never repay it.

If you lend money to a scoundrel, how can you get it back without using special collection methods?

And what consequences would there be if she used special means? Did she not know? So every penny of profit she recovered was stained with other people's blood, and she still had the nerve to cry foul.

And that wasn't all. She also used her prestigious status as the Emperor's maternal uncle's family and her daughter-in-law the Empress's sister to send petitions to government offices, helping wicked people with their lawsuits and swindling victims. She made a considerable amount of money this way; after all, relying solely on lending money was too slow to accumulate wealth, while taking money from others and helping them settle their lawsuits was a much faster way to make money. (End of Chapter)