Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Consort Han noticed that many members of the royal family preferred to marry daughters of merchants, and she began to have the same idea. She wanted to find a daughter from a merchant family so that her son would have money to spend in the future. Unlike the daughter of a duke that her son had previously married, who not only didn't give him money, but also made him spend a lot of money on her. So this time, she was determined to find a girl who could bring money to her son.

Of course, the main reason is that the money all the betrothal money from the Imperial Clan Court and the public funds for her son was squandered on the previous second mistress, Chu. Now, she doesn't have enough money to marry a daughter-in-law with good conditions. If a daughter-in-law with good conditions is too good, the betrothal money is too small. In addition, since her son is remarrying, the other party may not be willing to marry him.

Merchants, on the other hand, have plenty of money and are of low social status, so they don't care about these two things. Therefore, she wanted to marry a girl from a merchant family.

Because she came from a family of minor officials, and her family lived in an area surrounded by other minor officials or merchants, she was still easy to find.

However, one must be careful when choosing a business partner. Otherwise, if the other party is a shrewd businessman, she might try to take advantage of them, but they might try to take advantage of her in return.

For example, Chu Er Nai Nai's family wanted to sell her to a merchant family so they could continue to make money, but in the end, they didn't get a single penny.

Consort Han was thinking the same way, that she would marry her son to a merchant's daughter, just like some other families in the Prince's mansion. She would have a generous dowry, and since her daughter-in-law's family was wealthy, they could help out from time to time, so her son could live a good life in the future.

However, they never considered that the business of merchants is not as stable as that of wealthy people with land and shops, because business sometimes suffers losses. At this time, some families want to find a backer and connections, hoping to rely on the backer and connections of their son-in-law's family to make a comeback.

The family that Consort Han has chosen this time is just like this.

On the surface, they seem to be a wealthy family, but in reality, their cash flow is already tight. They happened to hear that the Han family's daughter wanted to find a merchant's daughter to be their son's wife, so they decided to get involved.

Knowing that Consort Han coveted their family's dowry, the family offered 10,000 taels as a dowry. Consort Han was overjoyed, as her family's betrothal gifts were not much. The fact that the bride's family could offer 10,000 taels as a dowry was already beyond her expectations. In any case, it was better than the former Second Madam Chu's family, who not only did not offer a dowry but also withheld the betrothal gifts.

Because she thought the woman was nice, Consort Han quickly arranged the marriage without investigating her family background, and welcomed her into the family shortly after the engagement.

Because her son was getting married for the second time, the marriage process went very quickly, and the woman had no objections. She thought the woman's side was easy to talk to, but she never imagined that they also wanted to marry their daughter into the Zhou family as soon as possible so that they could use this powerful backer and connections to make money.

Although Consort Han later went to see her new daughter-in-law's dowry and felt that it was somewhat worthless and not worth 10,000 taels, having something was better than having nothing.

As a result, she coveted other people's money, but that money wasn't so easy to covet.

Soon, the new Second Madam Chu, burdened with the family's entrustment, began to cause trouble.

This new Second Madam Chu is not as foolish as the former Second Madam Chu. As the daughter of a merchant, she is quite shrewd.

She quickly extracted information from Consort Han and her husband, revealing that they were actually wary of the Crown Prince's wife.

Even the other people in the manor were dissatisfied with the Crown Princess's management of the household and had previously fought for the position. Although they ultimately failed and were driven out, the management position in such a large manor was still very tempting, so many people still desired it. Presumably, Consort Han and her husband also wanted it.

Since they share the same goal, things are much easier. At least she doesn't have to worry about these two preventing her from getting control of the household.

This is also why she was willing to help her family fight for control of the household. She also wanted to make money, and her interests were aligned with her family's. So, unlike the previous Second Madam Chu, who simply wanted to support her family, she wanted her family to prosper so that she would have more confidence in her husband's family. At the same time, she could also make money herself, killing two birds with one stone. Unlike the previous Second Madam Chu, who did everything for her family.

So she casually mentioned to Consort Han and Chu Erlang that Chu Da Nai Nai was managing the household under the care of the Prince Zhou's Crown Princess, and that the Prince Zhou's Crown Princess wanted Chu Si Nai Nai Nai to manage the household as well. Since everyone else could manage the household, shouldn't she, as the second daughter-in-law, also be able to manage the household? When she took over the household, their second branch of the family could earn more money.

Second Madam Chu wanted to manage the household, and Consort Han and Second Prince Chu certainly didn't object. In fact, they had long coveted the household management power held by the Crown Prince's Consort and First Madam Chu, thinking how much money they could make if they could manage the household.

Now that they see that Second Madam Chu's thoughts are in line with theirs, they don't even need to persuade her to do this. Naturally, they support her. So, Consort Han and Second Prince Chu immediately took action. They mentioned this matter to the Prince of Zhou, saying that First Madam Chu was in charge of the household, and they heard that the Prince of Zhou's wife was planning to let Fourth Madam Chu also manage the household. They couldn't be biased, so Second Madam Chu had to manage it too.

The Crown Prince of Zhou thought that since the wives of his eldest and fourth sons were both in charge of managing the household, it would be inappropriate not to let the second son's wife manage it as well. So he immediately agreed and asked the Crown Prince's wife to arrange some work for the second son's wife as well.

When the Crown Prince's wife saw that Second Madam Chu was jumping around trying to take charge of the household, she knew there must be a reason. So she didn't refuse immediately. She said that Linlang didn't take charge of the household; only the eldest son's family did. And since the eldest son's family would inherit the Prince's Mansion in the future, it was normal for them to take charge. Others had no right to take charge of the household. Instead, she wanted to see what they were up to. So she assigned Second Madam Chu a small task.

This is certainly not as much as what Madam Chu manages, but the Crown Prince's Consort has her own reasons. She said, "You've just entered the manor and haven't figured things out yet. Let's learn first. I'll also see how well you manage things. If you manage well, I'll give you more tasks in the future; if you don't manage well, then I'm sorry, I can't let you continue, lest everyone in the manor complains that our eldest son's family doesn't know how to manage the household."

Grandma Chu didn't mind that she was given very little work, because as long as she could manage the household, she could keep her family's business going.

Besides, it's unrealistic for her to expect to take on a lot of tasks right after joining the company, so she didn't complain about the small amount of work she could only handle for the time being.

The task assigned to Second Madam Chu by the Crown Prince's wife was to manage the flowers and plants in the mansion.

The Prince's Mansion is so large that it needs a lot of flowers and plants.

One advantage of this job is that it won't affect the daily lives of the masters and servants in the mansion, and even if you don't do it well, it won't have a big impact.

Otherwise, if Second Madam Chu were to manage the cosmetics and face powder in the mansion, she might embezzle funds, making the cosmetics and face powder in the mansion too poor. This would be criticized by the other branches of the household, and outsiders would laugh at the poor quality of the cosmetics and face powder used by the mistress of their mansion.

Grandma Chu secured the job and immediately told her family. They were naturally delighted and prepared to start the business right away. (End of Chapter)