Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Although the Crown Prince of Zhou had instructed his sons to avoid going out and having fun, and if they did go, to avoid associating with people they shouldn't, and the King of Zhou had given his sons similar instructions, some still couldn't stand the boredom of staying in the palace and went outside.

Fine, I went. I even made some friends I shouldn't have.

As far as Linlang knows, the current situation in the court is quite serious, with Empress Liu and the emperor's favorite concubine locked in a fierce power struggle.

But life is so unpredictable. These two are fighting fiercely, but whoever will rise to power in the future might not be either of them. They might end up hurting each other, and then others would benefit. So it's hard to say who will ultimately come to power.

Therefore, in such a complex situation, one must be very careful about who one associates with. If one is not careful, one may choose the wrong side, and if the new emperor is unhappy, he may find fault with the Zhou Prince's Mansion and strip it of its title.

This is what King Zhou and his heir were most worried about, which is why they instructed their families to stay at home and not cause trouble.

Some people listened, but others were too stupid to understand the seriousness of the matter. They probably grew up in luxury and their brains had deteriorated. They thought that what King Zhou and his son said was too serious and not that scary, so they continued to wander around outside.

Let me just drift around. As long as I don't associate with anyone, it doesn't matter if I eat and drink.

The key issue is that some people are truly fearless, and some actually disobey and cause trouble.

This person is not the son of the Prince of Zhou, because the Prince of Zhou's son is still quite young. Although young people may be rebellious and disobedient, they have no say in the family and are not valued by anyone outside. So even if they want to make mistakes, people are too lazy to pay attention to them. They can't even find a way to make mistakes.

So, was it the Zhou king's son who made the mistake, or one of the sons who had already been separated into different households?

Although the King of Zhou instructed them not to go out in the coming days, their houses were smaller than the King's palace, and they couldn't stand staying at home, so they naturally ran out.

The sons of the King of Zhou who went out to live in separate households were naturally all quite old. Although these older people were not as rebellious, they were particularly prone to being self-righteous, thinking that at their age, they should still listen to their father? Did they think they didn't know right from wrong?

Of course, the main reason was that these people felt their future titles were too low and they would be too poor after being separated from their own families. They wanted to make a fortune and gain merit by following the new emperor. They hoped that when the new emperor ascended the throne, he would promote them and give them a lot of rewards. Wouldn't it be great if they had status and money? So some people started to mess around.

Needless to say, there are naturally people like Master Chu who are short of money among them.

Since leaving the manor, Master Chu has been living a life worse than death for years.

Back in the Prince's mansion, food, clothing, lodging, and transportation were all provided. Although the monthly allowance wasn't much, at least there was something every month. There was also a big red envelope at the New Year—the annual allowance. Life was pretty good.

After leaving the Prince's Palace, the Imperial Clan Court did not distribute money monthly, but rather twice a year, in spring and autumn. As the General Who Guards the Nation, he received one thousand taels of silver each time.

He still had to use that thousand taels of silver to support his family. In the past, he was the one who received money from others, and he felt that the Prince's mansion was stingy. They had so much money, but when he went to the account to withdraw money, he could not get any. They only gave him his monthly and annual allowance. That's why he urged his wife to manage the household with the Princess Consort of the Prince of Zhou.

There was nothing he could do. He was out of favor and spent his time in the outer courtyard, serving his father, the Prince of Zhou. He couldn't get any jobs or make any money from it. He could only hope that his wife could get the power to manage the inner courtyard and make some money from it.

The deal fell through, and he was kicked out.

Now that he's out there, he's gone from being the one collecting money to the one distributing it. He's so eager to not give a single penny to the household to support them, wanting to keep all the money for himself. At this point, he forgets about how he used to complain about how stingy the Prince of Zhou was when he was a son in the Prince's mansion, because he's even stingier than the Prince of Zhou.

Because Master Chu rarely provided household expenses, the second wife's family couldn't survive. So, Madam Chu had no choice but to have her son go to the mansion every month to find Master Chu's birth mother and take her monthly allowance for household expenses.

That meager monthly allowance was naturally insufficient to cover the expenses of the entire family, barely enough to feed them. As a result, the second wife's family had a very difficult time in the previous years.

Fortunately, Master Chu's sons gradually turned twenty and were able to receive their salaries, which made Madam Chu a little more financially secure.

There wasn't much money to be made, because the lion's share was taken by Master Chu.

The Second Master of Chu was far more outrageous than the King of Zhou. At least the King of Zhou left a considerable amount of money in the public treasury so that everyone could live with dignity. Unlike the Second Master of Chu, who didn't even leave anyone any dignity, he spent all that money by himself.

That's right. As long as the parents are alive, the family doesn't separate. So, naturally, the money of Master Chu's sons also had to be handed over to the public fund, and then they would receive a small monthly allowance from the public fund to spend, just like the Zhou Prince's Mansion. Then, the majority of the money was taken by Master Chu and squandered. After all, someone like him who spends money extravagantly would squander it all once he had it. No matter how much money he had, he could squander it all.

At this moment, Madam Chu finally understood how Princess Zhou felt.

Because her son had the highest salary in this small family, while the concubine sons had lower ranks and therefore lower salaries. Some of them were not yet adults and had no salary at all. They simply ate and drank her son's food and drink, which meant that she was using her son's money to support others. She began to feel that the concubine sons were taking advantage of her and wanted them to separate from her family and live elsewhere.

Unfortunately, the mother of the illegitimate son learned from the lesson of being kicked out by the second wife for fighting for the right to manage the household, but she did not encourage the wives of the illegitimate sons to demand the right to manage the household. Therefore, she could not kick the illegitimate sons out like Princess Zhou did.

Of course, it's estimated that Master Chu the Second wouldn't want to kick his illegitimate sons out either, because he takes the lion's share of their salaries, leaving only a small portion for the public funds. With the illegitimate sons in the mansion, Master Chu the Second benefits, so why would he want them to leave?

Perhaps one day, when the sons of concubines have many children and their expenses exceed their salaries, then Master Chu will, like King Zhou, divide his sons into separate households.

After Master Chu's wealth increased, his status in the mansion rose even higher, since he controlled the finances. Naturally, he could give more personal favors to those he liked and not give any money to those he disliked. He would use the money of other people in the mansion to curry favor with them, so that he could obtain the money from the secondary distribution. Master Chu was naturally very happy.

No wonder there were the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues in ancient times. Once a man became the undisputed head of the household, controlling all the money handed over by the family, he could redistribute it, making others fawn over him, and giving it to whomever he wanted. Who wouldn't like this feeling of being a local tyrant at home? (End of Chapter)