Quickly wear salted fish, she won by lying down

Chapter 1877 Cousin 48
Although the owner behind this, like the wife of the Duke of Cheng'en, was engaged in usury, which was not legal, anyone with ulterior motives could easily take them down.

Of course, it might be better if it didn't result in someone's death like the wife of the Duke of Cheng'en, but generally, those who lend money outright without a second thought are people with poor credit. People with poor credit are hard to repay, and to get them to repay, you definitely need to use extreme measures, so it's rare to avoid bloodshed.

So it's fortunate that the other party didn't ask Grandma Chu for the money. Otherwise, if people found out who the boss behind the loan to Grandma Chu's family was, someone might report that person, and that person would not only not get the money back, but might also face legal trouble.

So now, all of Second Madam Chu's family members have run away. Although the person behind the loan has lost a lot of money, he can only keep an eye on Second Madam Chu and hasn't come out to do anything openly. At most, he plans to cause trouble for Second Madam Chu in secret in the future.

The reason they were keeping an eye on Second Madam Chu was to see who she would be in contact with.

They couldn't believe that Grandma Chu's family members would disappear without a trace, and that they wouldn't even contact their daughter anymore.

As long as they can contact Second Grandma Chu, they can follow the clues to find her family and then figure out how to get the money back.

Grandma Chu was unaware that she was being watched. Seeing that her family members had escaped successfully, she thought everything was fine and breathed a sigh of relief.

Although her family members ran away, causing her to be the subject of some gossip in the mansion, as long as they escaped, she would have a chance to make a comeback by relying on the Prince's mansion.

It's normal for people to gossip about it, since the Prince's Mansion is all about praising the powerful and belittling the weak. Those with better conditions are easily admired, while those with worse conditions are the subject of gossip.

Like Linlang, who has no maternal family and whose maternal uncle's family has also fallen from power, she is also the subject of gossip.

Fortunately, Linlang had a large dowry to rely on, and she also had a good uncle. In addition, Chu Yue and the Crown Prince's wife treated Linlang very well, so no one dared to gossip about her.

Like Second Madam Chu, whose husband didn't like her much, whose relationship with her stepmother was distant, and whose family had suffered such an incident, not to mention her meager dowry, it's no wonder she was the subject of gossip in the household.

If it weren't for the Crown Princess keeping an eye on her, even her meals would have been cut back. After all, that's how it is in the manor—people fawn over the powerful and bully the weak. Since she has no background and no power, she'll naturally be bullied. This isn't the Crown Princess's order; it's just something that happens naturally.

She's pregnant now, so it's definitely not good for her to have her food cut back. The Crown Prince's wife is keeping a close eye on her, which is why nothing has happened yet; otherwise, her life would have been miserable long ago.

Madam Chu was naturally unaware that the fact that her food, clothing, and shelter were not affected was actually thanks to the Crown Princess of Zhou. However, even if she knew, she probably wouldn't thank the Crown Princess of Zhou. She would only feel that it was the Crown Princess of Zhou's duty and that her food, clothing, and shelter should not have been affected, since she was the steward.

But she hadn't considered that with so many people in the Prince's mansion, no matter how well the Princess Consort of Zhou managed the household, how could she possibly oversee everything and ensure that everyone was free from any problems? Just as the Emperor couldn't prevent any incidents from happening throughout the country, the Princess Consort of Zhou couldn't possibly manage her entire family without any problems.

Even if Linlang had her own surveillance system with honeybees, it might not be possible to accomplish this, because even with surveillance, it's impossible to review all the footage and know everything. Therefore, even if it wasn't the Crown Prince's wife who ordered anyone to bully anyone, the snobbishness of the subordinates could still lead to such an incident.

Sometimes, the Crown Princess can only identify and address problems, acting as a remedy after the fact; she cannot be perfect in everything.

Because Second Madam Chu was pregnant, no matter how much Second Brother Chu and the others disliked her, they couldn't do anything to her, since it wouldn't be appropriate to get angry at a pregnant woman.

Actually, this was something Second Madam Chu did intentionally. Although she didn't know the quality of the flowers and plants her family had given her, she knew that they must not have been of high quality in order to make money from the Prince's Mansion. She was also afraid of messing up the job, so she wanted to get pregnant as soon as possible. Once she had a child, the people in the Prince's Mansion wouldn't be able to do anything to her.

So from the moment she entered the house, she was gentle and attentive. In addition, the housekeeper gave her money, so Chu Erlang had a good impression of her and came to visit more often, which led to her getting pregnant smoothly.

She was quite clever and made the right move. So even though she messed up the job and her family ran away, she didn't get much scolding in the Prince's mansion because she was pregnant.

Leaving aside the fact that Second Madam Chu's family ran away, and that Second Madam Chu escaped unscathed thanks to her pregnancy, let's just talk about the fierce power struggle between the two princes of the dynasty.

Just as Linlang had predicted, the final victor was neither Empress Liu's son nor the son of the favored concubine. In the struggle between these two sons, one died and the other was injured. The one who died was naturally Empress Liu's son, since he was the legitimate son of the Empress, and all those who wanted to rise to power targeted him, making him the most vulnerable to being harmed.

No one knows who did it, but Empress Liu clearly believes it was her favorite concubine and her son. Since she only had one son and now that he's gone, Empress Liu is taking revenge on her favorite concubine and her son.

Empress Liu's maternal family, the Duke of Anguo's mansion, was naturally furious. After all, this was their life's work, and it was gone just like that. It would be strange if they weren't furious. Naturally, they cooperated with their daughter to attack the favored concubine and her son.

Such a fierce, reckless attack naturally brought down the favored concubine and her son.

Although the favored concubine's son did not die, he was seriously injured and will be disabled in the future, so he will definitely not be able to ascend to the throne.

The favored concubine had two sons, but the younger one was too young and not very capable. So, the struggle continued until the current emperor's health deteriorated, and it was necessary to establish an heir. In the end, a younger prince was chosen as the crown prince. This was because the emperor thought his health was recovering and that a young crown prince would not pose a threat to him. After all, older princes, seeing that they were already crown prince while their father was still alive, would often stage a coup to force the emperor to abdicate.

As a result, not long after the crown prince was established, the emperor's health failed him and he collapsed, and a new emperor ascended the throne.

Although Empress Liu was the Empress Dowager, regardless of who ascended the throne, the new emperor had his own birth mother, who was the true Empress Dowager. Empress Dowager Liu only had status and position in the palace; she couldn't be considered truly glamorous. After all, her relationship with the new emperor's birth mother wasn't good—the concubines were in a competitive relationship, and only a few could have a good one. Once the other became Empress Dowager, she naturally wouldn't treat her well. Since her birth mother, the Empress Dowager, didn't treat her well, the new emperor naturally wouldn't treat her well either. Giving her some superficial respect was already considered good. Therefore, the one who truly enjoyed the limelight was not the Duke of Anguo's family, but the new emperor's maternal family.