The maid's road to success

Zhou Guangshu rushed around every day, trying to ask his colleagues and friends to help him save the little girl.

But everyone just congratulated his daughter on being favored and refused to lend a helping hand. Only he and his wife knew that Yuan'er was not being favored, but suffering.

She was still young and in good shape, but the emperor used Deer Blood and Tiger Pills to make himself comfortable, which tortured Yuan'er to the point of almost losing her life. The maid who followed her into the palace said that Yuan'er was favored by the emperor and was covered in wounds.

He and his wife loved each other all their lives, but his daughters all had a miserable life. In order to keep his eldest daughter from entering the palace, he made her elope. He used a trick to marry his second daughter into the Bai family, but she was not on good terms with her husband. He finally married his third daughter into the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion, but the place was in chaos. The Zhou family was dealt with by the Prince Li Mansion, the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion and the Bai family, and after great effort they calmed down their anger. The damned Duke Cheng'en bribed the Zhou family's old woman to draw a small portrait of Yuan'er and submitted it to the palace.

In order to prove that she did not deliberately not present Yuan'er to the emperor, Princess Fu'an refused to see them no matter how they begged. Now only the Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion could allow them in because of their in-laws.

"Please be kind, Grandfather. Yan'er is also your granddaughter-in-law. We deceived the Marquis's Mansion at that time. It was our fault, but we are all parents. We just want the children to be safe."

Mrs. Zhou knelt at the feet of the old ancestor and cried until she was hoarse. Even Mrs. Bai, who had been cheated twice, felt a little bit unbearable when she saw it.

What Zhou said is correct. As parents, we all want our children to be safe.

"Mother-in-law, it's not that we don't want to help, but we can't protect ourselves now. As soon as the precious lady entered the palace, many people impeached the Huaiyuan Marquis's Mansion for being a relative of the Zhou family. They knew that the Zhou family had a precious lady, but they didn't speak up early and deceived the superiors and the subordinates together with the Zhou family. The Marquis has been called to the imperial study by the emperor and reprimanded three times."

How could Zhou Guangshu not know that the ancestor had already put it very tactfully. The emperor believed those people who praised the role of Miss Zhou Er, saying that the Huaiyuan Marquis's family was so bold that they dared to marry the second lady but concealed the existence of the precious person. He said that he was unfaithful and far inferior to the old Huaiyuan Marquis. In front of all the civil and military officials, he made him kneel in the hall until the end of the court.

"Brother Zhou, it's not that we are cold-blooded. Now the Huaiyuan Marquis's Mansion is in trouble. The Queen said that the precious person is young and lonely, so she asked Luo An's wife to come to the palace to accompany him for a few days. Do you know?"

Zhou Guangshu nodded. He knew that the second daughter had been summoned to the palace three days ago. However, the second daughter was not as beautiful as her two younger sisters. She had many freckles on her face and was old. She had not had a good life in recent years and had lost her spirit. The emperor had no interest in her and let her go after asking a few questions.

Today I heard that Yan'er was allowed to go as well. It's really ridiculous that he gets more and more ridiculous as he gets older. He even dares to covet the wife of a subject. It's so dishonest.

Mrs. Zhou cried sadly and choked with sobs.

"My Lord, please have mercy."

Seeing Zhou acting like this in front of the men again, Bai frowned.

"Mrs. Zhou only cares about her own daughter and doesn't care about the safety of the Huaiyuan Marquis's Mansion at all."

Zhou's body trembled, and she forgot that Bai and the others were there. She was only focused on tempting Marquis Huaiyuan to soften his heart and agree to her request to save his two daughters.

"I didn't. I didn't."

Bai sneered. At this time, he still didn't put himself in the right position and dared to have evil thoughts towards them. Zhou Guangshu was a grown man, but he was bewitched by Zhou. He couldn't see it.

None of these women were stupid. They asked their in-laws for help. The fifty-year-old woman cried and glanced at the two masters in the family, trying to make them feel pity and agree to her request.

It's a pity that Lord Huaiyuan was betrayed and deceived by his roommate of many years when he was young, and he had no interest in these clever women.

As for the Second Master, Bai saw his regretful expression but didn't care at all.

"Today, I will make it clear that although our mansion has not been favored by the emperor in recent years, we are not vegetarians. Lord Zhou sent a message to the emperor through the precious maid, saying that the second young master of our mansion was disrespectful and peeped at your third young lady, and then came to propose marriage himself. Otherwise, you would not be willing to marry your daughter to us, right?"

Zhou Guangshu's face turned pale. Did the Huaiyuan Marquis's Mansion actually know that they had extended their hands into the harem? Even to the emperor's side?

It's impossible. The huge military achievements accumulated by Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion over hundreds of years have aroused the emperor's fear. The world is peaceful, and no one wants to have a person who holds military power and has made great military achievements around him.

Is that the Bai family? Prince Li’s Mansion!

It must be Prince Li's Palace. Prince Li helped the Emperor stabilize the court and retired to the palace. How could he really not care about anything? It must be Prince Li and his wife. A lean camel is bigger than a horse.

"You also said that you wanted to send your precious lady to the palace, but she was too young to serve you, and you were afraid that she would be bullied and wronged in the palace, so you wanted to educate her properly for two years, right?"

Mrs. Zhou also collapsed to the ground, no longer as charming as before.

"Master Zhou, don't be too greedy. You played dirty tricks behind my back and transferred the emperor's anger to my mansion, causing the emperor to reprimand the mansion many times, just to make you and your precious wife safer. You turned around and asked the contact person of the mansion to ask the emperor to release precious wife and Miss Zhou Er. How can such a good thing be possible?"

The ancestor was also angry.

"Minister Zhou, if you have such thoughts, you might as well think about how to save the lives of the Zhou family. After all, you don't want to end up like the Lan family. As for Luo An's wife, she belongs to my Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion, so naturally we have to find a way to save her. You can't help but worry about it. If there is a next time, it is not a problem to report a sudden death without caring about your face."

Zhou Guangshu didn't say a word from beginning to end. He took Mrs. Zhou in a carriage back to the Zhou Mansion. All the way, Mrs. Zhou cried and pestered him to think of a solution, but he didn't say a word.

There were dark clouds outside and it looked like a heavy rain was about to fall. For the first time, Zhou Guangshu felt annoyed with Zhou.

"Okay, stop bothering me and let me be quiet for a while."

Zhou felt even more aggrieved and huddled in a corner crying silently. Zhou Guangshu looked at the couple outside who were packing up their stall together and felt very confused.

He has always liked Zhou. He betrayed his family for Zhou and lived with her alone. No matter how hard it was, he never let Zhou down. He doted on Zhou for so many years and never had any contact with other women.

He didn't blame Zhou for not having a son. His daughters were all very beautiful, and he had already made plans to settle them down one by one, even if he was despised and insulted by others.

Because they are his children with his beloved wife Zhou, but what is the problem? The eldest daughter and the second daughter are sensible enough. They know that the family has paid a lot for their safety, so they are cautious and protect themselves.

The third daughter, Zhou Ruoyan, was much luckier than her two elder sisters. She married the legitimate grandson of the Huaiyuan Marquis's family, and the man asked for her hand in marriage sincerely.

Unlike the eldest daughter who lost her reputation and followed an ordinary merchant, unlike her children who were forced to marry her, she does not have the love of her husband or the care of her parents-in-law.

But she was too willful. She didn't know how to compromise first, gain a firm foothold, and then ask Zhou Luoan for manpower and seek benefits for herself. She kept making trouble after she got married. She was as willful as Zhou and wanted everything to go according to their wishes.

But there are only a few people in the world like him, who have known Zhou since childhood and have been deeply in love with her, and have held Zhou in their hands for decades.

Yan'er was beautiful but had no brains, and as a new bride she angered everyone in the mansion.

So what if the dowry is trapped? We can train our own people. The Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion is a kind-hearted family and they will not marry a daughter-in-law who looks sweet but has a bitter heart.

So what if they can't go out? The couple have been afraid of people seeing their daughters' appearance since they were young, so they have been very restrictive. They have endured it for so many years, but they can't endure it anymore after they get married.

Prince Li suppressed the rebellion, and his beloved daughter was forced into the palace and tortured. The second and third daughters had already been married, but the emperor still cared about them.

The Zhou family is now in danger, and the ancestor's words woke him up.

You must not follow the same fate as the Lan family. The Lan family is where Concubine Zhen grew up. Concubine Zhen is the Lan family's cousin and was raised in the family since childhood. She fell in love with the young master of the Lan family, and her family arranged a marriage for them.

When Princess Fu'an went to the Lan family and saw Concubine Zhen's beauty, she tried her best to win her over and sent her into the palace.

But when the emperor heard from others that Concubine Zhen had loved someone in the past, he was so furious that some of the Lan family members were killed, some were disabled, and some were exiled.

Concubine Zhen knelt on the ground and begged for three days but failed to save the Lan family.

Although the Lan family angered the emperor and suffered because they wanted Concubine Zhen to marry his son, they suffered the consequences.

The Zhou family is not clean either. He has been plotting to marry off the second and third daughters for many years without letting the emperor know. If the emperor knew, he would be in trouble.

What's more, after Yan'er got married, he began to plan to take his precious lady Zhou to the south, away from the capital.

He had already submitted a petition requesting to go to the south for training, and Duke Cheng'en handed over a small statue instead.

"Madam, now we have no choice but to give up our precious person. If you want her to be safe, you must teach her how to win the emperor's favor, teach her the art of mind, and let her protect herself in the palace."

Zhou was about to say something but was stopped by Zhou Guangshu.

"Listen to me. Yan'er is in Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion, so she should be fine. The second girl is also honest and safe in the Bai family. The eldest girl will be exposed sooner or later. She didn't listen to the emperor and angered him. The fate of the Lan family will be our fate. By then, none of the daughters will have an easy life."

Zhou closed her eyes tightly and bit her lips. It was all her fault. She was born too beautiful and caused her children to have a hard life.

She and her children were born at the wrong time. How great would such beauty be if it were any other time? But now they are burdened by their looks and can hardly protect themselves.

"Go and tell the precious one to be obedient. Don't cause trouble like Yan'er. Survival is the most important thing. The Queen is vicious and used Yuan'er to divide the favor of Zhenpin. The Emperor is no longer concerned about government affairs and has handed many matters over to the Second Prince and several uncles. Our Yuan'er is the chess piece used by the Queen to pave the way for the Second Prince."

"The little portrait presented by Duke Cheng'en's Mansion, the emperor remembers the good things about Duke Cheng'en's Mansion, our Zhou family only displeased the emperor. Now the emperor is still alive, and Yuan'er is still young and beautiful. When the emperor has a new lover, or falls ill, or Yuan'er loses her beauty, the queen will deal with her first."

Zhou was so angry that she was shaking all over. The empress had a cruel heart. She was not favored because of her plain appearance, and there was no peace in the harem because of her scheming. Many favored concubines died at her hands. The emperor was about to get angry and order an investigation, but Princess Fu'an sent Concubine Zhen.

The Emperor and Concubine Zhen were reveling in revelry every night, so they had no time to manage the troublesome affairs in the harem. It was the Empress' idea to give Concubine Zhen a contraceptive drug so that she could serve him all the time.

"What can we do? I heard from Yuan'er that the emperor's health is not as good as people say."

Zhou Guangshu sighed, this is a dead end, Yuan'er had to compete for favor, now she has fallen out of favor, the Empress will find out and take action against her. But if she keeps competing for favor, the Emperor will be old after all, how long can he live? By the time the Empress becomes the Queen Mother, Yuan'er will not have a good ending either.

The Zhou family was worried, and the Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion was also gloomy. They had thought that the emperor was the Son of Heaven after all and would not snatch their wives away. But now it seemed that the Cheng'en Marquis' Mansion and the Queen were becoming more vicious. They advised the emperor to summon Luo An's wife to the palace more often to accompany his precious person.

She said she wanted to go to the palace to accompany him, but in fact she just wanted to hug her left and right and enjoy the beautiful sisters.

The old ancestor felt a wave of disgust in his heart, but he suppressed it by drinking a sip of hawthorn, red dates and honey tea.

"Big Boss, what do you think?"

Bai looked into the old ancestor's eyes and knew that she was aware of everything she had done. Asking her in public was just giving her a way out to maintain the authority of the eldest house.

"I think that we cannot let Luo An win the emperor's favor. The imperial decree has come down that Luo An must go to the palace, but how she goes there is our business. Luo An is not used to marrying here, and she followed Luo An to the farm outside. It is inevitable that she will be bitten by mosquitoes and rats, which has damaged her appearance. We can only apologize to the precious man."