The cousin's family is extremely wealthy; she deserves to be a concubine.

He Zhizhang, who had been wavering, leaned towards his mother at this moment. After all, his mother and sister lived together day and night, and a mother shouldn't fail to recognize her own child.

Madam Shen: "Stop guessing. Tonight, the three of us will have dinner together. You'll know whether your own sister is genuine or just a cheap imitation once you get to know her."

Seeing his mother's confidence, He Zhizhang believed her even more.

However, the story of her mother's retelling of Zhuzhu's past life still seemed unbelievable to He Zhizhang.

He asked Madam Shen, "Are Father and Concubine Shui secretly supporting the Fourth Prince?"

As the heir of the Marquis's mansion, he naturally knew that his father's early contributions to the rise of the new dynasty had led to the current decline of the Marquis's mansion.

He never expected that his own father, having failed once, would still have the courage to gamble again.

Madam Shen nodded, "Your father really went to great lengths to keep this from me."

He would rather consult with a concubine than tell me, his legal wife.

Even if he looks down on me, I can accept it if he tells you, his legitimate son, about such an important matter.

But for such an important matter, he's thinking of Aunt Shui and Sixth Sister, completely ignoring us, the main wife's family.

"Your grandmother seems to value me highly in ordinary times, but when it really matters, she still colludes with her own son to fool me."

"I'm a daughter-in-law, an outsider, but you're my own grandson, the future head of the Marquis's mansion."

"As a mother, I truly feel that my sincere heart has been wasted."

Thinking of how she had worked so hard for the Marquis's mansion, only to end up like this, she couldn't help but feel a deep sorrow.

He Zhizhang quickly comforted her, "Mother, those were just things Zhuzhu said in her dream. How could you believe them so easily?"

Seeing that He Zhizhang was still speaking up for his father, Madam Shen said, "You don't need to make excuses for your father and grandmother. If I hadn't checked beforehand, I wouldn't have called you here to talk today."

He Zhizhang: "The Fourth Prince is still young, yet Father is putting all his eggs in one basket?"

Madam Shen said disdainfully, "His sixth daughter, born to Concubine Shui, is thirteen years old this year. Only the Fourth Prince is the same age, and there is no suitable candidate for a principal wife."

He Zhizhang: "Father, do you intend to marry your sixth sister to the fourth prince as his principal wife? So that she can become the emperor's father-in-law in the future?"

Shen said disdainfully, "Yes, they're very shrewd with their calculations."

It's a pity that in Zhuzhu's dream life, Liu Yatou only managed to become a concubine, while the principal wife was someone else.

Your father and his darling's carefully laid plans have all fallen through.

It must be said that knowing that the two of them had not gotten what they wanted made Shen feel much better.

Of course, this relief was limited, since her biological son was later divorced and sent back home, where his entire family was exiled and died on the road.

Even if the sixth daughter is not well-off, she still married into the royal family. Although she is a concubine, she will still enjoy wealth and honor for the rest of her life.

It's impossible to say I'm not jealous or regretful.

He Zhizhang was puzzled, "Why do you want to marry your sixth sister to the fourth prince?"

If it were Zhuzhu, wouldn't she be able to smoothly secure the position of the principal wife?

Even if her father and the others eventually put the fourth prince in that position, how could a concubine possibly rule the world?

How could my father make such a basic mistake?

Madam Shen sneered, "In your father's heart, how could you and Zhuzhu be as important as the two children he had with Aunt Shui!"

"In this household, if it weren't for your grandmother keeping things in check, I would have had to hand over my position as the principal wife to that man surnamed Shui."

He Zhizhang was, after all, a man, and often traveled outside. "My father was not the kind of person who indulged in romantic love."

Even if he did favor Consort Shui a bit more, it concerns the interests of the Marquis's mansion. He clearly had the opportunity to become the principal wife; his father couldn't possibly only accept the position of a concubine.

This is illogical.

Shen didn't care about any of that. "Zhuzhu still has her eye on the one in her dream. We'll just stand by and watch, and let your father and his favorites end up with nothing."

We should secretly get in touch with that person, especially you. When you're out and about, it'll be cheaper to get on his good side.

"Once that man's principal wife is gone, we can bring out Zhuzhu, just in time."

He Zhizhang asked incredulously, "Mother! You mean, you want Zhuzhu to... compete for that position?"

Shen replied matter-of-factly, "Of course, if Sixth Sister can win it, why can't our Zhuzhu?"

He Zhizhang sighed, “Zhuzhu’s personality… if she had that ability, she wouldn’t have ended up like that in her past life. She’s not even as good as her cousin Rong, who comes from a merchant family.”

Madam Shen couldn't stand people saying anything bad about her daughter. "How can you look down on your own sister like that?"

Zhuzhu is quite experienced now, and as her mother, I know where to train her in the future. When she reaches that position, she will naturally be capable of handling it. Besides, the age difference between Zhuzhu and that man is just right—an older man and a younger woman—life will be easier that way.”

He Zhizhang was skeptical. "Isn't it said that Cousin Rong has a great opportunity? I think it would be better to use Cousin Rong as a stepping stone."

"It just so happens that Mother said Cousin Rong doesn't need to observe mourning now, so marriage can be arranged. She's of marriageable age now, and we can use the Jiang family's connections to send her off."

Madam Shen hesitated, "But Rong'er is too beautiful. If she is the one to pave the way, I'm afraid that things won't work out by the time Zhuzhu grows up."

He Zhizhang: "No matter how much favored Rong'er is, she can't escape her background as a merchant's daughter and has lost both her parents. She can't be the principal wife."

Shen thought differently from He Zhizhang: "She can't be the principal wife, but once Zhuzhu enters the mansion, I'm afraid the position of principal wife will be in name only."

He Zhizhang: "Can the royal family still favor concubines over wives? What about the ancestral laws and etiquette?"

Madam Shen: "What if Zhuzhu falls out with Rongjie because she is not favored? Wouldn't that turn our two sides into enemies?"

So what benefits will we ultimately gain? "Getting all tainted and losing a daughter in the process?"

He Zhizhang: "Why did Zhuzhu go and cause trouble for Rongjie?"

At that time, that person's harem will definitely have countless new and old concubines. The two of them are sisters, so why don't they support each other, instead of wasting energy on internal strife?

If Zhuzhu's schemes are limited to this, then I urge Mother to abandon this idea as soon as possible."

He seemed to remember something, "The reason Father pushed out the sixth sister, could it be that he had already seen that the seventh sister was not suitable?"

Shen couldn't bring herself to say "bullshit" in front of her own son.

"I will teach Seventh Miss well, and I will also ask retired nannies from the palace to give her guidance."

He Zhizhang nodded reluctantly, "Let's send a governess to Cousin Rong as well."

Not wanting to offend her son, Madam Shen said, "I will."

"By the way, that poor scholar you made new acquaintance with on the fifteenth, you should stop associating with him. He's two-faced and might harm our manor again."

He Zhizhang nodded, but in his heart he was calculating that his former brother-in-law was a capable man. As long as the Marquis's mansion remained standing, he would be of one mind with the Marquis's mansion.