Making you a son-in-law is not about making you conquer the world.

These words immediately drew hundreds of surprised glances.

Competing with the prefect's son means he doesn't want to stay in Jiangcheng anymore.

Just as everyone was sighing with regret, Lin Ping's identity was finally revealed.

"This is the son-in-law of the city lord's mansion!"

A man shouted excitedly, saying he had the honor of meeting Lin Ping yesterday.

The son-in-law of the city lord's mansion? This is outrageous!

No wonder he dared to compete with the prefect's son. In Jiangcheng, the most powerful person is not the prefect, but the city lord. To put it bluntly, the entire Jiangcheng prefecture was conquered by the city lord. The city lord is the true master here, and the prefect is just a hired hand.

However, in the last ten years or so, the city lord withdrew from the inner city and built a new city lord's mansion.

People from the City Lord's Mansion are also very easy to come to the inner city, and they will never openly challenge others.

Lin Ping is now opposing the son of the prefect, which clearly indicates there's something wrong with him.

There are always some people who love to watch the drama unfold; they sensed an unusual tension and cheered loudly.

Dali plopped down on the ground, muttering desperately, "Where did you get four thousand taels of silver? You're trying to kill me, Dali..."

In that instant, Dali suddenly didn't want to worry about the money anymore.

Lin Ping's calculation ability seems to be a bit poor. He had a total of one thousand taels of silver. He gave fifty taels to Zhao Laohan, one hundred taels to Zhao Laohan, three hundred taels to Zhao Laohan, and fifty taels to Zhao Laohan. Where did he get the remaining four thousand taels?

Zhang Hongyuan gritted his teeth in anger. This batch of stones was transported from an old mine in the south, and its quality was extremely high. The largest piece had been appraised by many experts, and it was almost a sure thing that he would make a profit. Zhang Hongyuan originally wanted to buy it for three thousand taels of silver, but Lin Ping had to interfere.

If it were anyone else, Zhang Hongyuan would definitely have used threats and inducements to make them back down, but not Lin Ping. This guy was impervious to reason and was deliberately making an enemy of him.

After much deliberation, Zhang Hongyuan gritted his teeth and continued shouting, "Four thousand one hundred taels!"

To be honest, even if it were three thousand taels of silver, Zhang Hongyuan himself would definitely not be able to come up with it.

The salaries of Wu Kingdom officials were frighteningly low. The Prefect of Jiangcheng, a high-ranking official of the fourth rank, only received 24 shi of rice and 5 taels of silver per month. Although the court covered all his food, drink and other expenses, he could only earn a few hundred taels of silver a year, which was far from enough to buy gambling stones.

Therefore, Zhang Hongyuan sought out the Fang family as a source of financial support.

The reason he dared to ask for 4,100 taels of silver was because he saw the determination in Su Lianlian's eyes.

"Four thousand nine hundred taels!" Lin Ping raised the price without hesitation.

Thus, the two formed a stark contrast: Zhang Hongyuan only added one hundred taels of silver after much deliberation, while Lin Ping added eight hundred taels of silver without a second thought.

Lin Ping wanted to use this opportunity to send a signal: "My City Lord's Mansion has a foundation of two hundred years, while your Zhang family has only served as the Prefect for a few years. Even with the Fang family as a backer, the difference in financial resources is like heaven and earth, like a mountain and a pebble."

Zhang Hongyuan glanced at Su Lianlian again, gritted his teeth, and said in a muffled voice, "Five thousand taels!"

The casino owner beamed with delight as he watched the two bid wildly higher.

He didn't want to sell the rough stone for three thousand taels, but he had to do it to please the prefect.

Now that Lin Ping is raising the price, don't blame the gambling house if you, Young Master Zhang, end up spending more money.

"Young Master Lin, would you like to raise the price?"

The casino manager asked with a grin, clearly wanting him to raise the price further.

Lin Ping frowned, pursed his lips, and said, "I suddenly feel that this stone won't yield any good jade, so I'll give it to Young Master Xiao!"

If you can't afford it, just say you can't afford it; that reason seems rather high-sounding.

Zhang Hongyuan glanced at Lin Ping with disdain, and most of his anger dissipated.

Although it cost an extra two thousand taels of silver, they finally bought the rough stone and outshone the city lord's mansion in terms of grandeur. Some people couldn't help but speculate wildly: the city lord's mansion was out of money and couldn't even afford a single rough stone.

Zhu Xiaoji was somewhat unconvinced, and whispered in Lin Ping's ear, "This jade pendant of mine is worth two thousand taels of silver. Brother Ping, take it and use it first. You absolutely cannot lose to that bastard Zhang Hongyuan!"

Zhu Xiaoji and Lin Ping are brothers in arms. He usually despises Zhang Hongyuan, a hypocrite, and he doesn't want to lose today. It's just spending money, he has plenty of money to spare!

Lin Ping kept this kindness in his heart, thinking to himself, "Don't rush, there will be plenty of places to spend money in the future. Preparing to sell land and houses in advance is the right thing to do..."

Lin Ping shook his head and said, "This rough stone may not yield good jade. Little Ji, let's wait and see."

Lin Ping spoke with such certainty that Zhu Xiaoji believed this spendthrift and quietly waited for Zhang Hongyuan to make a fool of himself.

After the deal was done, Zhang Hongyuan placed the rough stone in front of the stone cutter and said earnestly, "Be very careful, you can't afford to pay for it if you damage it!"

The stonemason trembled with fear. The other party was a military officer, the son of the prefect. They couldn't afford to offend him, so they laid the carving knife flat against the stone and began to carve little by little.

To speed things up, the four stone cutters worked at the same time, and it took them a full fifteen minutes to carve out the first ring.

This ring was an inch thick, but no green had appeared. Zhang Hongyuan's face darkened, and he shouted, "Continue!"

About fifteen minutes later, green finally appeared on the stone. However, this green was only a thin layer, and it was even mixed with grayish-white soil and stone, so it could not be used for processing at all.

Bangdang...

The huge rough stone was divided into four parts, but still no green jade was found.

Zhang Hongyuan's face grew even uglier, and beads of cold sweat dripped down his face.

He had initially thought that more than half of the rough stone contained jade, but now it seems that less than a quarter of it is actually jade, and it is even very likely that it will not contain any green.

"Open again!" Zhang Hongyuan shouted sternly, as if the failure to find green jade was the fault of the stone cutter.

The four stone cutters dared not object and obediently divided the stone in their hands into four pieces.

As a result, sixteen stones the size of clay pots appeared on the ground, but there was still no trace of greenery.

At market price, one of these stones would be worth at most fifty taels of silver, and even sixteen of them together would not amount to a thousand taels. Zhang Hongyuan would most likely have lost money.

Lin Ping kept his X-ray vision activated, staring intently at the fist-sized piece of jade, praying that it wouldn't be cut open.

Strangely enough, this piece of jade was located at the very edge, and even after being cut into sixteen pieces, it showed no sign of being exposed.

Bangdang...

The stone was repeatedly cut into pieces, eventually becoming sixty-four pieces of waste stone.

Nobody buys stones that are only slightly larger than a fist. There's almost no chance of finding any green jade inside, and even if there is, it won't fetch a high price, since it can only be used to make jewelry like jade bracelets.

woohoo hoo...

Four stone cutters sat slumped on the ground, panting heavily. The meaning was clear: there was no need to cut the stone anymore.

Zhang Hongyuan's face turned green. Five thousand taels of silver had gone down the drain. He glared angrily at the gambling house manager.

The other party nodded and lowered his head, not daring to look Zhang Hongyuan in the eye. He had made a boast before, but now there was no sign of it.

However, the gambling shop owner wasn't too afraid. Jade gambling is a form of gambling, and no one can guarantee winning or losing. It's a transaction between willing buyers and willing sellers, so he couldn't be blamed.

"Tsk tsk tsk... What a fine pile of stones, it would be great to buy them and use them to build a wall."

Lin Ping added fuel to the fire.

Zhang Hongyuan's face was ashen, as if he had never experienced such a blow. But as soon as he heard that someone wanted to buy these worthless stones, he immediately perked up and could no longer tell that Lin Ping was insulting him.

"Take all six thousand taels of silver!" Zhang Hongyuan said shamelessly, actually raising the price on the spot.