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

"The son-in-law of the city lord is so kind, righteous, and magnanimous; we admire him greatly!"

A group of scholars were the first to praise it, followed by ordinary people who clasped their hands in a gesture of respect, sparking another wave of praise for the city lord's mansion.

Lin Ping was utterly helpless. Could it be that he had become the face of the City Lord's Mansion?

This will incur hefty advertising fees!

Li Mingxuan and the others all cast disdainful glances at him, secretly thinking: When did our son-in-law become so magnanimous? Last time he almost beat that scoundrel Qin Diaohui to death.

Of course, these words cannot be said aloud; one must outwardly show support for the son-in-law.

Liu Sanbian slowly opened his eyes, muttering to himself that he felt Lin Ping wasn't so easy to talk to.

At that moment, Lin Ping had already pulled out a thick wad of silver notes from his pocket, threw them on the ground without counting them, glanced at the owner of Qingfeng Tower, and said softly, "There are at least five thousand taels here. I'll buy the Insect Girl."

The owner of Qingfeng Tower's eyes lit up. His almost round body lay on the ground as he deftly picked up the silver notes, quickly counted them, and found they totaled exactly five thousand taels.

Lin Ping's heart was bleeding. This money, which he had swindled from the Su family with great effort, was more than enough to buy a third-rate brothel, but now it had only bought one person.

"The son-in-law of the city lord's mansion certainly has great courage!"

The crowd showered him with praise once again.

In this era, it was not uncommon for wealthy families to buy courtesans; in fact, it was considered a refined pursuit. However, spending five thousand taels of silver to buy a courtesan was quite novel.

The owner of Qingfeng Tower was quite efficient. After receiving the money, he hurriedly handed the indenture to Lin Ping, putting on a fawning smile and saying, "From now on, you can do whatever you want with the insect maiden..."

There was a deeper meaning behind those words, and anyone with discerning eyes could understand it.

Those courtesans who were bought by the rich had no personal freedom. Besides singing and dancing, they naturally had to serve their masters wholeheartedly.

Lin Ping gave Dali and Da Niu a wink.

These two were quite adept at it; each grabbed one of the insect girls' arms and quickly pushed her to Lin Ping's side.

"Take him back to the City Lord's Mansion and let Granny Zhang give him a good lesson for a few days. We'll deal with him later..."

Lin Ping stopped abruptly there, leaving everyone with endless room for imagination.

"Give me back my insect girl!"

Liu Sanbian grabbed Lin Ping's collar like a madman, but was brutally beaten by Li Mingxuan and the others.

Anyone who dares to mess with the son-in-law of the city lord's mansion will be beaten to death without consequence!

Lin Ping dusted off the wrinkles on his collar, squatted down, lifted Liu Sanbian's chin, and smiled coldly: "You really like Insect Girl?"

Liu Sanbian nodded mechanically. To be honest, he was a little afraid of Lin Ping. This guy had no principles or bottom line in his actions and always managed to find other people's weaknesses.

"How about I give you a chance to see the Insect Girl?"

Lin Ping's smile never faded; in fact, it grew even brighter.

Liu Sanbian had already witnessed Lin Ping's methods, so he naturally didn't believe him. But he had no choice, so he turned his head and asked, "Would you be so kind?"

To be honest, Liu Sanbian didn't hold a grudge against Lin Ping. After all, he was the one who was in the wrong first, and even if Lin Ping hadn't bought the Insect Girl, he wouldn't have gotten her anyway.

"Of course, I love helping others the most."

Lin Ping slowly straightened up and said seriously, "If you are willing to be my servant, you can enter the city lord's mansion and have the opportunity to see Insect Girl."

Upon hearing this, everyone lowered their voices and focused their gazes on Liu Sanbian.

These scholars are all arrogant and self-important; how could they possibly serve as servants to others?

"Boring, so boring, never mind... never mind..."

Seeing that Liu Sanbian remained unmoved, Lin Ping shook his head: "Brother Zhu, Brother Tang, Brother Xu, now that we've had our fill of food and drink, why don't we go to Wutong Garden to broaden our horizons!"

thump……

Liu Sanbian's barely mustered courage was immediately paralyzed by Lin Ping's dread. Could you be any more shameless? Publicly declaring that you're going to Wutong Garden, not to broaden your horizons!

Liu Sanbian was seething with hatred, muttering to himself as he was deeply conflicted.

He absolutely did not want to be someone's servant.

But then he thought, this spendthrift who openly wants to go to Wutong Garden will definitely not show any mercy to Chongniang. He must enter the city lord's mansion to protect his woman. So, his knees hardened, and he knelt down with his hands clasped and kowtowed, saying respectfully, "Liu Sanbian is willing to serve Young Master Lin!"

"Yes, Not Bad!"

Lin Ping feigned concern by supporting Liu Sanbian's arm, seemingly forgetting his previous ugly behavior of bullying the other party.

"I was in a bit of a rush this time and didn't bring any gifts. All I have left are silver notes..."

Lin Pinggu said with difficulty.

Since things have come to this point, Lin Ping should give Liu Sanbian some money.

In fact, it wasn't without its advantages that Liu Sanbian became Lin Ping's servant. At the very least, he received financial support, which allowed him to focus on his studies.

"This Liu Sanbian is really lucky, he actually became a servant in the city lord's mansion."

Several impoverished scholars around looked at him with envy. If they weren't afraid of losing face, they would have jumped out and knelt down in front of Lin Ping, asking him to take on another servant.

Lin Ping pulled out a stack of silver notes, worth at least ten thousand taels, and was about to hand them to Liu Sanbian when he suddenly pulled them back, his brows furrowed as he said, "I know you scholars regard money as dirt, so you must not like silver notes!"

I like silver notes... the more the better... Liu Sanbian kept muttering to himself, but he was too embarrassed to say it out loud. Just as he was about to reach out to take it, he found that Lin Ping had already stuffed the silver notes back into his hand.

"The stench of silver notes is too strong and does not suit you. How about I give you a new name? Let's call you... let's call you Liu Yong!"

Lin Ping pondered deeply before speaking, though he had actually been planning this for a long time.

"Liu Yong?"

Liu Sanbian pondered the new name for a while, then clasped his hands in a fist and bowed, saying, "Thank you for bestowing this name upon me, young master!"

To test Liu Yong's character, Lin Ping didn't let him enter the city lord's mansion immediately. They agreed to meet again in five days, and Lin Ping promised that he would not harm Chongniang before then. Liu Yong left gratefully.

"Brother Lin is indeed generous; five thousand taels of silver have gone down the drain just like that."

Zhu Xiaoji and the others were filled with admiration, and felt even more that the identity of a son-in-law was somewhat sacred.

"To be honest, I, as a son-in-law, am also quite distressed. The princess is busy with official duties and only has about twenty opportunities to consummate our marriage each month. Because of this, the princess feels indebted to me, and not only has she personally arranged for several maids to share her room, but she has also forced me to go to brothels for pleasure..."

Lin Ping deliberately feigned a pained expression.

The others cast disdainful glances at Lin Ping.

Go ahead and pretend!

Everyone knows your limitations.

However, Lin Ping's carefree life now is something they envy.

"Brother Lin, when shall we go and buy that piece of inferior land?"

Tang Wunao rubbed his hands together and asked, his face clearly showing his eagerness.

They had been bewitched by Lin Pingzheng, mistakenly believing that buying that barren, infertile land would allow them to marry into royalty.

"No rush, no rush. Wait until each of you has raised 50,000 taels of silver before you buy it."

Lin Ping said with a smile.

To be honest, Lin Ping was more anxious about this than anyone else. He had been living here for almost a month, but the completion of the mission was still nowhere in sight.

You must obtain the silver and then squander it all before you might be killed by the city lord.

The more he said this, the more tempted Zhu Xiaoji and the others became. They were all counting on their fingers, clearly considering how to raise the fifty thousand taels of silver.

The Zhu, Tang, and Xu families are all wealthier than the Chen family. Even if they can't come up with 50,000 taels of silver in their treasury, they can always raise it. However, this is almost their limit. Any more than that could cause their cash flow to break down, leading to their complete bankruptcy.

After what Chongniang and Liu Yong had done, the group lost their appetite for drinking. Besides, Lin Ping had already successfully persuaded Zhu Xiaoji and the others, so there was no need to waste any more time. Going back to listen to Chongniang play a few tunes was the most important thing.

"Brother Lin, are we really going to Wutong Garden?"

Xu Jianren gave Lin Ping a sly look, almost dragging him straight into the brothel alley.

To be honest, Lin Ping had always been very curious about what brothels were like in ancient times. Were they like today's red-light districts, with bathing on the first floor, massage on the second, and spa on the third?

Considering that even a woman as beautiful as Chongniang is only a courtesan, the most beautiful courtesan in Wutong Garden must be incredibly beautiful.

It's the same principle as massage girls. If the 98 girls are this pretty, the 298 girls must be incredibly beautiful.

Therefore, Lin Ping had no reason not to go, and said solemnly, "Since Brother Xu has this need, then I can only accompany you at the risk of my life!"

Why are you making it sound like I'm the one leading the way?

Xu Jianren suddenly felt like he had been scammed and didn't even want to go anymore.

However, before he could refuse, Lin Ping had already put his arm around Xu Jianren's shoulder and pulled him out the door.

"Young Master Lin, this couplet..."

The owner of Qingfenglou shamelessly shouted, naturally wanting Lin Ping to personally erase the second line of the couplet.

Lin Ping, without turning his head, said, "Since the owner of Qingfeng Tower values ​​it so much, then I will reward you with an even more exquisite first line of a couplet: Seeking fame and reputation, a man recites poetry while his arm is swaying like a lotus."

Seeking fame and fortune, a lone man composes poems while his arm is swaying with a lotus-shaped ornament.

The owner of Qingfeng Tower pondered the meaning behind the couplet and couldn't help but give Lin Ping a thumbs up: "Young Master Lin is indeed brilliant. A villager composing poetry is naturally just to gain fame and reputation. From now on, this couplet will be hung high above the entrance of Qingfeng Tower!"

After speaking, the owner of Qingfeng Tower immediately ordered people to craft the best wood and then write these large golden characters on it.

Lin Ping, who had already walked away, felt a chill and could only wish the owner of Qingfenglou good luck.

The first line of the couplet isn't as profound as the other person thought. The correct interpretation is: "Seeking fame and fortune, this prefect is shameless..."

Lin Pingzhen had no idea what the consequences would be if the other party hung this couplet high above their door—it would be the punishment for stealing five thousand taels of silver from him!

"Brother-in-law, are we really going to Wutong Garden?"

Seeing that they had already entered the brothel alley, the chubby boy was so scared that his legs trembled. If the city lord found out, he would definitely cripple him.

However, the chubby boy couldn't suppress his longing. After all, he only realized how big the world was and how many beautiful women there were when he saw the insect girl.

My previous focus on Xiaohui was rather narrow-minded, like a frog in a well. I should come out and see the world.

"Don't worry, if you make a mess, your brother-in-law will take the blame!"

Lin Ping patted his chest and gave Jiang Yunyu a guarantee.

Jiang Yunyu turned his head and muttered to himself, "I don't believe you for a second. I'm always the one who gets beaten up."

Even though he knew Lin Ping was lying, Jiang Yunyu still followed him around like a puppy. After all, the sounds of beautiful women in the brothel alley were simply irresistible. Once you stepped in, there was no turning back, unless your body trembled a little, and you realized how precious your energy was.

Before long, the group arrived at the middle of Goulan Hutong and were attracted by an exquisite four-story building.