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

"Bought it? Hired it? How about it?"

The city lord wondered if he had misheard. Could it be that his attitude was not strict enough?

Or perhaps Lin Ping is simply courting death?

In short, these words almost made the city lord vomit blood. He staggered and slumped into the armchair, panting heavily.

Lin Ping knew these words were infuriating, so he made sure the city lord didn't have a heart condition beforehand, otherwise he might have really been angered to the point of death.

"Ping'er, considering this is your first offense, quickly kneel down and apologize to your father!"

The city lord's wife's elegant and noble face revealed a chilling majesty, which truly startled Lin Ping.

Although the city lord's wife was already angry, she was still helping Lin Ping, trying to downplay the matter or even let it go.

Lin Ping was grateful for this; he hadn't expected his mother-in-law to speak up for him under such circumstances.

Of course, he didn't think it was his usual sweet talk that had the effect. If the city lord's wife were so easy to bribe, she wouldn't be the mother of Jiangcheng.

In Lin Ping's view, the women in the City Lord's Mansion are all extraordinary. It must be that the City Lord's wife saw her own strengths and did not want to lose a talented person. From this point of view, the development of the City Lord's Mansion over the past hundreds of years has been inseparable from a wise wife.

However, Lin Ping did not believe that his apology would earn Jiang Xiuwen's forgiveness, and that he had to see this path through to the very end.

So, he arrogantly replied, "Kneeling is fine, but admitting fault is not. Why should I admit fault when I haven't done anything wrong?"

Just looking at that smug expression, even the city lord's wife didn't want to help him, but she really didn't want to lose this talent. So she patiently explained, "Spending 80,000 taels of silver to buy 2,000 acres of inferior land, making the city lord's situation even worse, isn't that wrong? Hiring people to build a dispensable dam, wasting labor, isn't that wrong?"

The city lord's wife kept winking at Lin Ping, indicating that this matter was extremely serious and should not be taken lightly. If the city lord were to become enraged, it would be perfectly normal for him to be beheaded.

"I suppose Father and Mother are unaware of the truth, no wonder some people took advantage of the situation." Lin Ping rolled his eyes at Jiang Xiuwen, making it clear that he was one of the "some people" he was referring to.

"The 80,000 taels of silver were raised by me from three friends. It didn't cost the city lord's mansion a single tael. Even though the 2,000 acres of land were inferior farmland, it was given away for free. In the end, it was a good thing," Lin Ping explained unhurriedly.

If what Lin Ping said is true, then the City Lord's Mansion has indeed gained a considerable advantage.

Although Lin Ping was a playboy, he never lied. Besides, the city lord's mansion didn't even have 80,000 taels of silver in cash, let alone let Lin Ping squander it.

The city lord was so angry that he lost his mind, but after careful consideration, his expression finally softened.

"How do you explain the waste of manpower in building the dam?" This time, it was the city lord who asked the question, and he had already gotten up from his armchair.

Since the other party wasn't making accusations without any explanation, Lin Ping didn't need to be arrogant. He replied respectfully, "Reporting to Father, this is not a waste of manpower, but a great plan that benefits the country and its people!"

How dare they claim that building a dam that is hardly necessary is a major project that benefits the country and its people?

Everyone stared at Lin Ping with suspicion, waiting for a satisfactory answer. Even Jiang Xiuwen was led by the nose by Lin Ping's tantalizing way of speaking, forgetting that violence can solve any problem.

Lin Ping didn't want to reveal that there was a rock salt mine buried under these two thousand acres of land, so he naturally couldn't explain the original intention of building the dam. He could only change his approach: "May I ask, Father, how long until the spring harvest?"

"More than a month!" the city lord replied impatiently, wondering what this had to do with Lin Ping building the dam.

"So, during this month or so, the people have no work to do, which is also a waste of their labor. Moreover, some villages in the flood-prone areas outside the city are cultivating inferior land, and even after a year of hard work, they may not have much harvest, and some may even go hungry," Lin Ping explained step by step.

The city lord nodded to himself. He knew that the crops in the farmland north of the city were not yielding good results, the people were living in hardship, and there were even cases of people starving to death.

As the city lord of Jiangcheng Prefecture, he cared deeply for every citizen, but unfortunately, the city lord's mansion was now in dire straits, leaving him no time to attend to these impoverished people.

"Therefore, I used this off-season to gather them together to build a dike and gave them a high monthly wage so that they could have an extra income. Although they wouldn't become rich, they wouldn't starve either. Even if the dike wasn't very effective, I changed the lives of the people through it and made them grateful to the city lord's mansion."

“In recent years, the City Lord’s Mansion has gradually faded from the public’s view and its reputation has been declining. It’s time to make its presence felt. If there is a sudden event in the future, the City Lord’s Mansion will not be isolated and helpless!” Lin Ping said with a fawning smile.

If the initial explanation could make the city lord forgive Lin Ping, then the final explanation would make him grateful to Lin Ping.

As the city lord, he understood the role of the common people better than anyone else and wanted to enhance the prestige of the city lord's mansion, but unfortunately he didn't have the financial resources. Now, Lin Ping used the money he raised to help the city lord's mansion enhance its prestige, just like a skillful cook can make a meal without rice.

So, building the dam was just a pretext; the real purpose was to win over the hearts and minds of the people for the city lord's mansion.

Thinking of this, the city lord almost gave Lin Pingxing a grand gift, but then hesitated, fearing it would be beneath his dignity. In any case, he couldn't suppress the smile on his face.

"Well done! You truly are my good son-in-law." The city lord laughed heartily, speaking as if Lin Ping had inherited his excellent genes.

Jiang Yunyu's heart, which had been plunging into despair, suddenly soared to heaven. He never expected that Lin Ping would resolve the crisis with just a few words and make the city lord happy. It seemed that he would be spared the beating he was about to receive.

However, Jiang Xiuwen still walked over aggressively and asked relentlessly, "Let's put this matter aside for now. Did you and Yu'er sell those treasures in the City Lord's Mansion?"

"Yang Guozhong, I'm going to skin you alive!"

Lin Ping cursed inwardly, not expecting that Yang Guozhong could even find out about such a confidential matter and tell Jiang Xiuwen about it. No wonder he was always in a bad mood.

The city lord's laughter abruptly stopped as he realized that Lin Ping and Jiang Yunyu had done another foolish thing.

The treasures in the city lord's mansion were all left by their ancestors, and the consequences of selling the land were even more serious than those of selling the land.

Jiang Yunyu's anxious little heart immediately plummeted into despair, and he hung his head, not daring to speak.

Lin Ping was aware of the seriousness of the matter. He now had two choices: first, to push all the responsibility onto Jiang Yunyu, since he was the one who stole the treasure.

However, doing so would be somewhat unethical, and besides, encouraging the prince to steal is a serious crime. It would be better to take full responsibility and perhaps even earn the city lord's praise with this act of bravery.

So Lin Ping chose the second option, puffed out his chest, and said loudly, "I took all the things; it has nothing to do with Yu'er. How about that?"