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

Over the next few days, Lin Ping was bored and would sometimes use a whip to "urge" Jiang Yunyu to study, and sometimes use love to "educate" Liu Yong.

In short, try to make the city lord's mansion a complete mess.

Jiang Yunying was busy with military affairs and had no time to take care of her "mischievous" husband. Even the city lord often went out for the whole day.

"Boring, so incredibly boring!" Lin Ping shouted in frustration, finally realizing the downsides of having no worries about food and clothing.

It turns out that people need to work, otherwise they will die of boredom, just like Lin Ping is now.

Of course, he could also flirt with the maids in the mansion, and Jiang Yunying would turn a blind eye anyway.

Lin Ping, however, seemed to have changed his personality and became serious, and even Xiao Hui's fake humming decreased significantly.

Firstly, Lin Ping was originally a model young man, and the reason he showed his playboy side was mostly to cater to his new identity. Secondly, Lin Ping was already infatuated with Jiang Yunying, so why would he look at other women?

At this moment, Lin Ping was restless. Although he was bored, he didn't have much time to invent or create, since the prefect was always ready to deliver a fatal blow to the city lord's mansion.

The situation in Jiangcheng Prefecture was quite the opposite. After acquiring Qingfeng Tower, Lin Fugui made a high-profile comeback. It is said that he spent a lot of money to renovate the restaurant. Even though it has not yet opened, it has become a hot topic.

The Feng family compound in Jiangcheng Prefecture was also quite lively, with a luxurious four-horse carriage parked outside the vermilion gate.

Within Jiangcheng Prefecture, there is probably only one person who can ride in a four-horse carriage, and that is the city lord Jiang Xiuwu!

The Feng family is just one of the wealthy merchants in Jiangcheng City; they shouldn't deserve the city lord's presence.

However, the Feng family mainly deals in salt and is considered one of the four major salt merchants in Jiangcheng, which inevitably attracts the attention of the city lord.

In recent years, the weather has been unpredictable, and the salt production on the eastern coast has plummeted. In addition, the price of salt has skyrocketed dozens of times due to collusion among several major salt merchants.

Although Lin Ping recently purchased a large quantity of soapberries and refined a significant amount of salt, most of it was bought up by the Su family, leaving very few grains for the common people. Now, the city lord's mansion has also bought up all the soapberries, and coupled with the difficulties in seawater transportation from the east, the shortage of salt has reached an unprecedented level.

Left with no other choice, the city lord had to swallow his pride and talk to these salt merchants, hoping they would sell a batch of salt at a low price.

Boss Feng was lean and had a distinctive mustache that could fit a scallion in his nostril. He was leisurely sipping tea when he heard the city lord's request and immediately spat it all over the ground.

"What a waste! What a waste! This is top-quality Gu Zhu Zisun tea, it can't be wasted!" Boss Feng stared intently at the tea spilled on the floor, his heart bleeding. He shouted, "Quickly wipe it up with a cloth! We can use it to make more tea after the cloth dries!"

This tea is indeed Guzhu Zisun, but it has been brewed dozens of times and is not much different from dry grass leaves. Obviously, this Boss Feng is also a shrew who takes every last drop of profit. He brews a handful of tea leaves a hundred times, and he even stir-fries and eats the rotten tea roots. He even spits out the bits of tea that get stuck between his teeth.

"Boss Feng, what are your thoughts on selling salt at a low price?" the city lord asked again, a smile still on his face.

Unexpectedly, Boss Feng knelt on the ground with a thud and cried out, "Lord City Lord, please kill me! This salt cannot be sold! Unless it's three hundred coins per dou!"

"Kill him?" If the city lord truly held the power of life and death, he might as well chop him up. Even so, it still wouldn't solve the problem of the common people having salt.

It's not unreasonable for Boss Feng to sell the salt for 300 coins now, since he bought it for 200 coins a dou. He even heard that the Su family recently bought 150 shi of salt from the city lord's mansion for 1 tael of silver a dou, spending a total of 20,000 taels of silver.

Therefore, salt is now more expensive than rice, more expensive than oil, and even more expensive than life itself.

Currently, many people are experiencing weakness and exhaustion due to a lack of salt in their bodies, making it difficult for them to work in the fields. This situation is bound to create a vicious cycle if it continues.

"This..." The city lord hesitated. Judging from the current financial resources of the city lord's mansion, it was impossible to buy enough salt at a price of three hundred coins per dou. So, he had run into a wall with Boss Feng.

"Please take care, Lord City Lord. Come again when you have time!" Boss Feng remained kneeling on the ground, his attitude extremely respectful, but his heart was anything but honest.

As soon as the city lord stepped out of the gate, Fang Hongxin stepped out from behind the screen, patted Boss Feng on the shoulder and laughed, "Boss Feng, well done! It won't be long before the price of the salt we stockpiled doubles again!"

"That's right!" Boss Feng straightened up, a cold glint in his eyes, and said in a cold voice, "You want me to sell salt at a low price? No way."

Although Boss Feng had no intention of going against the City Lord's Mansion, he was a businessman who always put profit first. Even if the City Lord himself came to visit, he would never give up a single penny of profit.

Next, the city lord visited the Hua family and the Yu family, but was also rejected. The two of them cried even more miserably than Boss Feng, and even deliberately wore shabby clothes.

Left with no other choice, the city lord could only return the way he came, sighing repeatedly.

"Lord City Lord, perhaps the Prince Consort has a solution," a servant accompanying the City Lord suggested, offering a constructive idea.

This man was Li Mingxuan's father. He had heard many legends about Lin Ping, and with Li Mingxuan's embellishments, he really regarded Lin Ping as a god-like figure.

"Sigh..." The city lord shook his head helplessly again: "Ping'er does have some clever ideas, but it's impossible to cook without rice. This matter... he can't control it."

Li Xuan also thought this made sense. Even if Lin Ping had great abilities, he couldn't possibly conjure salt from the ground.

The city lord was well aware of the alliance between the four major salt merchants; he knew it was the prefect who was behind it, deliberately trying to make the city lord's mansion lose the support of the people.

The prefect was, after all, an outsider and didn't have much prestige among the people. They were used to treating the city lord as their master, and when something happened, the city lord's mansion was the first place they thought of.

Due to the salt shortage, the situation in Jiangcheng Prefecture was extremely volatile, and a major outbreak could occur at any time.

At that time, the city lord's mansion will become the target of everyone's criticism, its reputation will be reduced, and it may also be attacked irrationally.

When a person is about to starve to death, they are capable of anything. Therefore, the best way to maintain social stability is to make the people prosperous.

This has resulted in a situation where the elderly are cared for, the young are educated, the poor are supported, those in difficulty are helped, and the widowed, orphaned, lonely, and disabled are all provided for.

"My lady, why does Father look so worried and depressed?" Lin Ping asked curiously, holding Jiang Yunying's left hand as the city lord walked listlessly into the study.

"The four major salt merchants of Jiangcheng Prefecture are hoarding large quantities of salt and driving up prices, causing widespread resentment among the people. The situation is now rapidly spiraling out of control," Jiang Yunying replied through gritted teeth, wishing she could kill them immediately.