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

After the city lord's carriages left, the crowd gradually dispersed, leaving only Su Hongxin and his daughter kneeling dejectedly on the ground.

Now that Su Hongxin has lost his usefulness, Zhang Hongyuan and Su Lianlian's marriage has come to an end.

Moreover, in order to stockpile large quantities of salt, the Su family incurred considerable debt and had no choice but to sell their house.

Wealth and poverty can change in an instant. The once illustrious Su Hongxin has now fallen to the level of a rat crossing the street and has no choice but to return to his old house with his daughter.

Su Lianlian was still quite pretty, and if she had behaved herself, she could have married into a good family. Now, her reputation is ruined and her chastity is lost, so she can only be the seventh wife of a greasy middle-aged man.

The prefect was equally furious, smashing teapots and teacups repeatedly, which frightened Zhang Hongyuan so much that he could only hide outside the door.

Previously, he had planned to ruin the City Lord's Mansion at Zhang Hongyuan's engagement banquet, but he ended up losing both his wife and his army.

Now they want to use the Su family's power to bring down the City Lord's Mansion, but they've failed miserably again.

Su Hongxin's downfall left him without his economic support, and he didn't even have the money to operate his business.

"Your Highness, when will you finally make your move?" the Prefect asked respectfully behind the screen in the hall.

"Rest assured, Lord Zhang, the City Lord's Mansion will surely perish within half a month!" A cold, clear voice came from behind the screen, which reassured the Prefect.

At this moment, the city lord had already returned to his residence and immediately invited Jiang Xiuwen to celebrate together.

"Brother, have some tea, the finest Gu Zhu Zisun tea." The city lord said respectfully, holding the teacup with both hands, his behavior quite different from usual.

Jiang Xiuwen stamped his feet anxiously, gulped down the tea without spitting out the tea leaves, and hurriedly asked, "Xiuwu, what's wrong? I heard that the private army has run out of salt."

Although Jiang Xiuwen seemed carefree, he always paid attention to the movements of the private army. Early in the morning, he heard that the private army had run out of salt to eat.

Before the training at the garrison was over, they rushed to the main city in a hurry.

Unexpectedly, they encountered servants from the city lord's mansion on the way, but they couldn't get any information from them, which made them even more flustered.

"No salt to eat? What a joke! Even if you gave me another million private soldiers, I'd still have salt to eat," the city lord said generously, seemingly about to float into the sky.

He had never been to Hongze Lake, nor did he know how much salt was buried there. In any case, Xu'er said there was plenty, more than they could eat.

"Xiuwu, just explain yourself clearly, stop being so mysterious." Jiang Xiuwen started jumping up and down anxiously. This rough and uncultured man hated it when people only said half of what they wanted to say. If the other party wasn't the city lord, he would have already started beating him up.

The city lord suddenly became serious, his face stiff and solemn as he said, "First, you need a good daughter, and then choose the best husband for her from among millions of people."

Before he could finish speaking, the city lord couldn't hold back any longer and burst out laughing, pointing at Jiang Yunlie and saying, "Haha, it's a pity you only have a son, so you won't have the chance to find such an excellent son-in-law."

"My wife, see? Yu'er really wasn't taught by me..." Lin Ping explained to Jiang Yunying, sounding aggrieved.

Jiang Yunying covered her face, not wanting to stay a moment longer. She hadn't expected the city lord to speak with the same tone as Jiang Yunyu. It really was... hereditary!

At this point, Jiang Yunying realized that she had wronged Lin Ping, and that Jiang Yunyu's actions had nothing to do with him.

The city lord seemed to realize his lapse in composure, coughed twice, and then became serious, his gaze fixed on the chubby boy who was full of expectation.

Jiang Yunyu was a hero this time. If he hadn't stolen the city lord's treasure and sold it for 100,000 taels of silver, Lin Ping wouldn't have had the funds to dig deep into that barren land and wouldn't have been able to dig up any salt.

Therefore, he hoped that the city lord would bestow his favors equally, and couldn't just keep praising Lin Ping endlessly, since the latter was like a potato.

"My son..." Jiang Yunyu chuckled twice, about to launch into a long explanation of the heroic decision he made back then, which was nothing more than... having an excellent brother-in-law.

"Kneel down!" The city lord roared in fury, his voice cold. "Do you know your mistake?"

Jiang Yunyu's legs went weak as if by reflex, and his knees knelt on the ground against his will. He retorted, "Yu'er... knows he was wrong."

Rebuttal? Absolutely not. Jiang Yunyu has a severe masochistic tendency; how could he dare utter a single rebuttal?

"My lady, give this tael of silver to Yu'er later, he'll need it..." Lin Ping said meaningfully, naturally knowing what the city lord was planning.

Jiang Yunying looked at Lin Ping suspiciously and muttered to herself, "Ming'er has a 20% stake, so he shouldn't be short of a tael or two of silver, right?"

"Yu'er, did you steal those 100,000 taels of silver from the treasury?" the city lord asked knowingly, bringing up old grievances.

Jiang Yunyu lowered his head and remained silent; why would he argue about a mistake that was already in the past?

"In that case, the 100,000 taels of silver shall be considered as the City Lord's share of the profits." The City Lord nodded in satisfaction and said, "Ping'er, from now on, 20% of the profits from the rock salt mine shall be given to your father."

"This is... being robbed." Jiang Yunyu was so angry that his face turned pale, but he dared not resist. He happily accepted the one or two taels of silver given to him by Jiang Yunying, and tears of gratitude streamed down his face.

“Ping’er, your 50% stake was acquired by your father for 250,000 taels of silver. That means you still owe the City Lord’s Mansion 600,000 taels of silver.” The City Lord said with his head down, finding it difficult even to speak.

"What?" Lin Ping emphasized, completely stunned by the city lord's words.

First of all, 250,000 taels of silver is not enough to buy 50% of the shares. Secondly, I, Lin Ping, do not owe your City Lord's Mansion 850,000 taels of silver.

If he had already consummated his marriage with Jiang Yunying, he would have been powerless to argue, since in Lin Ping's heart Jiang Yunying was worth a million taels of silver. But now that he wouldn't even let her kiss him, Lin Ping felt he had suffered a huge loss.

"Not for sale!" Lin Ping's mouth gradually widened as he gave his firm answer.

"If you don't want to sell, then don't sell. Is it necessary to make such a fuss? He's an elder, the city lord. Can't you give him some face?" The city lord looked aggrieved, knowing full well that Lin Ping wasn't as easy to deal with as Jiang Yunyu.

“Father, it’s like gambling on jade. Ping’er has his eye on a piece of jade and spends a thousand taels of silver to buy it. In the end, it turns out to be a piece of jade worth two thousand taels. Do you think I would still sell it for a thousand taels?” Lin Ping gave a vivid analogy.

The city lord agreed with this statement and nodded, saying, "Then I will spend 500,000 taels of silver to buy your shares."

If one thousand taels becomes two thousand taels, then two hundred and fifty thousand taels should naturally become five hundred thousand taels. The price offered by the city lord is fair, reasonable, and without any flaws.

thump……

Lin Ping collapsed to the ground, feeling utterly defeated. He admired the wisdom of experience and blamed himself for his sharp tongue, wondering why he hadn't found a jade worth ten thousand taels of silver.

After a series of negotiations, the two sides finally reached a consensus: Lin Ping would sell 20% of the shares for 350,000 taels of silver, which means he only needs 500,000 taels more to consummate his marriage with Jiang Yunying.

“Father, salt is a daily necessity and should not be used as a violent industry. If we want to make money, we must open up a larger market. We must take over that long, narrow coastline on the east side!” Lin Ping said seriously.