Zhang Xiangyang had been waiting for these words.

"My lord, you must do me justice today!" Zhang Xiangyang cried, tears streaming down his face.

"My brothers and I heard that a new shop opened on Fengcheng Street, and everyone said the food was delicious. I happened to be passing by with my men, so I thought I'd buy some for you to try. Who knew! Who knew... it was like meeting an unfortunate fate! The owner of that shop was none other than Lin Weiming, the one who refused you last time!"

When he mentioned Lin Weiming's name, he deliberately raised his voice by eight octaves.

Liang Xin found it grating, and his brows furrowed even more tightly.

He had actually long forgotten who Lin Weiming was, but he instinctively felt unhappy upon hearing the name.

This guy must have offended me!

"Does Your Excellency remember?" Zhang Xiangyang was afraid that his esteemed Lord Liang might forget things, so he quickly added fuel to the fire, saying, "It was when Your Excellency was so discerning and thought of eliminating evil for the people of our county, and spent money to hire bandits, that village of unruly people somehow got together a bunch of people who claimed to be bandits, and the village leader was this guy surnamed Lin!"

"Your Excellency loves the people and cherishes talent. You mistakenly thought that guy was capable and specially recruited him. Who knew that he would be so ungrateful as to refuse you?"

Before he could finish speaking, Liang Xin had already smashed the kettle in his hand with a bang.

"So it was him!" Liang Xin said through gritted teeth.

Zhang Xiangyang quickly nodded and whispered, "When he heard that we were buying food for Lord Liang, he actually... he actually said..."

"What are you saying? A real man doesn't have to be so hesitant!" Liang Xin said unhappily.

"He actually said you weren't a good official, that you were a greedy and stingy corrupt official, and that you didn't deserve to eat his food. We brothers were furious and wanted to get justice for you, sir, but who knew we'd get beaten up like this..."

"Even if you, sir, don't stand up for us brothers, we can't just watch you suffer such an injustice!" Zhang Xiangyang twisted the truth, deliberately portraying Lin Weiming as an extremely arrogant figure.

Liang Xin already disliked Lin Weiming, and upon hearing these words, he remembered how he had previously ordered his men to withhold the money that should have been given to the bandits in Ning'an Village. He immediately became furious and ashamed: "How dare they! How dare they have such audacity?"

“That’s right! Sir, they not only don’t respect you, but they don’t respect our county government either! Isn’t it just because their family is a bit strange? It’s really hateful. If it weren’t for their strangeness, would so many of us brothers be unable to defeat that Lin guy? But unfortunately…” Zhang Xiangyang said with a sigh.

"You mean all of you couldn't beat that guy surnamed Lin? Is he really that skilled?" Liang Xin's expression changed slightly.

If Lin Weiming truly possessed such abilities, then even if he was arrogant and shameless, he could still tolerate it.

Zhang Xiangyang's eyes darted around, and he quickly said, "He's just a peasant from the village, how could he have such skills? It's just that his family's home is a bit different from other people's..."

"His shop has only been open for less than half a year, but it is already packed with customers. The queue is almost two miles long. Otherwise, we wouldn't have thought that the food might be delicious and wanted to give it to you to try."

Liang Xin was quite shrewd and cautious. After hearing Zhang Xiangyang's words, he also felt that the Lin family might be a bit strange.

"In that case, you go and find out first, and give me a report when you have results." Liang Xin had no intention of standing up for Zhang Xiangyang and his group.

"..." Zhang Xiangyang was a little dumbfounded when he heard this, but he still respectfully agreed.

As soon as he came out, the other constables, who were also beaten black and blue, quickly surrounded him: "Brother Zhang, what did our superiors say? Can we confiscate that Lin family's shop this afternoon? That family is really bold, daring to beat us up. If we don't teach them a lesson, the whole county will probably come and kick us while we're down!"

"Pah!" Zhang Xiangyang spat on the ground and said with a sneer, "Don't you know anything about our adults? He won't act until he sees a clear benefit..."

“However, the Lin family is indeed a bit strange. You go and find out more. If you have any news, come back and tell me. Then we can take them all out at once.”

"Alright, let's go find out now!"

The group scattered like birds and beasts.

...

Lin's Restaurant opened as usual the next day.

The roasted sweet potato noodles were still fragrant, and because of the hot weather, the fruit salad was plentiful, with vibrant colors that looked delicious.

However, there were significantly fewer people in line this time than yesterday.

While Lin Weiming and Liu Junlan were doing their business, they were also keeping a close eye on the situation on the street, waiting for Zhang Xiangyang and his men to bring reinforcements so they could act at any time.

This time, Liu Junlan made a point of placing both of his wood-chopping knives under the cabinet.

But even by midday, they hadn't seen Zhang Xiangyang or the others; there was no sign of them at all.

"That's strange!" Lin Weiming said in surprise, "These people aren't planning to cause us any trouble today?"

"Isn't that a good thing? If they don't come, everyone can come and eat in peace, and we can make more money." Liu Junlan sighed.

Because of what happened yesterday, people who usually like to come here to buy roasted sweet potato skins for breakfast are now afraid to come.

Only a hardcore enthusiast like Li Dechang would send his young apprentice to buy medicine every single day without fail.

The other neighbors were afraid that if they supported Lin Weiming, they would offend Zhang Xiangyang.

Missing a bite of food is no big deal, but if you offend Zhang Xiangyang, even if you don't lose your family, you'll still suffer a huge financial loss.

As a result, business at Lin's restaurant plummeted. Usually, by noon, they would have sold out of roasted sweet potato noodles, but today they still had more than half left.

It's hot, so these things won't last long, and there's no way to save them for the next day.

Where Lin Weiming and Liu Junlan couldn't see, three of the five ghosts from the Lin family arrived.

Master Cui always accompanied Lin Zhongyuan to the academy, even if it was just to study more, he was also able to protect him.

The little pink butterfly was left at home to guard the house.

The other three ghosts all came to the shop, eagerly waiting for Zhang Xiangyang and the others to arrive so they could be thoroughly beaten and pounded on the ground.

Unfortunately, the group didn't show up, leaving the three of them waiting for nothing all day.

The same thing happened the next day, and Lin Wanyue also felt that something was wrong, so she asked Laifu to go and take a look around.

He usually swats flies, mosquitoes, and rats; he's so used to it that he's also quite adept at catching petty thieves.

However, Lin Xiangwu was even faster. He only glanced at them twice before arresting the two plainclothes constables who were eating wontons across the street.