Bai Shitao was flattered.

He happily recommended several of his favorite restaurants to the emperor, but Qi Yuan showed no interest in any of them, only telling him not to forget to bring back a few more servings of roasted sweet potato noodles next time he went to Lin's.

Bai Shitao understood that the emperor was only interested in the little princess and the Lin family.

With him?

That really has absolutely no connection whatsoever.

He silently walked out of the imperial study.

Unexpectedly, even though the court session had ended quite some time ago, there were still quite a few people waiting for him outside.

Bai Shitao was worried that these people were just there to watch him make a scene, so he turned around and tried to walk away, but was stopped by other people who had gathered around.

"Brother Bai, where are you going? Come on, let's go to Jinbao Street for a drink!"

"Yes, the weather is terribly cold. A couple of drinks can warm us up. It's been several days since we've seen Brother Bai, you can't refuse."

These colleagues dragged and pulled Bai Shitao to a small tavern he frequented.

Although it's called a tavern, it's actually decorated in a very quiet and secluded style, which perfectly suits the tastes of these literati and scholars.

And the best part is that you can see Lin's shop from diagonally below this tavern, and have a clear view of all the people queuing down there.

Bai Shitao had been feeling really down lately, and after being urged to drink, he drank a few cups.

"Brother Bai," someone said, their eyes darting around after a few drinks, "it's said that little princess really did tell your fortune?"

"Brother Bai, tell us together, what exactly happened this time? We are really curious!" Several colleagues stared at Bai Shitao with wide eyes, all looking at him with great curiosity.

"..." Bai Shitao sometimes felt that they were no different from the gossips on the streets, except that they had read a few books and pretended to be more upright gentlemen on the surface.

Bai Shitao nodded and said, "She did remind me a couple of things at the time, but how can you believe such things! It was just a scam, and I just happened to run into it."

"Brother Bai, you can't say that! I think that little princess really does have some skills, otherwise how could she have predicted it so accurately? You're probably the only one in the entire capital with such skills, right?" Someone praised Bai Shitou, trying to dig out more information.

Unexpectedly, the person sitting by the window had sharp eyes and immediately spotted Lin Weiming, who wanted to go and help his neighbor. He quickly urged Xiao Si to go and invite Lin over.

This made the crowd, who were already looking for a spectacle, even more interested.

They looked eager and ready to fight, unlike the high-ranking officials in the imperial court.

Lin Weiming was initially confused, but when he looked up, he saw several familiar faces at the window, which seemed to be the same ones who had stood next to him during the morning court session.

After thinking about it, he finally followed the servant upstairs.

When he arrived, the group followed their usual routine, first warmly inviting Lin Weiming to drink with them.

After they had finished drinking, they started looking for news from Lin Weiming.

"Brother Lin, we heard from Brother Bai that the little princess did warn him back then, but unfortunately Brother Bai is really careless, otherwise he wouldn't have fallen like this. Brother Lin, tell me, is the little princess really good at fortune telling?"

After drinking, Lin Weiming seemed a little lightheaded and cheerful.

Without any hesitation upon hearing their question, she happily replied, "Of course! My daughter is amazing! Fortune telling? She's incredibly accurate every time! You wouldn't happen to want my daughter to tell your fortune too, would you?"

"If we could have the little princess help us with the calculations, that would be wonderful," one of them replied with a smile.

Lin Weiming slammed his hand on the table and said with a smile, "No problem! But fortune telling always requires payment. Considering you're only a third-rank official, then... I'll just charge you five hundred taels!"

"Five hundred taels? Brother Lin, you must be joking, right? What fortune teller can spend so much money?" Upon hearing this, the man gasped in shock.

Five hundred taels of silver was really not much for people like them.

but!

Who charges this much for a fortune telling?

What is this called? Fortune telling is no joke, it's more like robbery!

When the others heard this, they also felt a little embarrassed.

But Lin Weiming was quite amused by the drink and didn't care about their expressions. He continued, "You're a third-rank official, so you only need five hundred taels. If it's a second-rank official, then it'll be a thousand taels! And if there's a first-rank official..."

"Brother Lin, what you're saying means that the higher one's official rank, the more expensive the fortune telling? There's no such logic in the world!" Some of the people objected and said slyly, "Besides, we don't even know if the little princess's fortune telling is true or false. If it just happens to be accurate, wouldn't all that money be wasted?"

Lin Weiming was displeased upon hearing this!

Anyone who says his daughter is bad is more painful to him than someone who criticizes him.

"Hmph, if you don't want to go, I'm not happy for my daughter to go through all that trouble!" Lin Weiming finished the remaining wine in his glass, then turned and left.

Seeing how cleanly and efficiently he left, Bai Shitao felt a pang of envy.

He recalled the flattering words of his colleague earlier. In truth, the capital city was full of hidden talents, and there were probably many people with skills far superior to his. The man who had just left was one of them.

However, with the city in turmoil and rumors flying everywhere, people have forgotten that this man kicked the slippery horse to the ground with a single kick, demonstrating his impressive leg skills. They've completely forgotten about that.

All I remember is him saying how much he loved Lin Ji's roasted sweet potato noodles!

Thinking of this, Bai Shitao couldn't help but pour himself two more glasses of wine.

Regardless of whether those ministers who heard that the higher their official rank, the higher their fees, were still willing to spend their hard-earned money on fortune telling.

However, Bai Shitao inadvertently got himself drunk. When the servants of the Bai family brought the drunken Bai Shitao back, they were caught red-handed by Madam Bai.

The details of the torment are too numerous to recount.

In short, no matter how many colleagues there were or what their official positions were, they couldn't drag Bai Shitao out for drinks.

They've all been scared of being disciplined.

Lin Weiming didn't hide anything from people when he was drinking with those people, so his remarks quickly spread to the palace and reached Emperor Qi Yuan's ears.

Upon hearing this, Qi Yuan burst into laughter, praising Lin Weiming for his cleverness: "Those people who have climbed to such positions, how could they possibly be short of money? It's only right that they send some money to Wanwan!"