"Hurry up, I'm starving! How can you do business like this? Do you look down on us?"
"Are you trying to scald me to death? Do you even know how to do your job? What are you looking at? Believe me or not, I'll beat you up!"
The eight constables were shouting and making a ruckus, which deterred ordinary people from coming forward to buy anything. The few braver ones could only take scallion pancakes with them, and no one dared to sit inside.
Ling Dahu and Ling Dapeng were both scolded by the yamen runners for no reason, and neither of them dared to talk back. When they came to Tao Wanniang, they had a bitter face.
"Mother, I think they did it on purpose." Ling Dahu was furious but dared not speak out.
"They're doing this on purpose, trying to intimidate me!" Tao Wanniang gritted her teeth and whispered, "Just bear with it, and see if they can't handle it!"
These constables, eating and deliberately causing trouble, made it impossible for Tao Wanniang to do business. Tao Wanniang was extremely annoyed and was about to do something when Xiao Qiao'er tugged at her clothes.
"Grandma Tao, that person..."
Following Xiao Qiao'er's words, Tao Wanniang saw Liang Laifu in his official robes—no, the prefect's son-in-law.
"What are you doing?" Liang Laifu shouted with a stern face.
"Lord Liang, come, come! The wontons at this shop are pretty good. Have you eaten yet? Come and have some with us!" The yamen runner greeted Liang Laifu cheerfully.
Liang Laifu kept a stern face and deliberately avoided Xiao Qiao'er's gaze.
"What are you doing at this hour, instead of working in the government office, running around at people's stalls?"
"Can't you see that you're disrupting the shop owners' business?"
"Lord Liang, please don't be such a spoilsport. This is what Lord Li ordered."
These yamen runners were originally Liang Laifu's colleagues, but because Liang Laifu was handsome, he caught the eye of the prefect's daughter and suddenly became their superior.
To put it bluntly, some people still look down on Liang Laifu's rise to power.
"Go back now! I'll talk to Li Jianghai; they're my fellow townsmen!" Liang Laifu shouted sternly.
Seeing that the constables did not move, Liang Laifu snorted coldly, "What, do my words have no deterrent effect on you at all? In that case, I don't need to be a constable anymore. I will go back and tell my wife right away."
"Alright, alright, everyone, let's go!" one of the constables said. "Lord Liang is so powerful, but who told you to be the prefect's son-in-law!" The sarcasm in his words was obvious to anyone with eyes.
Liang Laifu held back his anger, but seeing everyone get up and leave, he suddenly called out, "Did you pay? You don't pay for your meal? Is this how the officials treat ordinary people?"
"Liang Laifu, don't go too far!" One of the constables slammed his hand on the table, drew his sword, and looked ready to fight.
“Come on, don’t forget, I’m no worse than any of you when it comes to kung fu!” Liang Laifu was more direct, drawing his sword and twirling it with a stern face.
"Da Cong, don't be impulsive. We can just report this to Lord Li!" His companion pulled back the constable who was about to draw his sword and whispered.
The atmosphere was tense. Tao Wanniang was really surprised. Wasn't Liang Laifu supposed to be greedy for wealth and disown his own daughter? It didn't seem like that at all.
"Well, that's eight bowls of wontons and sixteen scallion pancakes, a total of seventy-two coins," Tao Wanniang said at the right moment. "Gentlemen, it's a small business, not much profit. I'll give you a discount of two coins, just give me seventy coins."
How infuriating! Who do they think they are?!
One of the constables took out a piece of silver, slammed it on the table, and glared fiercely at Tao Wanniang.
"Good, very good, you wait and see."
Tao Wanniang didn't care. Anyway, if these people were going to hold a grudge, they would hold it against Liang Laifu.
After everyone left, she went up to collect the loose silver and turned back to thank Liang Laifu with a cheerful smile: "Lord Liang, thank you so much!"
"What exactly did you do to deserve this treatment from Li Jianghai?"
Liang Laifu asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Lord Liang, don't you know? Yesterday, Lord Li was quite the big shot. He barged in in the middle of the night, saying he was searching for assassins. He scared all the children in the family so much that they had nightmares all night!" Tao Wanniang glanced at Xiao Qiao'er as she spoke.
Xiao Qiao'er saw that Liang Laifu was in a bad mood, and this scene, seen by Liang Laifu, undoubtedly confirmed Tao Wanniang's words.
There were no assassins, but he knew that the prefect was going to deal with the imperial inspector. However, because of his position, he was not allowed to participate in these matters.
Liang Laifu's scrutinizing gaze swept over Tao Wanniang and the others before he finally spoke up: "You should stop setting up your stall for the next few days and wait until things calm down."
"Isn't that because you have a guilty conscience? I'm just selling wontons, who am I bothering?"
Tao Wan's mother objected. If they stopped setting up their stall, wouldn't that be an obvious sign that they were harboring someone? Besides, if they really stayed at home, the fact that they were hiding someone would eventually be exposed.
"However, Lord Liang is quite imposing. How about a bowl of wontons?"
Liang Laifu looked at Tao Wanniang with some complicated feelings. Did this woman offend someone?
“I won’t just watch you suffer.” Liang Laifu looked at Xiao Qiao’er and said in a low voice, “I will talk to Li Jianghai about this.”
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Lord Liang!" Tao Wanniang smiled rather carefree.
After Liang Laifu left, guests began to arrive one after another.
"Shopkeeper, how did you manage to mess with the government? Will you be able to keep your shop open in the future?!"
A guest asked with concern.
"Sir, we don't know either. We're just out-of-towners, and we've been doing our jobs honestly. We don't even know where we've offended the government. Who exactly is this Lord Li Jianghai?"
Tao Wanniang said with a bitter face.
"That Lord Li is the most ruthless. If you fall into his hands, you're truly finished."
"Exactly, even if you're innocent, he'll make you guilty. So, of all people to mess with, you had to mess with him..."
The guests whispered that Tao Wanniang's mood was not very good, so was her shop not going to last long?
Because of the trouble caused by the yamen runners, they hadn't sold all their wontons that morning. When they packed up and went home at noon, Tao Wan's mother kept thinking about how her family could escape unscathed from this disaster!
At noon, when Tao Wan's mother, son, and daughter-in-law had all gone back to their room, they brought food to Xiao Yi downstairs.
"Young Master, we're really being watched. My shop is being secretly monitored, and I suspect there are people watching outside this house as well. What should we do?"
"Send me out of the city, and your whole family should leave this Shanhai Prefecture and go to the capital!"
Xiao Yi said seriously, "Since Cheng Feng and Da Lin can't be around you, we can only rely on you!"
Tao Wanniang was startled. This was a living person! How could she send him away?
"You...you need to let me think. I've paid six months' rent, run this wonton shop, and we also raise chickens and ducks, and grow vegetables..."
"Are you telling me to start all over again?!"
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