She walked into the Xiu Ge where Su Mei would often meet guests, and Xiao Man couldn't help but rush into Lin Xie's arms, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and bursting into tears. Lin Xie gently stroked her hair, which had grown a bit longer since last autumn, and her pure white forehead touched his chin as he softly comforted her: "I'll take you away tonight, and from now on, you'll be by my side, don't worry anymore..."

  "Originally, after today, the fourth girl was going to leave the city to find you," Su Mei said with a worried expression on her face, not understanding the situation. "Later, I heard that there was movement in your courtyard, and the fourth girl went over to talk to Liu Niang and Zhou Ye, only then did I know that you had entered the city today, and also knew about the incident in the east market. At the beginning of the month, I saw that the timing was ripe, so I told the lord's family about replacing Xiao Man's ransom, at first they were evasive and didn't say yes or no, but two days ago they suddenly sent a letter saying that Wang Xueshan's son wanted to redeem Xiao Man as a concubine..." She had all the others leave, and Zhou Pu and the fourth girl naturally also pretended to stay outside, she poured tea and handed it to Lin Fu.

  "No one knows what the mastermind behind the Fan family is thinking, and during this time in Jiangning, apart from secretly accumulating power, they have been relatively low-key in other aspects. But it's not like I'm going to get my way easily. If Wang Chao hadn't jumped out to stir up trouble, that would be fine; but with Wang Chao jumping out to stir up trouble, the Fan family would naturally want to shift the conflict between me and Wang Chao..." Lin Xuan analyzed the Fan family's thoughts with Su Mei.

  "It's just that some things are hard to handle, and today something like this happened again." Su Mei furrowed her eyebrows, let out a light sigh. Wang Xueshan and his son Wang Chao would not dare bring people to attack the city prison, but they had a bellyful of resentment that they couldn't vent, so they absolutely wouldn't let go easily on this side.

  "It's a bit difficult, so it seems that we have no choice but to let Bokuno handle it now..." Lin said calmly.

  Sumi's small mouth was slightly ajar, and she couldn't utter a word for half a day. She really hadn't expected that Lin would resort to such tactics to coerce the Fan family into submission.

  Xiao Man raised her delicate eyebrows in surprise within the embrace of Lin, and said in a low, choked voice: "Xiao Man doesn't deserve Brother Lin to be like this..."

  "It's not worth it, not worth making an enemy of the Wang family, not worth making an enemy of the Fan family? Without a powerful move, how can we force the Fan family to surrender?" Lin Tie patted Xiao Man's shoulder and said to Su Mei, "Today's incident in Dongshi will result in three corpses being carried out of the city prison tomorrow. In other people's eyes, I am just a sharp knife in Gu Wu Chen's hand. A sharp knife must have its own awareness, so I naturally need to be even sharper; as for bloodshed, since the White Sand County days, when was there ever a lack of bloodshed?"

  "Didn't four people send you to the city's great prison?" Su Mei asked in confusion.

  "Wang Xueshan's attendant Zhao Qinmin and his family had just sent me to Jiyunju, and Yang Pu probably also took his son out of the city prison and sent him to Jiyunju...” Lin Fu briefly told Su Mei.

  Su Mei only knew the general situation of today's East City from Liu Yue'er, and the news she heard later was all rumors from the streets. She didn't expect that after Liu Yue'er returned to Ji Yunju, many things would be even more dangerous and turbulent. Su Mei frowned slightly, her body involuntarily leaning towards Lin Xuan, saying: "This Zhao Qinmin, I've seen him twice. Zhao Qinmin went to the Gu residence at night, if Gu Wudeng didn't use him to overthrow Wang Xueshan, Wang Xueshan would probably try every means to kill his whole family and silence them..."

  "Yes, even if we give them a handle to grab onto and kill Zhao Qinnan, it would still be getting rid of the most important witness," Lin said. "I'm not afraid of being bitten by a few lice, but I do fear making a deadly enemy out of the prefectural family. It's certain that there will be cold guns and dark arrows, but as long as Gu Wuduan is on stage, we don't have to worry about them coming at us openly. Starting tomorrow, everyone except for the tea shop will withdraw to the river mouth. I'll arrange for two people to guard the mansion at Jiyunju, so if anything happens here, they can provide emergency support. Additionally, I plan to prepare an extra boat at the river mouth to ensure that there's always a boat available on this side of the river. If there's any wind or movement, we'll set sail for Changshan Island. This time, I actually thought about directly abducting Xiaoman and sending her to Changshan Island, but I was worried that from leaving the city to secretly escaping from Jiangning Prefecture all the way to Changshan Island might pose even greater risks..."

  At this time, the footsteps outside Xiuge were heard to be chaotic, and the servant woman downstairs was heard calling out to the newcomer: "Master Fan, Song Niangniang, Miss is having tea with guests upstairs..."

  "Let's just pretend nothing ever happened..." Lin Mou said, and asked Xiao Man to go back to the inner room for a while. He sat at the table with Su Mei, drinking tea and waiting for Fan Ding to come upstairs.

  "How is it that Master Fan has come in person? Didn't they say that the young master's affairs would be handled by Second Master Fan?" Lin Xuan stood up, looking at Fan Ding, the head of the Fan family, who had pushed open the door and entered. He made a bow with his fists, glanced outside, and saw that the guards brought by Fan Ding were packed tightly in the outer room. Smiling, he asked, "Isn't it too crowded in the outer room? Should we let a few brothers come to the inner room to sit?"

  Fan Ding's face was gloomy, he glanced at the waist knife that Lin Xie had placed openly on the corner of the table, his gaze stopped Song Dao Po and the guards from following him into the room. He walked to the table and sat down, nodding towards Su Mei, saying: "Trouble Miss Su to brew a cup of tea for me..."

  "The host is really polite." Su Mei took a teapot and tested the water temperature with her fingers, poured a cup of tea for Fan Ding, and presented it to him, "Sir, please."

  "This is Xiao Man's body contract," Fan Ding didn't ask anything else, and directly took out Xiao Man's body contract from his bosom, pressed it under the teacup, and narrowed his eyes at Lin Xuan. "A girl like Xiao Man, Fan Lou has at least eighty, does Lin Juzi really want to redeem her no matter how much silver he spends?"

  "The lord of the manor is a great noble in Jiangning Prefecture, and everyone calls him 'a promise worth a thousand pieces of gold'. Lin Xie's learning is shallow, he only knows that a promise is a promise, no matter whether it's to a little girl, a beggar on the street, or a poor person who has lost their home. He must keep his word and put it into action in order to be considered 'a promise worth a thousand pieces of gold'. Lin Xie still had a faint smile at the corner of his mouth as he said, "I promised earlier that I would ransom Little Man, and Miss Su Mei also agreed to help me mediate. I will fulfill this promise even if it means bankrupting my family... I think the lord of the manor wouldn't want me to go bankrupt, would you?"

  "What if I exchange one oath for another?" Fang Ding pushed the contract to Lin Xie, his hand still pressing on the contract, and his eyes stared at Lin Xie.

  "His Excellency has spoken, and with a stamp of his foot, the city of Jiangning will be shaken three times. As for promises, it is His Excellency who grants favors to others, who has the qualifications to make promises to His Excellency?" Lin Xie smiled and took out a brocade-wrapped bundle from his bosom, placing it on the table, saying, "Thanks to the generosity of Prince Jin'an, I received a few southern pearls as gifts. These are two more, which is almost all the valuable items I have on me. If Your Excellency feels that there is still much lacking, please grant me two days' time to prepare..."

  Bao Ding narrowed his eyes and stared at Lin Lian, whose words were not without threatening intent, but he still couldn't confirm whether Bao Mei was the one they had kidnapped.

  Song Daopo came to find someone, Fan Ding was originally not willing to care about it because of exposing family scandals in the fire head, but others reminded him that Mei should have arrived at the old mansion long ago. Fan Ding felt something was wrong and knew that the city would be restless tonight. He personally led people along the road to Jiangyimen to find West City. In Yongfu Alley, they found the sedan chair bearer who had been knocked unconscious and the family servant Fan Yi who had died on the spot. The other party's hands and feet were clean and neat, except for the three "not seeking wealth" blood characters on Fan Yi's body, no other traces could be found.

  Fan Ding subconsciously thought it was Lin Xie's doing, kidnapping and coercing the Fan family to surrender. But how did Lin Xie know that Zhi Mei would be at her private residence on the other side of Jiang Yi Gate tonight? That private residence was also recently purchased by Zhi Mei. And how did he know that Fan Ding would be furious and bring Zhi Mei back, conveniently allowing them to ambush him in Yongfu Alley? With such a big event happening in Jiangning City today, how could Lin Xie possibly have the resources to orchestrate all this? Where did he get his manpower from? If Lin Xie still had influence in Jiangning, why was the brutal migrant case at the river mouth allowed to happen last month? Fan Ding had too many questions in her mind.

  No matter what, he wouldn't risk his own son for a concubine.

  Fan Ding held a South Pearl in his hand, examining it closely against the lamp light. It seemed as if he was verifying the value of the two Longyan pearls, and with a hint of a smile, he said, "I think one is enough." He placed the remaining South Pearl on the contract and pushed it towards Lin Xuan's face, considering the matter settled. Then, he held the pearl between his fingers and brought it close to the flame, roasting it until the valuable pearl, worth 100,000 coins, emitted a faint crackling sound as it was charred and damaged by the fire. Only then did Fan Ding smile and say, "Such pearls are nothing special in our manor; we have at least eighty of them. Honestly, they're just like the girls in our manor - not particularly precious. However, I couldn't leave without taking something from you, Lin Xuan, or it wouldn't be a proper transaction. Don't you agree?"

  Lin Xian thought that Fan Ding was indeed more cunning than his son Fan Zhi Mei, they had said all the harsh words and completed the transaction. He stood up and said: "The night wind is not cold, the moonlight is also good..." He walked over to push open the window of Xiugang, letting the moonlight pour in and fall on the dresser.

  "I bid you farewell……" As soon as the signal was given, Lin Xie released it, regardless of whether it was true or false. At this time, he could only bid farewell and leave. He bowed to Lin Xie and said a word before leading his guards down from the Xiu Pavilion. When they were preparing the carriage in the front yard to return to the mansion, they opened the gate of the Bai Garden and saw a large black bag placed on the street. With the help of the wind lanterns hanging under the eaves and the stars and moon in the sky, it could be seen that there was a person inside. There were many warriors guarding the front yard earlier, but no one had heard anyone staying in the yard, nor did they know how someone would be put into the bag and thrown outside the door.

  Fan Ding rolled off the horse, pulled out a short knife from his bosom and cut open the cloth bag. Indeed, it was Fan Zhi Mei who was tightly bound and gagged with a black cloth. Fan Ding turned around to look towards the direction of Baiyuan's Xiu Ge, but the courtyard wall blocked the view of the lanterns on the second floor of Xiu Ge. There were no hiding places on either side of the street, and Lin Xie's men who were secretly mobilized were truly invisible.

  "Is this the Bai Garden?" Fan Zhi Mei didn't loosen his bonds, and with a mouthful of buns, he looked up at the horizontal inscribed board above the gate, not expecting to be in front of the Bai Garden. He then saw his father squatting right before his eyes. "Father, you wouldn't be so heartless as to tie me up and bring me here, would you?"

  The lord coldly looked at his son and said: "Was it you who decided to sell Su Mei, the maid, to Wang Xueshan's son as a concubine?"

  Bao Zhi Mei was so stupid, after hearing this sentence he also guessed who kidnapped him tonight, and scolded loudly: "I fuck his dog mother..."

  "That's enough," Fang Ding slapped his son and said, "You still have ugly things to report to me when you get back." Without saying a word to untie his son, he directly let the person who had tied up Fang Zhi Mei throw him into the horse carriage and head towards the old Fang residence in the east city.

  The county knew Mei didn't know what other ugly things were waiting for her at home.

  *****************

  PS: How many brothers are waiting for the second update, now it's delivered, asking for red tickets.