You expect me to serve your mistress? The mistress is driving this scumbag and his entire family cra

Chapter 42 This city lord is a fake.

Fang Chengxu was furious and embarrassed: "You're using business as an excuse to meet in secret? Do you think I don't know?"

Lu Xingzhan scoffed: "We easily make tens of thousands of taels of silver in a single business deal. We really don't have the leisure to talk about love."

The crowd was in uproar!

"What kind of business can earn tens of thousands of taels of silver in one go?"

"We've just never seen this before. The city lord has such a large fortune that he can easily spend tens of thousands of taels of silver on disaster relief. There's nothing strange about it."

"That Lady Liang is also good at business? She's really keeping her abilities hidden."

Tong Zhao'er scoffed: "What a load of bragging! I make a fortune every day, but only if people believe me."

"You can't talk about ice with a summer insect. Don't use your limited knowledge to challenge my meager allowance."

These words were quite arrogant, especially since he looked down on the daughter of a general. People couldn't help but wonder in their hearts just who this city lord was.
What ordinary merchant would dare to offend the government?
Tong Zhao'er and Fang Chengxu insisted that the two had a secret affair and downplayed their true feelings, when they heard someone behind them shout angrily: "Trying to run away? Get over here!"

With a loud bang, Li Sheng was kicked hard and sent flying into the crowd! He fell to the ground in a sorry state!
Behind Li Sheng, Fang Chenghao pushed through the crowd and walked in, standing with his hands on his hips in front of the crowd.

"Brother, I just went to ask the cooks and servants in the manor, and it turns out that Li Sheng was behind all of this!"

Fang Chengxu had been trying to shirk responsibility for the Fang family, but Fang Chenghao exposed his deception with a single sentence.

He still tried to cover it up: "Nonsense, this banquet wasn't hosted by Li Sheng. At most, he just misjudged people and let a wolf into the house."

"No!" Fang Chenghao said honestly, "It was Li Sheng who embezzled money from the household and bought a lot of stale ingredients instead of the good ones. He also threatened the cooks not to tell anyone, or he would tell our mother and fire them."

"Oh, by the way, those two cooks aren't from Zuixianglou either; he hired them from outside, they're part of his group. He tried to run away when he realized he'd been caught, but luckily I spotted him and brought him back."

Fang Chengxu was speechless, not even wanting to continue the interrogation. After all, he knew Li Sheng's character better than anyone. He just hadn't expected that Li Sheng would ruin his own happy occasion just to embezzle money.

Lu Xingzhan chuckled and teased him, "You really should thank your second brother for bringing this culprit back in time."

Otherwise, you deliberately hired a chef from my restaurant to prepare the banquet, and then immediately shifted all the blame onto me after the incident. I'm going to sue you for deliberately framing me.

Lu Xingzhan said this out of kindness, fearing that Fang Chenghao would favor Liang Jiang and he would be scolded and blamed by the Fang family later.

Fang Chengxu hesitated for a moment, unsure how to refute.

The surrounding guests showed no mercy, hurling insults and saying, "After all this, it turns out it was the Fang family's own fault for hiring the wrong people, causing us to vomit and have diarrhea, almost killing us."

"This matter itself is nothing, but after the Fang family got into trouble, they kept shirking responsibility and framing others. This is really not a fair thing to do."

"Exactly, character is revealed in the details. Fang Chengxu is not someone to be trusted. Even a day as husband and wife is a hundred days of kindness. It's one thing for him to be ungrateful and abandon his wife of many years, but he also keeps trying to kill her and doesn't want to leave her any way out."

"They're already divorced, and they're both married and have nothing to do with each other. Even if they really do have feelings for each other, so what?"

“This respectable woman is generous and upright in her dealings with others, and kind-hearted. However, she has been married before and has a bad reputation, so she is not a good match for the city lord.”

Tong Zhao'er and Fang Chengxu were scolded until their faces turned red and then pale, wishing they could disappear into the ground.

The most pleased one was Lu Xingzhan, who winked at Liang Jiang: "Look, everyone says we're a perfect match."

Liang Jiang earnestly corrected, "No, everyone says I'm not good enough for you."

The prefect of Fucheng, standing to the side, also felt deeply humiliated. After all, he was the one who had escorted Tong Zhao'er to her wedding, and could barely be considered a member of her maternal family. He said in a displeased, deep voice, "Now that the matter has been investigated, there's nothing more to say. Today's events were caused by your Fang family's lax supervision and poor personnel management. Do you want to settle this officially or privately?"

Without hesitation, Fang Chengxu said, "I'm sorry everyone, I apologize to everyone. We should make amends for what happened today."

"Then I will act as a mediator between the two families. Your Fang family should first settle today's medical expenses, and then the victim should elect two representatives to discuss relevant compensation matters with the Fang family."

Fang Chengxu looked at Tong Zhao'er. Tong Zhao'er was not confused either. She could disregard the feelings of others, but she could not offend the prefect.

They could only order Zhao Ma to take some silver from her dowry and settle the medical bills.

The prefect wanted to let the matter slide.

Lu Xingzhan wouldn't do that.

"Wait, they're not going to hold it against us, but Liang Jiang and I are victims too. Shouldn't the Fang family give us an explanation?"

The prefect, not wanting to offend anyone, said: "Fang Chengxu, why don't you apologize to the city lord right now!"

Fang Chengxu had lost face in front of everyone today, and now he had to apologize to Lu Xingzhan in front of so many people. He was both ashamed and angry, and couldn't hold back any longer. He said, word by word:

"I'll apologize, as long as he can recount to you what was written in his letter to you. I'll kneel down and beg for forgiveness."

The prefect, puzzled, asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Fang Chengxu's heart sank, and he said with certainty, "Because I suspect that this young master Lu who claims to be the city lord is an imposter and not the real city lord."

Everyone's appetite was immediately whetted again. Today has truly been full of twists and turns.

Some people, even after taking the medicine, still experience persistent diarrhea. Despite excruciating abdominal pain, they are reluctant to leave, unwilling to miss any part of the ordeal. They grit their teeth and stomp their feet, wishing they could relieve themselves right there.

Lu Xingzhan and Liang Jiang exchanged a glance, then Lu Xingzhan chuckled: "Whether I am or not, what does it have to do with today's events? If I were just an ordinary person, would you not apologize?"

"If you're not the city lord, then why are you impersonating him? What's your scheme?"

Lu Xingzhan couldn't help but glance at Liang Jiang again: "Where do I look like a city lord to you?"

“As far as I know,” Fang Chengxu said smugly, “the real city lord should be a woman.”

"Oh? Who has seen this before?"

"Two years ago, the city lord exchanged letters with the prefect. The city lord should still remember the contents of those letters, right? If you can tell me, I will acknowledge that you are the city lord. Otherwise, you are an imposter who has defrauded my Fang family's ancestral home and should be held accountable."

Lu Xingzhan really didn't know about this.

He rubbed his nose: "It seems you've been investigating me for a long time."

Fang Chengxu sneered: "Who in Fucheng doesn't know that the city lord is benevolent and of noble character? How could he be like you, coveting the beauty of another man's wife and impersonating him to plot against his property?"

Lu Xingzhan rubbed his chin: "Thank you for the compliment. The city lord is actually not as good as you say. I'm fierce, petty, unreasonable, and vindictive..."

He was halfway through his rant when he saw Liang Jiang glaring at him fiercely, so he immediately swallowed the rest of his sentence.

(End of this chapter)