The peasant girl has a private space, and her husband is handsome.

Madam Lu took out her sewing basket, intending to make a few embroidered handkerchiefs to give to Miss Su as a token of her gratitude.

"Oh dear, my father-in-law is so blind. He doesn't love his own granddaughter, but treats that fake one like a treasure."

Luo Yan sighed and said, "Miss Su's teahouse and clothing shop have both been shut down by Lord Lin's men. The entire capital is in chaos now, with arrests happening everywhere in preparation for the arrival of the Western Xia Empress."

Mrs. Lu looked relieved. "Luckily you took leave these past few days, otherwise, doing too many such despicable things would surely bring retribution. Is there anything we can do to help Miss Su?"

"No need. Miss Su is such a capable person; if we were to help her, we'd probably only make things worse. Don't worry, if there's an opportunity, I will definitely do my best to help her. The Luo family owes her too much."

The Lin residence was bustling with activity at dinner time.

At the dinner table, Madam Lin spilled tea all over her son, Lord Lin.

The reason was that she had previously received a bottle of skincare cream from her daughter-in-law, but because she didn't trust it, she only tried it on half of her face and wanted to compare the results after using it.

The results were indeed very good; one side of my face became much whiter and smoother, but the other side was covered with spots and wrinkles. The difference between my left and right faces was too great, and I looked like a monster at first glance.

Unfortunately, the second bottle was completely sold out.

Because her own son had completely offended Miss Su.

The plum garden has already announced that from now on, no one from the Lin family will be allowed to enter any of Miss Su's businesses.

How can she go out and face people with this strange face?

The more Madam Lin thought about it, the angrier she became. "You unfilial son, you'd better kneel down in front of Miss Su tomorrow and beg her for a jar of skincare cream. Otherwise, you don't need to come back again."

Lord Lin defended himself with an upright expression, saying, "Mother, I was just doing my job and was wholeheartedly serving the country. I did nothing wrong. I would never kneel down to a little girl unless the sun rises in the west."

The dining room was noisy when Manager Xu, who was in charge of managing the shops at the Lin residence, rushed over.

As soon as Steward Xu entered the room, he knelt down in front of Lord Lin.

"Master, something terrible has happened! All thirteen of our Lin family's shops in the capital have been almost completely emptied out."

Old Madam Lin, being elderly, was easily agitated and stood up abruptly from her chair. "Manager Xu, tell me quickly, what happened?"

Manager Xu was startled by the old lady's face and quickly looked down at his toes.

"Reporting to the Madam, it was the Master who issued the order that all shops in the capital provide goods to the Western Xia merchants free of charge. A Western Xia caravan specifically targeted our shop, emptying it out in just one afternoon, even clearing out the inventory."

Upon hearing this, Old Madam Lin was so angry that she spat out a mouthful of blood.

Good heavens! The goods from thirteen shops were worth more than 30,000 taels of silver, and they're gone just like that.

Enraged, Old Madam Lin raised her cane to hit her son. The cane landed on the dining table, hitting not only her son but also smashing the food on the table to pieces.

Anyway, I wouldn't feel like eating it even if I didn't smash it.

"How could I have given birth to such a spendthrift son? Get rid of those ridiculous rules of yours right now, or the Lin family will starve."

Madam Lin came from a merchant family, so she loved doing business and was very good at it, making a lot of money.

However, the family didn't keep much money in the mansion; they invested it all in opening shops, which is why the Lin family was able to own thirteen prime shops in the capital.

Lord Lin never expected that the rules he promulgated would backfire, and that the Lin family would be the one to suffer the most.

The loss of over 30,000 taels of silver is equivalent to six years of expenses for the Lin family.

If they want to continue doing business, they can only sell one-third of the shop space to restock.

Lord Lin suddenly began to doubt himself.

On the third day, Lord Lin canceled all free benefits for Western Xia merchants in the capital, and submitted a list of regulations to Emperor Qi Jing. Emperor Qi Jing approved the cancellation.

Lord Lin finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Then Emperor Qi Jing said, "Minister Lin, I didn't read those rules and regulations you sent earlier carefully, which led to Grand Secretary Liang remonstrating with his life. You've really caused me a lot of trouble."

Grand Secretary Liang did not die, of course; he injured his head and was taken to the Guji Teahouse after being treated by the imperial physician.

"Minister Lin, there's no need for all that formalities. Let's get all the shops with west and Xia in their names back to business as soon as possible."

"There is one more thing. I received a letter from the Empress of Western Xia. She will arrive the day after tomorrow."

"The Empress of Western Xia plans to visit Gu's Tea House during her visit to the capital. She said she wants to taste rice candy and see the rare books and paintings by the Sage of Painting in the main hall. Lord Lin, you should make good preparations for this."

Lord Lin was covered in cold sweat. The problem was that Gu's Teahouse had been shut down by his men.

What should I do? Do I really have to kneel down before Miss Su?

After leaving the palace, Lord Lin immediately went to Gu's Tea House to see Miss Su.

Su Qianqian didn't buy it at all and had Mo Xiaobei throw him out.

Mo Xiaobei looked at Lord Lin lying on the ground and said, "Lord Lin, how arrogant you were when you led people to seal off the shops, why are you begging for mercy so quickly? You can continue to be arrogant!"

Lord Lin: I'm not arrogant at all, I'm about to lose my head.

Hu Pingfan stroked his goatee and said, "Lord Lin, even if you kneel before General Su, he will never forgive you."

Lord Lin was unwilling to kneel. How could a high-ranking official of the third rank in the imperial court possibly kneel before a commoner!

Lord Lin got up from the ground and went to the palace to plead with Emperor Qi Jing, hoping to use Emperor Qi Jing to put pressure on Miss Su.

"Your Majesty, I am incompetent and unable to persuade Gu's Tea House to reopen."

Emperor Qi Jing looked at him with exasperation, "Tell me, of all people to offend, you had to go and offend Miss Su."

Emperor Qi Jing felt a headache coming on whenever he thought of Marquis Guiping. "My uncle is extremely protective of his own. When he gets angry, he even dares to hit me. He probably doesn't know that Miss Su has been wronged, otherwise he would have already stormed into the palace to settle accounts with me."

"As for Miss Su, you're responsible for the mess you made."

Emperor Qi Jing flicked his sleeves and went to the Empress's palace.

Having no other choice, Lord Lin went to Gu's Teahouse and knelt down to beg for forgiveness.

"Miss Su, I was wrong, please forgive me."

To make matters worse, it started to rain. Lord Lin knelt upright outside the entrance of Gu's Tea House, looking utterly forlorn.

He remembered what he had said to his family, that he would never kneel before that little girl unless the sun rose in the west.

But it's raining now, and there's no sun at all.

When Lord Xue of the Ministry of Rites saw this scene, he felt quite pleased.

That was a quick slap in the face.

When you, surnamed Lin, shut down someone's shop, you were arrogant and haughty. Now, you're begging for forgiveness because your fate is uncertain.

"Lord Lin, you are truly ignorant! How dare you provoke us? Are you tired of living?"

Feng Yuanxi was also present; he had come to talk to Hu Pingfan because they shared a lot in common.

Feng Yuanxi, holding a yellow oil-paper umbrella, looked sympathetically at Lord Lin kneeling on the ground.

"Lord Lin, let me tell you a secret: anyone who offends Miss Su will never have a good ending. Take my father, Prime Minister Feng, for example; his leg is still broken. If it weren't for my sake, Miss Su would have killed him long ago."