lifeHe hurriedly kowtowed and pleaded guilty, "Your Majesty, I was wrong!""Hmph, get back to me and reflect for a month behind closed doors. You're also being docked half your salary for this. If you...Li Lao Er, upon hearing this, immediately had Zheng He and Zheng Feng stand guard at the door.

This house has no back windows, so there's no need to worry about someone eavesdropping from behind.

Li Lao'er kept finding fault with Wang Zechen about the Li family, making a fool of himself. He devised a scheme to sabotage Baihuayuan, but was caught in the act and lost all face.

Finally, he added: "Although there are Zhiheng and Mr. Wen in the court now, Zhiheng is responsible for planting corn and potatoes, so he is often away. Mr. Wen is a censor, and it is not easy for him to openly take sides because of his position. This has resulted in a loss of impartiality."

"While you and the fourth brother are out on campaign, there must be someone in court to support you and speak for you. That's why I was thinking of taking a position with real authority. "

"Alas, I lack official titles and academic achievements. However, with the opening of Baihua Garden, I have donated some grain and medicinal herbs to the relief agency."

I found that the Relief Bureau was like a scalp fungus on someone's head—it didn't affect life or death, but it was extremely unsightly. No one dared to touch it. But if managed well, it could also be a good stepping stone. So I took a deep breath and accepted the challenge.

Although there is money allocated from the court now, it’s still tight. I still need to sell flowers every month to make ends meet, but things should improve before winter.

"At that time, I plan to take the elderly and children from the relief agency out onto the street to shovel snow and do some simple work. Of course, these are not the most important things, the most important thing is…"

Li Lao'er stopped there, and the Marquis understood, smiling and saying: “The most important thing is the omnipresent eyes! It’s Li Family’s reputation for being the utmost virtuous and loyal in the Emperor’s heart, among officials, and within the people!”

Li Lao'er immediately burst into a smile, "I knew the Marquis would surely guess my thoughts."

The Lord nodded and refilled his tea, saying in a low voice, “In fact, most aristocratic families secretly have their own people, like our mansion also has several taverns or general stores in the market. They can come in handy at critical moments.”

On one side, Jia Yin seemed to have a sudden realization. When she had checked the ledgers that morning, there were indeed several taverns and general stores' ledgers, but their owners hadn't come.

She still wondered how, with only a dozen taels of profit a month, the Hou family could be involved in such a small business.

Originally, it wasn't for making money, but simply to exist as the Marquis Mansion's eyes, ears, and mouth...

Li Lao'er heard this with envy.

The wealth accumulated by prominent families over many years is not merely gold and silver or industries, but more importantly, connections and hidden cards.

Speaking of it, the Li family is truly lucky.

Previously, winning against the Wang family was possible because we had Li Zhensheng, a living piece of criminal evidence, on our side. The Wang family had no way to refute this.

Furthermore, the Li family's twenty years of hatred had driven them to desperation, causing chaos throughout the city. Their actions even reached the ears of the emperor himself, making it impossible for the Wang family to act unscrupulously.

Thirdly, the Wang family also has to consider the Duke.

Therefore, with all these factors combined, the Wang family was forced to retreat step by step under the watchful eyes of everyone, unable to raise their heads against the Li family.

Otherwise, a behemoth like the Wang family could easily silence any scandals and dispose of the Li family with absolute secrecy.

This is also the fundamental reason why Old Master Wang fell ill and Third Master Wang went mad.

They are so downtrodden!

It's like a lion facing a rabbit. It could easily kill the rabbit with one bite, but it just can't bring itself to do it. Instead, it gets kicked in the face by the rabbit!

Even now, I have to endure this rabbit hopping gleefully before my eyes every day…

The Li family achieved an impossible victory, while the Wang family experienced an unimaginable humiliation!

After figuring out these details, Lao Er Li was truly scared.

The ignorant are fearless!

Fortunately, he woke up and began to make up for the shortcomings of Li's family. He started to catch up, hoping to close these gaps as soon as possible.

It's not too late to make amends even though the sheep has already been lost.

The Lord sipped his tea slowly, then placed a piece of sweetmeats in the chubby girl's palm. He remained silent, giving Li Laer ample time to think.

The Li family's rise from a humble farming household to the aristocratic class was not a smooth journey. There were many twists and turns, inevitable bumps and falls along the way.

In his view, the Li family was already fortunate and hardworking enough; all that remained was a matter of time, and there was no need to rush.

As expected, Li Lao Er understood. He let out a breath and got up to bow to the Marquis, "Thank you, Marquis. You must have secretly protected our family many times before."

The Lord Hou pulled him down and smiled, “Family, no need to be so polite. Back then when I was in trouble outside, if it weren't for your family’s help, my grave would have been three feet high by now. This is because your family planted good causes, and here I am bearing the good fruits…”

He patted the little girl’s head, remembering when she wouldn’t speak and would trade with him: one silver coin for one medicine pill…

His smile held a few more points of warmth and indulgence...

At this time, Jiahuan brought a tray and personally delivered the food.

Everyone helped set it up, and family members didn't need to be polite. They just picked up their chopsticks and started eating.

Jia Huan gave his sister half a bowl of vegetables and picked out a piece of fish, then went back to the kitchen.

Jiayin called out to him and asked, “Second Brother, are you going home tonight”

Jia Huan shook his head and replied, "We can't leave here. Let's go back tomorrow night."

Jia Yin thought of her pregnant sister-in-law who was experiencing morning sickness and vomiting, so she said to her second brother, "Second brother, you should go home. My mother and I have come up with two new dishes, and we can teach you how to make them and add them to the menu."

"Really" Jiahuan was overjoyed, "Good, good, I'll definitely go back tonight."

"Don't forget to buy some pickled plums from Chengnan Jiaji for your second aunt. She's been loving them lately." Jiayin reminded with a smile.

This made Jiahuan blush, but he still agreed, "Don't worry, I remember."

Li La Er gave his niece a piece of meat, also with delight. "Funiu eats meat, she's lost weight recently. Should I go back and tell your grandma to reduce your coursework a bit"

"No, Second Uncle," Jia Yin mumbled with her mouth smeared with oil, struggling with the braised pork trotters while replying, "If you don't work hard when you're young, you'll regret it later. I'll learn these first, and then I'll add painting and playing the qin. Oh, and martial arts too!"

Li Laoer felt sorry for him and teased his little niece, "You have to start practicing martial arts early, even before dawn!"

"Oh, that early" Jiayin immediately retreated, "Then maybe wait a few more years. I haven't slept enough, I won't grow taller!"

Li Laoer and the Lord both burst into laughter uncontrollably.

This slacker, he has too many excuses.

The Marquis took the clean cloth from the table to wipe the lazy girl's mouth and hands. Thinking of the third princess in the palace, he said: "Learning martial arts is a must, at least when someone bullies you, you can fight back directly."

Even if you get hurt, even if you get killed, it doesn't matter. Your godfather and family will take care of everything. But remember, you can't be bullied, you can't get hurt, understand

If Li Lao Tai and Tao Hongying heard this, they would probably laugh and cry, saying that they had corrupted the children.

Unfortunately, sitting next to him was Li La Er.

He shared the same thought and had already instructed his niece about this.

"At that time, you should have cried your heart out when the Empress locked you in the darkroom! The whole harem should have known about the Empress's bullying! You should have made the entire new city ashamed of her. But you didn't say a word!"

"Black room" The marquis's chopsticks immediately dropped, his face as dark as ink.

Before, Jia Yin had lightly mentioned it when talking about this.

Yejian and Dongmei didn't follow into the palace, and they didn't know the specifics either. When they spoke, they weren't very detailed.

"It wasn't until this moment that the Marquis realized, he said coldly, “It seems I was too lenient with the punishment I arranged for the Wu family!”

Here are three more chapters~~ng made everyone laugh nonstop, and they liked her cheerful personality even more.After some idle chatter, Jia Er Fuzi said, “Elder Madam, in fact, there’s one more thing I came here for today.”"The f...