Chapter 177: Sealing the Deal

Chi Nan Yi sneered: "What trouble are you giving me? She is Miss Lin's maid; without your orders, even if she had the heart of a bear and the courage of a leopard, she wouldn't dare do these things. Today we'll open the skylight and speak plainly: because I exposed your affair with the Second Young Master of the Liu Family outside Jiangyuan Pavilion, you bear a grudge. Am I right?"

Chi Nan Yi said so, and directly ripped Lin Ruo Yi's veil of shame clean.

"My relationship with Liang Zhou is pure and innocent; how could it be as disgraceful as you claim?" When the matter was raised, Lin Ruo Yi's face turned extremely sour: "You know nothing, just spouting nonsense. Do you realize you almost ruined my reputation!"

"I never intended to make things difficult for you. If that day you hadn't been so overbearing, I wouldn't have gotten involved in your affairs. You say I almost ruined your reputation, but have you considered that the reputation of Miss Li was also nearly destroyed by you?" Chi Nan Yi stepped closer to Lin Ruo Yi, lowering his voice: "Miss Lin, being human means we must empathize with each other. If Miss Lin had understood this sooner, there would be no need for such a messy scene."

"You!" Lin Ruo Yi clenched her fists, coldly saying: "What kind of mind‑bewitching soup did Li Yunxi pour into you? How can you champion her like this?"

"Whom I am championing has nothing to do with Miss Lin."

Lin Ruo Yi slammed the table hard, sprang up, and glared at Chi Nan Yi with venomous eyes: "Southern First Young Master, is it? Good, very good. Though my Lin Family in Jingcheng is not a great aristocratic clan, we are not a family that can be bullied. You are just a newcomer; I can tell you that the people you have offended are not only our Lin Family. Be sensible and shut down your shabby shop quickly, otherwise being driven out of Jingcheng in disgrace will not look good."

"Whether you can drive me out of Jingcheng is your business; whether I can stand my ground here is my own ability."

"Hmph, such shameless boasting. This Miss will be waiting for the day you kneel and beg for mercy."

Lin Ruo Yi stormed past Chi Nan Yi, and as soon as she stepped out of the private room, she heard Chi Nan Yi say lightly: "Miss Lin, wait a moment."

"Anything else?"

"Since you came to our World's First Manor to eat, you are a guest of our inn, but you deliberately caused trouble, trying to tarnish the reputation of our First Manor. This cannot simply be let go."

Lin Ruo Yi gritted her teeth and shouted angrily: "Then what do you propose?"

"Either you settle the meal bill and apologize properly, and the matter will be considered settled; otherwise, I will go to the yamen to seek judgment and ask what crime Miss Lin has actually committed."

This time, Lin Ruo Yi truly hit a brick wall; she never imagined that not only would her scheme fail, but she also lost such an important person.

But today she was at fault, surrounded by people pointing and gossiping; she had no way to deny anything.

Lin Ruo Yi's face flushed red; after a while she managed to squeak out a barely audible "I'm sorry" from between her teeth. The maid beside her paid the silver, and Lin Ruo Yi covered her face, pushed through the crowd hurriedly, and fled in a disheveled rush.

The maid followed behind her, not daring to look back.

Shopkeeper Hao wiped the sweat from his forehead, his face full of apology: "Owner, it is my incompetence that even this trivial matter requires your personal handling."

"Clean the private room thoroughly and open the windows for ventilation." The strong scent of rouge and powder was truly choking.

The incident of Lin Ruo Yi coming to the World's First Manor to pick a fight quickly spread, and the Li Family naturally received the news.

"Li Yunxi, the owner of the World's First Manor owes our Li Family a favor. Now that we are being targeted by several other families, the days ahead will surely be difficult. What do you think?"

Li Yunxi's eyes flickered slightly, but she lowered her head and said nothing.

"Grandfather knows that for years your heart has been occupied by that despicable Liu boy, but now he has wronged you; you can't waste your life over such an ungrateful man!"

"Granddaughter knows, Grandfather wants me to marry Southern First Young Master?"

Li Cheng Chong shook his head: "That day I already probed her; she politely declined, indicating it wouldn't work. However, you have now reached the age of coming‑of‑age, and a husband must be considered."

"Grandfather." Li Yunxi lifted her head, eyes showing unprecedented resolve: "I want to first help the Li Family rise again; when everything is settled, I can look for a husband later, it's not too late."

"Alas, although Southern First Young Master gave us a method, making the Li Family rise again is as hard as scaling the heavens!"

At that moment, a young servant ran in, panting: "Master! Master! It's big! It's big!"

"What's big?"

"Eastern Pearls! The Eastern Pearl Clams you have been raising alone—today when I opened them, the pearls they produced, regardless of size or luster, differ greatly from those in the pond," he said, handing over several of the freshly opened Eastern Pearls.

Seeing the round, plump pearls, each several times larger than usual, Li Cheng Chong's eyes instantly brightened.

"Incredible! Truly incredible! These Eastern Pearls are far superior to those previously presented to the Imperial Tribute Hall; even a clam aged decades may not yield such a supreme pearl," he murmured in disbelief.

Most importantly, these pearls have only been soaked in the elixir for a few days; if they were soaked for a month or a year…

He could not even imagine how large the matured pearls might become.

"Men! Prepare the carriage! Go to the World's First Manor!"

Chi Nan Yi knew the Li Family would come knocking because of the Eastern Pearl Clam matter, but she hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.

Could it be because of Lin Ruo Yi's incident?

Old Li has not stopped smiling on his face since he saw Chi Nan Yi.

"Southern First Young Master, you have arrived."

"You?"

Chi Nan Yi hurriedly waved a hand: "Li Family head, you are several decades older than us juniors; calling me like that really mortifies a junior."

"Southern First Young Master, to be frank, I have come today because of the Eastern Pearl Clam matter."

"What could possibly be wrong with the Eastern Pearl Clam? It shouldn't be! The water I gave him was undiluted Spirit Spring Water; the Spiritual Spring can promote crop growth, so it should have a definite effect on the Eastern Pearl Clam."

"There's nothing wrong; it's just that the effect was unexpectedly remarkable."

After speaking, he took out the few Eastern Pearls: "These pearls have grown rapidly within just a few days; the contemporaneous Eastern Pearl Clams only produced rice‑grain‑sized pearls, whereas these are already the size of a thumb's pad."

Chi Nan Yi looked at the gleaming luster of the Eastern Pearls and nodded: "Indeed, quite good."

"Thank you! Thank you, Southern First Young Master," Li Cheng Chong said, his face full of excitement.

He saw the hope of the Li Family's resurgence!

"I request Southern First Young Master to assist my Li Family; as I said before, half of the profit from the Li Family's Eastern Pearl business will belong to you."

"Very well."