"Second Brother, you may not know this. The shopkeeper Feng of Dingtailou is extremely vicious and will stop at nothing. If we had persisted, he would have sent people to ruin A Ying's reputation. How could I just stand by and watch A Ying suffer? That's why I had to come and ask Second Brother Yang for help."
"Second Brother, this loose silver is for you. We'll have a more generous reward for you after this is done!"
Lu Xunguang's acting skills were far from excellent. But luckily, Yang Er was a greedy fool. At the sight of the glistening silver, his eyes lit up. Without a second thought, he readily agreed.
"No problem, no problem!"
After Yang Er had hidden the silver away, Lu Xunguang added, "Second Brother, I have another favor to ask."
"That shopkeeper Feng of Dingtailou has been so cruel to A Ying. I can't swallow this anger. Moreover, Dingtailou has evil intentions and will never be sincere in dealing with Shopkeeper Tao. Boldly, I'd like to ask Second Brother Yang to go and scold him severely."
Yang Er hesitated a bit. Before he could refuse, Lu Xunguang continued, "Second Brother, think about it. If you help Shopkeeper Tao get rid of a big problem, he'll surely regard you as his confidant in the future. Your future will be boundless!"
This thought hadn't occurred to Yang Er before. He felt tempted.
He rolled his eyes and thought for a moment. Then he gritted his teeth and agreed.
Lu Xunguang reminded him not to mention his name when scolding at Dingtailou, so that he could take all the credit in front of Tao Zhi later.
Yang Er nodded repeatedly and rushed straight to Dingtailou without hesitation!
"Damn Feng Yuan, you old bastard! Using such dirty tricks to scheme against a woman. What kind of a man are you!"
"You spineless coward! If you've got the guts, fight fair and square! Stabbing people in the back is such a despicable act. I'll curse you to death, you bastard with no father!"
Yang Er was elated. Flattered by Lu Xunguang's words, he already regarded himself as the most capable steward under Tao Zhi. He stood in front of Dingtailou with his hands on his hips, shouting vulgar insults.
"Who's making such a racket outside? Have those hooligans succeeded?"
Feng Yuan suppressed his anger and called a young servant to inquire.
The servant came over cautiously and replied, "Shopkeeper... It's Yang Er, an attendant of Shopkeeper Tao. He somehow got the news and is shouting outside."
Yang Er?
Feng Yuan frowned. What on earth was wrong with Tao Zhi!
It was extremely foolish of him to appoint such a hooligan as his confidant. But that was a private matter of Tianxianglou, and Feng Yuan didn't care.
But now, seeing Zui Xianju and Yufengxiang defect one after another, his Dingtailou had kindly stepped in to turn the situation around. Yet that stupid Tao Zhi, with his womanish kindness, even had the nerve to scold him?
"Such an ungrateful wretch. Our shopkeeper doesn't even want to cooperate with him. Your so - called Dingtailou has done so many bad deeds. You'd better wash your necks and wait for death!"
Seeing more and more people gathering to watch the show, Yang Er became even more excited. He cursed more and more wildly!
Feng Yuan had had enough. He snorted coldly and slapped the mahogany table hard.
"My Dingtailou doesn't even look up to that old fool Tao Zhi! He has a woman's short - sightedness. Cooperating with such a person is really not as good as joining hands with the Li Family Restaurant!"
He tightly held the celadon teacup in his hand and said menacingly, "Go, find some agile guys. Break that mad dog's legs and throw him in front of the Li Family Restaurant. Consider it a gift from me to Lady Li!"
The servant obeyed and left. Soon, the noisy scolding outside stopped abruptly.
When Li Ying arrived, the crowd outside Dingtailou had already dispersed. Feng Yuan had changed his clothes and was actually waiting for her at the door in person.
"I've heard that Lady Li managed to win over Yufengxiang and Zui Xianju with just a few words. You really have good methods."
"I, Feng Yuan, have always admired smart people. Lady Li is a heroic woman. I'm truly impressed. I'm willing to abandon the dark and turn to the light. From now on, I'll follow Lady Li's lead."
Li Ying was stunned.
Was Feng Yuan out of his mind?
Lu Xunguang had said that this man was cruel and ruthless. But why did she think he was really like his name, being able to adapt to different situations and was very slippery?
Feng Yuan politely led her into a private room. After some pleasantries, he signed the document without hesitation.
Li Ying generously reserved a "advertising space" with the best view at the martial arts tournament for Dingtailou.
As for the last Jueweifang, seeing that even Feng Yuan had joined Li Ying's camp, it was just a small eatery. How could it have the courage to resist?
The shopkeeper simply came to her with the document in his hands, swearing to follow Li Ying's lead.
Li Ying let out a sigh of relief. She never expected that the "horizontal alliance" strategy would go so smoothly, almost effortlessly.
Seeing that it was getting late, she didn't delay any longer and went straight back to the village.
Passing by the Li Family Restaurant, she saw a disfigured figure crawling towards her crookedly. Covered in blood, mud and water, his chin had been broken off. His face was twisted and hideous as he groaned at her.
Li Ying was startled. The man almost grabbed her skirt.
With a sway, she gently fell into a warm embrace.
"A Ying, don't be afraid. That's just Yang Er. He deserves it."
Lu Xunguang gently reached out a hand to cover her eyes and explained softly.
Only then did Li Ying know that Yang Er's hands and feet had been broken and he had been thrown here as a token of loyalty from Shopkeeper Feng of Dingtailou.
Yang Er was struggling and writhing in pain on the ground like a worm. Li Ying gave him a pitying look and then told the waiter to drive him away so as not to spoil the customers' appetites.
Evil - doers will surely bring disaster upon themselves. Yang Er was greedy and had no bottom - line. It was his own fault that he had ended up like this.
But...
Since Feng Yuan was really a cruel character, why was he so easily subdued by her without a fight?
She didn't think she had such great influence.
As if seeing the doubt on Li Ying's face, Lu Xunguang let go of his arm around her and looked at her seriously.
"A Ying, there's something I need to apologize to you for."
"The 'horizontal alliance' strategy to fight against the four restaurants' 'vertical alliance' was your private matter. I shouldn't have interfered. But I accidentally heard that Feng Yuan had evil intentions and had arranged some extremely vicious people to try to defile your reputation. The situation was really urgent. I was afraid that something bad might happen to you, so I took action on my own initiative in a hurry."
"I overstepped my bounds and didn't ask for your opinion. A Ying, will you blame me?"
Lu Xunguang looked at her with a worried and solemn expression.
How could Li Ying blame him for his good intentions?
She held Lu Xunguang's hand and bowed gracefully, saying, "If it weren't for Brother Lu's help, I'm afraid I would have suffered a great disaster! Brother Lu, please don't say such polite words again!"