Chapter 60: Li Qingbao Buys a House, Li Qingyun is Dissatisfied!

Glancing over briefly, Li Feng withdrew his gaze and said to the proprietor, "Boss, two more bowls of noodles!"

"Dad, I can't eat two bowls. Boss Yang is a good man; I've already eaten at his place!" Li Erniu quickly shook his head.

"How much did you eat?" Li Feng cast a sidelong glance at Li Erniu.

In business and circles of interest, who would only remember eating and drinking? Everyone had hidden agendas and schemes. Sending Erniu along served two purposes: first, to temper his courage; second, to help him adapt to such environments more quickly so that he wouldn't freeze or feel intimidated in the future!

Li Erniu fell silent. He looked at his father. How did his father seem to know everything?

Back at the Fortune Restaurant, Boss Yang had indeed been very generous, ordering a large table of delicious food for him and even telling him to invite his father and older brother. But knowing his father's intentions, he naturally wouldn't let down his father's good intentions.

Before coming, his father had already instructed them on what to pay attention to when speaking with people. He didn't consider himself stupid; in fact, he possessed a bit of cleverness. Even though his father's words were somewhat subtle, he had understood them completely: in unfamiliar situations, speak less and listen more, and only say what you are certain of.

After going through it once, he had learned a great deal. Looking at his father now, Li Erniu suddenly felt that his father had become somewhat unfathomable.

"Thank you, Dad!"

Since his father had seen right through him, Li Erniu stopped putting on airs. He pulled the noodle bowl toward himself and began to eat voraciously.

Seeing him relish the food so much, Li Feng handed the other bowl to Li Dagou, telling him not to refuse, before finally taking out the contract.

The content was very simple. It meant that they were selling the recipe to the Fortune Restaurant, but it was not a unilateral buyout. The reason it was only sold for thirty taels of silver was that the recipe contained certain ingredients that even someone as famously knowledgeable about food as Yang Qifa did not believe he could fully source. Therefore, Yang Qifa paid thirty taels. If it worked out, it would be a good thing. If it didn't, Li Feng could still take the recipe to find other buyers. In a sense, those thirty taels were payment for Li Feng's hot pot seasoning. Normally, it wouldn't fetch that much, but wasn't this a special time?

Just by glancing at the contract, Li Feng knew what was on Boss Yang's mind. Originally, that had been his intention as well. Most of the ingredients for the hot pot base were bought from the system mall. Besides him, nobody else in the Great Liang Dynasty could possibly replicate this flavor.

He looked again at the contents of the bundle. Besides the thirty taels of silver, there were also several strings of copper coins, presumably meant as tea money for Erniu.

Well, what a magnanimous boss. No wonder he could run such a large restaurant.

Without standing on ceremony, Li Feng gathered up the silver directly, holding it in his hand, planning to store it in his spatial dimension when he found a moment.

While Li Feng was making a fortune, others were feeling quite unsettled.

In an alley in Huaiyang County, shouts and arguments were echoing continuously!

"Eldest Brother, now that you've made it big, you can't just forget your younger brother, can you?" Li Qingyun looked with a gloomy expression at Li Qingbao.

His past few days had felt like living in hell; nothing was going right, as if his bad luck had started the moment he returned to Li Family Village! Not to mention that the silver he had brought back was gone, even the money from selling the farmland was gone! He suspected the second brother had taken it, but he had searched everywhere and found nothing. Even if he wanted to make trouble for the second brother, he was powerless to do anything.

Most importantly, that old coot of a village chief—he had already brought the house deed over, but the old man refused to accept it! The chief said their old Li family had split up, and the house had been explicitly assigned by Old Man Li to the eldest branch, so he had no authority to make decisions. The chief even accused him of harboring malicious intentions and chased him straight out of Li Family Village!

He had slinked into town, only to find that his wife had taken the children back to her maiden home. Left completely alone with no money on him, he headed straight for Huaiyang County to figure something out with Li Qingbao! To get Li Qingbao's help, he had squatted outside the gates of the Ministry of Works for several days, only to finally learn from others that there wasn't a single person named Li Qingbao working there.

Li Qingyun had been furious! He had originally hoped Li Qingbao could help introduce him to the county magistrate; now, not only had he failed to see the magistrate, but he had also been doused with cold water.

The provincial examinations were imminent! He had sold his land precisely so he could move his household to the county town, where he could mingle with scholarly men, discuss academics, and see if it might help him. Who would have thought the silver would be gone? Now he was reduced to sleeping on the streets!

After spending several days exposed to wind and weather, he ran into Li Xiong. In their conversation, he naturally revealed some matters about the village and even fabricated a bunch of lies! After all, Li Family Village had a large population, while Li Xiong's household only consisted of an old woman and a young child; wasn't it up to him to spin whatever tale he wanted? Stirred up by his fabrications, Li Xiong probably hated the second brother to the core by now. While the snipe and the clam fought, he could play the fisherman and reap the reward!

Believing he had eliminated a major worry, Li Qingyun felt much lighter inside. Afterward, he had Li Xiong help inquire around, only to discover that Li Qingbao had actually bought a house in the county!

And so, he had come specifically to his doorstep, expecting his eldest brother to help him out!

Only, before he even stepped through the door, he was subjected to a sarcastic tongue-lashing by his eldest sister-in-law! How could he endure that? He immediately started arguing with her!

Then Li Qingbao emerged with a face as dark as iron! The two brothers began mutually blaming and complaining to each other right there!

Looking at Li Qingyun's frantic and clamorous demeanor, Li Qingbao didn't react much, simply saying coldly, "Third Brother, do you take me for the second brother? Is this a place where you can throw your weight around?"

Li Qingbao was extremely angry right now as well!

The courtyard he had bought was already small, consisting of only four rooms—just enough for a family of five! Now, out of nowhere, the two elderly parents had shown up without a word! Showing up was one thing, but they hadn't even sent word ahead and had marched straight into the county town! Huaiyang County was a prefectural capital; how could they possibly find him in such a large place?

And goodness knows whose idiotic idea it was to take the two old folks all the way to the yamen! In the end, bruised and battered, the two elders were personally escorted to his doorstep by yamen runners. Now the neighbors all knew he was an unfilial and disobedient wretch!

All of that was manageable; reputation and such were minor matters. He had come to the county, spent a vast amount of silver, and finally managed to grease palms, with the other party promising to arrange an official position for him in the Ministry of Works. But with this scandal breaking out, his hard-earned reputation of many years was completely ruined! He had even become known as an unfilial and unbrotherly scoundrel!

He had bought the house, but lost his good name, and on top of that, he had two elderly parents at home grumbling and groaning every day, driving his wife and daughter out of their minds. Yet he couldn't even voice his frustration.

He was already burning with anxiety when this blind fool bumped right into him—was he courting death?

"What, can Eldest Brother chase me out?" Li Qingyun was unconcerned. He was acting like a rogue now, utterly fearless, his eyes straining to peer inside the house to see what a county town dwelling looked like! He should have had a house like this too, but now it was all gone!

Li Qingbao's facial muscles twitched. "What on earth did you come here for?"

The third brother was utterly shameless, the kind of person who didn't even bother putting up a facade! His two sons were about to take the provincial examinations; he couldn't afford any complications now! Right now, he just wanted to pack this person off as quickly as possible.

"What could I be doing?" Li Qingyun glanced at the eldest sister-in-law standing nearby. "Aren't the provincial examinations coming up? The silver I got from selling my land was stolen, and I have nowhere to live. I saw that Eldest Brother's place..."

"What are you trying to do!"

Before he could finish, Li Qingbao's wife lost her temper and exploded!

"Li Third, if you dare set your sights on our home, see if I don't fight you to the death! We are your eldest brother and sister-in-law, not your parents! Furthermore, the two elders are currently living in our house too, and there are only so many rooms. Are you trying to chase the old folks out?"

Li Qingbao's wife glared at Li Qingyun with utter disgust! Of the three Li brothers, he was the one she despised the most! Gluttonous, lazy, thick-skinned, and now unable to even father a son—on the verge of having his lineage cut off—yet still acting like a scoundrel! No wonder he hadn't even managed to pass the examination to become a childish scholar after studying for so many years! He truly deserved it!