Chapter 157: Chapter 157: He Simply Can’t Compare to Me

For once, Ming Lingyi was embarrassed.

But Li Yun just stared at her, giving her no chance to escape.

Ming Lingyi lowered her gaze. "Mm," she said, nodding. "What I said was wrong."

The corners of Li Yun’s lips curled up uncontrollably.

When he realized it, he quickly forced them back down.

"So you think I’m better than him now?"

After all, wasn’t this the very thing he had come here to hear Ming Lingyi say?

In what way was he inferior to Jiang Yuchuan?

Even after spending the past two days in the palace, tossing and turning day and night, he still couldn’t find a single way in which he was inferior to Jiang Yuchuan.

If Ming Lingyi had felt a little guilty before, she now almost rolled her eyes at him upon hearing his words.

’So it turns out he disappeared for two days just to mull over how to make me take back what I said?’

But faced with Li Yun’s deep and exceptionally earnest eyes, Ming Lingyi averted her gaze. "Mm-hmm, you’re the best. You’re better than anyone." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Despite her obviously perfunctory tone, the corners of Li Yun’s mouth still quirked up.

"You’re forgiven," Li Yun said. Then he rubbed his stomach. "Is there anything to eat?"

It wasn’t even time for the midday meal yet. Ming Lingyi glanced at Li Yun but didn’t ask any questions. She simply waved for Liu Ye to bring some food from next door.

She didn’t have to think hard to guess that Li Yun probably hadn’t been eating properly for the past two days.

At this thought, Ming Lingyi’s feelings became quite complicated.

Fortunately, the eatery’s kitchen was already bustling, and Liu Ye quickly brought over some food.

Ming Lingyi joined Li Yun for the meal. She had been running around all morning, and her stomach was indeed quite empty as well.

"Wangxian Building has been completely shut down, and a notice of transfer has been posted at the restaurant." Li Yun had come over today with a backup plan. He figured if Ming Lingyi didn’t yield, he still had a reason to see her. After all, hadn’t he promised her a definitive answer in three days?

He wasn’t one to casually break his promises.

"The people from Jingzhao Mansion have already arrested the person who bribed the local thugs to spread the rumors," Li Yun said. "He’s a personal attendant of Xie Ruijing, so now the Xie family can’t escape involvement."

"However, it’s common for large families to cut their losses and sacrifice a pawn. It’s not rare for a servant to take the fall for their master. Everyone knows the Xie family is involved, but taking it any further will be difficult. These personal attendants and their entire families are born into service at the Xie Mansion and have close ties. Even if Xie Ruijing didn’t warn him, the man would know what to do."

They wouldn’t get anything out of interrogating Xie Ruijing’s attendant. The trail would go cold with that servant from the Xie Mansion.

Without evidence, they couldn’t implicate Xie Ruijing.

"If you’re determined to make the Xie Mansion pay a price, it’s not impossible..."

Li Yun’s Black Armor Guards were full of capable men. Not only were they skilled on the battlefield, but many were also experts at interrogation.

Few could withstand the Black Armor Guards’ methods.

Li Yun’s words meant that the decision to pursue the investigation further rested entirely on Ming Lingyi’s whim.

"So Wangxian Building can never operate in Shangjing again?" Ming Lingyi asked.

"Correct. The Shopkeeper and staff of Wangxian Building are all in prison now."

Ming Lingyi thought for a moment. "Then let’s leave it at that."

Even if they forcibly implicated someone from the Xie Mansion, it would likely just be a member of a branch family taking the blame. In exchange, she would earn the future hostility of the Xie Mansion toward her eatery, which simply wasn’t worth it.

She was here to do business, not make enemies.

Li Yun: "You’re really just going to let Xie Ruijing off the hook like that?"

"Not exactly," Ming Lingyi said with a smile. "I won’t openly cause trouble for the Xie Family because I still plan to do business in Shangjing City. Going up against an entire family, even if I’m lucky enough not to lose, would definitely consume a lot of time and energy. I don’t want to cause trouble, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a temper. Xie Ruijing planned so much, and while I did rip him off last time at the eatery, the Xie family isn’t short a few hundred Silver. That hardly counts as a lesson."

"What do you want to do?"

Ming Lingyi: "Lend me your men. Putting a sack over his head and giving him a good beating isn’t too much, right?"

She was brazenly discussing her petty revenge tactics right in front of the nation’s sovereign, with no intention of hiding it.

Hearing this, Li Yun wasn’t angry at all. Instead, he egged her on, "Just one beating and that’s it?"

In his opinion, for the schemes Xie Ruijing had pulled, arresting him, giving him a beating with the plank, and locking him up for three to five years would be appropriate.

Ming Lingyi: "I hear that the Xie family’s general affairs are all in the hands of this Second Young Master Xie. But with so many people in the Xie family, surely there are others who covet that position, right?"

The larger the family, the more complicated the internal relationships.

Weren’t the sons from the main family line who struggled with the imperial examinations green with envy seeing Xie Ruijing manage the family’s affairs?

After all, if they couldn’t realize their ambitions in officialdom and had no Silver to spend, life would be quite unpleasant.

But getting involved in the family’s affairs, even just managing a single shop... what leaked through the cracks of their fingers would likely be far more than their monthly allowance.

So, on what grounds did Xie Ruijing hold his position so securely?

Li Yun glanced at Ming Lingyi’s expression and knew she already had a plan.

"I’ll leave a team of Black Armor Guards with you, at your disposal," Li Yun said.

He didn’t set a time limit, leaving it entirely up to Ming Lingyi.

This time, Ming Lingyi didn’t refuse. What she wanted to do couldn’t be accomplished with just Shi Mingyue from the eatery.

Li Yun was nearly finished eating. This was the most he had eaten in the past two days.

With Ming Lingyi sitting across from him, he couldn’t help but eat a little more just by looking at her.

After putting down his chopsticks, Li Yun brought up another matter.

"Will the eatery still be holding poetry events?"

If Ming Lingyi planned to continue, he could make time to help.

But Li Yun didn’t say this directly, otherwise he might seem too eager.

Who would have thought that Ming Lingyi would nod and, before he could subtly hint that he had time, state her own thoughts. "You won’t need to make a special trip out of the palace to help anymore," Ming Lingyi said.

Li Yun: "..."

He was silent for a moment, then asked as if to confirm, "You don’t need me for the judging?"

Ming Lingyi nodded.

Li Yun felt his mood sour.

"Are you going to ask Jiang Yuchuan then?" Li Yun asked, looking at Ming Lingyi. "What use could he be?"

If she ran into someone like Xie Ruijing setting a trap for her again, what good would Jiang Yuchuan be, even if he were there?

’He’s completely useless compared to me!’