Everyone immediately shook their heads vigorously upon hearing this; what a joke, they wouldn’t dare speak ill of the shopkeeper unless they no longer wanted to work here.

The shopkeeper pointed at them with a smile and said, "You’re all being dishonest. I clearly heard you talking about me just now."

The shopkeeper was friendly and treated his employees well, but such things weren’t to be casually admitted.

"Shopkeeper, we really didn’t say anything bad about you."

"Then what were you talking about?"

The employees reported to the shopkeeper everything that happened after he left, especially Lin Kong’s matter, which they described vividly.

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper’s expression changed drastically. Suddenly, he forcefully poked the waiter who insisted on charging Lin Kong for the meal, and said with frustration, "Is your courage made from a water jar? Huh? You actually dared to charge the fourth prince’s master for a meal and even dared to make him strip. You are incredibly bold."

The waiter was extremely distressed: "Shopkeeper, don’t be angry, I acted out of ignorance and made a mistake."

This time, the shopkeeper didn’t poke him in the head but instead grabbed his ear and scolded, "You didn’t know, huh? Then do you have ears?"

The waiter’s face crumpled like a withered bitter melon, and he exclaimed repeatedly, "Shopkeeper, a little lighter, a little lighter, it hurts."

The shopkeeper was extremely angry and twisted his hand harder, asking, "You still know it hurts? I’m asking you, do you have ears?"

The waiter was in such pain from being grabbed by the ear and exclaimed repeatedly, "Ah... it hurts... it hurts... I have ears, I have ears."

Shopkeeper: "Since you have ears, why didn’t you hear what people were saying? Why do you keep running headlong into disaster?"

The waiter, wearing a mournful expression, said, "My father is sick, and I wasn’t in the mood, so I missed such important information."

"I’ll give you no mood!" The shopkeeper said, slapping the waiter’s head after each sentence, appearing quite furious.

Seeing this, everyone dodged hurriedly; the usually amiable shopkeeper became wrathful upon hearing that an employee offended Lin Kong, which was truly terrifying. Fortunately, it wasn’t them.

The shopkeeper was very angry; he was only gone for a short while, and his employee had already caused such a big problem for him, which really upset him.

Speaking of which, several shichen ago, Zi Xia found him, not only revealing Lin Kong’s news to him but also introducing a business opportunity from Madam Situ’s shop, with a new variety of fruit that could be supplied to Drunken Sky Building preferentially. The shopkeeper was thrilled, as Drunken Sky Building lacked everything except new varieties.

Of course, Drunken Sky Building was a famous restaurant in the Capital, with high officials and nobles frequenting it. If there were new varieties of fruit, more guests would likely come, and the income would naturally increase.

So, upon hearing that Situtu Xueer’s shop had new varieties, the shopkeeper hurriedly went there to make the purchase, busy until now before returning.

Who knew? Just within several shichen, his employee had caused trouble.

The shopkeeper was almost mad with anger; he couldn’t even manage to curry favor with the fourth prince, yet his employee had offended the prince’s master.

"Shopkeeper, please don’t hit me, I’ve recognized my mistake." The employee knelt on the ground with a thud, begging for mercy, as his head and ears were aching terribly from the shopkeeper’s beating.

Of course, being beaten by the shopkeeper was a minor issue; the waiter’s biggest fear was that the angry shopkeeper might fire him, and since his father was still sick, he relied on this job for medicine money. He couldn’t lose this job.

The shopkeeper yelled at the waiter kneeling on the ground, "Stop kneeling, quickly go buy a gift and take it to the fourth prince’s mansion to apologize to Young Master Zhao."

"Yes."

The waiter quickly got up and rushed out.