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Page 6
But what could she do? This tavern was Margaret's own house.
Although she had many complaints about the Morning Light Winery, she didn't care much about the winery's performance. Once the busiest time was over, the proprietress would ask him to drink.
"Hey, did you hear? The 'Fireplace Tavern' has closed down."
"Huh? That tavern has been open for over twenty years. Old John's cocktails may not be as good as those from Dawn Winery, but they're still absolutely delicious. How could it have gone out of business?"
"What else could it be? It's Stormterror. The Knights of Favonius couldn't handle it even after all this time. Old John felt Mondstadt was no longer safe, so he took his whole family and ran away. He even sold the tavern for a pittance."
"Damn Wind Demon Dragon, I was thinking of going to his house later for a drink of Old John's special cocktail."
Lin Jiu'an sat down opposite Margaret with a glass of wine on the rocks.
I overheard the discussion at the next table.
Seeing that Margaret's expression had suddenly turned somewhat unpleasant, Lin Jiu'an asked, "Is it true?"
"how is this possible?"
Margaret seemed to have had a bit too much to drink and chuckled.
"It's just a rumor, but people deliberately spread it and it became the truth."
Lin Jiu'an nodded knowingly. Although he had already guessed the answer, seeing that Margaret's expression was still not very good, he continued to bring up the topic.
"That is how the matter?"
"What else could it be?"
"Some people took advantage of the Stormterror's chaos and the Knights' inability to control the situation to force people to buy and sell."
Lin Jiu'an found it somewhat amusing.
He was all too familiar with this tactic.
This was one of the crimes those guys accused him of in his past life.
To increase the realism, they even temporarily transferred all the properties they had seized to his name. After he was kicked out by Qin, these properties, which were supposed to be "returned" to the people, were back in their hands.
Margaret muttered, "I'm telling you, those people are absolutely disgusting."
They were saying things like, "The Stormterror is going to destroy Mondstadt, and we're already being lenient by offering to buy your house. Don't be ungrateful," with such confident expressions. You'd think they were some kind of great philanthropists.
"Looking at the acquisition price, it's less than one-tenth of the house price."
"Then what if I don't sell it?" Lin Jiu'an chimed in, playing the straight man.
"If you don't sell, they'll threaten you."
"First, they send a bunch of thugs to your tavern to cause trouble, pretending to be customers, but they don't order anything, they just chat. Then, while they're chatting, they deliberately provoke the customers at the next table, and finally, they start fighting with the customers in the tavern."
"A lot of things were smashed, and afterwards I heard that no one wanted to come here anymore."
"Over time, the tavern's business declined, and in order not to lose money, they had no choice but to sell the tavern. But no one would buy it, and it ended up in their hands again."
Aren't they afraid of what others will say if they do this?
"Say it? What are you going to say? Who told the Mondstadt people to be a bunch of drunkards?"
Margaret muttered, "Let some people chat like this in the taverns, and when others hear it, they go home and talk about it, and in a few days their version will be circulating all over the city."
"Even if you tell them the truth, no one will believe you. Instead, they'll think you're just making trouble for no reason."
"What about the Knights?"
"The Knights? Heh... Never mind, let's not talk about them."
Lin Jiu'an didn't ask any further questions. Anyway, he knew the outcome whether Margaret said it or not, so he went along with her and started talking about other topics.
Just as the two were chatting happily, suddenly someone slammed their hand on the table and stood up.
"What do you mean?!"
A diner, his face flushed from drinking, stood up and pointed at the people at the next table.
Interestingly, there were four people sitting at the next table he was pointing to, but there was not a single piece of food or drink on the table.
Lin Jiu'an remembered them.
He had just gone to ask them if they wanted anything, but they just sat there chatting and didn't order anything.
Has the matter escalated to Margaret's tavern?
Lin Jiu'an narrowed his eyes curiously. He remembered that after the Wind Demon Dragon incident, Margaret was still the proprietress of Cat Tail Tavern, and later she even brought in Diona, her cash cow.
Margaret sobered up considerably and, seeing the empty table, understood what was happening. Her face flushed with anger, and just as she was about to get up, her shoulder was pressed down.
"I'll deal with it."
Hearing Lin Jiu'an's voice, Margaret was about to refuse.
She didn't quite believe that the young Lin Jiu'an could handle it well.
But as she turned her head to say something, she saw Lin Jiu'an's eyes, which were very calm. Margaret nodded as if possessed and obediently sat down again.
Lin Jiu'an then walked over to the two sides who were already locked in a power struggle.
"Could you please refrain from causing trouble in the tavern?"
Kent was hired by the owner to cause trouble at the tavern.
Originally, he and his brothers were just idle hooligans on the streets, but fortunately they were noticed by a benefactor.
During this time, he and his brothers would pretend to be customers at the tavern, find a table of people eating and drinking, chat with them, and openly or subtly mock them. Once they had been drinking, the other party would definitely not be able to resist fighting with him.
Using this method, he has already ruined four taverns and successfully bought a house outright.
Hearing Lin Jiu'an's voice, Kent was just pretending to be annoyed, preparing to point his finger at the other person and yell at him.
"Who the hell are you...?"
Looking at Lin Jiu'an, who was smiling.
Kent's voice stopped abruptly, like a duck whose throat had been grabbed.
His throat moved slightly, and his eyes were filled with fear.
He, he'd seen him...
Kent suddenly remembered what had happened two weeks ago: his boss, faced with a family member who absolutely refused to sell their house, had tried everything to acquire it but failed. His final tactic was...
Lure them into the wilderness and kill them all.
And the feeling Lin Jiu'an gave him.
Even compared to that killer who smiled as he murdered that stubborn family, he was far superior.
If you say another word, you'll die!
Just as Kent's mind went blank, a mature and sexy woman's voice rang out at the door.
"Wow, this place looks really lively!"
Chapter Seven: What does this have to do with me, a mere laborer?
That woman's voice was very pleasant.
Lazy and mature.
Most importantly, you need to be charming enough.
Just hearing the sound excited a group of men who had drunk quite a bit, making them forget everything else. They turned to look at the tavern entrance in perfect unison, instantly sobering up.
She was a voluptuous beauty with long chestnut hair.
Lisa.
She is the librarian of the Knights of Favonius and a close friend of Jean, the acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius.
"Miss Lisa, what brings you here?"
Margaret breathed a sigh of relief and quickly got up to greet her.
Lisa glanced at the group of people gathered together, lingering on Lin Jiu'an for half a second before smiling at Margaret.
"I was bored and wandered here, and then I remembered that Qin really likes your pizza."
Then she looked at Kent and said meaningfully, "Looks like I've come at the wrong time."
Kent's expression changed slightly, and he said with a forced smile, "Sorry, I'll be leaving now! I'll be leaving now!"
"The ensemble leader? I'll have someone do it right away."
"Could you please make another grilled fish?"
With Lisa's arrival.
The impending conflict in the tavern was brought to a close.
Lin Jiu'an was happy to go to the kitchen with a relaxed attitude, but when he brought the packaged pizza and grilled sea bass to the front of the house, he realized that he had been happy for too long.
"Jiu'an, please escort Miss Lisa back to the Knights."
Lin Jiu'an looked at Lisa suspiciously.
However, Lin Jiu'an soon found his wild thoughts amusing, as Lisa had no recollection of him at the moment.
and.
Margaret knew about his dream of saving money to go to Liyue.
These days, he's often given extra work, along with a generous reward.
It was indeed a bit unseemly for Lisa to be carrying grilled fish, pizza, and some drinks all by herself.
"I see."
······
Mondstadt was bustling under the cover of night.
The streets seemed to be permeated with a lingering smell of alcohol.
As they walked further in, there were fewer and fewer people, and the shadows of Lisa and Lin Jiu'an, one in front of the other, were stretched long by the streetlights.
Gradually.
Lin Jiu'an relaxed.
He initially thought he would feel uncomfortable meeting her, but he realized it after walking with her for a while.
Died once.
It really does make you more mature.
Looking at this old friend, he found that he didn't feel much emotional fluctuation.
There's no issue with being unable to accept becoming a stranger, or the shameful desire to try again through a second chance at rebirth. Being a stranger is perfectly fine.
"Were you just trying to kill them?"
Lisa suddenly spoke, and this was the first thing they said to each other besides, "Thank you for your help."
"Ok?"
Lin Jiu'an looked at her with feigned confusion.
"Who?"
He did indeed have the idea of killing Kent and his group.
The plan was to scare them away first, and then find an opportunity to secretly kill them later.
The reason is simple: it's just the simplest form of 'violence begets violence.' Only by making them afraid will they give up their interest in the 'Cat Tail' tavern. Killing or maiming a few waves of people who come to cause trouble at the 'Cat Tail' tavern will naturally deter anyone from causing trouble in the future.
Lisa stopped and turned to look at him.
Lisa is indeed a great beauty.
She was positioned to the side facing the moonlight, half of her face shining brightly and charmingly in the moonlight.
Her voluptuous figure was perfectly accentuated from the side, while the half-smiling look in her beautiful eyes and her slightly upturned red lips added to her mature womanly charm.
"never mind."
Lisa smiled and raised her hand to ruffle Lin Jiu'an's hair.
However, to Lisa's surprise,