The farce quickly ended. Nangong Yue became even more arrogant, while Lin Shijie was thoroughly berated, throwing the bowl in his hand into the trash heap.
Long Xiao dared not say more and quietly returned to his room, hiding and refusing to come out.
Lin Shijie, with his head hanging low, went to work. Lin Xuan didn't come home for lunch. Lin Yi, who attended school as a boarder, wouldn't return until Sunday. In the afternoon, the entire Lin family became very quiet.
As Long Xiao was contemplating the "Dragon Scripture," Lin Hao cautiously pushed open the door and walked in.
"Brother-in-law, resting?" Seeing Long Xiao lying on the bed with his eyes closed, Lin Hao asked timidly.
Long Xiao opened his eyes and looked at Lin Hao. He thought, this guy usually calls him by his name, but today he called him brother-in-law. There must be something he wants.
"Something wrong?" Long Xiao asked.
Lin Hao nodded, walked to the bedside, and sat down. He said in a low voice, "Brother-in-law, do you still have any of the allowance my sister gave you? Can you lend me 300,000 yuan? I want to buy a birthday gift for my girlfriend."
Long Xiao glared at Lin Hao and said, "Lin Hao, you know too, in the past, I only had 5,000 yuan allowance each month. Now your sister isn't the CEO anymore, and she hasn't given me a single penny. Do you think I have money?"
Lin Hao sighed and said, "What can I do? My girlfriend Bai Xiaoqing's birthday is next week. I can't possibly go to her house empty-handed."
Although Lin Hao wasn't very nice to Long Xiao and would occasionally make sarcastic remarks, he hadn't done anything too outrageous. Long Xiao's impression of him was still quite good.
"Lin Hao, how about this? Let's go to the Temple of Earth and see if we can find a bargain."
"My dad spent 50,000 yuan on a bargain and was just scolded by my mom. You still dare to go?"
"You know your dad's skill level. Don't worry, if I go, I definitely won't buy something like 'for microwave use only'."
The two took a taxi to the Temple of Earth. It wasn't Sunday today, so there weren't many people on the street. They wandered around for a while but didn't find anything of value.
Since they couldn't find anything on the street, they had to go into the shops.
Antique shops lined both sides of the street. Long Xiao and Lin Hao entered five of them but found nothing valuable.
"Brother-in-law, let's stop browsing. It's getting dark, and we haven't found anything valuable."
"Let's go into this Lingyuan Pavilion. This shop is quite large, maybe we can find something suitable."
Entering Lingyuan Pavilion, there were only a sparse few customers inside. Two shop assistants were playing on their phones. Hearing them enter, they just looked up before continuing to play.
They walked around the glass counter. The items inside were either too expensive or just ordinary handicrafts, which greatly disappointed Long Xiao.
Just as he was about to leave, several people walked in from outside.
"Oh, isn't this our Lin family's live-in son-in-law?"
The speaker was Lin Huan, the daughter of their paternal uncle Lin Shiren. She had always looked down on Long Xiao and treated him as a target for ridicule.
"Lin Huan, you're out shopping too," Long Xiao said with a smile.
Following Lin Huan were four young people of similar age. Long Xiao recognized one of them as Jingkou Gorō. The medicine Lin Shijie used for Bao Tiexiong was supplied by him.
Lin Huan, with a condescending air, looked down at Long Xiao and said, "Mr. Jingkou is returning to his country, so I'm accompanying him to select some antiques to take back."
Seeing Jingkou, Long Xiao remembered the cooperation between Lin's Pharmaceutical and the Jingkou family's pharmaceutical business. He asked, "Is Lin's Pharmaceutical still cooperating with Jingkou now?"
"Why are you asking about this? Jealous, huh? Hehe, I'll tell you the truth, our newly developed collaborative drug has entered mass production and will be launched tomorrow."
Hearing that the "Tongmai San" was about to be launched, Long Xiao couldn't help but be startled. Tongmai San, due to its heavy dosage and the use of chemicals that stimulate blood circulation, was extremely dangerous. People with poor health could easily suffer from ruptured blood vessels.
"You actually dare to sell that medicine? People could die!" Long Xiao asked in surprise.
Seeing Long Xiao's surprised expression, Lin Huan was full of disdain. "Envious and jealous, right? Let me tell you, your wife is no longer the CEO of Lin's Pharmaceutical, so you don't need to worry about it. With the success of this launch and increased production, our Lin's Pharmaceutical will soar. Within a year, our Lin's Group will become a listed company."
Lin's Group becoming a listed company had been Old Mrs. Lin's dream for many years.
The shop assistant, seeing Lin Huan and her companions dressed elegantly and luxuriously, immediately put down their phones and came over.
"What would you gentlemen like to buy? We have..."
The shop assistant deferentially introduced their store's merchandise to Lin Huan and her group, a stark contrast to their attitude when Long Xiao and Lin Hao first entered.
As Long Xiao was about to leave, Lin Hao tugged at his sleeve. "Brother-in-law, let's look around a bit more. Maybe they have some good items that they haven't brought out yet."
Long Xiao nodded. Indeed, after introducing for a while and seeing that Lin Huan and her group had no intention of buying, the two shop assistants told them that there were over a dozen more good items in the safe.
Soon, the two shop assistants took out over a dozen antiques from the safe in the back. These antiques all had a thick patina, clearly indicating they were valuable items.
Long Xiao concentrated his qi and observed carefully from a distance. These dozen antiques all emitted faint traces of the Five Elements' energy.
Jingkou Gorō's eyes lit up upon seeing these antiques, and he took each one in his hand to examine it closely.
"Can I take a look?" Long Xiao stepped forward and asked.
The shop assistant glanced at Long Xiao and said, "Is it necessary? These antiques are very expensive, you can't afford them."
Long Xiao curled his lips into a smile. "If I can't afford it, I can't look? Is that your store's rule?"
"Of course. We run an antique shop. Poor people who come in and break an antique can't afford to pay for it."
A voice came from behind. Long Xiao turned around and saw a tall, fair-skinned beauty standing behind him.
"Brother-in-law, let's just go," Lin Hao whispered.
"Go where?" Long Xiao glared at Lin Hao and said, "We came to buy antiques. Which one of these antiques do you like? Brother-in-law will buy it for you."
Hahaha, Lin Huan heard Long Xiao's words and burst into laughter. In her eyes, Long Xiao was a penniless son-in-law who lived off the Lin family, how could he afford to buy antiques?
Lin Hao looked at Long Xiao, then at the antiques on the counter. "These earrings are very beautiful. If I could buy them and give them to Bai Xiaoqing, she would definitely like them."
Long Xiao stepped forward, picked up the earrings, and asked, "How much are these earrings? I'll take them."
The tall beauty stepped forward and came beside Long Xiao. "These earrings are five million. Can you afford them?"
Long Xiao secretly used his "Dragon Swallowing the Seas" technique to absorb the special aura of the earrings into his body. Then he took out his bank card and said, "Of course, I can afford them."
Seeing Long Xiao take out his bank card, Lin Huan hurriedly said, "I'm sorry, I also fancied these earrings."
Long Xiao looked at Lin Huan and said, "I saw them first. I have the priority to purchase."
The tall beauty reached out and took the earrings from Long Xiao's hand. "I am the manager here. I have the right to decide who these earrings are sold to."
"I offer five million one hundred thousand."
Long Xiao's bid was higher, so he should naturally be sold to first. Merchants are driven by profit. If Long Xiao's bid was higher, and this female manager sold the earrings to Lin Huan, he wouldn't be able to explain it to the boss.
The female manager looked at Lin Huan. Lin Huan was purely trying to cause trouble for Long Xiao; she didn't actually like these earrings.
Just as she was about to give up, Jingkou Gorō said, "I offer five million five hundred thousand for these earrings as a gift for Ms. Lin."
Jingkou Gorō's interference displeased Long Xiao. He said, "I offer six million, I'll take them."
Jingkou Gorō snorted and said, "A live-in son-in-law like you, can you compete with me? I offer seven million."
Long Xiao increased his bid by 500,000 yuan, and Jingkou Gorō directly offered 8 million yuan.
The price of 8 million yuan for these earrings far exceeded their original value. Long Xiao picked up a pair of snuff bottles and said, "I don't want the earrings anymore. How much are these snuff bottles?"