The candle flame flickered slightly.
Feng Shi recounted everything that had happened during the day without leaving out a single detail.
“Master, the more I think about it, the more I feel something is wrong. Nineteen of those hams had sour slurry smeared on them to make them look lightly moldy. The other eleven were for appearances. No matter how sharp her eyes are, there’s no way she could distinguish them that accurately, right?”
The man sat at the table, casually playing with a golden abacus in his hands.
“So we originally could have made two hundred and twenty-five taels, plus another one hundred and fifty taels in compensation, and now we’ve only got seventeen taels?”
Feng Shi wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
“They’ll make up the seventy taels tomorrow. I’m just not sure whether we should still sell this batch of goods…”
He was very familiar with this kind of scheme.
He would simply find someone to take the blame, record the loss on paper, and have the goods supposedly destroyed.
In reality, they would secretly transport them out and sell them.
That way, they could make a fortune without spending a single cent.
And the scapegoat, desperate to avoid punishment, would even have to hand over additional silver.
Lin Mao was this time’s scapegoat.
The hams that had been smeared with sour slurry only needed to be washed clean before being sold. They would not be affected at all.
Each one was worth a full ten taels!
Even the genuinely spoiled ones could still be sold for four or five taels after some processing.
Unfortunately, things had almost gone wrong today.
“I can’t tell whether she noticed anything. So many people saw what happened today. I’m afraid someone will be watching if we transport the hams out.”
“No matter.”
The man chuckled softly.
“She definitely noticed. If she really wanted to save that man, she should have exposed us right there. But she didn’t.”
Not only had she remained silent, she had even forced Feng Shi into giving Lin Mao a severe punishment.
How interesting.
“And one more thing. Don’t let that man die. Also, investigate that young woman named Su.”
“Yes.”
Meanwhile, Su Wan’ning had eaten her fill and hurriedly said goodbye before returning to the Lin family.
Auntie Wang was simply too talkative.
Since Su Wan’ning did not want to reveal too much, she had to keep pretending to be quiet and reserved the whole time.
It was honestly exhausting.
But she had also learned quite a bit.
During the meal, Auntie Wang mentioned that her granddaughter had been given a beautiful name: Gu Chunxiu.
Gu Chunxiu lived in the county.
Whenever she came back, she called Wang’s mother-in-law—her own great-grandmother—“Old Ancestor,” saying that it sounded more respectful.
If that was the case, then the Xu family and the Li family should also be related by marriage.
Su Wan’ning had never heard of an Old Ancestor surnamed Xu who had come out of the palace.
But there was one surnamed Li whom she actually knew about.
When she had first entered the Imperial Food Bureau, she often heard people mention a former palace cook surnamed Li.
She had been highly favored by the late emperor.
Ordinary palace servants were released at the age of thirty, but Cook Li had received a special decree allowing her to remain until she was forty-five before finally leaving the palace.
When she left, she had even been rewarded with farmland, a residence, gold and silver, silk and brocade, as well as countless delicacies and precious ingredients.
After that, however, no one knew what had happened to her.
Putting all these clues together, Su Wan’ning felt more confident about the identity of that Old Ancestor.
The Lin family’s house had been newly built.
To build a good reputation in the village, besides the main bedroom where Lin Mao and his wife lived, they had built three identical large rooms, one for each of the children.
Madam Li smiled stiffly but wisely did not ask about Zhao Escort Leader again.
“Wan’ning, have you eaten? Auntie already cleaned up your room.”
She casually pointed toward the westernmost room.
It was cold and damp, exactly like in her previous life.
Su Wan’ning went into the kitchen and grabbed an axe.
With her left hand, she swung it several times and smashed open the locked door.
“Auntie, can’t I stay in this room?”
Her movements had been so fast that Madam Li was stunned.
Only after Su Wan’ning kicked the door open did she hurriedly try to stop her.
“Wan’ning, this room isn’t prepared for you.”
“What’s the difference? They’re all new. They look exactly the same from the outside. Why does one have to belong to her and another to me?”
Su Wan’ning threw the axe onto the ground.
“Hmm? Auntie?”
In her previous life, she had never cared which room she stayed in.
Wherever Madam Li told her to sleep, she simply went.
Only after living there for some time did she discover that the west room was unbearably hot under the sun and damp whenever it rained.
Her injured wrists had often hurt because of it.
The room was also next to the latrine and the shed.
It was smelly and dirty.
Madam Li and Lin Mao occupied the main room.
Lin Jiabao had the next best room.
The room in the middle had always been locked.
It had been prepared for Lin Yuwei.
Once, when Madam Li happened to unlock it to clean and dust, Su Wan’ning had seen that it was far better than her own room.
The tables, chairs, wardrobe, bed, and writing desk were all complete.
Even the floor was paved with bluestone.
There was no muddy smell at all.
Everything was clean, dry, and comfortable.
Back then, she had comforted herself.
Of course a biological daughter would be treated differently.
How could she compare herself with her?
How ridiculous.
Why did she have to compare herself at all?
The house had been built with her silver in the first place.
She could sleep wherever she wanted.
If she had not disliked the other two rooms simply because those beasts had lived in them, she would not have bothered breaking the lock.
“There’s no difference. If you want to stay there, then stay there.”
Madam Li glanced at the axe, which gleamed coldly in the light, and immediately turned and ran.
She had almost forgotten.
This wretched girl had been unusually strong since childhood.
She must have been traumatized by her injury.
What if she suddenly chopped herself with the axe?
Just then, Lin Jiabao returned after borrowing money from various people.
The mother and son went into the main room.
Su Wan’ning squatted outside the door and listened carefully.
“Mother, I asked around. She’s the only one who’s come back so far.”
“You don’t think… Zhao Escort Leader and the others accidentally killed her, do you? And the one who came back is actually a ghost?”
“I don’t know. I just feel like she’s gone crazy.”
“How could that be? Doesn’t she still know when she’s hungry?”
“Then let’s wait another two days. As long as one of them comes back, we’ll know what happened. As for the silver, if necessary, we can borrow from Master Xiong first. Once we meet Zhao Escort Leader, wouldn’t we be able to pay it back?”
“Then tomorrow morning I’ll go find Master Xiong. I’ll bring Tao’er back with me too so she can help you.”
“By the way, Mother, does your head still hurt? Let me take a look…”
“This wound really seems to be healing quite well. Could that medicine actually be good?”
“Of course it’s good. She doesn’t know anything anyway. She must think I care about her. No, wait—she even threatened me with an axe just now…”
The two of them muttered on as though they had completely lost their minds.
Su Wan’ning found it boring.
She was also extremely tired.
She returned to her room, locked the door, and slept until the sun was high in the sky.
Outside, she heard Jiang Tao’er speaking softly.
“Mother, what’s wrong with her? It’s already this late and she’s still not awake?”
They were not even married yet, and she was already calling her “Mother.”
How intimate.
Su Wan’ning slowly got dressed.
She heard Madam Li answer.
“Don’t worry about her. She’s sick now. Is the food ready? My head is starting to hurt again.”
“It’s ready. Didn’t she say yesterday that she wanted wontons? I specially made some.”
Jiang Tao’er sounded rather excited.
Apparently, these wontons had been carefully prepared just for her.
Su Wan’ning wondered what kind of filling they contained.
She had slept well and was in an excellent mood.
With a smile, she opened the door.
“Oh? Who’s this? What a pretty girl.”
Jiang Tao’er blushed and tugged at Madam Li.
“Mother~”
“This is your future sister-in-law. Just call her Tao’er.”
Madam Li hesitated, wondering whether she should directly ask Su Wan’ning for that miraculous medicine.
She deliberately held her head.
“Ouch, my head…”
But Su Wan’ning acted as though she had heard nothing.
She only looked at Jiang Tao’er and frowned.
“Auntie, she’s not even married into the family yet, but she’s already rushing over to your house to cook for you, calling you ‘Mother’ every other sentence.”
“Anyone who knew better would say you two were simply destined to be mother and daughter.”
“But anyone who didn’t know better might think there’s something seriously wrong with her.”