Su Wan’ning almost wanted to laugh. This little beast was acting as though his performance were completely genuine.
She also put on a surprised expression.
“How could I deliberately make her misunderstand? Aunt knows that I accidentally found Yuwei’s letter that day. Compared to having my arm examined, how could reading that letter not be more important?”
Madam Li nearly lost her balance.
Right, that letter!
Once it was discovered, this would no longer be a matter of “false accusations”!
She felt guilty and frightened, and just as she was wondering what to say, Su Wan’ning spoke again.
“Aunt, why don’t we look at it together now?”
“I—I accidentally lost the letter.”
Madam Li forced a smile and began dispersing the crowd.
“It was all just a misunderstanding. Nothing happened. Everyone, please go home.”
“If it was just a misunderstanding, then that’s good. Don’t worry about these little things anymore, Aunt. I heard that Lord Xiong charges extremely high interest. You should hurry and sell some farmland and jewelry to gather the money and repay the debt.”
Su Wan’ning brought up the money again.
Although she wasn’t pursuing the matter, the villagers couldn’t help whispering among themselves. They all felt that it probably wasn’t simply a misunderstanding and began wondering why Madam Li would do such a thing.
Madam Li was speechless.
“A lot of this farmland was probably bought with Wan’ning’s money, wasn’t it?”
Xu Lingxi snorted.
“Give all that money back. Otherwise, we’ll have the authorities investigate exactly what happened to Zhao Escort Leader.”
“Lingxi, forget it.”
Su Wan’ning deliberately sighed.
After Xu Lingxi’s bold accusation just now, Su Wan’ning’s willingness to back down only made Wang Chunxiu even more unwilling to let it go.
The others also began talking over one another.
They said Su Wan’ning was too foolish. If the suspicion was true, she absolutely couldn’t let these ungrateful people keep her money. If the suspicion was false, then they were still family, and Madam Li shouldn’t be holding onto the girl’s hard-earned money anyway.
Lin Jiabao’s vision went black again and again. He almost wished he could pass out just like his father.
He wasn’t sure how much Su Wan’ning actually knew, and he didn’t dare openly fall out with her.
Whether for his sister or for his future chance to get close to Miss Xu, he had to placate her first.
The most frightening part was that Miss Xu really had the ability to uncover the truth and crush their entire family.
He could only plead,
“Cousin, you have to believe us. We truly regard you as family! But we really can’t gather that much money. You know Lord Xiong’s loans can cost people their lives!”
“If you don’t have the cash, write an IOU. Enough with the nonsense!”
Xu Lingxi ordered Qingfang to return to the carriage and bring paper and ink.
The IOU was soon written.
For the eighty taels Su Wan’ning had sent home over ten years, she was much more generous than Lord Xiong. She didn’t even charge interest and only required them to repay it within a year.
Lin Jiabao tremblingly pressed his fingerprint onto the document.
After the crowd dispersed, Madam Li was still dazed.
“How did we end up owing so much again? What… what are we going to do?”
“Sell the farmland! And your jewelry and clothes. First gather enough to repay Lord Xiong. I have to write to Sister and tell her what happened. And those letters of yours—burn them immediately!”
Lin Jiabao was extremely anxious.
Inside the carriage, Su Wan’ning was in a good mood.
Today’s move had been risky, but what she gained was far more than just the IOU.
Lin Yuwei’s movements in the palace were inconvenient, yet she had been able to openly take credit for Su Wan’ning’s medicinal cuisine and easily obtain permission for her to leave the palace. That meant she definitely had plenty of people working for her.
Once she learned what had happened today, given her suspicious personality, she would certainly suspect that someone around her had betrayed her.
For a while—or at least until she found the supposed “traitor”—she wouldn’t dare make another move against Su Wan’ning.
Instead, she would probably have Lin Jiabao and the others continue deceiving and testing her.
After all, if Lin Yuwei wanted to cure the Crown Prince’s loss of appetite, she had to rely on Su Wan’ning’s medicinal cuisine recipes.
Lin Yuwei wouldn’t dare openly fall out with her, nor would she easily try to kill her.
This buffer period would be enough for Su Wan’ning to properly establish her shop.
Perhaps she could even investigate the Li family carefully.
Once she had established herself and built up connections, she would return to the capital!
Meanwhile, Xu Lingxi was thinking about the shop and kept urging the coachman to hurry.
“Miss, I’m afraid there’s a traffic jam up ahead.”
Qingfang got down to take a look and soon returned.
“They said there’s an abandoned shop ahead. Everyone says it’s haunted, so the price has been repeatedly reduced. It turns out a little beggar had been hiding inside because she wanted somewhere to stay, pretending to be a ghost. The owner got furious and is beating her right now.”
“That is the shop I want to buy!”
Su Wan’ning was shocked.
In her previous life, that house had been unusually cheap, but no one initially knew why.
Later, after she had already bought an estate for Lin Jiabao, the truth came out. The owner beat the little beggar to death and was himself exiled.
After that, no one wanted the shop anymore. It truly became known as a “haunted house” and a “cursed property,” even affecting many businesses nearby.
Knowing the truth, Su Wan’ning wasn’t afraid. On the day she returned to the county, she had already asked a friend to help her reserve the property.
But why had this happened earlier this time?
She absolutely couldn’t let another tragedy happen.
She had to save this shop.
The two hurried out of the carriage and squeezed into the crowd.
Sure enough, a middle-aged man was holding a stick and repeatedly striking a little beggar.
“If it weren’t for you, my shop would have been sold already! I’ll beat you to death!”
“Stop!”
Su Wan’ning grabbed the stick.
“Shopkeeper, this child looks like she’s barely hanging on. It’s not worth getting yourself into legal trouble over her. Please calm down first.”
“Get out of my way! What does this have to do with you?”
The man was furious and didn’t care what anyone said.
But when he forcefully tugged at the stick, he couldn’t pull it free.
Only then did he turn and look at Su Wan’ning, frowning.
“What are you trying to do?”
As he spoke, a murky and pungent smell suddenly wafted over.
Su Wan’ning took two steps back and examined him carefully.
“Shopkeeper, have you been eating something strange lately? The corners of your mouth are ulcerated, you’re hot and restless all day, you have trouble sleeping at night, and most importantly, your personality has changed dramatically. You can’t seem to control your temper anymore?”
“Oh? Young lady, do you know medicine?”
The man obviously knew something was wrong with him lately. He had taken plenty of medicine, but nothing seemed to help.
He always felt better only after venting his anger.
Seeing the contempt in his eyes, Su Wan’ning merely smiled.
“You’ve probably been taking medicine for quite some time, haven’t you? But you still haven’t improved. It’s not that the medicine is treating the wrong condition. The problem is your daily diet.”
“What could possibly be wrong with my food?”
The man didn’t believe her and looked her up and down.
“What exactly are you trying to do?”
“I already said it. It’s not worth getting yourself into trouble over a little beggar. Besides, if you don’t treat your condition properly, your temper may cause even more trouble.”
The man’s expression darkened.
Su Wan’ning quickly continued,
“Medicine is unpleasant to drink, but I know how to prepare medicinal cuisine. It’s delicious and can also help treat your condition.”
“Delicious?”
The man swallowed.
The hostility around him seemed to lessen slightly.
Su Wan’ning nodded and asked again,
“Can you think back? What have you been eating recently? Especially anything fresh that you hadn’t eaten before.”
The man thought for a moment.
“I don’t know what it’s called. It shouldn’t be poisonous. It’s just a little… spicy?”
“Spicy?”
Xu Lingxi immediately became interested.
“What does it look like?”
“Red, about the size of a finger. If I don’t eat it for even one meal, I feel uncomfortable.”
The man looked a little embarrassed, but he still decided to tell the truth.
What if this young lady really could cure him?
Medicinal cuisine sounded interesting. He had never tried it before.
“Can you let us take a look?”
Xu Lingxi smiled gracefully, looking perfectly dignified on the outside.
Inside, she was already screaming with excitement.
Taking advantage of the moment, Su Wan’ning bent down to examine the little beggar.
“Are you all right?”
“I…”
The little beggar opened her mouth.
To Su Wan’ning’s surprise, it was a young girl’s soft, childish voice!