My whole family sucked my blood; after being reborn, the little cook went on a killing spree.

The news was brought back by Lin Jiabao.

He had originally planned to enjoy himself in the city with Jiang Tao'er. However, he ran into his uncle who had returned from the capital. After finding out what had happened, he didn't have time to take Jiang Tao'er home and rushed back home without stopping.

After serving Lin Mao all day, Li Shi finally managed to catch her breath, but was so shocked by this news that she almost fainted.

After discussing it for a long time, the mother and son concluded that the most likely explanation was that Zhao, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), had absconded with the silver.

But Lin Jiabao had another guess, "Mother, Su Wanning has always been a freak, could it be that she...?"

He made a throat-slitting gesture.

He figured it was highly likely that Chief Escort Zhao, seeing that Su Wan Ning had gotten close to someone important, was worried something might go wrong, so he went to find Su Wan Ning under the cover of night. After all, she was just a young girl; wouldn't it be easy to sever her tendons and steal her bag? And things probably did indeed go smoothly…

But Zhao, the镖头 (bodyguard), didn't know that Su Wan Ning was incredibly strong!

And so they were defeated!

"Impossible! How could she have such audacity!"

Li paused, then added, "Her arms were covered in blood; she must have been slashed by Chief Escort Zhao!"

Three hundred taels of silver was enough to tempt Zhao, the镖头 (bodyguard/escort), to greed!

Eyes facing each other.

The air inside the room felt somewhat stagnant.

Lin Jiabao retorted, "Are you sure her arm is broken? Have you even seen it?"

Li couldn't sit still any longer; she felt unwell all over. "You stay home and watch over your father, I'm going to find that brat!"

After saying that, Li turned and ran.

She dared not think that if her son's guess was true, then Su Wan Ning must already know something.

At that time, not only will we not be able to repay the money owed to Master Xiong, but we also won't be able to get the money back from Su Wan Ning. More importantly, what will we do with the prescriptions that Yu Wei wants?

Without the formula, how can Yuwei become the Crown Princess!

But she never expected that all of this would be seen clearly by someone.

It was reported to Xu Lingxi and Su Wanning without missing a single word.

"No wonder your aunt was so sure your arm was broken, but why would they do that?"

Xu Lingxi was furious. Luckily, she had asked Xuancao to investigate the Lin family that afternoon, otherwise she would have had no idea that this family was so wicked!

"I have no idea……"

Su Wan Ning lowered her eyes, twisting the hem of her clothes with both hands.

Just then, a maidservant came to report that there was a woman outside who claimed to be Lady Su's aunt and told Lady Su to hurry home because something terrible had happened at home.

"Come on, I'll take you to find out what's going on!"

Xu Lingxi grabbed her and tried to walk out, but Qingfang stopped her, "Miss, what you overheard doesn't count as evidence, and now that Chief Zhao is missing, no one can prove that this was their scheme."

"So what do we do? Let this pushover go back and let them continue to bully her?"

Xu Lingxi was very angry.

"I... I'm not a pushover, and I'm not stupid. Yesterday, I didn't mention that I had ointment on my arm. I wanted to see what she was up to. I never imagined she would try to cripple my hand and cut off my means of survival..."

Her voice grew lower and lower, "Lingxi, I can't bear to see them. Can I go back tomorrow?

It wasn't that she didn't dare, but rather that she didn't want to.

Since Mrs. Li was so eager to know the truth, she wouldn't listen. This one night would surely give Mrs. Li and her group enough time to ponder. Let them guess; ultimately, evidence is what matters.

In Xu Lingxi's eyes, this expression showed a pitiful child who was angry, confused, helpless, and afraid.

His heart ached even more, and he angrily said, "Qingfang, leave Li Shi out in the cold for an hour, then kick her out!"

Qingfang did as she was told.

When Li returned to the Lin family, she was completely drained of energy.

"Pah! The Li family is really despicable. I don't know why they have to keep that brat locked up. They won't even let me see her, making me wait there for nothing all day."

Whenever she urged him, a tall, burly servant would come out, glaring at her menacingly, so frightening that she didn't dare to utter a sound.

"Mother, didn't you just waste your trip?"

Lin Jiabao was annoyed. "Why don't you go check on my dad? He's burning up badly."

He had to see Su Wanning today and find out what was going on!

If Chief Zhao hadn't escaped, but had been killed by her instead, how would Master Xiong repay the eighty taels? And what about my sister? Wouldn't all my scheming have been for nothing?

He secretly went to Li Family Village, but instead of going through the main gate, he sent someone to deliver a message that he wanted to see Feng Shi.

Feng Shi was already annoyed when he suddenly heard that Lin Mao's son was looking for him, and he immediately became furious.

He didn't even eat and had Lin Jiabao brought in.

"What? Your father is dead?"

Lin Jiabao knelt down with a thud and stuffed the only five taels of silver he had left into his hands. "Manager Feng, my father... my father has a high fever and just wants to see my cousin one last time. Please, please think of a way to let her come home with me."

"Your cousin?"

The image of that pretty young woman immediately flashed into Feng Shi's mind. He snorted coldly, "What does it matter to me where your cousin is? I can't help you."

Lin Jiabao quickly explained that Su Wanning had been detained by Miss Xu.

"Then I can't help you at all. Miss Xu is our ancestor's darling; who would dare to take her away from her?"

Feng Shi accepted the silver and ordered his men to throw Lin Jiabao out.

"???"

Lin Jiabao dared not speak out in anger and slunk back to the Lin family, but this trip was not entirely fruitless.

On the other side, Xu Lingxi noticed that Su Wanning was in low spirits, so he took her to Jinghe Garden behind the manor to catch fish and dig lotus roots.

The outer perimeter of Jinghe Garden is lined with crabapple trees, and further out are trifoliate orange and thorny trees, providing both seclusion and safety.

It was just a small puddle at first, but the Li family dug it deeper and expanded it, and also brought in fresh water from the back mountain. Otherwise, given the severity of the drought, the Li family wouldn't have had that much water to squander.

Even now, it still supports a lot of fish, shrimp and lotus flowers.

However, last year's old lotus roots could only be kept fresh in the mud for three or four months at most. These past few days, the servants have basically dug them out and stored them separately. What's left is barely edible and is meant for the young masters and ladies to dig up for fun.

The two set up their fishing rods, impatient to wait any longer.

He left Qingfang and Xuancao to each watch one, then put on his boots and went into the water to search for suitable old lotus roots.

Su Wan Ning had dug up lotus roots when she was a child, but after entering the palace, she never had such an experience again. This time, she found it quite novel. "Miss Xu, how come you also know how to dig lotus roots?"

"Not only me, but all my brothers and sisters can go into the water, except for my third brother who is weak and can't go into the water."

Xu Lingxi spoke with great enthusiasm about how, when she was a child, her ancestors raised her as a farmer's child. She had to learn to work in the fields, cook in the kitchen, catch fish, and dig for food. Only by experiencing the hardships could she truly appreciate the hard-won food.

Su Wanning chuckled and chimed in, "We don't do farm work for the experience, we do it for a living."

Shili Village and Xiushui Village are so close, yet she and the children in the village had to work early in order to survive, a situation completely different from that of the young masters and ladies of the Li family.

The two were chatting and laughing when they heard a very pleasant male voice.

"Is it a telepathic connection?"

Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw a slender man slowly emerge from the shadows.

When illuminated by the lantern, one could see that the person's face was unusually pale, but his eyebrows and eyes were strikingly beautiful, especially the slight upturn of his lips, which gave him a very gentle smile, thus dispelling the sickly aura about him.