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

Su Wan Ning wanted to laugh; this little bastard was acting so convincingly.

She feigned surprise, "Why would I deliberately let her misunderstand? My aunt knows, I accidentally found Yuwei's letter. Looking at my arm is nothing compared to reading the letter!"

Li almost lost her footing.

Yes, and there's that letter too. If it's discovered, it won't just be "slander" anymore!

Feeling uneasy and afraid, and unsure of what to say, Su Wan Ning spoke up again, "Aunt, why don't we take a look together now?"

"I...I accidentally lost the letter."

Li forced a smile and began to disperse the crowd, "It was all a misunderstanding, it's alright now, everyone can go home."

"It's good that it was a misunderstanding, Aunt. Don't worry about such trivial matters. I heard that Master Xiong's interest rates are very high. You should sell some land and jewelry as soon as possible to raise money to pay off your debts."

Su Wanning brought up the money again.

She didn't pursue the matter, but others whispered among themselves, and they all felt it wasn't a misunderstanding, wondering why Li would do such a thing.

Li: "..."

"Many of these fields were bought with money from Wan Ning, weren't they?"

Xu Lingxi snorted coldly, "You'd better spit out all this money, or we'll have the authorities investigate thoroughly what's going on with Chief Escort Zhao."

"Lingxi, let's forget about it."

Su Wanning gave a feigned sigh.

Given Xu Lingxi's bold guess, if she were to back down like this again, it wouldn't be Wang Chunxiu who was unwilling.

The others all chimed in with their opinions, saying she was foolish. They argued that if her guess was true, the money should not be given to these ungrateful wretches; if her guess was false, they were all family, and Li should not keep her hard-earned money.

Lin Jiabao felt dizzy and fainted, wishing he could just faint like his father.

He wasn't sure how much Su Wan Ning knew, and he dared not openly confront her. Whether for his sister's sake or for his future connections with Miss Xu, he had to appease her first. The most terrifying thing was that Miss Xu truly had the ability to uncover the truth and then crush them!

All he could do was plead, "Sister, you have to believe us! We consider you family! But we really can't raise the money. You know Master Xiong can kill people!"

"If you can't come up with the cash, just write an IOU. Stop with the nonsense!"

Xu Lingxi told Qingfang to go back to the carriage to get a pen and ink.

The IOU was quickly written, promising to send back eighty taels of silver over ten years. Su Wan Ning was much more generous than Master Xiong; she not only didn't want interest, but also only asked that it be repaid within a year.

Lin Jiabao pressed his fingerprint on the paper with trembling hands.

After the crowd dispersed, Mrs. Li was still in a daze, thinking, "How did I end up owing so much money again? What... what am I going to do?"

"Sell the land! And your jewelry and clothes, use them to raise the money for Master Xiong. I need to write to my sister about this, and burn all your letters right away!"

Lin Jiabao was in a hurry.

Inside the carriage.

Su Wanning was in a good mood.

Today's move was risky, but the gains went far beyond just this IOU.

Lin Yuwei's actions within the palace were inconvenient, but she was able to "cover the sky with one hand" and substitute for her own medicinal meals. She could easily obtain the favor of leaving the palace, so she must have many people around her doing things for her.

Once she learns what happened today, given her suspicious nature, she will definitely suspect that there is a mole among her. In the short term, or rather, before the 'mole' is found out, she will not dare to take action against herself again. Instead, she will let Lin Jiabao and the others keep coaxing and testing her.

After all, to cure the prince's anorexia, one must rely on one's own medicinal diet recipes.

Lin Yuwei wouldn't dare to break ties with him, nor would she easily resort to violence.

With this time to buffer, she can get the shop up and running properly, and maybe even investigate the Li family's affairs thoroughly. Once she has a firm foothold and connections, she can go back to the capital!

Xu Lingxi, meanwhile, was pondering the shop's layout and kept urging the driver to hurry up.

"Miss, there's a traffic jam ahead for some reason."

Qingfang got out of the car to check and quickly returned. "She said there was a shop that had been abandoned for a long time ahead. Everyone was saying it was haunted, and the price of the shop had been kept down. But it turned out that a little beggar was hiding inside pretending to be a ghost so he would have a place to live. He was so angry that he was hitting people there."

"That's the shop I want to buy!"

Su Wan Ning was startled. In her previous life, the house was priced low, and she didn't know why at first.

Later, after she had already bought the courtyard for Lin Jiabao, the incident was exposed. The homeowner beat the man to death and was exiled. As a result, the shop became even more deserted and turned into a "haunted house" and a "disaster site," which also affected many surrounding shops.

Knowing the truth, she wasn't afraid. On the day she returned to the county town, she asked her friend for help to secure a house.

But why is this happening so soon?

She must not let this tragedy happen again; she has to save the shop.

The two hurriedly got out of the car and squeezed into the crowd. Sure enough, it was a middle-aged man wielding a stick, repeatedly striking the beggar. "If it weren't for you, I would have sold this shop long ago! I'll beat you to death!"

"stop!"

Su Wanning grabbed the stick. "Shopkeeper, this child looks like he's about to die. It's not worth getting into legal trouble for him. Please calm down."

"Get out of my way! What's it to you?"

The man was furious and didn't care what others said. He pulled hard twice, but couldn't budge it!

He then turned to look at Su Wan Ning, frowning, and asked, "What are you going to do?"

As he spoke, a pungent and spicy smell wafted out.

Su Wan Ning took two steps back, frowned, and looked closely. "Shopkeeper, have you eaten anything strange lately? Your mouth is ulcerated, you're constantly feeling hot, and you have trouble sleeping at night. More importantly, your temperament has changed drastically; you can't seem to control your temper?"

"Oh, so this young lady knows medicine?"

How could a man not know about his recent abnormalities? He had taken a lot of medicine but it didn't help. He always needed to vent his emotions to feel better.

Su Wan Ning saw the disdain in his eyes, and only smiled slightly, "You've probably been taking medicine for quite a while now, right? But if you're still not getting better, it's not because the medicine is wrong, but because there's something wrong with your daily diet."

"What problem could there be with eating?"

The man didn't believe her and looked her up and down. "What exactly do you want?"

"As I just said, it's not worth getting into legal trouble for a little beggar. Besides, with your temper, if you don't get proper treatment, there might be other troubles."

These words were unpleasant, and the man's face darkened.

Su Wanning quickened her pace, "The herbal medicine doesn't taste good, but I know how to make medicinal cuisine that's both delicious and therapeutic, and I can help you recover."

"tasty?"

The man swallowed, and his fierce aura seemed to lessen a bit.

Su Wan Ning nodded and asked again, "Now can you recall what you've been eating lately? Especially anything fresh or that you've never eaten before."

The man thought for a moment, "I don't know what it's called, but it shouldn't be poisonous, it's just a little... spicy?"

"hot?"

Xu Lingxi became interested. "What does it look like?"

"It's red, about the size of a finger, and I feel uncomfortable if I don't eat it for a meal."

The man was a little embarrassed, but he still chose to tell the truth. What if, what if this young lady really could cure him? He had never tried medicinal cuisine before.

"Can we take a look?"

Xu Lingxi smiled, appearing dignified and poised, but inside she was screaming with excitement.

Taking the opportunity, Su Wanning bent down to look at the little beggar, "Are you alright?"

"I……"

When the little beggar spoke, it was actually a tender female voice!