Outside Su Li’s room in Jinyuan Court, Mammy Li felt terrified and kept knocking at the door. She shouted, “Miss, are you in the room? Miss, don’t frighten me.”
“Leave it to me!”
The old butler looked serious and came in a hurry. While he was going to kick the door, the door was suddenly opened. Su Li came out with a thin lining. Looking confused, she said, “Mammy Li and butler, what happened? Why do you knock my door so late at night? I slept so deep that I didn’t hear it just now.”
Mammy Li suddenly felt relieved. She patted her chest and said, “You scared me. Miss, an assassin came to the Su House. The Third Miss was almost killed.”
“Ah?!” Su Li’s eyes opened like almonds. She was terrified.
Li Yin still looked serious. After he went into the room and checked it carefully, he was relieved. There were no traces of people coming in the room. It seemed that this assassin’s target is the Third Miss.
“Butler, the Lord asked you to go to the Main Courtyard to have a discussion.”
At this time, a guard passed on the message outside the door. Li Yin nodded slightly and warned, “The guards of Jinyuan Court should be twice as many as before. Don’t relax even in daytime.”
“OK!”
After Li Yin left, Jinyuan Court returned to calmness again. Mammy Li was scared that Su Li slept alone, so she brought her bedding to Su Li’s room and made a bed on the floor next to Su Li’s bed.
Su Li was lying on the bed and her black hair was like a waterfall.
In the darkness, Mammy Li breathed deeply and regularly. Su Li smiled slightly. As expected, someone could not wait to kill the “cooking genius”. But if Su Zipei easily died, her pleasure of rebirth would be destroyed.
In the Main Courtyard, all the people in the discussion felt tense. After a complete hour, they went back to rest.
Su Huanli felt extremely tired. On the way to his room, he was sleepy. In daytime, he negotiated with the Zhu and Yang Families for a long time. At night, he handled this matter. He was really busy.
Suddenly, he heard a talk in whispers. He was very familiar with the voice and couldn’t help but sneak to the direction of the sound.
“Now that I can’t marry Su Zipei, I won’t allow others to do so!”
“…Useless man! You can’t even kill a woman. How dare you say that you are an unusual person in Jianghu! How furious I am!”
The voice gradually went away. Su Huanli felt frightened but didn’t dare to go out and take a look. If the killer was still there, he would bring about his own destruction!
When the voice disappeared completely, Su Huanli stood up and looked at the direction of the voice. The voice came from the West Courtyard.
He was not sleepy any more, feeling cold passing from his feet to head. His nephew was so vicious. Was this his intention or the Yang Family’s?
Su Huanli was absent-minded. He left but did not find a black shell in the grass slowly moving to the West Courtyard.
Next morning, Su Li woke up and touched her bedside. Immediately she touched a shell-like object. She seized it and opened her eyes. What in her hand was the “Xinxiangshi”, the poisonous insect.
“What an efficacious poisonous insect! It can find its master.”
Su Li praised it silently. After she stopped the killer last night, she made some arrangements incidentally. She threw the poisonous insect in the way which Su Huanli would definitely pass through. If she could successfully defile the Yang Family, it would please her. If she failed, there was no harm.
“Miss, great news!”
As soon as Su Li was dressed, Mammy Li rushed to her from outside and said, “The Lord is crazy. He thinks the assassin was dispatched by the Yang Family. Today, Master Yang and his mother are almost driven out of the Su House.”
Su Li was not surprised, but she pretended to be so, “The Cousin Yang’s family turned out to be so vicious? How terrible!”
“Yeah!”
Remembering she saluted them yesterday, she felt frightened and got goose bumps.
At the moment, Su Yuezhu was so anxious that she was crying outside the gate of the Su House. Seizing her brother, she said, “Brother, what are you doing? How could the assassin be dispatched by Wei? He is your nephew.”
“Yeah, my uncle! Although I am a bastard, I would not do such a terrible thing!” Yang Wei anxiously explained.
Su Huanli sneered, “What is done by night appears by day. I heard clearly about what you said last night. Now it is useless to say anything. It’s not your Yang Family’s turn to make a decision for the property of Baiwei Restaurant. You won’t get any profits!”
Yang Wei suddenly felt stunned. What did he do last night? He spent the time with his mother… What did he say? Were the words uttered in his sleep?
“Su Yuezhu, you are so cruel. You even harm your brother! Go to your Yang Family and never come back.”
Su Huanli said relentlessly and left with waving sleeves. He ignored Su Yuezhu who looked dumb in the wind.
At the moment, Li Shanbao seriously looked at the man in black in the county government office. The man lowered his head in front of him. The man looked guileless, but what he did was murder and arson.
“Are you saying you were stopped by a martial arts expert?”
After a moment of silence, Li Shanbao finally spoke. The nervous man suddenly felt relaxed and calmly explained,
“He just tapped me on my wrist, and my whole arm was numb. The force didn’t come from ordinary people but come from an unusual person in Jianghu practicing Xuangong. Fortunately, I lost only a normal stainless steel dagger which will not be recognized.”
“I didn’t expect the Su Family has such a martial arts expert.”
Li Shanbao frowned and didn’t say anything. He certainly was reluctant to see that the Baiwei Restaurant staged a comeback under the control of the Su Family. The best way was to kill Su Zipei. But he did not expect that he went to wool and came home shorn. He was almost exposed.
“You failed to make it. I can’t release you from prison directly. Considering you took risks this time, I will commute half of the sentence for you. What do you think?”
Hearing what Li Shanbao offered, the man in black was a little happy. He held his fists and said, “Thank you, county leader. I will return to the prison.”
“Go ahead.”
Li Shanbao waved his hand. After the man in black left, he couldn’t help but sneer, “No matter how powerful the unusual person in Jianghu is, he will be dispatched by me like you, the Black Star Killer, when he is in prison.”
Under the leadership of the jailer, the man in black returned to the dirty and stinky dungeon. He had stopped smiling completely and showed pure calmness.
“I did it for the childe. As the Black Star, I don’t care about such a scumbag. But this time, I have found some news. Surprisingly, Zongzi, an invention of my childe, appeared in the Dasu Town. But I can’t go out in a short time. Forget it. I will tell the child when I am released.”
Three days later, the Su, Zhu and Yang Families gathered once again. Su Li could hear the quarrels from the Main Courtyard in Jinyuan Court. When the sun was sinking in the west, Su Huanli sent members of the Zhu and Yang Families away with a smile. It seemed that the profit distribution of Baiwei Restaurant was fixed.
Su Li was not surprised that they calmed down quickly and did not haggle over former conflicts to cooperate again. Baiwei Restaurant had been completely out of business. Time was running out. If it had been closed down for a long time, customers would seriously be lost and their efforts would be wasted.
In dinner time, Su Huanli asked Su Li to dine together for a special reason. Su Li felt strange because she didn’t see Zhu Yan.
Seeing a more beautiful Su Li for the first time, Su Huanli couldn’t help but secretly swallow saliva. He hadn’t see the girl just a few days. Why did she look so coquettish? He felt thirsty staring at her for a long time.
“Erya, I have entered an agreement with the Zhu and Yang Families. The three families will cooperate for the operation of Baiwei Restaurant, each holding thirty percent of the profit. You are expected to obtain the rest ten percent for us.”
Su Li looked up with an astonished expression but pretended to be puzzled, “Daddy, I heard that the Baiwei Restaurant was closed. Why is the distribution of profits relevant to me?”
Su Huanli touched Su Li’s head with a smile and explained, “The Baiwei Restaurant now needs a main course to revitalize. The family which develops the main course will get the rest 10%. See?”
Su Li was suddenly enlightened and said, “I see. I will go back to study the dish and will not let you down.”
Su Huanli immediately laughed, “Good girl! Although it. is urgent, you don’t have to be too tired and hurt your health.”
“I see, daddy.”
Nodding obediently, Su Li was not surprised about the ending. The last ten percent was obviously given to the Su Family. Because the Zhu and Yang Families weren’t able to provide the main course at all. They were worried that the Su Family would not contribute while getting the benefits. Daddy may make other agreements with them. For example, if the Su Family couldn’t provide a dish, it should…
Su Li was confident about the main course. But she did not plan to show it too early. So back to the Jinyuan Court, though she stayed in the kitchen every day, there was no progress.
Su Huanli felt anxious instantly and went to Su Li’s room to ask her. With a bitter expression, she sighed, “Daddy, I also would like to provide a delicious main course, but I can’t find many ingredients. Even a clever woman cannot cook a meal without rice.”
“What ingredients? You should have said earlier. Let me find them for you!”
Su Huanli said without hesitation, and Su Li immediately gave him the prepared photo album. Su Huanli was so anxious that he immediately dispatched people to the mountain to find them without a second thought. He even asked the other two families to help.
Sitting in the court, Su Li supported her chin with her hand and smiled. There were so many free labors. It’s a waste not to use them. With the help of the three families, her progress of collecting herbs would definitely be pushed forward.
In the afternoon, Su Huanli led a group of servants who held various plants rushing to the Jinyuan Court.
After asking the servants to pile up the plants in the court, Su Huanli turned to worry from anxiousness and couldn’t help but say, “Erya, can these wild flowers and vegetables be used as ingredients? Many of them have bright colors and forbidding looks. They might be poisonous.”
Su Li crouched to test poisonous weeds and comforted her father, “Daddy, rest assured. When I was driven out from the family, I lived on the wild fruits in mountains and tasted many of them. As for the rest, I can use a silver needle to test.”
“Good.” Su Huanli felt slightly relieved but immediately stunned. With a trembling voice, he asked, “Erya, what are you talking about?! Didn’t your mother arrange your stay at distant uncle’s home?”
Su Li looked puzzled, “Distant uncle? Do I have distant relatives? I almost starved to death outside. It was the eldest brother that saved me and sent me home.”
Su Huanli suddenly felt stunned as if he was suffering from an electric shock. With a blank mind, he mumbled a few words and stumbled away from the Jinyuan Court.
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