Severed ties and living in a dilapidated house? No worries, the poor thing has a space.

Knowing that Su Yu had been traveling for several days without having eaten a meal she liked, Su Xin went to the kitchen, intending to cook a special meal for her sister.

Seeing Su Wenxi covered in flour from head to toe in the kitchen, with a cookbook in her hand.

Su Xin walked over and asked in a tone that suggested she wasn't really going to talk to her, "What are you doing here?"

Su Wenxi merely glanced at her, responding in an equally rude tone, "What I do is none of your business?"

Su Xin strode closer, snatched the recipe from Su Wenxi's hand, raised her eyebrows, and said provocatively, "What you do here is none of my business, but you touched my things, so it is my business."

Looking at the recipe that Su Xin had taken away, Su Wenxi regretted speaking too quickly earlier.

However, not wanting to lose face, she still stubbornly said, "It's just a cookbook. Only you would treat it like a treasure. Who cares?"

Su Wenxi left with a stiff upper lip, and only after returning to her room did she regretfully blame the maid: "Why didn't you say she was back sooner? How could you attract His Highness's attention at the Plum Banquet if you couldn't make any delicious desserts?"

The maid lowered her head in apology and also came up with a plan: "Miss, don't worry, wait until later, I'll steal the recipe."

Su Xin seemed to have anticipated their actions, so she took the recipe with her after cooking.

Who knew Su Wenxi wouldn't give up, and scolded and beat the maid: "If you can't steal the recipe, I'll sell you off!"

With her face swollen, the maid could only wait until nightfall. Holding the sleeping potion, she lingered outside the courtyard of Su Yu and her sister, trying to encourage herself to steal the recipe.

The maid had just crawled through the dog hole under the courtyard wall and stood up. Before she could see anything clearly, she felt a pain in the back of her neck, and then everything went black. She knew nothing more.

Yun Jie carried the maid she had knocked unconscious to Su Wenxi's courtyard with one hand.

Su Wenxi, half asleep, vaguely heard the sound of the window rattling, and was awakened by the cold wind blowing in from outside.

Seeing the maid who shouldn't be in the room, lying on the ground, her condition unknown, Su Wenxi was terrified and at a loss.

She got out of bed and kicked the maid with her foot. The maid was unharmed. She slowly opened her eyes and then dared to breathe a sigh of relief and ask, "Why are you lying in the room? Did you finish what I asked you to do?"

The maid got up from the ground, rubbing her throbbing head: "Miss, I don't know what happened. I was knocked unconscious as soon as I entered the courtyard..."

"Useless thing, get out!"

In the past three days, the rumors about Su Yu in the city have not only not subsided, but have intensified.

Xiao Jingqi didn't dare to come to see her during the day, but he came in the middle of the night, said a few words in a hurry, and left.

Xiao Jingqi told her that the Empress Dowager was also involved in spreading rumors.

Xiao Jingqi had also advised her not to go to the plum banquet, fearing that the Empress Dowager would deliberately make things difficult for her.

"Go, why wouldn't we go? The Empress Dowager has already set up the stage. If the main character doesn't go, how can the play continue?"

Her decision was irreversible, and Xiao Jingqi could only do his best to protect her.

……

"Bang!" Aunt Sun threw a stack of account books onto Li's table, and the abacus that bounced up from the impact hit Li's forehead.

As soon as Li stood up, she heard Aunt Sun's questioning: "How did you handle these accounts? They don't add up at all!"

The throbbing pain in his forehead did not affect Li's judgment.

She then picked up a rickety book by Zhang Bo that was lying on the edge of the table, turned to a page, and looked at the questions she had marked.

“I’m only concerned with finding the mistakes. If the accounts don’t match, the stepmother should question the accountant, not me.”

"Still dare to be stubborn? It's not your turn to be in charge yet. These deficits and loopholes are all caused by your negligence. If you don't find a way to make up for them, I will report to the old lady."

Li knew there was something wrong with the household's finances when she looked at the account books on the first day.

Everything in the kitchen is purchased at three times the normal price.

The items she bought were only a small quantity, just enough for one serving. She had asked the accountant beforehand, and he said it was with the madam's permission.

It's obvious without much thought that the missing items and the extra money spent naturally ended up in someone else's pocket.

Although Li has rarely gone out recently, she has handled all the matters arranged by Aunt Sun in a very thorough manner.

That doesn't mean she's easy to bully, nor does it mean she'll swallow her pride and make up for the shortcomings herself.

Of course, Aunt Sun deliberately gave her these problematic account books, partly to make Li suffer in silence.

She thought to herself that Li had lived a hard life in the countryside, and now that she had finally returned to the Su family, she must be afraid of making a mistake and being kicked out.

In this way, as long as you give her these problematic accounts, she will definitely find a way to resolve them privately.

Madam Li picked up the account books one by one and put them away: "The deficit was not caused by me. Go with my stepmother to my mother and explain. I will wait for good news from my stepmother."

"you……"

Aunt Sun never expected that her punch would land on cotton.

When she arrived, she had already asked, and both Su Yu and her sister had gone out.

The maids who usually served her were not there.

Su Wang has taken up his post and is not here.

Even if she really teaches Li a lesson now, she can use the excuse of a misunderstanding to get away with it later.

Li's self-righteous demeanor fueled Aunt Sun's anger, and she gave Qiu Hong a meaningful look.

Qiu Hong went up to teach Li a lesson.

"The old lady has arrived!"

I don't know which maid shouted it.

Then, with Aunt Rong's help, Old Madam Su walked in and saw the red swelling on Li's forehead where she had been hit by the abacus.

Madam Li stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Mother, why have you come? I'll be there as soon as I've finished these matters."

Li had recently learned a massage technique from Su Yu and went to try it out on the old lady yesterday.

The old lady thought it was quite good, so she asked her to go there every day from then on.

If Aunt Sun hadn't come, Madam Li would already be in the old lady's courtyard.

The old lady walked over and glanced at the wound on Li's forehead: "How did you get hurt like this? Is it serious?"

Mrs. Li casually shook her head: "It's nothing serious, I just bumped into something because I was careless. I'll apply some medicine and it'll be fine."

Aunt Sun no longer had the domineering aura she had just displayed; instead, she wanted to find an excuse to leave first.

Madam Su casually flipped through the account book on the table, then looked at her and asked, "Mrs. Sun, don't you have anything to say?"

Aunt Sun pretended to be stupid: "Madam, what are you saying? I was just worried that Third Sister was tired, so I specially brought some snacks over. Her injury has nothing to do with me."

"Snapped!"

This time, it was the old lady's turn to slam the account book onto the table.