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Su Qingqing headed straight for Li Shi’s room.
Through the window, she saw that Li Shi was indeed inside—sitting on the bed, counting money.
That saved her a lot of trouble. After all, she didn’t know where Li Shi hid her silver.
Su Qingqing carried her burlap sack into the room. “Oh, Auntie, not taking care of my grandma? Sitting here counting coins instead?”
Li Shi was so startled by Su Qingqing’s voice that she nearly threw the silver in her hand.
Snapping back to her senses, she quickly shoved the money under the quilt and glared viciously. “You little wretch, why haven’t you left yet?”
Su Qingqing casually put down the burlap sack, found a stool, and sat down. After crying for so long, she was tired.
She glanced toward where Li Shi had hidden the money. “The debts haven’t been settled yet, Auntie. Don’t you think so?”
Li Shi, feeling guilty, retorted, “I don’t owe you anything! What debt are you talking about?”
Su Qingqing replied, “Well then, how about I wait for Grandma to wake up, and I’ll tell her about how you’ve been selling my embroidery?”
Li Shi panicked. She had followed her daughter Su Tingting’s advice: whenever Su Qingqing brought in embroidered goods, she would give the girl a few coins to keep her quiet, then lie to her mother-in-law and keep half of the earnings for herself.
If her mother-in-law found out, given her temper, she might beat her half to death, if not kick her out entirely. She’d certainly never trust her again.
She and her mother-in-law had even been planning to coax the “little wench” back to keep making money for them. But ever since leaving Qingxiang Mountain, Su Qingqing seemed like a completely different person.
Not only had she become smarter, she was no longer close to them.
In the past, she had believed anything they told her.
Li Shi’s heart hardened as she recalled this. Her gaze turned cold. She absolutely could not let this girl expose her.
Tingting had said: if this little brat didn’t behave, they could make her disappear entirely.
Su Qingqing idly fiddled with her fingers, waiting for Li Shi to make a decision, watching the shift in her expression from the corner of her eye.
She smiled innocently. I’m not afraid of your reaction—what I fear is inaction.
“Auntie, have you remembered yet? Do you owe me anything?”
Li Shi looked at Su Qingqing’s skinny, frail figure, then at her own fleshy body, three or four times the girl’s size. She instantly felt reassured.
“Qingqing, what a joke. How could I owe you anything? All these years, you’ve eaten and lived under our roof. Everything we have is from your uncle’s and my hard work. If anything, you owe me.”
Su Qingqing blinked her doe-like eyes. Li Shi might’ve gotten a bit smarter, but she was still too shameless.
Enough pretending.
The image-washing was done. She didn’t need to act pitiful anymore in front of the Su family.
She strode over to the bed, shoved Li Shi aside, and lifted the quilt. She wasn’t about to let all the money she had earned through embroidery go to waste feeding these ungrateful leeches.
There wasn’t much money under the blanket—just a few pieces of broken silver and some copper coins, barely worth ten taels.
Looking down at the fallen Li Shi, she demanded, “Where’s the rest of the money I earned from embroidery?”
Li Shi had been shoved to the ground and now watched her silver get taken away. Furious, she cursed, “You filthy little whore, born without a proper mother! What nonsense are you spouting? I gave you your money every time. That’s my silver you’re stealing!”
Su Qingqing had had enough. She stepped forward and slapped Li Shi across the face.
Li Shi’s cheek swelled up immediately, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. She was stunned.
No one had ever dared hit her like that.
Su Qingqing wiped her hand disdainfully on her sleeve, her voice cold: “Next time you open your filthy mouth, it won’t just be one slap. You’ll be on the floor crying for your ancestors and picking your teeth off the ground.”
The pain cleared Li Shi’s head. When she opened her mouth, two bloody teeth fell out.
Looking at them in horror, Li Shi went berserk. She grabbed a stool and lunged at Su Qingqing, swinging it toward her head.
“You little slut! You cursed thing! I’ll kill you today!”
As she charged, Su Qingqing leapt onto the bed. What she lacked in height, she made up for with tactics.
Just as the stool came flying, she grabbed its leg. Li Shi couldn’t move it an inch.
She had expected to bash the girl’s skull open, and her eyes sparkled with anticipation.
But she hadn’t counted on Su Qingqing easily catching the stool mid-air, stopping it completely.
She froze in disbelief. Was she dreaming?
Su Qingqing didn’t care what she thought. She had already warned Li Shi to watch her mouth. Since she didn’t listen, there was no need to hold back.
With one hand holding the stool, she used the other to slap Li Shi left and right, fast and fierce.
After a round of smacks, Li Shi’s face was swollen like a pig’s head.
She let out a wail, crying incoherently, eyes full of fear—this little demon must be possessed!
Su Qingqing released her grip, hopped off the bed, grabbed a blanket, and calmly wiped her hands clean.
Then she looked at her with icy clarity. “Now, are you ready to talk properly?”
Li Shi nodded in terror. She was the type to bully the weak and fear the strong—of course she had to nod.
“Where’s the money I made from embroidery?” Su Qingqing had calculated that over the past six years, she had earned around sixty taels.
That was all her sweat and blood—money earned stitch by stitch. She was determined to reclaim it for Su Zijin.
Li Shi’s mouth was swollen and she slurred her words, but Su Qingqing could make out: “Tingting… took it… and mother-in-law… too…”
Just as she suspected—Su Tingting was her mother’s advisor and enabler.
Seeing how pitiful Li Shi looked, she left her three taels to find a doctor. The rest went into her sack.
She didn’t want the Su family dead—just taught a good, hard lesson.
Let them know she wasn’t easy prey anymore, so they wouldn’t come bothering her every few days.
Once she had taken nearly all the money she was owed, Su Qingqing hefted the sack and headed toward the kitchen.
She still needed a large iron pot to render pork fat.
In this era, ironware was rare and expensive, strictly regulated by the government.
The pot currently in use at the Su household had been bought by her late father through a connection. After he passed, the pot was claimed by Grandma and given to her eldest son Su Wenbo.
Su Qingqing arrived at the kitchen to find millet porridge warming on the stove.
She took a coarse porcelain bowl from the cupboard, filled it with porridge, and nodded in satisfaction. Perfect—she could take it home and serve breakfast without needing to start a fire. Her brother was probably awake by now.
She packed the bowl in her sack, then doused the stove with water to extinguish the fire.
Grabbing a firewood stick, she lifted the heavy iron pot, wrapped its edges with a damp cloth, and secured it.
With a bag in one hand and the pot in the other, she began walking toward her home on the east side of the village.
Back inside, Li Shi watched her from the window but dared not move. Her face was still in agony—it felt like her soul was about to leave her body.