Chapter 31: Does Su Nianzhi Know Something?

Su Nianzhi checked the place inside and out—nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

However, she noticed that one of the rooms had noticeably less dust than the others.

Clearly, someone had been here recently.

She was about to turn and leave when something struck her as odd.

The layout of the house felt off. From the outside, it looked bigger than it actually was inside. A few rooms shouldn’t have added up to such a small internal space.

Something wasn’t right.

Her gaze swept over the walls.

Was that… a wall?

Su Nianzhi walked over and tapped it lightly with her fingers.

Hollow?

Then she heard a faint rustling whisper:

“We’ve received word recently. There should be action soon. Be careful.”

Su Nianzhi froze.

Moving silently, she crouched low like a cat.

Then came silence.

She was certain—that voice belonged to the old man who sold her the jade.

Interesting. He looked like just an ordinary person.

She hadn’t expected to hear that. Whether he was good or bad, she didn’t know.

But it had nothing to do with her—she wasn’t the nosy type.

All she cared about was making Zhang Wenliang suffer and protecting the Su family.

So without hesitation, Su Nianzhi sneakily climbed over the wall and left.

Once she reached a place where no one could see her, she entered her space and changed her appearance entirely. The new look was completely different from the original Su Nianzhi—nobody could pick her out in a crowd.

She packed the money and ration tickets into a cloth bag and set off to buy some things.

At the state-run shop, she squeezed into the crowd.

After scrambling and elbowing with a bunch of aunties, she clutched her chest, breathless.

Too terrifying.

In this era of scarce goods, even a slight delay meant missing out on a purchase.

Looking triumphantly at the cotton in her hands—

So pitiful. Barely enough for one quilt.

Seemed like she’d have to ask Pan Qingsheng for help next time.

Cotton was hard to come by now. Even with tickets, there was often no stock.

She found another empty corner, re-entered her space, tidied herself up, and came back out with some things in her bag.

Since it wasn’t time yet to take the ox cart home, she decided to grab a bowl of noodles.

But just as she stepped out of a small alley—what a coincidence—she saw Xu Zhaodi talking with a middle-aged man.

Su Nianzhi didn’t suspect any illicit affair.

That man looked refined and scholarly, with glasses and a gray-blue outfit.

He gave off the vibe of an old academic.

It reminded Su Nianzhi of Zhang Wenliang’s teacher.

The man handed something to Xu Zhaodi before leaving.

Xu Zhaodi looked pleased with herself.

Su Nianzhi walked past pretending to carry something—and sure enough, Xu Zhaodi shot her a glare.

“Tch, vixen.”

Su Nianzhi: ??? Lovely. You’re full of potential.

But no rush.

After finishing her noodles, Su Nianzhi strolled over to the ox cart.

She was the last to arrive.

“Su girl, we’ve been waiting on you.”

Su Nianzhi smiled and pulled out a bun from her pocket.

“Uncle Zhou, thanks for your trouble.”

Zhou Dasheng accepted it with a grin. Oh, it was a meat bun!

He was so delighted his eyes crinkled. “No trouble, no trouble! Come, sit here.”

Then he waved at Xu Zhaodi. “You sit over there.”

“But Uncle Zhou, I got here first.”

Zhou Dasheng looked at her with annoyance. “Then give me a meat bun too.”

Xu Zhaodi’s face collapsed. Meat bun? Might as well give you dung.

Though displeased, she huffed and sat on the other side, still glaring daggers at Su Nianzhi.

Wasteful brat, using the Zhang family’s money like it’s nothing. Hope it chokes you.

“Ugh, some people never learn,” someone muttered.

“Shut it, stinky mouth,” another snapped.

Ma Lamei wasn’t having it and went in ready to scratch.

“Fight if you want, but do it outside.”

That shut both of them up.

“Su girl, here, have some sunflower seeds.”

Auntie Xiao Feng grabbed a small handful from her bag and gave them to Su Nianzhi.

In this era, sunflower seeds were a real treat. “Thanks, Auntie Feng.”

Then Auntie Hua pulled out a piece of sponge cake from her bag.

“Girl, here, eat this.”

Xu Zhaodi stared in disbelief.

Sponge cake?!

Su Nianzhi deliberately sniffed it. “Wow, smells so good. Thank you, Auntie Hua.”

Ma Lamei looked tempted but dared not speak up. Last time, Su Nianzhi had scared the soul out of her.

After finishing the sponge cake and sunflower seeds, Su Nianzhi pulled out a few candies from her pocket.

“Auntie Feng, Auntie Hua—take these for your kids.”

They looked down and gasped—White Rabbit milk candy! And more than one!

“Then thank you, Su girl!”

Just like that, they soon arrived at the village entrance.

Since Zhou Dasheng lived there, they all got off and walked the rest of the way home.

Xu Zhaodi took a side path, and Su Nianzhi followed suit—it was the same route after all.

Xu Zhaodi shot her a hostile glance. “You jinx. Vixen.”

“Sister Xu, haven’t you gotten tired of cursing me this whole walk?”

Xu Zhaodi froze mid-step.

“Who cursed you?”

Su Nianzhi smiled sweetly, then used her spiritual control on Xu Zhaodi.

Her eyes turned dull.

“Hand over what that glasses-wearing man gave you earlier.”

Xu Zhaodi reached into her pants pocket—

Sure enough, it was a note with numbers.

Yulin Road No. 29.

Heh. Interesting.

“You can take it back.”

Xu Zhaodi pocketed the note, then suddenly shuddered. “W-what just happened to me?”

“Sister Xu, I know I’m good-looking, but no need to be so obsessed.”

Xu Zhaodi fumed, nostrils flaring.

“Hmph!”

Zhang Wenliang was already waiting by the gate. He hadn’t expected Su Nianzhi to be with his second sister-in-law.

His gaze locked on Su Nianzhi, his emotions tangled.

That face was beautiful, but he couldn’t forget—his father had been taken away because of the Su family.

If his dad ended up convicted, he wouldn’t even be able to attend university. That’s why he had sent his second sister-in-law to ask his teacher for help.

“Third, this is from Teacher Cai.”

Su Nianzhi gave Zhang Wenliang a half-smile glance.

The moment he reached out to take the note, his hand froze.

Why did it feel like Su Nianzhi knew something?

No, impossible. It had to be his imagination.

His teacher always used secret codes when giving instructions.

He was just overthinking it.

But as he watched Su Nianzhi walk away, he clenched the paper in his hand tightly.

From that reaction alone, Su Nianzhi knew the brat was definitely hiding something.

So what should she do?

Seems like she’d have to enlist the help of her adorable little nephew.

“Maomao~~~”

Little Su Maomao, who was stacking firewood, suddenly felt a chill down his back.

“Little Auntie?”

%（u0026￥……（……#u0026**#u0026*%u0026））

At this point, Su Nianzhi unleashed a full wave of brainwashing (a.k.a. shameless nonsense) on him.

Afterward, Su Maomao nodded solemnly.

“Don’t worry, Auntie—I’ll watch him like a hawk!”

“Good. Here’s your reward.”

She handed him a handful of candy.

Su Maomao was stunned—White Rabbits again. So many!

He swallowed hard.

“Little Auntie, I’ll watch him even if I have to stay up all night!”