Unlimited Resources: Raising a Minister with a Space Supermarket-Chapter 528 - 465: Full of Flaws

Apart from Zhenpin Pavilion’s poor business, other ventures are doing well. The Immortal Music House, managed by Song Qingrui, has become the most profitable business for the Yu Family, earning several times more than the hotpot base ingredients.

Yu Changhe’s letter was five pages long, detailing even Yu Ziqian’s boasting at the school. Yu Xiaolian reviewed the five-page content repeatedly.

There were several other letters. Yu Xiaolian opened them one by one; they were written by Zhao Erya, Teacher Ying, and Lu Manluo.

After Yu Xiaolian read through them all, an hour had already passed.

"Are you done? The meal has been reheated several times, my dear wife!" Su Jingchen rested his chin on his hand, looking a bit aggrieved.

"Dinner!" Yu Xiaolian apologized with a smile, blaming her own engrossment for forgetting Su Jingchen was waiting to eat.

Su Jingchen had the kitchen specially prepare Yu Xiaolian’s favorite dishes for dinner: steamed shrimp and eggs, braised lion’s head meatballs, cold cucumber salad, stir-fried potato strips, and pigeon stonecrop soup.

Their cook was brought from Luocheng. Yu Xiaolian had the previous county government cook handle preparing large pots in the front, while she and Su Jingchen still ate meals prepared by Dai Granny.

"Why don’t we let Jinghua join us for meals from now on?" There were only three close relatives in their household, yet they ate separately. Yu Xiaolian felt uneasy, sensing she hadn’t taken proper care of Su Jinghua.

Su Jingchen picked up a piece of food for Yu Xiaolian, "I never said she couldn’t join us for meals!"

"I know you haven’t said so, but the face you put on every day scares anyone away.

Be nicer to Jinghua. She’s a child with heavy thoughts and a typical people-pleaser personality. You’re always cold and cutting, even when speaking just one sentence, it terrifies her!"

Though Yao Shi was annoying, Su Jinghua was entirely innocent. Yu Xiaolian saw many good qualities in Su Jingchen but couldn’t stand his indifferent attitude toward Su Jinghua.

"I’m not hitting her or scolding her. What is she afraid of about me?" It’s impossible that he would try to please Su Jingchen and cheer up Su Jinghua; not hitting, not scolding, providing good food and drinks was his best attitude.

"You may not hit or scold her, but it’s obvious to everyone that you don’t like her. Jinghua isn’t stupid; she can certainly sense your dislike.

Jinghua is already eight years old, girls marry early. How many more years will she stay home? If she’s raised timid and fearful now, what happens when she’s bullied after marriage?

Anyway, if you don’t change your attitude towards Jinghua, I’ll move to live with Jinghua, leaving you alone in the empty room!" Yu Xiaolian straightforwardly threatened Su Jingchen.

Su Jingchen found it amusing but knew if he laughed at that moment, Yu Xiaolian would definitely get angry; she was already close to boiling over, according to his insight.

Su Jingchen spoke soothingly, "No one would dare bully her!" He could bully his sister, but others trying would face consequences.

"I don’t care about the future. From now on, you must change your attitude!" Yu Xiaolian was adamant.

Su Jingchen relented, "What do you want me to do then?"

"Starting tomorrow, have someone call Jinghua to dine with us, and spare some time each evening to review her studies and praise her." Yu Xiaolian also picked up a piece of food for Su Jingchen.

"Is that all?" Su Jingchen raised his eyebrow.

"That’s all!" Although it sounded simple, consistently doing it every day would be quite an achievement.

Su Jingchen nodded, agreeing.

Yu Xiaolian smiled joyfully, "Help me grind ink later; I need to write back to my mom!"

The next day.

Zhao Pingting knelt in the hall, facing Su Jingchen’s barrage of questions with composure.

What kind of drug was used on the bandits? Into what was it mixed? Where did the drug come from?

Zhao Pingting answered smoothly, revealing the drug was intended by Boss Pan for harming others; she stole it without knowing the specific poison, only knowing it was toxic.

Zhao Pingting intended to set the mountain on fire and flee with Boss Pan’s money, but unexpectedly, she was surrounded by Su Jingchen and government officers, leaving her no choice but to tell a massive lie: claiming she was a decent woman kidnapped by Boss Pan, poisoning the bandits’ food and setting the mountain ablaze to escape and rid the world of their scourge.

Zhao Pingting expected Su Jingchen to reward her and let her go, but to her surprise, she was standing in court, being interrogated the next morning.

Su Jingchen, fully confident, continued questioning, "How many kinds of poisons did you steal from Boss Pan?"

"One kind." Zhao Pingting sensed something amiss in the question, heightening her vigilance.

Though she hadn’t committed acts of murder or robbery, she willingly followed Boss Pan; in the brothel, she had to serve many men, while in the gang, she only needed to serve Boss Pan.

"However, the Forensic Doctor discovered two kinds of poisons among the charred bodies." Su Jingchen struck the judge’s desk, "Zhao, what do you have to say?"

Zhao Pingting was startled and quickly replied, "I stole several packs of the drug, all wrapped in yellow parchment. They were all white powders, so I thought it was one type; since you say there are two types, then there must be two."

Yu Xiaolian was sitting in the court’s rear hall, drinking tea. Seeing Zhao Pingting’s quick response, she mentally applauded; truly someone who had attended the Women’s Virtue Academy. Zhao Pingting would surely excel in household conflicts in a wealthy family.

"What about the knife wounds on one of the bodies?"

Zhao Pingting knew Su Jingchen was referring to Pan Zi, killed by multiple stab wounds. She nervously swallowed, "That person quarreled over uneven distribution, causing conflict and being killed by other bandits."

"Tsk tsk..." Yu Xiaolian couldn’t resist sneering.

She indeed underestimated Zhao Pingting’s mental resilience; standing firm in court was no small feat.

"Five corpses were poisoned by monkshood. How do you explain this, Zhao? Monkshood juice is well-known to be black in color, yet you just said the stolen substance was all white powder."

Zhao Pingting hadn’t imagined that a mere night’s time would lead the Forensic Doctor to detect monkshood among so many corpses. So many died in the mountain stronghold, how did the Forensic Doctor identify those particular charred ones?

Zhao Pingting was unaware of Yu Xiaolian’s presence as a "bug," and her shoulders slumped, her face pale, seemingly resigned. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Having told the truth, Zhao Pingting then began pleading for mercy.

"Sir, I truly was taken by the bandits; Madam Feng from Baihua House can attest." Zhao Pingting felt some regret for her incendiary act, not thinking to claim credit for fighting bandits; she merely wanted to escape with the money, fearing the bandits would chase her later, and thus she gathered and set fire to them.