Debt Collection

Su Li and the others were kept in the dark. Su Li spoke to each of them one by one, asking about their backgrounds and such. Of course, she had already prepared flawless answers for these little questions.

Su Li was quite satisfied with these four and immediately made a decision, nodding to let them stay as her disciples. Among them, the most hardworking one could become her direct disciple.

"There's no time like the present, let's hold the apprenticeship ceremony today," Su Li said.

So Bai Lu arranged everything for the apprenticeship ceremony. The four kowtowed and offered tea to acknowledge Su Li as their master, officially becoming the second generation inheritors of the Su-style cuisine.

The house had many rooms, so the four disciples were temporarily arranged to live there. Once the vegetarian restaurant opened, they would move to the side rooms in its backyard. The direct disciple would be Su Li's top priority for training.

With new disciples, Su Li had a new goal: to refine the various culinary styles she had learned, keeping the essence and discarding the dross, creating the Su-style cuisine and becoming the founding ancestor of her own school.

After instructing about the disciples, Old Zhou came by with something to report.

Su Li met Old Zhou in the hall. He held the account book and said, "Madam, the village's Tofu Beauty didn’t pay for the vegetables yesterday and didn’t come to pick up vegetables today. I had someone inquire, and it seems..."

"Hmm? What happened to the Tofu Beauty?" Su Li raised an eyebrow, quickly thinking. The Su family had fallen into such hardship, even the Tofu Beauty’s temperament might be wearing thin, right?

If the Tofu Beauty ran off, that would be really interesting.

Sure enough, as Su Li guessed, Old Zhou reported that after sending someone to investigate, the Tofu Beauty had taken the vegetable money and principal and ran away with her lover. And the Su family was in such chaos that no one had the energy to look for her.

"Ran off, huh? Tsk, how much principal did the Tofu Beauty take?" Su Li asked.

Old Zhou flipped through the account book and replied, "Twelve taels of silver in principal were not paid."

"Twelve taels, tsk." Su Li stood up and went inside to get the box containing the mortgage deeds and house deeds. She took out the deed for the Su family’s old house mortgaged by the Tofu Beauty and the contract signed back then, placing them in front of her with a slight smile. "According to the original contract, if the Tofu Beauty runs off with the money, the mortgaged Su family old house becomes ours. Unless the Su family pays fifty taels as compensation, they can't redeem the old house."

Old Zhou cupped his hands and chuckled, "The Su family is so destitute, forget fifty taels, they can’t even come up with five!"

"Hmm, let’s go. Gather a few strong men and come with me to the Su family," Su Li said cheerfully, holding various contract documents.

Yuanbao naturally followed behind. Old Zhou called over several strong young men. Su Li looked at them, thinking they looked intimidating enough to play the part of debt collectors.

Just as they were about to leave, Sister Zhu came running in from outside.

Sister Zhu asked as soon as she saw Su Li, "A Li, is Doctor Wu at your place?"

Su Li replied curiously, "He is. Sister Zhu, is someone in your family sick and needs Doctor Wu?"

Sister Zhu slapped her thigh and said, "Ah, not my family, it’s the Su family next door. A Li, you don’t know, the Su family is such a mess now, with a bunch of sick people at home. Mrs. Zhao can’t leave, she begged me to help run errands and bring Doctor Wu over. I really didn’t want to get involved, but Mrs. Zhao was crying outside my door. Seeing her so upset, I had no choice but to help out."

Su Li thought for a moment and said, "I’ll call Doctor Wu to go. I also need to visit the Su family, so let’s go together."