Su Hua raised her eyes, her gaze sweeping over Liu Yuxian's hands clasped in front of her abdomen. "Miss Liu sent a servant to deliver the contract the day before yesterday, and we went to Zaozhuang right after. Perhaps it was because we arrived early that we happened to run into the Wangjia Village people who were destroying seedlings in the fields and hadn't had time to leave yet. There were about twenty of them in total, and they all pointed out that it was your steward who gave the order. Moreover, the silver ingots in their hands were also stamped with the Liu family's mark."

"What?! You're saying it was my steward who gave the order? How is that possible..." Liu Yuxian exclaimed in surprise, her pretty face showing both astonishment and anger. "These stewards are simply outrageous! The Liu family feeds them and provides them with food and drink every day, yet they dare to bully their superiors and destroy seedlings without permission. They clearly don't respect me, their young lady!"

Huayi, go to the manor outside the city right now and summon all the former stewards of Zaozhuang back to the manor.

Once I return to my residence, I will thoroughly interrogate them to find out why they did what they did!

"Yes, this servant will go right away." Huayi quickly agreed and turned to leave the alley.

Upon hearing this, the young men and women all reacted with varying expressions.

Without the master's order, how could the steward dare to deliberately destroy the seedlings! Especially the steward of the Tangshan Prefecture Prefect's family, if he dared to act on his own, wouldn't that be tantamount to courting death?

Only a fool would do that.

They don't know if the person in charge is an idiot.

But Liu Yuxian was clearly treating them all like fools.

However, the truth is not important. No matter how talented Su Hua is, she is ultimately a daughter from a family with no social standing, and they would never stand up to the eldest daughter of the prefect's family for her sake!

Liu Yuxian took in everyone's expressions.

She really didn't expect that Su Hua would expose the Zaozhuang incident in public, catching her completely off guard.

Those managers are incredibly stupid. Not only did they fail to destroy everything in one night, but they also brazenly used the Liu family's money. And that servant who delivered the contract didn't even know to consult with the manager in Zaozhuang beforehand. They're all blockheads. When she gets back, she'll sell them all off.

In fact, she didn't care what these people thought. Their fathers were mostly minor officials in various counties under Tangshan Prefecture, and they all acted according to her father's wishes. There was no way they would spread the news of destroying the seedlings. The only person she cared about was the Third Young Master.

The girl bit her lip, glancing furtively at the man beside her. He still had a smile on his lips, making it impossible to guess his thoughts. Meanwhile, Su Hua, holding the blue-eyed cat, didn't utter a single word.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

Liu Lin glanced at his younger sister and the third young master, then sighed softly to break the deadlock, "Alas, our steward has been holed up in the countryside for years. Perhaps he considers himself half the master of Zaozhuang, and he harbors resentment at the thought of leaving Zaozhuang."

However, these days, whose rice jar doesn't have a few rice weevils?

Now that things have already happened, besides punishing these parasites, my sister might as well give Miss Su some compensation.

After all, we're all from Tangshan Prefecture, and we see each other all the time. It's perfectly understandable that we might have some minor misunderstandings. As long as we resolve them properly, we'll still be good sisters, won't we?"

Su Hua raised her almond-shaped eyes slightly and glanced at Liu Lin. The man was about twenty years old and looked seven or eight parts like Liu Yuxian. Although their appearances were similar, his thoughts were much deeper than Liu Yuxian's. He attributed the destruction of the seedlings to a misunderstanding in his words.

Moreover, this misunderstanding was caused by the steward of the Liu family and had nothing to do with Liu Yuxian.

Finally, she didn't forget to mention that the Su family was also part of Tangshan Prefecture and under the jurisdiction of Prefect Liu, which was clearly a warning to her.

Liu Lin felt Su Hua's scrutinizing gaze, and with a swish, he opened his fan, a self-satisfied smile playing on his lips.

Originally, he was only attracted to her beauty, but now that he knows she is the one who outshone all the beauties at the Hundred Flowers Banquet, his desire for her has intensified. In his harem, there are beauties of all shapes and sizes, but he lacks only a talented beauty like her!

Upon hearing this, Liu Yuxian's heart stirred, and she gave Su Hua an apologetic smile, "What you said earlier makes sense. Since the misunderstanding in Zaozhuang has already occurred, those who should be punished should be punished, and those who should be compensated should be compensated."

Before Su Hua could respond, he continued, "Miss Su, you must have come to the Stone Gambling Street today for the Stone Gambling Conference. This is your first time in Tangshan Prefecture, so you probably don't know that the price of stones here is at least 10 or 20 taels per catty. Even buying a stone the size of your palm would probably cost several hundred taels."

Who knows how many years it will take Miss Su to sell spicy hot pot at her stall!

"How about we go to the Liu family's jade shop later and pick out two rough stones for free? Consider it an apology to Miss Su on behalf of those troublesome servants in the manor. What does Miss Su think?"

Upon hearing this, everyone's opinion of Liu Yuxian improved considerably.

Peddlers and laborers have always earned their meager wages through hard work, and they can only manage to earn a few taels of silver a year at most. But gambling on stones is always the most expensive activity, and even if Su Hua empties her entire purse, she probably still can't afford a single rough stone.

Now that Liu Yuxian is willing to give Su Hua raw stones, it's equivalent to giving her several hundred taels of silver directly.

This compensation is definitely worthwhile. However, although Su Hua is proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, her family background is limited. She probably can't even distinguish between jade and roadside stones. After picking and choosing, she can only pick a few broken stones!

Thinking of this, everyone looked at Su Hua, waiting for her to nod.

Behind Su Hua, Qin Yingxian heard Liu Yuxian's words of belittling and was already furious. Destroying the harvest of hundreds of acres of land, and all she got in return were two broken stones? And she still had the nerve to bring them up again and again. She was clearly bullying Su Hua because she was easy to talk to.

Seeing that his younger sister looked ready to fire, Qin Yucheng quickly pulled her back, his voice very low, "Don't rush, Hua'er is never one to suffer a loss, let's talk about it later."

Xiao Jinhan remained silent, standing half a step behind Su Hua, his gaze never leaving her.

Su Hua gently ran her fingertips along the hair on Da Bai's forehead, a hint of a smile flashing in her almond-shaped eyes. "Miss Liu is a busy person, yet she still thinks about the Su family's business all the time. I am truly flattered."

Liu Yuxian's expression became unnatural for a moment.

Su Hua's ability to be sarcastic and unpredictable is getting better every day.

But now she could not refute it, and could only nod with a smile. Then she heard Su Hua change her tone, "However, this Zaozhuang does not belong to me alone, but to the entire Su family. Miss Liu wants to compensate for the destruction of two hundred acres of land with stones. I'm afraid I can't make that decision."

Liu Yuxian's eyes darkened slightly. "What does Miss Su mean by that...?"

“We country folk don’t understand stones, but if Miss Liu really wants to apologize with stones, she should send one to the entire Su family. After all, ever since the rice seedlings in Zaozhuang were destroyed, everyone in the family has been heartbroken, and my mother has been crying for days.” Su Hua said, looking at Liu Yuxian and sighing softly.

"But Miss Liu and I have known each other for a time. Miss Liu only needs to give the Su family members who came to Tangshan Prefecture today a stone."

"At that time, I'll at least be able to explain myself to my elders when I return home. After all, Miss Liu surely knows that life is already difficult for daughters of farming families, and they wouldn't dare to upset their elders. What do you think, Miss Liu?"