In just this short moment, light snow began to fall from the sky again, the flakes growing thicker. A gust of cold wind blew past, drilling straight into people's collars.
The sounds of sneezing and coughing rang out one after another.
Half-Immortal Su looked up at the sky and figured the snow wouldn't stop anytime soon. A feeling of joy welled up in his heart.
No wonder he had divined two consecutive Tai hexagrams this morning.
So this was what they pointed to:
Snow keeping guests indoors. His eldest niece would be able to stay a little longer.
Thus, he strongly urged Su Ning to come inside and take shelter from the snow.
Su Ning naturally agreed. She had come to the Su family this time not just to bond, but also to discuss many matters. She walked a few steps toward the tenement courtyard before turning back.
She casually beckoned over one of her guards standing nearby, lowered her eyes, and gave a few instructions:
"...I left two hundred silver dollars in the car, maybe even a bit more. Hand it all out later."
The man she called over was the very same one who had just led the men to clear the tenement courtyard and arrange the guards. Because his head was particularly small, his underworld nickname was Sun Xiaotou. Right now, he was nodding like a pounding garlic pestle.
Only when Su Ning had walked far away did he dare to sigh with emotion:
"Miss Su is actually a good person."
Having mingled in the underworld for a long time, he considered himself able to see through people's hearts. Someone like Miss Su, who had wealth and the means to control people, might seem ruthless in her actions, but she actually possessed a benevolent heart.
Compared to those "merciful" people who spoke beautiful words but in reality couldn't wait to gnaw your bones clean, she was infinitely more noble.
After his sigh, he shouted at the crowd of onlookers:
"Everyone living in that courtyard, come over here! Miss Su is showing kindness. Considering that her subordinates messed up your things earlier, each family can take two silver dollars from me as compensation...
If you ask me, even giving twenty cents for that junk would be too much."
"But who told Miss Su to have such a good heart? Running into her means you've struck it lucky."
The crowd instantly exploded in an uproar.
What? Handing out two silver dollars just like that!
The residents of the tenement courtyard were so overjoyed they felt like they were dreaming. Having their things tossed about earlier had left everyone with some degree of resentment.
Now, let alone resentment, they wished Su Ning would visit the tenement courtyard ten or eight times a day.
They would be rich!
A total of twelve families lived in the courtyard. At this moment, braving the extremely envious gazes of the others, they squeezed out of the crowd in high spirits.
They lined up family by family, receiving the heavy silver dollars from Sun Xiaotou's hands. The clever ones made sure to say some auspicious words upon receiving the money, and the people behind them followed suit.
"Wishing Miss Su endless fortune and smoothness, and a long life of a hundred years."
"...Good health, and eternal youth."
"...Great luck and great profit..."
All sorts of auspicious phrases were exhausted.
Touching the silver dollars in their hands, both adults and children were as happy as if the New Year had come early. Some couldn't resist their children's pleading and agreed to buy two coppers' worth of malt sugar, while some couples discussed buying some cotton to pad their clothes.
"What's two silver dollars? She's so rich. If she really had a good heart, she should have given ten more, no, twenty silver dollars would be right."
Widow Li curled her lips and spoke self-righteously. But when she looked up, she met the disapproving gazes of the people around her.
Although they didn't get along with the Su family, most people still had a basic sense of right and wrong.
An elder stepped forward:
"You from the Li family, if you don't know how to speak, then keep your stinking mouth shut tight. Getting a benefit and still being unsatisfied, spewing filth from your mouth. Keep spouting nonsense and be careful I don't slap you on behalf of your elders."
Honestly, she was losing face for them old Peking folks!
Being cursed at while pointed at the nose, Widow Li trembled with anger but didn't dare talk back. She wasn't afraid of the old geezer, but she had caught sight of the dissatisfied glares from those dozens of burly men.
Knowing in her heart that if she said any more she would get beaten, and she might not even be able to keep the money.
Therefore, she nimbly ran off along the base of the wall. Before running, she threw back a sentence: "You're all just bullying a widow like me, bullying me because I have no man to back me up! Pah, you'll all get your retribution."
Everyone: ...
No, what does this have to do with being a widow or not?
...
Unaware of the commotion caused behind her over two silver dollars.
Even if she knew, Su Ning wouldn't have taken it to heart. To be practical, ordinary neighbors in a tenement courtyard were existences judged by the system as nameless commoners.
Squeezing them once for a wave of rewards would squeeze them dry.
Acting "rich and cruel" toward them again wouldn't earn her a single copper coin.
The tenement courtyard was extremely dilapidated. More than half of the eastern courtyard wall had collapsed and no one had repaired it. Many of the bricks at the gap had been scavenged by people; the chicken coop at the door of a certain family was exactly that color.
Even so.
The Su family only occupied two rooms here. The larger one was shared by the Su father and son, while the smaller one was occupied by Su Zhenzhu.
They didn't even have a main hall, only a makeshift half-room kitchen built to the side.
Oh, and it was also built using bricks from the courtyard wall.
Right now, the room the Su family was taking Su Ning to was Su Zhenzhu's room. Girls were always cleaner, and the room was indeed a pleasant surprise to the eyes.
There were no expensive decorations, but every corner revealed the clever ingenuity of a young girl.
Su Ning casually offered a compliment, and she saw Su Zhenzhu visibly brighten up. Looking at her with both admiration and excitement, she gently said that as long as her older female cousin liked it, that was all that mattered.
It reminded one of a ragdoll cat that wanted to be clingy but hesitated to make a move, only gently and tentatively rubbing against you.
After rubbing, it would tilt its head up, waiting for your reaction.
How could such a cute girl turn into a villain?
Recalling Su Zhenzhu's unscrupulous methods and hysteria in the later stages of the original novel, Su Ning sighed inwardly.
The family's first meeting was also considered a reunion.
After the initial excitement passed, they surprisingly didn't know what to say. Half-Immortal Su, as the elder, thought for a moment and brought up the matter of the funeral:
"...The newspaper said the day after tomorrow is the day of the funeral?"
"That's right." Su Ning said apologetically:
"I originally should have discussed it with you, but I didn't expect the ashes, which had been stuck at customs for a long time, to suddenly arrive. Before Dad passed away, he instructed me that he missed home too much and wanted me to bury him in the ancestral graves as soon as I returned to the country."
"Sigh, Huaishan was so successful. Even in the netherworld, the ancestors will take good care of him."
Even though he already knew, Half-Immortal Su still couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow in his heart upon hearing this.
The family had fallen into ruin overnight, and he had lived half his life in a muddle.
He didn't even know how many Su family members of his generation were left.
As a result, his gaze toward Su Ning grew even softer.
Being looked at like that made Su Ning's scalp tingle. She hurriedly stated that having grown up abroad, she didn't understand many of the things to pay attention to at a funeral and needed the help of an elder like Half-Immortal Su.
This matter had also been agreed upon previously.
Half-Immortal Su patted his chest and declared that he would definitely do his utmost and absolutely would not let outsiders take the slightest advantage of his eldest niece.
He then asked about the various preparations for the funeral:
"...Many people die in winter. The prices for paper funerary offerings, funeral parlor odd-jobbers, and the troupes of monks and Taoist priests who chant sutras have all gone up. If you don't procure them early, it will be hard to find them when you need them."
"You don't need to worry about that."
Su Ning smiled breezily:
"I've bought up all the funeral supplies in the entire city. I've also booked the other necessary personnel, monks, and Taoist priests in advance. For the next half month, the funeral parlors in Peking will only be taking my business."
Although the words were spoken lightly, the weight behind them was heavy.
Peking had a population of millions. Those who made a living from funerals numbered far more than ten thousand!
Half-Immortal Su was so shocked he couldn't even close his mouth. He claimed his main profession was fortune-telling, but he actually also moonlighted finding auspicious burial plots and chanting sutras at funerals, so he knew best how much money this must have cost.
And then—
"My dear niece, you're being swindled. Think of how much money you're throwing down the drain..."
He urged anxiously,
"Take your uncle's advice. It's a tragedy your father passed away so soon, and it's only right for a daughter to honor him, but this isn't the way to do it."
"You are still young, and you have your whole life ahead of you. You need to hold onto your money to live comfortably."
His voice actually cracked on the last few words, showing his genuine concern. He was terrified that his young niece, Su Ning, didn't understand how crucial money was in this day and age.
Warmed by his sincerity, Su Ning explained patiently,
"Please don't worry. This amount of money really isn't much to me. If we weren't so pressed for time, Dad's funeral would have been even grander."
Indeed, it wasn't much.
She had only spent nearly six hundred thousand yuan. Completing this spending task had actually allowed her to heave a massive sigh of relief.
