Only then did Shi Qingluo stop whipping Fourth Son Shi and release him.

She rubbed her wrist and complained, “If grandma had done this earlier, I wouldn’t have to work so hard.”

Old Lady Shi…

How hard did you work?

It was her son who was suffering, right?

Upon his release, he immediately hid behind Old Lady Shi.

He rubbed his face and rubbed his hands together.

The wretched girl’s whipping was too painful.

No wonder his third brother and sister-in-law were so afraid of her.

“Mother, let’s get down to business.” He tugged at Old Lady Shi’s sleeve and said in a low voice.

Only then did Old Lady Shi endure the indignation and said to Shi Qingluo, “My eldest granddaughter, we came today for your own good.”

Shi Qingluo guessed right away that other than the tofu recipe, these people probably wanted the earth bombs.

However, she pretended not to know. “What’s the good news?”

Old Lady Shi said, “The Wu family is very interested in those little black balls in your hands. They want to buy it with silver.”

Shi Qingluo played with the vines and asked, “What’s the price?”

Fourth Son Shi said, “5 taels of silver each.”

Shi Qingluo raised her eyebrows. “Are you trying to get rid of some beggars?”

She looked at Fourth Son Shi with a subtle smile and asked, “How much commission did you receive?”

Fourth Son Shi was speechless.

This wretched girl must have transformed from a fox to be so shrewd.

His heart was filled with hatred, but he had no choice but to smile. “You must be joking. We are the ones who are pulling strings. The Wu family said that they would give some rewards.”

They don’t admit receiving commissions.

Shi Qingluo couldn’t be bothered to ask further. “Go and tell the Wu family that a small black ball costs a hundred taels of silver. Either they buy it, else forget it. I’m not worried about selling it.”

Fourth Son Shi was speechless. “A hundred taels, why don’t you go and rob?”

The Wu family priced them at ten taels of silver each, and they were prepared to earn five taels of silver for every black ball.

This wretched girl really dared to raise the price.

She raised the Wu family’s offer by ten times in their first meet up.

Shi Qingluo sneered. “A hundred taels of silver for a small black ball. Buying these that were refined by my old immortal master is benefiting the Wu family.

“Do you think the Wu family is as poor as you? You can’t even think properly.”

Fourth Son Shi and the others were numbed.

Just discuss this matter and don’t hold anything else against them!

The wretched girl’s mouth was too annoying.

Mdm Niu was speechless. “But isn’t a hundred taels of silver a little too expensive?”

One hundred taels of silver for a little black ball.

Back then, this was the price of sending her to the Wu family for the marriage.

Shi Qingluo raised her eyebrows and said, “Does the Bai family know? They even came to our house for dinner today.

“If the Wu family can’t afford it, Young Master Bai can afford it.

“Just go and tell the Wu family the price. They will most likely agree.

“Then, for each small black ball, you can ask the Wu family for five or ten taels of silver as the cost of your running the errand and convincing me.

“I’m the only one who still thinks about all of you.” She gave the troublemakers a slight stare that hinted that she was the nicer one.

Ultimately, Fourth Son Shi was the one who needed the money.

When the small blacks balls’ limited effects failed to be on par with the real ones, the Shi family would just be the Wu family’s main target.

In addition, they had also earned a small sum of money from the Wu family.

Initially, she was still thinking about how to find Fourth Son Shi to discuss about selling the earth bombs to the Wu family.

Who knew that they would voluntarily come to their doorstep.

Since that was the case, it would be a waste not to scam them.

After all, these troublemakers were still thinking about her tofu making recipe.

If her martial prowess were low, they would have done whatever they wanted to the Xiao family.

The Shi family thought, this wretched girl would never be so kind-hearted.

But, they couldn’t reject her.

Old Lady Shi turned to Fourth Son Shi and asked, “Go and ask the Wu family. Tell them that if they don’t buy it, the Bai family will.”

Even though she was an old lady from the countryside, knowing that there were other people who wanted it should allow it to fetch a higher price.

Her heart ached terribly that this wretched lass was able to earn so much in such a short period of time.

Shi Qingluo also smiled. “That’s right. You can tell the Wu family that.”

She guessed that the reason why the Shi family’s troublemakers came to visit them today was probably because the servant boy who followed them had gone back to report it.

The Wu family might have misunderstood that Bai Xu was also here for the little black balls.

Or perhaps they were afraid that Bai Xu would discover the little black balls and seize the opportunity.

That was why they couldn’t wait any longer.

If Xiao Hanzheng wasn’t a famous xiaosanyuan elementary scholar in the county, others would know if something happened to them.

With the new magistrate at the centre of the storm, the Wu family’s tricks wouldn’t be so gentle.

However, Shi Qingluo was sure that even if she gave the Wu family the real little black balls, they wouldn’t let her off in the future either.

If they successfully developed the formula with the real balls, she would be closer to her death date.

Therefore, be it to the Shi family or the Wu family, she didn’t have any psychological burden.

Fourth Son Shi was also nervous.

He was afraid that the wretched lass would give the Bai family the little black balls.

After all, he had promised the Wu family that he would be able to get it.

“I’ll make a trip to the county town now.”

Shi Qingluo waved her hand. “Hurry up and go. No matter what the outcome is tonight, don’t come to the Xiao family and disturb me. We can talk about it tomorrow.”

She still had to make an earth bomb that was as powerful as a large firecracker tonight.

Fourth Son Shi uttered under his breath, this wretched girl was too arrogant.

However, he could only nod his head sullenly. “Alright, then we’ll come again tomorrow.”

After he had completely pulled some strings with the Wu family and took his elementary scholar examination, let’s see how he would deal with this wretched girl.

He would remember today’s beating in public.

Hearing his reply, Old Lady Shi and the others could only reluctantly leave the Xiao family.

Old Lady Shi and the others were still complaining after leaving, “That wretched girl is really merciless. Even if we learn how to make tofu, we won’t be able to steal much of her business.”

“What a pity.”

Fourth Son Shi rolled his eyes. “Mother, after I get into the Wu family, I’ll think of a way to snatch the tofu workshop and open it ourselves. Now, that wretched girl can continue to be arrogant first.”

Old Lady Shi’s originally calm face instantly broke into a smile. “Right, in the future, we’ll directly snatch the tofu workshop from them. That wretched lass will be crying.”

The few of them felt much better thinking of their plans.

Fourth Son Shi didn’t return home.

Instead, he went straight to the Wu family in the county town.

As Shi Qingluo had expected, when the Wu family heard that she might give the little black ball to Bai Xu, they became anxious.

Although they felt that 110 taels was too expensive for each ball, if the destructive power was really that great and they could develop it themselves, it would still be worth it to get them at 1000 taels.

The head of the Wu family was very brilliant.

He had already guessed that for each black ball, Fourth Son Shi had swallowed 10 taels himself.

But since he had already paid for the excess, he didn’t care about this little bit of money.

Now, he would let that wretched lass and the Shi family get some additional benefits first.

In the future, not only would he have to spit it out, but he would also let them pay with their lives. Hmph!

Hence, he agreed to the request.

On the other hand, Shi Qingluo began to make an improvised earth bomb.

She added a lot of medicinal powder and stone powder.

The Wu family wouldn’t be able to develop the formula after the mixture.

Xiao Hanzheng accompanied Shi Qingluo to the mountains to test the effects.

She adjusted it to a level that the Wu family could accept, but inferior to the real earth bomb.

Only then did they descend the mountains.

Of course, it was also the kind that couldn’t kill someone.

It just needed to sound scary but wasn’t that powerful, otherwise it wouldn’t be good if the Wu family used it for their evil deeds.