Chapter 167: Coming to Call to Account

East Suburb Villa.

Jiang Hao, Su Qingli, and Bai Qiming were sitting around the dining table, enjoying their meal.

Savoring the dishes prepared by Su Qingli, Bai Qiming gave a thumbs-up and praised, "Splendid, simply splendid! Ms. Su's culinary skills are truly exceptional. No wonder your restaurant's brand became such a massive hit after opening."

Hearing Bai Qiming's compliment, Su Qingli instantly felt a bit shy, her cheeks flushing slightly.

Jiang Hao, however, looked rather surprised and asked, "Oh? You knew about Qingli opening a restaurant?"

"Of course I did. With the internet being so advanced nowadays, how could I possibly not know? Besides, people in Nanyang City have already started copying her concept by opening wellness and dietary therapy restaurants of their own," Bai Qiming said with a hearty laugh.

Su Qingli exchanged glances with Jiang Hao, and a hint of anxiety could be seen in her eyes.

She truly hadn't expected that in just about a month's time, someone would already spot the business opportunity in wellness dietary therapy restaurants and blindly follow suit by opening copycat stores in other cities.

Jiang Hao, on the other hand, remained completely calm. He gently told Su Qingli, "Don't worry. Sooner or later, we will expand our business to Nanyang City, and even nationwide. Those who simply copy us are all surface-level; they can never grasp the true essence."

Jiang Hao's words brought a sense of relief to Su Qingli.

Bai Qiming nodded and added, "Indeed, that's precisely the case. Several new wellness dietary therapy restaurants have opened in Nanyang City recently, but their reputation is quite poor. Moreover, their prices are rather high. Customers who have dined there all say they lack the affordability and warmth of the wellness dietary therapy restaurant in Maple Leaf City."

Su Qingli felt even more reassured.

Shortly after, Bai Qiming lowered his voice and asked, "By the way, Jiang Hao... do you still have any of that medicine?"

When he spoke the latter half of his sentence, Bai Qiming's voice dropped significantly, and an opportunistic, knowing look crept onto his face.

"What medicine?"

Even though Bai Qiming spoke very softly, they were all sitting at the same dining table, and Su Qingli heard him loud and clear.

Jiang Hao felt a sudden wave of awkwardness and quickly tried to cover up his guilty conscience with a dry cough.

"It's not anything bad, is it?" Su Qingli pressed further.

At this, Bai Qiming's expression turned somewhat unnatural as well.

Jiang Hao hastily explained, "It's not what you're thinking... When Uncle Bai and Elder Bai visited me previously, I simply gave them some medicine for physical conditioning and vitality."

"Is it really just medicine for physical conditioning?" Su Qingli looked at Jiang Hao suspiciously.

"Of course, of course, hahaha..."

Bai Qiming answered on Jiang Hao's behalf and burst into laughter, though his smile looked rather stiff no matter how one looked at it.

Jiang Hao maintained a feigned composure as he looked at Bai Qiming and said, "Uncle Bai, the effects of that medicine are extremely potent; you shouldn't take too much of it."

"I know. I still have more than half a bottle left from what you gave me before. I just wanted to get a little more, you know, just in case," Bai Qiming chuckled slyly.

Jiang Hao nodded and replied, "Alright then, I'll whip up a fresh bottle for you later."

"Wonderful, wonderful! With that, I can rest easy."

Bai Qiming laughed heartily, and it was clear he was genuinely overjoyed.

And naturally so.

Ever since he started taking Jiang Hao's medicine, Bai Qiming's physique had grown stronger day by day. At first, his wife could still keep up with him, but after a while, even she could no longer handle him.

With no other choice, Bai Qiming's wife had to loosen her control over him.

Consequently, Bai Qiming frequently visited his mistresses, and even so, he still displayed formidable prowess every single time, rendering those women completely unable to get out of bed.

Without a doubt, this was the kind of medicine every man dreamed of!

Bai Qiming's trip to Maple Leaf City was ostensibly for official business, but in reality, it was to find Jiang Hao and secure another batch of that miraculous medicine.

Now that Jiang Hao had agreed, he was naturally over the moon.

The strange expressions exchanged by Jiang Hao and Bai Qiming struck Su Qingli as deeply peculiar, but since Bai Qiming was an outsider, she couldn't pry too much. She decided she would thoroughly interrogate Jiang Hao once Bai Qiming left.

She was convinced that through unremitting questioning, she would eventually get to the bottom of the truth.

Right at that moment, a sharp, piercing sound of the doorbell suddenly rang from outside.

Moreover, the doorbell rang repeatedly in rapid succession, as if the person pressing it was in as much desperate haste as though their parents had just passed away.

"Who on earth is that?"

Su Qingli frowned and put down her bowl and chopsticks.

"Keep eating, I'll go take a look."

With those words, Jiang Hao stood up, left the house, and walked out into the courtyard.

Catching sight of the formidable and aggressive crowd of the Su family members standing outside the courtyard gate, Jiang Hao's expression instantly shifted, and his brows furrowed tightly.

And when the Su family members spotted Jiang Hao—especially Su Tianming—their faces were filled with intense fury.

"Jiang Hao! Get your ass over here!"

Su Tianming roared at Jiang Hao.

"If you tell me to come over and I just come, wouldn't that mean I have no dignity at all?" Jiang Hao said with a faint smile.

Su Tianming was furious to the extreme and bellowed, "If you don't come over, I'll tear down your front gate!"

"Go ahead and try tearing it down. I'll call the police right now!"

Jiang Hao retorted without a shred of politeness.

Despite the large number of Su family members, if Jiang Hao were to get serious, he could defeat all of them single-handedly.

Besides, this was a society governed by law; even if Su Tianming were given several times his current courage, he wouldn't dare act recklessly.

Sure enough, the moment Jiang Hao mentioned calling the police, Su Tianming's momentum faltered instantly.

Hearing the commotion, Su Qingli stepped out of the house as well.

"Why did you come out? Didn't I tell you to keep eating?" Jiang Hao asked with a hint of reproach.

"Su Tianming and the others are here. How could I not come out?"

Su Qingli said with a bitter smile.

Afterward, Su Qingli walked over and unlatched the courtyard gate.

A dozen or so members of the Su family aggressively surged in all at once. Old Madam Su, Su Tianming, Zhang Liping, and Su Bingming were now standing right in front of Su Qingli.

Glancing briefly at Zhang Liping and Su Bingming, Su Qingli chose not to greet them. Instead, she looked coldly at Old Madam Su and asked, "Old Madam Su, what are you doing here looking for me?"

Old Madam Su?

Su Qingli hadn't even addressed her as grandmother!

The old madam's expression turned even gloomier, but she knew this was not the time to bicker over minor details. Getting to the bottom of the conflict between Su Qingli and the Yang family was the key to solving the problem and the most urgent task at hand.

Therefore, Old Madam Su immediately demanded, "Qingli, tell me the truth. Did you offend the Yang family?"

Jiang Hao walked up to Su Qingli's side, intending to answer on her behalf, but he severely underestimated Su Qingli's upright and unyielding character.

Before he could speak, Su Qingli answered herself, "Yes."

"Why on earth would you offend the Yang family?" Old Madam Su interrogated, using the exact tone one would use to cross-examine a criminal!

Su Qingli glanced at Jiang Hao with a faint smile, then replied without a trace of hesitation, "The Yang family's second young master, Yang Ziyun, humiliated both Jiang Hao and me, and even went out of his way to provoke us. Are we just supposed to sit back, swallow our pride, and let him humiliate us for nothing?"