As the old man said, Song Dazhi was no fool. If he had known the ginkgo paste was poisonous, he wouldn't have drunk it. Furthermore, Jian Ning knew that all the ginkgo paste had been canned and sealed by the time he arrived.

Jian Ning checked all the thin ginkgo pastes and found that they were all poisoned. So there was only one possibility: someone had poisoned the pot long before Song Dazhi came. The person who poisoned it could not have poisoned each jar one by one, so he could have poisoned it all at once in the pot.

First of all, Jane Ning excluded the local people who were involved in making the ointment. Who would cut off the livelihood of himself and his family?

Jian Ning had also asked Cao, and no one had come since she and Qiao Feng left, except for the deceased Song Dazhi. This meant that Jian Ning was still in the Cao family's courtyard when the poison was added to the pot, and only Ding Youtian and Lu Da, along with Duan Xinyan and Cai Sibei's family, had visited during that time.

It was impossible for Cai Sibei's family to go, so the only ones left were Duan Xinyan and her two maids.

Although Duan Xinyan has a lively personality, there is almost no possibility that she could be used to poison others. Jian Ning believes that she is not a bad person.

As for Chun'er and Qiu'er...

It didn't seem likely. Chun'er was timid and Qiu'er was still childish, but apart from the two of them, Jian Ning couldn't think of anyone else who might be a suspect. Moreover, Duan Xinyan had discussed marriage with Prince Yong before, so it was very likely that her maid was bribed by Prince Yong.

As Jian Ning was watching Chun'er and Qiu'er, Duan Xinyan saw Song Dazhi lying dead in the yard. She pointed at him and shouted, "Sister, what do you mean? Are you suspicious of Chun'er and Qiu'er? Do they have anything to do with that man's death?"

"Hehe." Before Jian Ning could say anything, the old man laughed dryly and continued, "That man was poisoned to death. The princess suspects that we were the ones who poisoned him, but she's probably more suspicious of me."

Old thing! Just now you were calling yourself an old man, but now you’re just a little old man again. What’s going on?

Jian Ning narrowed his eyes slightly, looked at him and said, "Which ear did you hear me say that I suspected one of you drugged him? I only said that this matter is inseparable from you. If you really are a vendor selling fried cakes, it is not easy to earn a few hard-earned dollars. Would you give him copper coins for no reason to instigate him to buy ginkgo paste? I just suspect that you knew the ginkgo paste was poisoned before you sent him here!"

"Even the princess shouldn't be so rude and slanderous. Everything has its cause and effect. He bought two fried cakes from my stall earlier. After eating them, he started complaining that I didn't know what kind of dead food I used to fry them. He said he felt nauseous after eating them and insisted that I pay for his ointment to relieve the greasy feeling. How can I, a small businessman, stand up to his nausea?"

The old man played the victim, bowing to everyone with a bitter face, and said, "He's stubbornly hanging around my stall, and he's definitely going to make a fuss about me giving him some coins. I'm not from here, and even a strong dragon can't defeat a local snake. What can I do? I can only spend money to avoid disaster."

"Your storybook is well-written. You'd be wasting your talent if you didn't go tell a story." As Jian Ning finished speaking, Cao came out and spat at the old man, "Pah! You really don't care about your old face. Do you think we are all fools? He extorted money from you, so shouldn't you be happy that he's dead? Why are you jumping out to argue with this nonsense and even blaming the county magistrate's wife? What are you thinking?"

"That's right, this old man is not honest at all, he doesn't look like a good person!"

"If you ask me, he's definitely involved in the poisoning. Otherwise, why would a pancake vendor like him make such a fuss?"

Several people started to chatter and shout, and some even picked up stones to throw at the old man. At this time, Duan Xinyan, who had been frowning and saying nothing, suddenly grabbed Qiu'er's wrist and said, "It was you! You were the one who poisoned the pot, right? It must be you!"

"Stop messing around!" Jian Ning grabbed Duan Xinyan's right shoulder as fast as lightning, and pulled her back with a little force. Duan Xinyan cried out in pain and let go.

"Eldest sister! It must be her!" Duan Xinyan stamped her foot. Before she could finish her words, Jian Ning shouted angrily, "She's still just a child. What nonsense are you talking about?"

Jian Ning dragged her behind him, then looked at Qiu'er and said with a gloomy face, "Tell me, who ordered you to do this?"

Qiu'er blinked, as if frightened, and said with infinite grievance: "Miss...I don't know what happened?"

"Bitch!" Duan Xinyan was furious. She stuck her head out from behind Jian Ning and said, "You still want to hide it? The first time I entered this courtyard, you were the only one who approached the iron pot over there." She pointed to the front left of the courtyard and said, "I didn't bring you here from the mansion." She tugged at Jian Ning's arm and said, "I rescued Qiu'er on the road and gave her the name. We were passing through a forest on our way out of the capital when we caught her trying to hang herself. She said her parents had died and her brother and sister-in-law were forcing her to marry an old man. I took pity on her and kept her."

"Miss..." Qiu'er's eyes were filled with tears. She took two steps forward. Jian Ning protected Duan Xinyan and took two steps back. "Stand there, don't move. Answer whatever I ask you. You'd better be honest and avoid suffering."

Chun'er was confused by this sudden scene and had no idea what was going on, but she subconsciously avoided Qiu'er and moved a few steps to the side.

"Miss, I really don't know why you suspect me. What did I do wrong?" Qiu'er seemed a little at a loss, her childish face full of panic.

The people in the courtyard were whispering to each other. In fact, no matter how you looked at it, she was just a half-grown girl, but Jian Ning did not dare to be careless. When Duan Xinyan questioned her about poisoning the pot, Jian Ning's heart skipped a beat. As a former special police officer, she was sensitive and made the most intuitive reaction when Duan Xinyan grabbed Qiu'er's wrist. She first stabilized Qiu'er to prevent Duan Xinyan from being held hostage by her.

Jian Ning didn't know why she had such an intuition that she would hold Duan Xinyan hostage to restrain herself, but after hearing Duan Xinyan say that Qiu'er was rescued by her after she escaped from the capital, she was certain that Qiu'er was not simple.

The more harmless something looks, the more poisonous it is. This is what Team Wu had warned her about when she was undercover, and he repeatedly reminded her to pay attention to it.

Another thing is that after Duan Xinyan brought them in, the old man's expression changed again. He had already torn off his disguise, as if he was deliberately trying to cover up something for someone.

Thinking of this, Jian Ning's heart sank. She met Qiu'er's eyes, but before she could say anything, the old man chuckled twice more, "How ridiculous! A princess, one moment you suspect an old man, and the next moment you suspect a little girl. Does it mean that in your eyes, apart from your own family, everyone else harbors evil intentions?"

Jian Ning also smiled. She said to Qiu'er, "Aren't you asking yourself what you did wrong? Let me tell you, your mistake was choosing today to poison. If you weren't so impatient, and if you had chosen another day, a day when there were more strangers coming and going in the courtyard, or if you had sent any of them around the courtyard after poisoning, you might have been able to escape suspicion."

"Also, I shouldn't have seen you approaching that pot, but what can I do? I happened to be sharp-eyed and saw you. You're so unlucky!" Duan Xinyan stuck out her tongue and made a face at her.

"You're such a clever little rascal, naughty girl." Qiu'er suddenly smiled, still with that baby voice and that childish, innocent face, but her eyes and tone had changed. "I admit my mistake. I shouldn't have been so hasty."

Jian Ning blurted out: "Are you a dwarf?"