Chapter 153 Seeing a ray of hope

Master Dong asked the steward, guards, servants, and maids at the porridge stall to recall any unfamiliar faces that appeared on the day of the accident. He also asked the deceased's family to recall any unfamiliar faces that approached the deceased, chatted with them, or stood very close to them. He then had the artist draw the people according to everyone's descriptions.

[Hmm? Why draw a stranger? Can't it be someone I know who committed the crime?]

Oh, the Grand Tutor's Mansion has been giving out porridge for quite a while now. Those who go to get it are all the locals or beggars who can't make ends meet. Basically, everyone who can go has gone. There are only so many people in total, and you can easily find a connection with any three of them. If they're completely new faces, they either came from somewhere else or have bad intentions, and are more suspicious than those familiar faces.

"Let me see. There aren't many unfamiliar faces... From all these people, I can only recall seven. The servant guarding the third porridge bucket recalled five people. All five of them had a chance to get close to the porridge bucket. Hmm... comparing them with the portraits, there are three overlaps."

[Lord Dong believes the suspect is one of these three, so he's sent people to investigate house to house with the portrait. So far, two have been verified and ruled out, leaving only the last suspect unidentified. Tsk! The attendant went there in disguise, and the portrait is so different from his real appearance. How could they possibly identify him based on the portrait?]

Chu Liuzheng frowned and pulled it down.

"You have to be really stupid to do something like poisoning under your main account. You must be using a fake account. It's not like you don't have this...eh? There's a scar the size of a copper coin on the inside of my right wrist. Hey, people who can get into positions of power must have sharp eyes, seeing things so carefully."

"That scar isn't a disguise. If I rely on it to find someone, I might actually find them... No, there are so many people in the capital, how long will it take to find them? By then, all the followers will have left the capital with Prince Li."

Chu Liuzheng was a little anxious and bit his lips unconsciously. He wanted to push it down, but found that he couldn't move it any further and had reached the bottom.

[No way, after several days, this is all? What's the result?]

She searched the system desperately and found a live broadcast post.

Her eyes lit up and she quickly clicked in to take a look.

Yamen runners visited pharmacies in the city and found two that sold raw strychnine. Jimin Pharmacy in the west of the city had a record of selling raw strychnine the night before the poisoned porridge incident. Because raw strychnine is highly toxic, the shopkeeper made a special note of the person's appearance and repeatedly warned them not to ingest it.

[The bailiffs discovered that the buyer was named Chen Dong, lived in the south of the city, and owned a woodcarving shop... Ah, a ray of hope! This Chen Dong was the follower's contact person. Finally, we have a clue!]

Seeing a ray of light, Chu Liuzheng hurriedly dug down.

After receiving the news, Master Dong personally led his men to the woodcarving workshop... Damn! It's gone again!

Chu Liuzheng stared at the system eagerly, waiting for it to refresh. His eyes swept over the five words "Chen's Woodcarving Workshop" and he felt inexplicably familiar with them, as if he had seen them somewhere before.

Where is it?

*

At the same time, the yamen runners knocked on the closed door of Chen's woodcarving workshop.

A man's voice came from inside: "Who is it?"

The yamen runner said, "Buy wood carvings."

The man said, "It's sold out. Go buy it somewhere else."

The yamen runner turned to look at Dong Yi, who nodded to him. He then continued to knock on the door, attracting people from nearby shops to stick their heads out to look.

When he saw that it was an official, he quickly retracted his head, fearing that he would get into trouble.

"Open the door, open the door!" The yamen runner's voice was so loud that people on the whole street could hear him.

"It's all sold out. Why are you still knocking? You don't understand what I'm saying!" The man in the wood carving workshop was annoyed by the noise. He opened the door angrily and was about to curse at the people outside who disturbed his peace. When he looked up and saw the yamen runners in official uniform, his legs went weak and he almost fell to his knees.

His Adam's apple rolled as he swallowed the curse words mixed with his saliva, and with a smile on his face he apologized: "It is my fault that I didn't recognize the great man. I didn't know you were here. Please come in, please come in."

He stepped aside to make way for the door and politely invited people in.

The bailiff stood still and asked, "Your name is Chen Dong?"

The man nodded: "Yes, my name is Chen Dong."

"I'm glad it's Chen Dong." The yamen runner stepped aside, revealing Dong Yi behind him. "My master wants to ask you something."

Upon seeing Dong Yi, Chen Dong immediately bowed and said, "I pay my respects to you, sir. I didn't know you were coming, and I'm sorry for not welcoming you. I..."

Before he could finish his words, Dong Yi said, "Get up and go in to talk."

Hearing this, Chen Dong quickly stood up and nervously welcomed the person in.

When Dong Yi passed by him, his sharp eyes scanned his body calmly, finally stopping at his arm and asking, "Is your arm injured?"

Chen Dong was rather flattered by the question. He subconsciously covered his right arm and replied, "Your Excellency, I was accidentally hit by a falling piece of wood while carving a few days ago. I have blood stasis and it hurts when I exert force. I can't carve anymore, so I can't replace the items in the store even if they're sold out."

He enthusiastically recommended: "If you want to buy some wood carvings, there's Lu's Woodcarving Workshop two blocks down the street. The prices are fair and the items are good. Why don't you go there and have a look?"

Dong Yi glanced at his calloused hands and said, "They say competitors are enemies, but you're quite generous."

Chen Dong raised his left hand and scratched his head, chuckling, "I'm a fellow apprentice of the owner of the Lu Woodcarving Workshop. We were taught by the same master, but we specialize in different things, so we won't interfere with each other."

Dong Yi nodded, sat down on the chair brought by the yamen runner, looked around, and found that it was just as Chen Dong said, all the wood carvings in the store were sold out, and the whole store was empty, as if it was about to run away.

He had a plan in mind and waved his hand to let Chen Dong sit down.

Chen Dong declined twice before sitting down with great trepidation, looking at Dong Yi: "What do you want to ask me, sir? I will tell you everything I know."

"Don't be nervous." Dong Yi smiled at him and pointed at his right hand. "Let me take a look at your injury first."

Chen Dong blinked doubtfully, stretched out his hand and rolled up his sleeves to show Dong Yi.

He saw that his right arm was indeed wrapped in a thick layer of gauze, and the smell of medicine he had just smelled came from there.

Dong Yi gave a look, and immediately a yamen runner came forward to remove Chen Dong's gauze, revealing the wound underneath.

Chen Dong didn't understand what was going on, but he also raised his arm to show Dong Yi.

Dong Yi looked closely and saw that the wound was covered with crushed herbs. Because a lot of them had stuck to the gauze, the wound underneath was barely visible.

Based on his many years of experience in investigating cases, he knew that the injury was about five or six days old, and the subcutaneous blood clots had mostly dispersed, and it looked like it was almost healed.

"Sir?" Chen Dong called cautiously, seemingly not understanding why Dong Yi wanted to see his injuries.

Dong Yi did not answer him, but ordered someone to invite the owner of Jimin Pharmacy to identify the person.

Not long after, the shopkeeper was brought in by the yamen runners and took a closer look at Chen Dong.

Chen Dong felt uneasy when he looked at him. His eyes rolled around and his hands were clenched together nervously.

"It was him who came to buy medicine that day." The shopkeeper retracted his gaze, took the gauze from the yamen runner's hand, and carefully identified the crushed herbs.

After a moment, he said to Dong Yi, "Sir, there is indeed crushed strychnine in the gauze. Although strychnine is highly toxic, it can relieve pain, dissipate lumps and reduce swelling. As long as the dosage is controlled, it can be used to treat injuries from falls."

Hearing this, Dong Yi frowned slightly. Could it be that he had found the wrong person?