Zhao Xiaohua thought back carefully, "There was meat... and fish... I like to eat fish, and Dad cleaned the fish bones... and fed me one mouthful at a time."
"What else did you eat?"
"There's also meat... Dad wanted to give me meat, but Third Uncle next to him stopped me from eating... Dad said then we don't have to eat meat, we can eat fish... Keep giving me fish... and wild vegetables..."
Zhao Xiaohua has a good memory. She remembers every detail of what happened at the dinner table three days ago.
And…that was her last memory of being with her father.
So it is particularly unforgettable.
Zhao Xiaohua continued softly, "There is also rice... white rice... Dad said that only when the village chief invites me to dinner can I eat white rice, so he asked me to eat more..."
White rice is expensive, and many families still eat potatoes and sweet potatoes as their staple food. It is a good day if they can eat flour buns.
Wait for it…white rice.
Chu Yue suddenly thought of something, and suddenly pulled Zhao Xiaohua up and asked seriously, "Xiaohua, you said you were eating white rice?"
"Yes, white rice. Dad fed me half a bowl."
Zhao Xiaohua told everything in detail.
Chu Yue's mind was filled with images. "Xiao Hua, stay home and remember to take your medicine later."
She walked out quickly and said anxiously to Doctor Hao, "Doctor Hao, I found it! I found it!"
Chu Yue found the source of the poison!
They returned to the warehouse again, with the preserved meal in front of them.
Doctor Hao was waiting anxiously on the side, and Zhang Weimin was also called back.
Doctor Hao asked, "Xiao Chu, do you know which dish is poisonous?"
"It's not the dish, it's this."
Chu Yue picked up a bowl from the table and placed it in front of Doctor Hao and Zhang Weimin.
Doctor Hao lowered his head and carefully examined the rice in the bowl that had dried up after three days.
Zhang Weimin looked at the bowl of rice and suddenly his legs went weak. He staggered back, his face turned pale and he was extremely panicked.
He even wanted to escape from the warehouse, but was stopped by Chu Yue.
"Secretary Zhang, how can you leave before I even start talking?" Chu Yue looked at him coldly.
Zhang Weimin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said tremblingly, "Yes... yes... I didn't want to leave... I just felt it was too smelly in there..."
Doctor Hao glared at Zhang Weimin. He had disliked this man for a long time, but business was more important.
He continued to ask Chu Yue, "Is the poison in the rice?"
That bowl of rice contained white rice and yellow corn grits, and it looked like just an ordinary bowl of whole-grain rice.
Chu Yue explained, "I just asked Xiaohua, and Xiaohua said she eats white rice."
"But this rice clearly contains corn grits, it's not white rice. Did Xiaohua remember it wrong?"
"It's not that Xiaohua remembered it wrongly, but the bowl she ate didn't have those yellow grains. The yellow grains weren't corn grits, but moldy rice that produced aflatoxin. The toxin in aflatoxin is 68 times that of arsenic, and eating it will definitely kill you."
Zhao Xiaohua said she was unlucky because Old Man Zhao carried her to the main table. She said she was lucky because there were no yellow grains in the bowl of rice she was given.
Since the people at the main table were the elders, only they were given rice. They were most seriously poisoned and six of them died at once.
People at other tables ate porridge and potatoes and did not get much rice, so they only showed symptoms of poisoning but did not die on the spot.
When they were investigating, they only noticed the differences in the dishes, but ignored the fact that the rice eaten by the head table and by them was also different.
After listening to Chu Yue's explanation, Doctor Hao reached out and took out a grain of "corn grits", crushed it between his fingers, and green fungi appeared inside the yellow grains.
“That’s it! That’s it!”
Doctor Hao clapped his hands in amazement that Chu Yue had actually figured out such a subtle detail.
[Picture: When rice becomes moldy, it contains Aflatoxin, so don’t eat it. ]
…
After much trouble to find the source of the poisoning, we must deal with the next thing.
Who cooked the meal three days ago, whose rice was used, whether there was any rice left, and whether anyone ate the remaining rice.
Only by eliminating everything at the root can we prevent further deaths in the village.
The news that the rice was poisonous spread quickly in the village, and all the villagers rushed over, bringing with them a woman, the widow Zhao from the village.
Widow Zhao was pushed out and everyone pointed at her and cursed her, especially those whose families had lost someone, they wished they could eat Widow Zhao alive.
"It was her! She was the one helping out in the kitchen that day! She was the one who washed the dishes, vegetables, rice, and cooked! If the rice was poisonous, it must have something to do with her!"
"Look at this! I found this in Widow Zhao's house. It's a bag of rice! Five kilograms, all rice!"
"Widow Zhao, you are so cruel. My family has no grudge against you. Why did you kill people? Why did you kill my father?"
"Drag her into the pig cage! Drag her out! Those are six lives! What are you going to use to compensate?"
The villagers attacked together, venting their long-suppressed anger on Widow Zhao.
The rice that was searched from Widow Zhao's house was also thrown on the ground. Chu Yue and Military Doctor Hao looked over at the same time and saw some yellow grains among the white rice. They really looked like corn grits and they couldn't tell that they were actually highly poisonous.
Widow Zhao worked hard to get a job as a kitchen helper. To put it bluntly, she wanted to take advantage of the situation so that she could secretly "take" something home when no one was in the kitchen.
She would keep rice mixed with a deadly poison at home. It was obvious that she had no idea that the rice was poisonous, otherwise she would have destroyed the evidence long ago.
Widow Zhao, who was insulted and despised by everyone, trembled and quickly began to refute.
"I don't know... I really don't know anything... I didn't do anything... The village head and the village party secretary are both good people, how could I harm them... Even if I die, I won't dare to harm them..."
The villagers didn't believe it and stood up to point at Widow Zhao and scolded her, "The two military doctors have investigated it thoroughly and they said the poison was in the rice! There was only one person who washed and cooked the rice that day, and no one else intervened. You must have been the one who poisoned it! Who else could it be if not you?"
"Rice...rice...is this rice poisonous?" Widow Zhao was shaking with fear. There was rice thrown next to her, but she didn't even dare to touch it. She crawled away on the ground in embarrassment.
She screamed frantically, "I know, I really don't know, I just went over to help, I just stole a little bit, I couldn't bear to eat the rice after I stole it back, if I knew it was poisonous, why would I steal it and keep it at home!"
"I...I...I remember now! I remember now! The village chief told me to use this year's new rice when I cook. He said that sacrifices cannot be sloppy and we must be worthy of our ancestors. I went to ask Secretary Zhang for new rice, but he refused to give me any!"
On the surface, the sacrificial ceremony was a dinner hosted by the village chief, but the village chief was not a landlord and did not have that much food at home.
All expenses were paid by the village, and the rice used was the public grain handed over by the production team.
At this point, Widow Zhao suddenly stood up, her eyes wide open, and pointed her finger directly at Zhang Weimin.
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