Chapter 311 She found the source of the poison!
Zhao Xiaohua thought carefully, "There was meat... and fish... I like fish. Dad cleaned the fish bones... and fed me mouthful by mouthful."
"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... He continued to give me fish... and wild vegetables..."
Zhao Xiaohua has a good memory. She remembers every detail of 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, "And there's rice... white rice... Dad said that only when the village chief invites me to dinner can I eat white rice, so he told me to eat more..."
White rice is expensive, so 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 full of images. "Xiaohua, 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 backwards, his face pale and he was extremely panicked.
He even wanted to escape from the warehouse, but was stopped by Chu Yue.
"Clerk 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 multi-grain rice.
Chu Yue explained, "I just asked Xiaohua, and Xiaohua said she eats white rice."
"But this rice clearly has corn grits in it, it's not white rice. Did Xiaohua remember it wrong?"
"It's not that Xiaohua remembered it wrong, but the bowl she ate didn't have those yellow grains. The yellow grains weren't corn grits, but moldy rice that had grown aflatoxin. The toxin in aflatoxin is 58 times more potent than arsenic, and ingesting it is certain to 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 severely poisoned and six of them died at once.
The people at other tables ate porridge and potatoes, and did not get much rice, so they only showed symptoms of poisoning and 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 host table and their people 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. Chu Yue actually figured out such a subtle detail.
[Picture: If rice is moldy and contains aflatoxin, do not eat it.]
…
After much trouble finding the source of the poisoning, we must deal with the next thing.
Who cooked the meal three days ago, whose rice was used, was there any rice left, and did anyone eat 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, taking a woman with them, who was 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, who wished they could eat Widow Zhao alive.
"That's 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 is poisonous, it must be her fault!"
"Look at this! I found this in Widow Zhao's house. It's a bag of rice! Five pounds, all rice!"
"Widow Zhao, you have such a cruel heart. Our family has no grudge against you. Why did you kill people? Why did you kill my father?"
"Drag her to the pig cage! Drag her out! Six lives were lost! What are you going to use to compensate her?"
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 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" some things 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 body 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 died, I wouldn't dare to harm them..."
The villagers refused to believe it and pointed at Widow Zhao, accusing her of poisoning them. "Two military doctors have investigated thoroughly and say the poison was in the rice! There was only one person who washed and cooked the rice that day. No one else was involved. You must have been the one who poisoned it! Who else could it be?"
"Rice...rice...is this rice poisonous?" Widow Zhao was shaking with fear. There was rice thrown beside 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 didn't know. I just went over to help and stole a little. After I took the rice back, I couldn't bear to eat it. If I had known it was poisonous, why would I have stolen it and kept 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 sacrifices cannot be sloppy and we must be worthy of our ancestors. I went to ask Clerk Zhang for new rice, but he wouldn't give it to me!"
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 moment, Widow Zhao suddenly stood up, her eyes wide open, and pointed her finger directly at Zhang Weimin.
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