Chapter 170 Medicinal Cuisine
Aunt Yang watched as the old woman forced down half a bowl of pickled vegetables as if she were eating poison, and couldn't help but complain, "Even if it's medicinal food, it's still pickled vegetables. How can it be so bitter that it's not appetizing? Could it be spoiled?"
Grandma Yang was furious and grabbed Aunt Yang's ear, yelling, "You heartless wretch! If I can eat this, why can't my grandson? It's all because you didn't raise him properly! He has no good fortune to enjoy such good food! My poor grandson, how did he end up with such a useless mother!"
Aunt Yang, in pain and furious, shoved Grandma Yang away: "You treat this dubious stuff like a treasure? How dare you say my son is unlucky? If you hadn't been constantly talking about having a great-grandson, would I have forced him to risk his life to pick dendrobium? He broke his leg, and it's all your fault!"
Grandma Yang was pushed to the ground because she didn't control her strength properly.
Aunt Yang was about to curse again when she saw the old woman fall to the ground motionless, then convulse, foaming at the mouth, and rolling her eyes upward.
That appearance was terrifying.
Little Yang cried out in terror, "Mom! Did you kill my milk?!"
Aunt Yang was so frightened that she was at a loss for what to do: "I...I don't know! How could it have happened with just a gentle push!"
Seeing his mother pacing around the room like a headless fly, Xiao Yang roared angrily, "Go and call the doctor right now!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly felt a churning in his stomach, and acid reflux surged up. With a "whoosh," he vomited up everything he had just eaten, and his face turned deathly pale.
Aunt Yang panicked completely and scrambled out shouting for help: "Help! Someone's been killed!"
Although the villagers disliked the Yang family, they didn't dare to delay when they heard that someone had died. Some helped, and others called for a doctor.
Liu Xiangyang was busy at the brigade headquarters when he heard the news and rushed over immediately, followed closely by Liu Zhixia.
Along the way, Liu Zhixia kept thinking that the laxative had probably kicked in.
But when she rushed into the Yang family home and saw Grandma Yang lying on the ground, her face ashen and barely recognizable, and little Yang vomiting violently beside her, she froze.
Liu Xiangyang was also startled. He glanced at the pickled vegetables on the table and lowered his voice, "Oh no... something terrible has happened! Go back and tell our parents!"
"good!"
Liu Zhixia turned around and ran home.
At this moment, the two elderly people were coaxing their grandson to take a nap.
"Mother! Something terrible has happened!"
Zhang Xiuying was stunned for a moment, then laughed gleefully: "What's wrong? Did that old woman from the Yang family poop in her pants?"
Liu Zhixia shook her head, her expression grave: "It's not like Grandma Yang is pulling her pants... I'm afraid that won't work."
"What?!"
The elderly couple exchanged a glance, their expressions changing drastically.
This joke has gone too far!
They quickly entrusted their grandson to a neighbor and rushed to the Yang family's house.
In the Yang family courtyard, Aunt Yang's wailing was shrill and piercing.
When Zhao Dongmei saw the Liu family arrive, she whispered, "Grandma Yang has already passed away. Little Yang was also poisoned, and Brother Liu took people to the city hospital for emergency treatment."
"Have you found out the cause?" Liu Zhixia asked anxiously.
Zhao Dongmei shook her head: "The doctor is examining you, and the preliminary diagnosis is poisoning."
At this time, Aunt Yang, the only one who was unharmed, had been taken into custody by the villagers.
A neighbor testified: "I heard the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law arguing fiercely at noon. Now that the person is dead, it must have been the daughter-in-law who did it!"
Aunt Yang struggled desperately, shouting that she was innocent: "I didn't! I just pushed her, how could I dare to poison her? I want to live a few more years, would I do something like pay for murder with my life?"
"Then how did she die? Your son was also poisoned, but you're the only one who's alright. What a coincidence!"
Aunt Zhou frowned and pointed to the leftovers on the table: "Which of these dishes did you not eat?"
Aunt Yang was stunned. Her gaze swept across the table and finally settled on the bowl of strangely colored pickled vegetables. Her face turned pale instantly, her mouth gaped open, and she couldn't speak for a long time.
Everyone knew something was amiss when they saw her reaction.
"It really was you! Take him to the police station!"
Just as she was about to be taken away, Aunt Yang suddenly screamed, "It's the Liu family's pickled vegetables! My mother-in-law died after eating the Liu family's pickled vegetables! She was killed by the Liu family!"
The entire venue fell silent after that shout.
All eyes turned to the Liu family members not far away.
The Liu family members looked extremely grim.
How did a laxative turn into a deadly poison?
Liu Zhixia suppressed her panic and asked the doctor, "Doctor, what kind of poison did Grandma Yang get?"
The doctor shook his head and sighed, "It's highly poisonous! Luckily, Xiao Yang only tasted a little before vomiting, otherwise he would have died too."
Zhang Xiuying asked in a trembling voice, "Is it...is it a problem with our family's pickled vegetables?"
Everyone's gaze followed hers and fell on the open jar of pickled vegetables on the table, which was the Liu family's special "Chinese herbal pickled vegetables".
The doctor held up his silver needles and tested each item in the leftover food on the table, finally shaking his head: "None of them are poisonous. Only..."
His gaze fell on the nearly empty bowl of pickled vegetables. He inserted the silver needle, which instantly turned pitch black.
"This is it! This bowl of pickled vegetables is highly poisonous! Where did it come from?"
Aunt Yang's legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground.
Aunt Zhou shouted sternly, "Yang! Aren't you going to tell the truth? Did you poison her?"
Aunt Yang shook her head frantically, tears streaming down her face: "It really wasn't me! This...this was picked up by my mother-in-law from the roadside!"
The villagers were both angry and amused: "Found it? Our village may be rich, but we're not so rich that we'd just throw away pickled vegetables like that, are we? If you're going to make up a lie, at least make it believable!"
Aunt Yang slapped her thigh anxiously: "It's true! She told me herself! She really found it!"
Aunt Zhou sneered, "Now that the dead have no way to prove anything, you can say whatever you want."
"I...I'll take you to see it! That big jar is still in the cellar!"
Aunt Yang led everyone into the woodshed, moved aside a pile of firewood, revealing a hidden wooden door. Upon opening it, they discovered it was a tunnel.
"Wow! Your family had this trick up their sleeve?"
Aunt Yang explained awkwardly, "That was dug by my father-in-law and the men years ago to save their lives, and later they used it to store some grain."
The group followed them down into the tunnel and, sure enough, found the large jar in a corner.
Several strong men carried the jar into the yard, and the doctor took a sample to test it. Sure enough, it was exactly the same as the poisoned bowl.
Liu Zhixia's expression turned serious, and she quietly tugged at her mother's sleeve: "Mother, I'm afraid we can't get away with it this time."
Zhang Xiuying took a deep breath and whispered, "It's okay, leave it to me."
She strode forward, pointed to the jar, and said with certainty, "This jar is the one that went missing from my house!"
These words caused an uproar in the audience.
Aunt Yang, as if grasping at a straw, screamed, "Look! I told you it was the Liu family who did it! My mother-in-law died from eating their pickled vegetables! The Liu family must pay with their lives!"
Zhang Xiuying crossed her arms and looked at her coldly: "Yang family, don't be so quick to throw mud. My family lost a jar, and the whole village knew about it that day. They even came to search your house, but who knew you were hiding it in the tunnel! Now your mother-in-law has eaten the jar and died. That's her own fault. What does it have to do with us?"
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