Chapter 171 Poisoning
The villagers nodded in agreement: "That's right! Regardless of whether the pickled vegetables were poisonous or not, since it was your mother-in-law who stole them, she deserves to die from eating them. It's not the Liu family's fault."
Liu Zhixia stepped forward at the opportune moment, her expression calm: "More importantly, my family runs a legitimate food business. We wouldn't even dare to put rat poison in our house, everyone knows that. How could such a potent poison possibly be in my pickles? Unless..."
She scanned the room meaningfully: "Unless someone deliberately poisoned it."
As soon as the word "poisoning" was uttered, everyone's eyes were immediately drawn to Aunt Yang, like spotlights.
Aunt Yang was stunned: "What do you mean? So, I'm the one who poisoned the Liu family's pickled vegetables?"
An older woman retorted angrily, "These past few days you've been causing trouble in front of the Liu family's house every day, even threatening to ruin their business. Isn't it obvious that you did it?"
"Exactly! So that's what he meant when he said everyone would have to beg you!"
"Damn it! This vicious woman is trying to poison the whole village! Xia said that this jar of pickled vegetables was for everyone to eat!"
The villagers grew increasingly terrified, their eyes filled with hatred as they looked at Aunt Yang, wishing they could tear her apart. Several hot-tempered men had already raised their fists.
Aunt Yang shrank back in fright and cried out, "I'm innocent! I can't even get into the Liu family's house, how could I poison them? Use your brains, besides the Liu family, who else could have come into contact with those things?"
Everyone was taken aback and began to think carefully.
Suddenly, someone exclaimed, "Then it's only Lu Xiaohui! She's been helping out in the core area of the Liu family, and she's had more contact with the sauces than any of us. If she secretly put something in, who would know?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Xiaohui, who was watching the show from behind the crowd, immediately became furious.
"Nonsense! I have to change and disinfect my clothes from head to toe before I go to work at the Liu family's house! How could I possibly bring the virus in?!"
An older woman curled her lip: "That's hard to say! Last time Shen Hongmei stole something, didn't you also manage to evade a body search? We've seen your tricks firsthand!"
Panicked, Lu Xiaohui desperately turned to Liu Zhixia for help: "Xia! Please say something for me! It really wasn't me!"
Liu Zhixia nodded, her expression serious: "Everyone knows about our grudges with the Lu family. That's why my mother and I have always been very wary of Sister Xiaohui. Not only do we have to change clothes and search her when she comes in and out, but someone also has to watch her while she's working. We really didn't give her a chance to poison her."
Once Lu Xiaohui was cleared of suspicion, all the blame was once again placed on Aunt Yang.
The Liu family's defenses were tight, and outsiders couldn't get in, but Aunt Yang, as a daughter-in-law of the Yang family, knew everything about the pickled vegetables stored in her family's cellar.
She was the one with the best chance of poisoning him!
Faced with the menacing stares of the crowd, Aunt Yang shouted herself hoarse, but no one believed her.
Aunt Zhou decisively ordered, "Take her to the police station! This jar of pickled vegetables is evidence, take it with you! Let the officers at the police station investigate thoroughly!"
As she was being dragged out, Aunt Yang completely panicked, her mental defenses crumbling instantly. She cried out, "I was wrong! I know I was wrong! I shouldn't have taken that money! I confess! I confess everything!"
The villagers looked at him with disdain: "So it really was you who poisoned him? You're really heartless!"
Aunt Yang shook her head frantically, her words incoherent: "It's not poison! It really isn't poison! They gave me laxatives! It was the Lu family! The Lu family wanted to ruin the Liu family's business, so they gave me money and medicine to put in the pickled vegetables! They said it would make the customers get diarrhea, and then they accused the Liu family of having unclean products, forcing the Liu family to cooperate with that Boss He! I really didn't know it was poison!"
These words caused an uproar, and the villagers' anger was instantly ignited.
Seeing that things were not going well, Lu Xiaohui tried to sneak back to report the news amidst the chaos.
Sharp-eyed villagers shouted, "Lu Xiaohui has run away!"
Aunt Zhou reacted quickly, pointing at several strong young men: "Quick! Go to the Lu family and arrest them! Don't let a single one escape!"
After arranging the arrest, Aunt Zhou looked coldly at Aunt Yang: "Words are meaningless; where's the evidence?"
Aunt Yang wiped away her tears: "They gave me money! It's right here in the house, I'll show it to you!"
Escorted by the villagers, Aunt Yang pulled a box from deep inside the wardrobe, which indeed contained a stack of brand-new banknotes.
Trembling, she handed the money to Aunt Zhou, pleading, "Captain, this is my son's life-saving money! Please don't confiscate it! Otherwise, he really won't survive!"
Aunt Zhou looked at the stack of money stained with human lives, her eyes icy: "Human life is of paramount importance, this is stolen money! As for your son's medical expenses, I will apply for assistance from higher authorities as appropriate."
Aunt Zhou took the money and handed it to Zhang Xiuying: "Can you tell that this money came from the Lu family?"
Zhang Xiuying looked at it over and over for a long time, then shook her head: "How can you tell? Unless you bring a dog to smell it."
Liu Zhixia, with her keen eyes, pointed to a corner of the banknote: "This money has a serial number. Such new consecutive serial numbers must have just been withdrawn from the bank. As long as it matches the money in the Lu family's possession, it's irrefutable evidence."
Aunt Zhou suddenly realized: "That makes sense!"
A villager nearby worried, "But everyone got paid last time by Boss He. Is this account being misused?"
Liu Zhixia shook her head: "The money that Boss He paid to everyone was taken by him later. The batch that the Lu family had was the capital he gave them when he first wanted to start the Dendrobium business. As long as we find the last person who received wages from the Lu family and compare the serial numbers, the truth will come out."
Everyone understood immediately and got to work.
People in the countryside like to keep their money at home and in their own hands; they don't even trust banks.
They quickly found the villager who was the last to receive the money.
After careful comparison, sure enough, the serial numbers of the money in Aunt Yang's hand were closely linked to those of the money in the villager's hand!
Aunt Zhou sneered, "Fellow villager, lend us this money as evidence first, we'll definitely pay you back later! Everyone can be a witness!"
The honest villagers nodded repeatedly and handed over the money without saying a word.
At this time, the Lu family members had already been tied up and taken to the brigade headquarters.
Li Xuemei continued her tantrum: "Why do you say we ordered it? Where's the evidence? Don't make baseless accusations without evidence!"
Aunt Zhou slammed the two stacks of consecutively numbered bills on the table and explained the numbering, which immediately silenced Li Xuemei.
"Lu family, explain yourself! Why did you give Aunt Yang such a large sum of money?"
Lu Jianping, publicly restrained and utterly humiliated, was furious and retorted, "Whatever she says goes! Couldn't it be the leftovers from the previous Dendrobium harvest? Can't I just take the rest of the money if I want?"
Aunt Zhou sneered, "Stop making excuses. The serial numbers are crystal clear. Besides your Lu family, who else could produce this batch of consecutively numbered coins? If you can't explain it clearly, we'll go to the police station and have the officers there investigate thoroughly!"
Aunt Yang quickly added, "Yes! They gave me that medicine too! The police station checked and found out I never bought that kind of medicine! It must have been the Lu family who bought it!"
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