Chapter 685 Yangzhou City Culinary Feast
The onlookers were terrified, standing outside the courtyard wall with pale faces.
Cheng Wanwan sneered, "Lord He, you really have some tricks up your sleeve. Do you think that by killing the only witness, you can't prove that you are the murderer?"
"What do you mean by that, Sui Shuren?" He Tongji looked innocent. "I rushed here as soon as I heard about this, but before I could even say a few words, she was assassinated. What does that have to do with me? I know there have been some misunderstandings between the He family and Sui Shuren, but those are matters between Sui Shuren and the main branch of the He family. Why make things difficult for me, a member of a collateral branch..."
The story of what happened to the eldest son of the He family in Dahe Village was widely circulated in the capital. Some people in Yangzhou had also heard about it, but because Yangzhou and the capital were far apart, the common people did not know much about it and dared not discuss it in front of either side.
“As soon as Lord He arrived, the only witness died. It’s hard to say that Lord He has nothing to do with it. Of course, I won’t slander Lord He without evidence.”
Cheng Wanwan took two steps, walked up to the deceased Huang San'er, bent down and pulled the sharp weapon out of the deceased's forehead.
However, she was too weak and somewhat afraid of corpses, so she failed.
Cheng Jia stepped forward and whispered, "Why don't I come down?"
Cheng Wanwan nodded and gave up her seat.
Cheng Jia pressed down on the deceased's head with one hand and pulled out the sharp weapon with the other. Since the deceased had just stopped breathing, a large amount of blood gushed out as soon as the weapon was pulled out, which was particularly shocking.
The coroner next to him opened his mouth, intending to stop him since he hadn't yet performed the autopsy... but after thinking about it, he gave up.
This is a power struggle between Sui Shuren and Lord He. He should remain invisible and wait until the time comes for someone to bring him on stage.
Cheng Wanwan took out a handkerchief, wrapped the sharp weapon in it, and examined it carefully.
Then, she smiled and said, "Lord He said this matter has nothing to do with you, so may I ask, why is the character 'He' engraved on this weapon?"
"What?!" He Tongji's expression immediately changed. "Let me see, this is simply impossible!"
He reached out to try and snatch it.
Cheng Wanwan quickly stepped back and stood behind Cheng Jia and Cheng Yi.
She sneered, "If we give it to Lord He, what will happen if he destroys the evidence?"
She carefully wrapped the weapon in a handkerchief, turned around to avoid everyone's gaze, fiddled with it for a moment, and then handed it to the constable. "This is evidence. Please keep it safe."
The constable said solemnly, "Don't worry, Ms. Sui. As long as the evidence is there, you're alive; if the evidence is destroyed, you're dead."
He Tongji panicked: "This must be a deliberate slander against my He family. This evidence cannot be used as evidence in court. Your Excellency, please investigate thoroughly!"
"What's the rush, Lord He?" Cheng Wanwan laughed sarcastically. "There are so many people with the surname He in this world. Even if a weapon has the character 'He' on it, it doesn't mean anything. Your haste makes it seem like this is something belonging to your He family!"
He Tongji quickly composed himself and looked around. He saw that everyone was looking at him with strange eyes, even the prefect of Yangzhou.
He gritted his teeth. This woman was too cunning. No wonder the young master fell for her!
He was inexplicably put on the hot seat!
Moreover, he overheard a lot of people talking about it.
"The fact that the He family killed Huang San'er to destroy the evidence means that Lord He killed Wan Guangyuan."
"Judging from this, Lord He attempted to assassinate Wan Guangyuan to frame Sui Shuren, but he did not expect that Sui Shuren would see through his plot."
"This case clearly lacks sufficient evidence; it cannot be proven that Lord He committed the murder, can it?"
“The weapon was engraved with the character ‘He’, so it must be a weapon of the He family. Don’t forget, the He family likes to keep assassins, so it must have been the He family’s assassins who did it.”
"I never imagined the He family could be so ruthless..."
Hearing these remarks, He Tongji felt like his head was about to explode.
The Yangzhou prefect said coldly, "Take all the evidence and the two corpses and return to the yamen!"
The constables immediately obeyed the order, carrying the bodies of Wan Guangyuan and Huang San'er onto stretchers and heading outside, with Madam Wan following behind, weeping.
Cheng Wanwan asked, "Sir, do I need to go to the yamen to cooperate with the investigation?"
The prefect of Yangzhou paused for a moment before saying, "If necessary, we will send someone to deliver the message."
He was a fourth-rank official, while Sui Shuren was a third-rank official, and both were currently enjoying the Emperor's favor. He dared not offend them easily. Furthermore, it was quite obvious that this case actually had little to do with Sui Shuren.
The officials left in a large group.
Cheng Wanwan looked up at the crowd of onlookers and said loudly, "Since everyone is here, I have an announcement to make. Today at 3:45 PM, I will be holding a free food banquet at the East Gate of Yangzhou. Everyone is welcome to come and join in the fun."
Everyone present was incredulous.
"I heard that Dahe Town has held two food festivals, and they were very lively."
"It seems that for twenty coins a person you can go in and eat a lot of good food for free."
"Sui Shuren actually came to Yangzhou to hold a food festival. We ordinary folks are in for a treat."
"Twenty coins isn't expensive..."
Cheng Wanwan said with a smile, "There is no entrance fee for tonight's feast. Everyone is welcome to attend on time. If you arrive late, there may be no food left."
Hearing that it was free, the beggars in the alley became restless; no one wanted to miss out on such a good deal.
Yangzhou is a very large city with a huge population. Everyone knows that if you go too late, there won't be any food left. So, even before the appointed time, a large number of people have already gathered at the east gate of the city.
Meanwhile, a temporary kitchen had already been set up, and Cheng Wanwan had started planning today's feast three days ago.
Most people have recovered from this crayfish poisoning incident, and it seems to have come to an end on the surface. However, in the future, if people mention crayfish, they will still think of it as a poisonous creature that should not be eaten, which will affect its future market sales. In order to completely eliminate this perception, tonight's event is very necessary.
Free food feasts mean spending money, but some money must be spent without hesitation, otherwise you won't be able to earn more money.
Cheng Wanwan, dressed in a short-sleeved shirt that allowed for easy movement, checked the preparations in the kitchen.
The permanent population of Yangzhou should exceed 500,000. Adding the merchants who travel all over the country, the population is estimated to be around 800,000 to 900,000. Of course, not everyone can come to join the fun, but the majority are ordinary people. It is estimated that at least 200,000 people will come tonight, which means that food needs to be prepared for 200,000 people.
Merchant ships from Dahe Town carried crayfish in the bottom of their holds, while the upper decks contained various ingredients, mainly potatoes.
This stuff is plentiful and can be used to make all sorts of delicious food. Tonight is a potato feast: fried potatoes, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, potato chips, potato strips... In addition, she also prepared a lot of sunflower seeds, which can be cracked open for a long time with just a handful. She also prepared many dried snacks and fruits, and brought a lot of ice jelly seeds to make a large amount of ice jelly on the spot for everyone to eat...
The cost price of potatoes is ten coins per pound, and a total of 100,000 pounds will consume one thousand taels of silver.
Roasted melon seeds cost about twenty coins per pound, and a total of 100,000 pounds cost approximately two thousand taels of silver.
Other dried fruits, drinks, ice jelly, etc... all the food and drinks added up to a cost of eight thousand taels of silver.
Not to mention, she also hired hundreds of women to prepare food, and rented out the venue, pots and pans, tables and chairs, which was also a huge expense...
This sum of money, while not a large amount for some wealthy families in Yangzhou, was still considerable. Even if it were insignificant to them, they would never spend so much money to treat unrelated people to a gourmet meal...
As the sun gradually set in the west, more and more people gathered at the east gate of the city.
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