Chapter 78 Poisonous Porridge
It was freezing cold, so the kitchen helpers all wore turbans and collars.
In order to reduce the exposed area of the face, the headscarf is wrapped very low and the collar is pulled very high, so that only the eyes and nose are exposed.
The man was about the same height and build as Wang Er, and no one noticed anything unusual when he sneaked into the porridge stall.
A big black dog sniffed it out.
Wuhua found a bag of red powder on the man.
Feng Qingsui recognized it at a glance; it was Croton.
That is arsenic.
The medicinal porridge cooked at Ji's porridge stall was added with red dates and wolfberries, which gave it a rosy red color. No one could tell if the arsenic was sprinkled in it.
"Where is Wang Er?"
She looked coldly at the people on the ground.
The man was caught red-handed before he could do anything. Terrified, he quickly confessed, "In the restroom. I knocked him unconscious while he was using the toilet and stole his clothes."
The kitchen helpers immediately went over and brought Wang Er back quickly.
The person was still alive, but was very cold.
The kitchen helpers hurriedly stripped off the man on the ground's outer robe, turban, wind collar, and boots, put them on Wang Er, and helped him to the stove to warm himself by the fire.
Feng Qingsui continued to interrogate: "Who sent you?"
The man replied, "I don't know who it is. I live nearby. Last night someone came to my house and knocked on the door. I went to open it, but the person held it shut and asked through the door if I wanted to pay off my gambling debts."
"I owed the casino eighty taels of silver. The man slipped twenty taels through the crack in the door and said it was a deposit. He would give me another hundred taels after the deal was done."
"I...I wanted to pay off my gambling debts so badly that I agreed."
Feng Qingsui handed the man over to the yamen runner, and then reminded the kitchen helpers: "Watch the pots and porridge buckets carefully, don't take it lightly."
The kitchen helpers were still terrified and nodded repeatedly: "Yes!"
Qi's brows knitted tightly together, "Who could be so vicious as to hire someone to poison our porridge shop?"
Feng Qingsui couldn't figure out who did it.
Ji Changqing has many enemies, and she has offended many people recently, so it is difficult to judge.
"The truth will eventually come out." She comforted Qi, "If there's one, there will be another. Since that person wants to deal with us, he will definitely make another move. We just have to wait and see."
Qi: “…”
Wasn't comforted.
Feng Qingsui sat back at the consulting table and continued to treat the victims.
A hundred meters away, in the porridge stall of Rongchang Marquis Mansion, Wei watched this scene from afar, her back teeth grinding.
"Waste!" She growled at a middle-aged man wearing a felt hat beside her. "How do you do your job? I asked you to find someone, and you found me such a idiot!"
The man hung his head and said nothing.
"I'll give you one more chance."
Wei said gloomily.
"If you still can't do it, I will sell everyone in your house and your daughter to a low-class brothel."
The man gritted his teeth and said, "Don't worry, Madam. I will definitely get it done!"
"Go ahead."
The man turned and left.
Wei glanced at Ji's porridge stall. The porridge was already cooked and there was a long queue of victims.
Looking at my own porridge stall, it also started distributing porridge, but there were only a few people queuing up.
The third sister, Han Ruixiang, seemed to be unable to see the tragic contrast. She stood in front of the porridge bucket and personally served porridge to the untouchables, one spoonful at a time.
He also reminded them: "The porridge is still hot, drink it slowly."
After everyone in line had received their porridge, she walked over to Han Ruixiang and said sarcastically, "Why are you working so hard, Third Sister? These lowly people are not worthy of your service."
Han Ruixiang said calmly, "All beings are equal, so why distinguish between high and low? Sister-in-law, please don't be obsessed with appearances."
She scoffed and returned to the carriage.
Han Ruixiang was not a Buddhist before, but recently she has been saying "all living beings are equal" all the time, with a compassionate look on her face, as if she was possessed by Guanyin Bodhisattva.
I don't know what tricks they are playing.
He even said that she was possessed.
Why didn't she give up her fine clothes, delicious food, and large mansion, and wear sackcloth, eat wheat cakes, and live in a thatched hut like the untouchables?
Didn't she know that the first thing she did when she returned home from distributing porridge every day was to take off all her clothes, shoes and socks and have the maid burn them?
How hypocritical and artificial.
She would never bother to pretend in front of the untouchables. If it weren't for dealing with the Ji family, she would never set foot in the outer city.
Feng Qingsui felt as if someone was staring at her. She turned around but saw no one.
All I saw was a luxuriously decorated carriage.
The carriage stopped next to the porridge stall of Rongchang Marquis Mansion.
She seemed lost in thought.
At noon, she and Qi were drinking porridge in their own porridge shed. Just as they put down their bowls, they saw three men squatting in the corner drinking porridge suddenly throw away their bowls, holding their stomachs and vomiting continuously.
While vomiting, he shouted, "Ji's porridge is not clean!"
The surrounding victims, holding their bowls of porridge, all stopped and looked over in confusion.
Someone in the crowd shouted, "Someone was arrested at Ji's porridge stall and sent to the government. That person came to Ji's porridge stall to poison people. Ji didn't throw away the poisoned porridge, he gave it all to us!"
The crowd was shocked.
"No way, they've already caught it, how come it's still poisonous?"
"Maybe he didn't realize that he had been taken?"
"Then didn't we all eat poisonous porridge?"
The next moment, the three men fell to the ground, vomiting and stinking of feces.
"Ji knew the porridge was poisonous, yet they still sent it to us. This is clearly intentional murder and a disregard for human life!"
The voice just now said loudly.
"What are you still standing there for! Go report it to the police!"
Someone actually went to report to the police.
The others looked at the three men struggling in pain on the ground, their faces filled with anxiety and anger.
The man in the felt hat, hidden in the crowd, curled his lips into a sneer.
The firewood has been piled up. If we add more fuel to the fire, Ji’s porridge stall will be flattened by the crowd.
At this moment, a clear female voice rang out: "Everyone, make way. Don't get too close. These three people may be infected with the disease."
Epidemic?
These words were like a thunderclap, blowing the crowd back.
A major disaster will inevitably be accompanied by a major epidemic. Epidemics are always linked to disasters. Those three people were vomiting and having diarrhea, which looked like they were infected with an epidemic.
"I was wondering why so many people drank Ji's porridge, but only they got into trouble. It turns out it wasn't the porridge that was poisonous, it was them who were sick."
"That's right. I've been drinking Ji's medicinal porridge for a few days and I feel much stronger. If anyone says there's something wrong with Ji's porridge, I'll be the first to beat him up."
"Who was it that just now shouted that Ji's porridge was poisonous?"
The man in the felt hat was dumbfounded.
Why is this development different from what he expected?
Shouldn't these disaster victims be blinded by anger and seek to settle accounts with the Ji family? Why are they pointing the finger at him just because someone mentioned an epidemic?
He was about to argue and reignite their anger when a sudden chill ran down his neck.
He looked down and saw a knife at his neck.
Following the hand holding the knife upwards, I saw a round face.
It turned out to be the fat maidservant beside Madam Ji!
I suddenly felt hopeless.
Feng Qingsui rescued the three men.
After the three men recovered, they pointed at the man in the felt hat and said, "He was the one who gave us ten taels of silver each and asked us to come to Ji's porridge stall to cause trouble. He also made us take laxatives beforehand, saying it would make the scene more realistic. Who knew he was actually trying to trick us into taking poison?"
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