The Death of the Longevity Tortoise (Part Two)
Zhiwei did not tell anyone about finding the earring.
After Wan Zhen'er recovered a little, she left Shao Yang to help her and called Shao Zhao to go to the imperial kitchen herself.
On the palace path, Shao Zhao noticed Zhi Wei's solemn expression and asked, "Sister, do you have some guesses?"
"Could it be poisoning again? Is someone trying to kill the concubine?"
Shao Zhao had been following Zhiwei for quite some time and knew that Zhiwei was quite capable in solving cases.
However, even Zhiwei dared not be certain this time, and shook her head: "It doesn't seem like poisoning."
Zhiwei tested the bowl of almond soup with a silver needle and found it to be non-toxic.
Moreover, almond soup was a soup that the imperial kitchen sent to Wan Zhen'er every day. Wan Zhen'er had been eating it for some time, and it wasn't the first time Ah Shou had tried it. There had been no problems before, so he relaxed his guard.
If we're talking about suspicious points, aside from the possibility that the drug used might not be detected due to limited resources, there's another point worth noting.
Zhiwei sniffed, then recalled the slight bitterness she had smelled from Ashou's mouth earlier, and a vague guess formed in her mind.
When she arrived at the entrance of the Imperial Kitchen, Zhiwei stopped.
To be honest, Zhiwei has been serving as the head chef in the palace for almost half a month, but she has mostly been learning the rules and procedures and is not very familiar with the imperial kitchen.
She showed her waist token, said nothing about what she wanted to do, and simply called a head maid to lead her inside.
Upon entering, Zhiwei was dumbfounded.
The imperial kitchen was very large, and the chefs were mostly men, who were responsible for the meals of almost all the nobles in the palace.
Right now, everyone is working in an orderly fashion, preparing the ingredients for dinner.
"Is there a specific person in charge of each meal?" Zhiwei had never seen such a large-scale operation before.
The palace maid led Zhiwei through the stove: "Yes, the Imperial Kitchen has a very detailed division of labor. After all, it serves all the masters, so we can't be negligent."
Zhiwei was led to the stove that was specially used to prepare soups for the various palaces. There were many gu on the stove, and the mutton soup was bubbling and boiling. The thick white steam was mixed with the smell of mutton, and the oil fumes and sweat made people feel dizzy.
A young eunuch, only fifteen or sixteen years old, was kneeling in the middle. His body was trembling like a sieve, and his two hands were clasped together.
Upon seeing the young eunuch, the head maid frowned: "What time is it? Still kneeling? Aren't you afraid of delaying the nobleman's meal?"
"Yes, Master told me to kneel down. I... I made a mistake. I must... I must obey," the little eunuch stammered.
"That can't affect the nobleman's soup!" The head maid glanced at Zhiwei, whose lips were downturned and face darkened. It seemed that this boy had disturbed the master's mood.
The head maid clicked her tongue and said, "What kind of sense do you have? Get up and get back to work." She then kicked him hard from the side.
"Get out of the way."
"Yes, yes..."
Zhiwei noticed that the little eunuch's face was deathly pale, and beads of sweat rolled into his wide-open eyes, which stung with pain, but he dared not wipe them away.
She couldn't help but recall her past life. On her first day working in the kitchen, she broke a bowl and was so frightened that she couldn't lift her head. Fortunately, her master had a good temper and comforted her when she was distraught.
Zhiwei waved her hand, helped the little eunuch up, and comforted him, "Don't be afraid, I'm just asking you some questions."
"Are you in charge of making this soup? What kind of work do you usually do?"
"Most of the work is done by the junior staff. The junior staff are not very smart, so they can only process the ingredients and cook the food according to the heat."
Zhiwei nodded: "What about sweet soup? This kind of soup is different from meat soup. If we cook them together, won't the flavors mix?"
"Of course I'm afraid, so I always prepare the ingredients for the sweet soup the night before. The next day, before the meat soup ingredients arrive, I start making it. After that, I put the finished sweet soup in the ice cellar for storage, and then heat it up on another stove later."
The young eunuch finally regained his composure and explained methodically.
Zhiwei continued to inquire.
"So, pumpkin soup and almond soup are all like that?"
"That's right. The younger ones don't know much about fighting, so they can only work hard and think of other ways to ensure the taste of the soup."
"For example?" Zhiwei raised an eyebrow and slowly guided the young eunuch.
"Adding too much sugar to almond custard makes it too sweet, while adding too little makes it tasteless. How do you handle this?"
"I have a brilliant idea," the eunuch said, his eyes gleaming. "Slowly roast almonds over pine charcoal for half an incense stick's time. This way, the almonds release their oils more fully after roasting, making them crispier and bringing out their natural sweetness."
"Just like this."
The eunuch got up, found a winnowing basket and filled it with some freshly roasted almonds. Zhiwei reached out and picked up a few roasted almonds from the basket. She pinched them with her fingernail, revealing the slightly yellow kernels inside.
Zhiwei popped a roasted almond into her mouth, and as she rolled it over her tongue, the sweet almond flavor mixed with the aroma of charcoal spread through the air.
"It tastes good." Zhiwei clapped her hands, but her eyes looked down at the charcoal fire under the stove. "Since when did you switch to oak charcoal?"
"About two weeks ago, I discovered that oak heats up soups faster and is more efficient, which helps to shorten the cooking time..."
"These are all just clever tricks, nothing respectable."
The young eunuch seemed to be receiving such straightforward praise from Zhiwei for the first time; his lips curled into a wide smile, and even the trembling in his hands lessened considerably.
He knelt down again, kowtowed to Zhiwei, and said, "In short, thank you for your praise, Shanggong!"
No need for thanks.
Zhi smiled, as if seeing her younger self who used to get excited over achieving something.
This little eunuch is quite the studious person.
It's a pity.
Zhiwei's gaze turned cold.
Unfortunately, he was not good at handling things and quietly produced a slow-acting poison.
——
Inside the waterside pavilion.
"You mean, the charcoal fire that the Imperial Kitchen replaced was half an inch too strong and burned for a few more breaths, causing the roasted almonds to burn and their bitter compounds to become toxic?"
"This toxin is negligible to the human body, but over time it can be enough to take my life, Ashou's?" Wan Zhen'er lay on the couch, tightly holding Zhiwei's hand.
"How could such a thing happen? Those people in the Imperial Kitchen, are they just eating for free? Where are the culprits? I want them to be buried with me!" Wan Zhen'er said hatefully, her almond-shaped eyes red and swollen.
Zhiwei avoided Wan Zhen'er's gaze.
Wan Zhen'er probably didn't know that those criminals in her eyes couldn't afford to eat white rice and ate scraps and coarse food.
Zhiwei silently grasped Wan Zhen'er's hand in return.
"This was also an accident. I ordered the eunuch who committed the offense to be given twenty strokes of the cane, which nearly killed him. Now, his skin is torn and bleeding, and he probably won't be able to get out of bed for quite some time," she advised.
Wan Zhen'er didn't respond to her.
"So what if he can't find lodging? It would be better if he died! A eunuch's life is nothing more than an ant's; once he dies, he'll disappear like water in water... Besides, he's only temporarily injured..."
“But my Ah Shou lost his entire life!” Wan Zhen’er’s voice suddenly rose to a shrill tone, her words filled with disbelief and resentment. “Is Ah Shou’s name less than that of these filthy, lowly slaves?”
Zhiwei felt a coolness at her fingertips.
She blinked, and the handkerchief she had been holding in her hand, ready to wipe away Wan Zhen'er's tears, slipped out.
When Wan Zhen'er saw the fear in Zhiwei's eyes, she immediately covered her mouth.
"I...that's not what I meant..."
Wan Zhen'er buried her head in the quilt: "A Shou is a gift from my childhood playmate. I didn't have many friends growing up, and it was my only support. It accompanied me to my wedding and grew up with me. Do you understand how deep my feelings are for it?"
Wan Zhen'er clutched her heart: "They are my family."
"I'm sorry, I lost my tongue..." Wan Zhen'er's words trailed off into an inaudible sob. A few strands of her unkempt hair clung to her tear-stained cheeks, making her look like a dejected lop-eared rabbit.
Zhiwei couldn't bear to see Wanzhen'er so dejected, so she hugged her and said, "It's all in the past now. Forget about today's suffering."
bitter. bitter?
Wan Zhen'er smacked her lips, licked them, and as if remembering something, she broke free from Zhiwei's embrace.
"Yes. The almond soup I made this afternoon was more bitter than usual. I thought it was because the heat was too high, so I didn't pay much attention, but I still coaxed Ah Shou to eat a few bites..."
"So, Ah Shou had already sensed the danger. It was my ignorance, my foolishness as the master, that made me realize it!"
Wan Zhen'er suppressed her sobs. She opened her mouth, but her throat burned with pain. She could only hold Zhiwei's hand tighter, seeking a place to lean on.
Zhiwei stopped touching her.
"What kind of suffering is it?" Zhiwei asked seriously.
"How is the suffering this afternoon different from that before?"
"Try to recall it, comprehensively!"
Wan Zhen'er's eyes were blank, but she still tried hard to recall: "The bitterness before was mild, only on the tip of my tongue, with a faint aroma of roasted meat. But today's bitterness is more like, more like..."
Wan Zhen'er's words caught in her throat, and she couldn't utter a coherent sentence. Si Yu quietly pushed open the door and brought in a bowl of medicinal food. Smelling the familiar aroma, Wan Zhen'er suddenly understood.
"Yes, it's medicine! Today's soup tastes bitter!"
Threads began to emerge from Zhiwei's mind, extending one by one, arranging themselves into bundles, and connecting all the clues.
Bitter almonds!
The poison in today's soup may not be from charcoal, but rather from the toxins inherent in the bitter almonds themselves.
Difficulty breathing, limb convulsions, head tremors...
That matches up! All the expected reactions.
The poison produced after consuming bitter almonds is colorless and odorless, making it almost impossible to detect in this era.
To reach a lethal dose for an adult, a bowl of soup is obviously not enough. However, as a turtle, Ah Shou has a slow metabolism and small size, so his poisoning threshold is far lower than that of humans.
Moreover, Ah Shou's body already contained other toxins.
So, Ah Shou, was he deliberately murdered?
But who has the time or inclination to harm a pet turtle?
Wan Zhen'er's enemies? But how many enemies could Wan Zhen'er possibly make by living in seclusion?
In a flash, the image of the golden lotus-patterned earrings flashed through Zhiwei's mind.
Could it be...?
"Sister, sister!" Shao Zhao rushed into the pavilion, panting heavily.
Someone is looking for you.
"Your Highness, we summon you!"
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