The Military Food Crisis (Part Two)
"Spare me..." Sun Wei had never taken care of a child before, and when he heard Zhiwei's words, his stomach tightened and his lower abdomen ached slightly.
"I'll leave it to you." Zhiwei tossed her hand and turned away, quite nonchalantly.
Only Sun Wei and Shao Zhao remained, gazing at each other from afar.
Shao Zhao changed his clothes according to Zhi Wei's request, putting on the clothes assigned by the military camp—a brownish-gray coat covered with layers of patches, the stitches were rough and even a little crooked.
Well, soldiers are indeed the roughest men, but these clothes have their advantages. First, they can work freely, and second, they save women some unnecessary trouble.
Zhiwei had repeatedly warned Shaozhao to hide her identity, and Shaozhao obeyed, covering her already nearly nonexistent chest tightly. She was also tall, so at first glance, everyone would believe that she was a "man".
Sun Wei only glanced at Shao Zhao briefly. Since this morning, Shao Zhao's stomach had been hurting intermittently. He thought it was his own problem, but after asking several people around him, he found that they were also suffering from the same abdominal pain. So Sun Wei felt relieved.
He knew the pain wouldn't last long.
But he has no other choice right now.
So he could only cover his buttocks, limp and smile at Shao Zhao. Then another rumbling sound came from his intestines. He couldn't hold it in any longer. Sun Wei didn't care about anything else and rushed straight to the outhouse like an arrow released from a bow.
——
Inside the tent, Zhiwei stared at the grayish-white flour in her hand, rubbing it between her fingertips.
Shao Zhao's help just now ruined most of the flour. Zhiwei had no choice but to pause her work on improving the dry food biscuits and ask around to find out where the grain was stored to get more flour.
She casually picked up a burlap sack, opened it, and tried to check if the flour was damp. Her brows furrowed as soon as her hand touched the dust.
No, it doesn't feel right.
Zhiwei took out her hand and carefully examined the powder.
Ordinary wheat flour is a natural wheat color, but this pile in front of me is more white, with fine white powder mixed in, a subtle detail that is hard to notice without careful inspection.
"Tsk." Zhiwei snorted softly, recalling the constant complaints in the camp over the past two days and the endless lines of people in front of the latrines.
At first, she thought it was just a case of not being used to the new environment, or that the dry food was too coarse and upset her stomach. But now, with this flour... her heart sank.
Zhiwei calmly took a small pinch of the suspicious flour and rubbed it between her fingertips. The white powder was excessively fine, definitely not the grainy texture that wheat flour should have.
Zhiwei sniffed and smelled it; it was clearly colorless and odorless, yet she had a sense of familiarity about it.
Arsenic?!
Zhiwei's pupils contracted, and cold sweat instantly broke out on her back. She recognized this stuff; it was what caused food poisoning in the Lingnan salt cases.
If it's arsenic, wouldn't the symptoms be diarrhea, vomiting, and dizziness? That matches perfectly! But then again, why is it always arsenic? Aren't there other, more subtle culprits?
Fortunately, it was arsenic, otherwise I might not have realized it.
"Shao Zhao." Zhiwei staggered a step and called out in a low voice.
But no one responded. Only then did Zhiwei remember that she had just sent Shao Zhao away.
Then you can only rely on yourself.
Zhiwei's sharp eyes swept across the surroundings. The granary was empty, but the kitchen not far away was steaming, with several burly cooks wielding large ladles to stir-fry dishes. They looked perfectly normal, as if they had never noticed anything amiss.
So... was it only I who discovered it, or was it only I who dared to discover it?
Zhiwei dared not think any further. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
Zhiwei found a broken ceramic bowl, poured in some water, and then carefully immersed the white powder into the water and stirred it.
She found vinegar in the storeroom, poured out a small half bowl, held her breath, and dripped a few drops of vinegar into the bowl of water that had gradually become cloudy since the powder entered.
"Sizzle..."
A barely audible bubbling sound arose, and a layer of fine foam rose to the surface of the bowl, carrying a slightly pungent odor.
Zhiwei's heart was completely chilled.
The ancients may not have known this, but she had been to school; arsenic reacts with acid and heat to form bubbles.
Sure enough, the army's food supplies had been tampered with. Although the dose of arsenic was not fatal, prolonged exposure would cause soldiers to suffer from diarrhea and exhaustion, making them easy targets on the battlefield.
Fear surged up like a fire, burning Zhiwei's throat until it went dry.
Chaos! It's that chaotic world again, a world that devours people without spitting out their bones!
The Lingnan salt scandal nearly resulted in the wrongful deaths of many, the Yan family of Shu County was wiped out, and now even the military rations meant to protect the country have become a death sentence. She just wanted to cook peacefully, so why did she have to run into all this trouble?
But cursing won't help.
Zhiwei clenched her fists, her eyes hardening. This was a huge matter, involving too many people; she couldn't cover it up, she had to report it.
She grabbed the bowl of "evidence" and rushed out. Just as she stepped out of the kitchen, she was blocked by a tall man.
Zhiwei looked up and recognized the man—one of Zhang Xingzhong's followers, who seemed to be either Lao Deng, Lao Wang, or Lao Chen.
Never mind, that's not the point right now. Zhiwei lowered her body slightly, trying to go around him from the side, but Old Deng moved in the same direction and blocked Zhiwei again.
"Where are you in such a hurry? Young lady, your face is all pale."
Old Deng crossed his arms, his legs barely touching the ground, his eyes sweeping over the bowl of murky muddy soup in her hand, his tone carrying his usual disdain.
"What new gadgets are you tinkering with now? Stop with all this useless gimmicks that delay the brothers' meals, or you'll look bad."
Zhiwei was extremely anxious and didn't want to waste words with him: "Get out of the way! The military rations are poisoned! I need to see the young marshal!"
"Poisonous?" Old Deng scoffed as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world, his face twitching.
"Young lady, are you dreaming? Or do you think you can gain a foothold in the kitchen by spreading such alarmist rumors? Don't tell me that you're too delicate and can't handle the kitchen work, and you don't have any skills to compete with the head chef, so you resort to this tactic to interfere with the competition."
"Or is it because you entered the kitchen without knowing what was going on that everything looks as dirty as you?" Old Deng laughed, his eyes full of mockery.
"This is a matter of life and death. If I lied, would I be able to get away with it? Use your pig brain to think about it. Do you think I would gain more or suffer more in this?"
Zhiwei's temper remained unabated; the fiery spirit honed in the streets of Lingnan was undisguised. With her hands on her hips, she retorted, "Open your dog eyes and take a look!"
She shoved the bowl right under Old Deng's nose. "Use your nose to smell this! Is this the smell of flour meeting water? The vinegar is bubbling—an acid-base reaction! This is arsenic! Do you understand arsenic? If we delay any longer, the whole battalion will be in agony. When the enemy attacks, will you pull up your pants and run, or will you use your pants to cover yourselves?!"
Zhiwei's voice was sharp and piercing, with extremely strong penetrating power.
Although Lao Deng didn't understand the so-called "vinegar droplets bubbling" or the acid-base reaction, he was clearly taken aback by the intense reaction of the person in front of him and was intimidated by Zhiwei's anger.
Old Deng's face turned ashen from her retort, especially the word "pig brain," which made the veins on his forehead throb: "You! How dare you! You dare talk to me like that? Back in the day, on the battlefield..."
"...Anyway, I haven't wet my pants since I was four years old!"
"I don't care how old you are or how much you wet your pants!"
Even if you're still wearing open-crotch pants, it shouldn't be my business!
Zhiwei interrupted him without any politeness, her eyes like scalded knives: "The poison is in this batch of newly arrived flour, right there in that pile of sacks. No matter how powerful you were back then, it's all for naught if you can't detect the poison now. If you stop me, you're an accomplice!" Zhiwei shoved the person who was in her way aside.
——
Outside the command tent, the guards were heavily armed.
Zhiwei took a deep breath and showed the bowl to the soldiers blocking her way: "Where is the young marshal? It's an emergency! The army's rations have been poisoned."
The guard looked suspiciously at the bowl of murky muddy soup in her hand, then at Old Deng, who had caught up with her and had a gloomy face. He hesitated and didn't move.
"I'm not joking, this is an extremely urgent situation!" Zhiwei was genuinely anxious, her voice rising even higher. "This bowl contains poison! If we delay any longer, can you bear the consequences if the young marshal blames us?!"
Zhiwei's voice pierced through the tent flap. As he finished speaking, the tent flap was lifted, and Jiang Tan poked his head out: "What's all the commotion? The young marshal is discussing matters with his generals."
Seeing her savior, Zhiwei didn't hesitate and shoved the bowl in front of Jiang Qin: "Lord Jiang, the military rations have been tainted with arsenic. The diarrhea in the camp these past few days is all caused by this stuff! That batch of new flour is also problematic. It must be sealed off immediately and its source traced."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Qin's expression changed drastically, and his hand holding the bowl became unsteady. He carefully examined the murky water in the bowl, and then sniffed the pungent, acidic odor emanating from a distance. His previously calm eyes trembled.
Without saying a word, Jiang Qin stepped aside and said, "Let's come in and talk in detail."
——
Inside the command tent, Zhu Liji and several generals, including Li Mingjing, were gathered around a sand table in a somber atmosphere.
When Zhiwei entered the tent, he still had that indifferent, deadpan face. His deep, abyss-like eyes swept over the unsightly bowl of "evidence" in her hand, and his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.
Zhiwei dared not waste any words. Under the scrutinizing gazes of several people, she rushed to the table, presented the bowl to everyone, and explained in detail the discovery and testing process of the arsenic, as well as her own deductions.
"...Young Marshal, in my opinion, this is no accident. Someone deliberately poisoned the grain!"
Zhiwei finished stating her conclusion in one breath. Her hands trembled, her chest heaved violently, and her cheeks were flushed with excitement and running. However, her eyes shone brightly as she stared intently at Zhu Liji.
The tent was deathly silent. The generals stared at the bowl of food, their faces grim.
Zhu Liji's gaze finally shifted from the sand table to Zhiwei's face. His gaze was cold and extremely oppressive. It lingered for a moment on her face, which was covered in flour dust and flushed with excitement, before returning to the bowl of "evidence".
Zhu Liji stretched out his long, clean hand, dipped it in the murky liquid remaining on the rim of the bowl, and, to everyone's astonishment, brought his fingertip to his nose and smelled it carefully for a long time.
Zhiwei felt a churning in her stomach and almost vomited on the spot. This madman, isn't he afraid of poison or disgust?
"Pass on the order." Zhu Liji's voice was icy cold and devoid of any emotion, as if he wasn't the one who had just sniffed out the poison.
"Immediately seal off the kitchen and granary, and inventory and seal all newly transported flour. All those involved and the laborers who came into contact with the new flour today shall be detained."
"Jiang Qin, immediately lead men to investigate the transportation route and the people involved in this batch of flour. Li Mingjing, send men to strengthen the security of the camp, especially the water source!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
