Standing next to Zhou Jiuzhen was Su Haiting.
Logically speaking, Su Haiting was detained for spreading rumors and slander in public, so how could she be here?
What made her heart sink even more was that Su Haiting was holding an enamel mug in her hand, tiptoeing to hand it to Zhou Jiuzhen, and in her other hand she was holding a neatly folded blue cloth, about to wipe his sweat.
Zhou Jiuzhen didn't take the towel, but he didn't push her away either. He just frowned and said something, and Su Haiting smiled even more attentively.
Zhou Jiuzhen unconsciously gripped the strap of her canvas bag, inside which was the peanut soup she had cooked at three in the morning.
Fearing the thermos might spill on the way, she walked very carefully.
They walked more than forty miles along the mountain road, hoping that Zhou Jiuzhen could drink a sip while it was still hot.
She took a deep breath, suppressing the chill in her heart, and walked over with her two children in her arms and her youngest in her arms, her voice still relatively calm. "Battalion Commander Zhou, I brought you some soup."
Zhou Jiuzhen turned his head, and when his gaze fell on her and the three children, his expression softened almost imperceptibly, but he quickly regained his cold and hard look. "Didn't I tell you to rest at home? Why did you come up the mountain again?"
He didn't take the thermos, but gestured with his chin to the stone next to him, "Just put it there, drink it when you're less busy."
The aloofness in his tone, like a mountain wind, made Ling Huanwu's heart ache.
Su Haiting chimed in feigned concern, "Comrade Ling, you're too considerate. Brother Zhou is busy here, how could he have time to drink this? Should I keep it for him?"
Ling Huanwu ignored her and was about to say something more when the little baby in her arms suddenly wiggled its bottom and said, "Mommy, I need to pee."
Da Bao and Er Bao also raised their hands, "Auntie, let's shush too!"
Having no other choice, she placed the thermos on a rock near Zhou Jiuzhen's feet, told him "Don't let anyone touch it," and then led the three children toward the nearby woods.
In less than fifteen minutes, when Ling Huanwu returned with the children, the scene before her eyes made her instantly furious.
Su Haiting was holding her thermos, tilting her head back and drinking happily, with peanut crumbs still stuck to the corners of her mouth!
"Su Haiting! What are you doing!" Ling Huanwu rushed over, her voice filled with anger.
Su Haiting was startled by her, and the thermos in her hand wobbled, but she quickly calmed down.
She deliberately licked her lips, looking smug. "It was Brother Zhou who made me drink it. He said the soup wasn't very good, so what's wrong with letting me try it?"
Shut up!
Ling Huanwu didn't believe it at all and reached out to snatch the thermos. "This is what I brewed for my man. Why are you drinking it!"
Both men gripped the handles of the insulated container tightly, their expressions tense.
During the struggle, Su Haiting suddenly cried out "Ouch!" Her hands began to tremble uncontrollably, her face turned deathly pale, and her body leaned straight back.
Ling Huanwu's heart skipped a beat.
Last time, Su Haiting deliberately framed her for stabbing her with a knife.
Is this the same old trick again?
She quickly let go, afraid of being accused of something.
But the next second, Su Haiting collapsed to the ground with a thud, her limbs began to convulse violently, white foam was coming out of the corners of her mouth, and her eyes rolled back, looking very frightening.
The miners and soldiers around were stunned. They stopped what they were doing and gathered around to watch the spectacle.
Zhou Jiuzhen quickly walked over and squatted down to help her, but was stopped by the military doctor who had just arrived. "Don't touch her!"
Dr. Guan is a veteran doctor in the military, with a wealth of experience.
He immediately squatted down next to Su Haiting, placed his fingers on her wrist to take her pulse, then pried open her eyelids to look at her pupils, and even smelled the white foam at the corner of her mouth. His expression gradually darkened.
After a long while, he stood up and shook his head at the people who had gathered around him: "It's poisoning. The symptoms came on suddenly, so we need to give him emergency treatment immediately."
"Poisoning?"
The crowd erupted in an instant, and everyone's eyes fell on the overturned thermos next to Su Haiting.
The lid was open, and there was still a little less than half a bucket of peanut soup inside. The peanuts in the soup were floating on the surface, and they looked no different from usual.
Then, all eyes turned to Ling Huanwu like needles, and whispers rose and fell.
"Was it peanut soup that Comrade Ling brought?"
"No wonder Comrade Song got sick after drinking it; the soup must have been poisoned!"
"But why would she poison him? Was it because she was jealous of Comrade Su's close relationship with Battalion Commander Zhou?"
Ling Huanwu stood there, listening to these discussions, feeling a surge of anger rising from the soles of her feet to the top of her head, making her mind go blank.
She looked at Su Haiting, who was still convulsing on the ground, and then at the suspicious looks from the people around her, and trembled with anger.
Su Haiting's move was too ruthless!
Last time they only framed her for assault, but this time they actually dared to use "poisoning" to frame her for murder.
Now everyone thinks she deliberately poisoned the peanut soup to harm Zhou Jiuzhen!
She wanted to explain, but the words caught in her throat, and she could only clench her fists so tightly that her nails almost dug into her palms.
Seeing that their aunt had been wronged, Da Bao and Er Bao's eyes also reddened. They tugged at Ling Huanwu's clothes and whispered, "Auntie, you didn't do it. We'll be your witnesses!"
But their voices were too soft and were quickly drowned out by the surrounding chatter.
Zhou Jiuzhen frowned, looked at Ling Huanwu, then at Su Haiting on the ground, his expression complex and unreadable.
He didn't say anything, but simply told the soldiers to carry Su Haiting to a well-ventilated area and have the military doctor treat her as soon as possible.
The only sounds in the air were the busy voices of the military doctors and the occasional faint twitching of Su Haiting, which made it hard to breathe.
Even though Zhou Jiuzhen didn't say anything.
But his silence was tantamount to acquiescence, acquiescence to the gossip of others who believed that she was trying to poison him.
Ling Huanwu felt a surge of anger rush to the top of her head, and her hands gripping the thermos trembled.
She first shielded the triplets who were hiding behind her legs.
She glanced at the various expressions on the faces of the miners and soldiers, and finally fixed her gaze on Zhou Jiuzhen. Her voice was clear and loud, drowning out the whispers around her, "Battalion Commander Zhou, from the time I started making soup at home until I came up the mountain, I haven't opened this pot lid twice! Da Bao, Er Bao, Xiao Bao, tell your uncle, when Mom was making the soup this morning, did you all taste it?"
"I've tried it!"
The triplets said in unison, with the eldest gesturing with his little hand, "Auntie scoops up the soup to eat, it's sweet, and my tummy is full!"
Erbao nodded in agreement, his little brows furrowed like a little adult, and he patted his belly, saying, "I'm full too!"
But the doubts in the crowd didn't dissipate. An aunt muttered under her breath, "Who knows if they deliberately left a non-poisoned one for the child? Besides, Comrade Su was perfectly fine, how could she get sick after drinking this soup? Who would joke around with their own life?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Jiuzhen's face darkened instantly.
He didn't look at Ling Huanwu, but instead said coldly to the aunt, "Don't gossip before you've found out! Army doctor, take another closer look. Besides the peanut soup traces, is there anything else abnormal on her body?"
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