Chapter 117 accuses the first wife's family of trying to poison them.
Old Liao told her, "It's not a problem with the noodles, they're poisoned."
Xiao Mingshu's eyes widened, her mouth slightly agape, and she exclaimed in surprise, "What? Poisoning? Isn't a stomachache caused by undercooked noodles?"
“Ugh…” Zhang vomited another mouthful of noodles. Hearing Lao Liao’s question, she also suspected that Xiao Mingshu had poisoned them.
"Officer, it's her! It must be this damned girl who tried to poison us. She must be holding a grudge against us for beating and scolding her, so she poisoned us. Please, officer, do us justice, arrest her and beat her to death. No, give her thirty lashes, just spare her life."
They still need someone to work, so they'll spare her life for now. They'll kill her later when they have the money to buy a maid, to avenge today's grudge.
Hearing her heartless words, large tears streamed down Xiao Mingshu's face. What difference was there between thirty lashes and killing her?
She raised her hand to wipe away her tears. "Mother, you are my biological mother. Why would I poison you? If you were gone, I would be all alone and helpless. I wouldn't be able to survive. I didn't mean to poison you. Why won't you believe me?"
Zhang sneered, "Why? Because you've been bribed by the eldest son's family. Don't think I don't know they secretly gave you food at noon."
Xiao Mingshu shook her head desperately, "My aunt is kind-hearted. She couldn't bear to see me go hungry, so she gave me food. She didn't ask me to do anything."
I didn't poison it. I was going to eat those noodles too, but you didn't leave me any. Why would I poison myself?
The families living next to the second house had vivid memories of this incident, and upon hearing Xiao Mingshu's words, they all remembered it.
“Officer, we can testify that they were fighting over the food themselves. She did everything herself, from kneading the dough to making the noodles and cooking them while gathering firewood. The noodles were almost cooked when she was sent off to gather firewood. When she came back, there wasn’t a single bite left, and she still had to wash the pot and clean up.”
“I remember it too. At the time, I felt sorry for this girl because she was so well-behaved and sensible.”
Madam Yang also stood up and said, "Officer, even if the bones are broken, the tendons are still connected. Although our eldest son's family and their two sons' families have severed ties and occasionally have friction, it hasn't come to the point of a life-or-death struggle."
Zhang favored her eldest son and constantly beat and scolded Shu'er. I felt sorry for the child, so I shared my food with her.
Wu, who had fainted, was awakened by pain. Her stomach hurt, her hands hurt, her knees hurt, and her whole body ached. She blamed all the suffering on that bitch Yun Zhaoxue. She was determined to kill the eldest son's wife.
She pointed at Yang and shouted, "Yang, it was you who ordered them to poison us. Yun Zhaoxue crippled me, and you wanted to kill me. You are all murderers."
Yun Zhaoxue was watching the show when she was suddenly called upon. She pinched her nose and took half a step forward.
"Murderer? Who's dead? You're still alive and you're already lying through your teeth. If we really wanted to kill you, would you be here biting people like a mad dog?"
"Officer, did you hear that? It's the eldest son's family who's trying to kill us."
Old Liao interrupted her sharply, "Alright, stop arguing! You blame this and that because you ate something wrong. All you do is cause trouble. You don't even know what happened when you got poisoned. You're useless! A bunch of useless people! You deserve to be poisoned to death!"
Wu, “…”
Old Liao asked Physician Chen to take their pulses.
Based on their reactions and pulse, Physician Chen was almost certain that they had eaten poisonous mushrooms, possibly a type of poisonous mushroom.
They also found herbs nearby that could counteract the poison and boiled them into a soup for them to drink, but the effect was not great, so they could not continue their journey immediately and needed to rest for at least an hour.
Old Liao warned everyone, "From now on, don't eat mushrooms you don't recognize in the forest. If you die from eating them, you'll have to bear the consequences yourself."
Everyone nodded in agreement. They had heard that someone had been poisoned by eating mushrooms, and even when they were starving a couple of days ago, they hadn't thought of picking mushrooms. Now that they had food, they were even less likely to eat mushrooms.
Both families were so exhausted that their clothes were spilling out of their trousers, stinking nauseatingly.
After the medicine was brewed, none of the guards dared to go forward and force-feed it to them.
Of the whole family, only Xiao Mingshu was unharmed, and the escort sent her to feed her medicine.
It will take time for the medicine to detoxify and restore strength.
Liao sent four guards to stay behind and keep an eye on them, while the others went ahead.
Then I'll lead them to catch up.
Xiao Mingshu stood there, unsure whether to follow the group ahead.
Old Liao told her to follow him, leaving the rest of the family behind. If he knocked them unconscious or killed them and escaped, he would have to leave one of them as a hostage.
The group continued on their way, and Yang turned back and pulled Xiao Mingshu to her own group.
He patted her hand to comfort her, saying, "Shu'er, this afternoon you should go with your aunt, cousin, and cousin's wife. The Yun family's grain was stolen this afternoon, and it's not safe for a young lady like you to travel alone."
"Thank you, Auntie."
"No need to thank me. Your parents are still angry. They'll calm down by tonight. Don't blame yourself for worrying. It's not entirely your fault that they ate the poisonous mushrooms. You're still a child, so it's normal for them to make a mistake. I've lived most of my life and only learned which kinds of mushrooms and wild vegetables are edible these past few days."
Xiao Mingshu knew she was being comforted, and her eyes welled up with tears. "I'm sorry, I've implicated the eldest branch of the family in being falsely accused of murder. Thank you, Aunt, for not holding a grudge and still taking such good care of me. I really don't know how to repay you..."
Madam Yang smiled and shook her head, "No need to apologize. You were wronged too. You're a good child. We're family, so there's no need for formalities. No need to repay me."
Xiao Xuance and Yun Zhaoxue exchanged a glance.
They felt that Xiao Mingshu must have done it on purpose.
Seeing that Madam Yang was only talking to Xiao Mingshu and ignoring her, Xiao Xiuning pinched her nose, leaned forward, and took her other arm, saying, "Mother, can you smell something unpleasant?"
Xiao Mingshu thought that she had picked up the smell from Wu Shi and the others because she had been drinking medicine and was close by. Moreover, when she smelled her arm, she only smelled a faint sweat and did not smell the foul odor from before.
She lowered her eyes, gripped the reins of the basket tightly with both hands, and silently moved to the side.
Her aunt had been so good to her; she couldn't repay kindness with enmity by bringing her own body stinking up like a filthy mess.
Seeing that she had quietly slipped to the side, Xiao Xiuning feigned surprise and said, "Cousin Ming Shu, why are you hiding so far away? Don't misunderstand, I wasn't talking about you."
Yun Zhaoxue suddenly asked the man beside her, "Can you smell something?"
Xiao Mingshu happened to be walking next to them. Her small body stiffened, she slowed down, and fell behind.
Xiao Xuance has not yet answered.
Xiao Xiuning assumed she also disliked Xiao Mingshu's smell and excitedly asked, "What does it smell like? Is it the smell of poop?"
Yun Zhaoxue glanced at her out of the corner of her eye and said sarcastically, "No, it's just that the tea smells so strong~"
Xiao Xiuning didn't understand what "tea flavor" meant, but the other person's eyes and sarcastic tone clearly indicated that they were talking about her.
What a slut! What does this have to do with her? She always has to meddle in everything.
Yun Zhaoxue raised an eyebrow and glared back, "What are you glaring at me for? Are you comparing who has bigger eyes? I wasn't talking about you."
"You, you mean me."
"So you were right, and now you're angry and embarrassed."
He complained about the smell on Xiao Mingshu and then said, "I wasn't talking about you," which is disgusting to him.
"You're the one who's getting angry out of embarrassment."
Madam Yang scolded her daughter, "Ning'er, say less. Your temper is getting worse and worse, and you're always talking back. Is this how I taught you? We're all family, and we should value harmony."
Yun Zhaoxue walked to the side of Xiao Mingshu, who was walking with her head down.
As soon as she arrived, Xiao Mingshu smelled a delicate floral fragrance, which smelled wonderful.
"Don't take her words to heart. Everyone smells when they're on the road every day."
Xiao Mingshu gently shook her head, "You don't. You smell very nice. Thank you for speaking up for me, Third Sister-in-law."
She takes a bath in the space almost every day. Drinking spiritual spring water has changed her constitution, so she doesn't sweat much and naturally smells good.
Yun Zhaoxue laughed and said, "Shu'er, you really know how to talk. Just based on what you said, it proves that I didn't help the wrong person just now."
...
The group walked for an hour and was about to cross a large mountain. Standing at the foot of the mountain, they looked up at the mountain, which seemed to have no top.
"Officer, how do we get up here? Did we take the wrong path?"
“Yes, wouldn’t it be easier to take the official road? This is not how you take a shortcut. It’s better to walk twenty miles more than to go over mountains and valleys.”
"Officer, let's take another route. It's getting dark, and we definitely won't be able to get over this mountain before today. Spending the night in the mountains is dangerous; there are many wild beasts there."
Old Liao said, "You've come to the right place. There's a bandit stronghold called Black Wind Stronghold near Black Wind Ridge. Those bandits specialize in robbing people on the road. If the men have no money, they kidnap them and force them to become thieves. The women become wives of the bandits."
Someone in the group said, "We have so many men, we could form an army. What are we afraid of those bandits for?"
Old Liao asked, "Can you beat them? Or do you have enough money to feed them?"
"I used to be a civil official and I don't know martial arts, so I definitely couldn't win, but aren't there you officers here?"
The words had barely left his mouth when Old Liao lashed out with his whip in front of him, yelling, "Get lost! You want me to gamble with our brothers' lives? Who's going to pay for it if they die?"
“Uncle Liao, we adults can grit our teeth and climb over this mountain, but with shackles, carrying things, and children, it’s impossible for us to walk.”
"We have to keep going, even if we can't walk, we have to go up the mountain." Old Liao led the way.
Those behind followed, and after the person in the shadows left, Lao Liao turned around and led everyone down the mountain.
They sent messengers to whisper messages within the ranks.
The crowd erupted in commotion. "What? We have to change course? We've already been traveling for over half an hour, and now they're saying we have to change course? Doesn't that mean we've wasted over an hour of our time?"
"That's right, crossing this mountain will save us a lot of walking. I choose to continue climbing and don't want to change course."
"I didn't want to either..."
"Shut up, all of you! Trying to lure the bandits here? If you want to die, I'll throw you all into Black Wind Stronghold!"
Some clever people had already guessed Lao Liao's intention: a feint to the east while attacking the west.
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