She picked up the fried cake and sniffed it hard before confirming that it was indeed croton powder. This method of committing the crime was obviously done intentionally. Jiang Yuwei frowned as she thought this. If this person could not be caught, he would surely become a disaster in the future.
Just as Jiang Yuwei was carefully recalling the whole incident, she suddenly heard a knock on her door.
"Madam, Madam, are you inside?"
It was Wang Fugui's voice. Jiang Yuwei got up, somewhat confused, to open the door.
"What's the matter?"
When Wang Fugui saw Jiang Yuwei come out, he scratched his head somewhat awkwardly.
"Actually, there's something I've always wanted to tell you, but I don't know if what I'm saying is right or wrong, and I'm afraid that if you hear what I say, you'll think I'm being cunning and deliberately targeting Liu Sheng."
Jiang Yuwei looked at Wang Fugui and slowly spoke:
"Go ahead and tell me."
Wang Fugui swallowed hard, somewhat afraid to look Jiang Yuwei in the eye, and instead lowered his head and whispered:
“Actually, this morning when we were selling goods in the shop, I saw Liu Sheng sneakily sprinkling something into the fried cakes. I thought it was because the fried cakes were missing a step in the process and you asked him to sprinkle it, so I didn’t pay attention.”
Wang Fugui glanced up slightly at Jiang Yuwei's expression before continuing:
"Later, the mother and son rushed in and bought the twenty fried cakes on the shelf. I was shocked. How could they buy so many? I took a few more glances. After the mother and son bought the fried cakes that had been sprinkled with powder and left, Liu Sheng stopped sprinkling powder on them."
Wang Fugui paused at this point,
"Actually, I was thinking of reminding him at the time, but suddenly a lot of people came to my stall, so I didn't have time to pay attention to his business and just got busy with my own things. It wasn't until the afternoon when the woman came to my door that I suddenly remembered this matter."
Wang Fugui glanced at Jiang Yuwei somewhat embarrassedly.
“At the time, I was thinking about whether to tell you, but there were a lot of people and distractions in my son’s shop, and I was afraid that telling you would have a bad impact on our shop, so I kept it to myself.”
Wang Fugui took a few deep breaths and said nervously:
"I really couldn't hold it in any longer. I felt that since I had taken your money and was doing things for you, I had a responsibility to tell you about this. Anyway, this is what I saw with my own eyes. Whether you believe it or not, I really didn't mean to say anything bad about Liu Sheng."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuwei waved her hand and said:
"Go to the shop and call Liu Sheng back. Don't say anything else, just tell him that I'm going to arrange new work for him tomorrow and ask him to come back."
Hearing Jiang Yuwei's words, Wang Fugui knew that she believed him to some extent, so he happily nodded and ran out.
Jiang Yuwei went back inside to collect the fried cakes from the table, then went to the front yard to gather everyone, and asked Cheng Yi:
"Steward Cheng, what methods do you use when interrogating rebels in the army?"
Although Cheng Yi didn't know why Jiang Yuwei suddenly asked this, he still answered honestly:
“There are many. When interrogating such people, we usually start by giving them a dozen or twenty lashes as a warning. If they still don’t confess honestly, we use whipping or dismemberment by five horses. If all else fails, we just behead them.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuwei quickly waved her hand and said:
"There's no need for beheading. He's still a human life. I'm going to interrogate Liu Sheng in a bit. You can just agree with me. If you can get him to talk by scaring him, then there's no need to torture him. If not, just give him a dozen or so slaps to wake him up."
Cheng Yi nodded in agreement.
"Yes, madam, I guarantee I'll take care of this for you."
As the two were talking, Wang Fugui led the impatient Liu Sheng into the mansion. Liu Sheng had just fallen asleep when he was woken up by Wang Fugui's knocking on the door, and he was already very annoyed.
Upon entering the courtyard, he saw that everyone in the General's Mansion was waiting for him in the front yard. He was so frightened that his legs went weak, and he lost his footing and fell flat on his face.
Upon seeing this, Wang Fugui, who was walking ahead, quickly turned back to help Liu Sheng.
"Liu Sheng, what are you doing? There's no need to give me such a big gift on a holiday. I don't have any red envelopes for you."
Seeing Liu Sheng's behavior, Jiang Yuwei understood what was going on. As the saying goes, if you have a clear conscience, you have nothing to fear.
If Liu Shengdan can be so scared by seeing so many people standing here, then he must be incredibly nervous inside.
At this moment, Jiang Yuwei only regretted that she hadn't noticed Liu Sheng's strange appearance that day. Instead, she was thinking that the shop needed people right now, so she simply hired him and let him work in the shop.
In addition, she was so busy with the opening of the shop that she didn't send anyone to investigate his background before rashly agreeing to keep him. Now this is her retribution.
Jiang Yuwei looked at Liu Sheng and said:
"Liu Sheng, did you allow anyone else to handle the fried cakes at your stall today?"
Liu Sheng was suddenly stunned by Jiang Yuwei's question, and subconsciously shook his head, then anxiously explained:
"Well, I went to the outhouse this afternoon, so I asked Wang Fugui, who was sitting next to me, to watch the stall for a while."
Jiang Yuwei turned to look at Wang Fugui.
Seeing that he was being suspected, Wang Fugui hurriedly knelt down and anxiously said:
“Madam, I only watched over his stall for a short while before he came back. I was so busy with my own stall that I didn’t have time to tamper with his.”
Jiang Yuwei nodded.
"The mother and son bought the fried cakes in the morning, and Liu Sheng went to the outhouse in the afternoon."
As Jiang Yuwei spoke, she turned to stare at Liu Sheng again.
"So, you can't pin this on anyone else, Liu. Tell me, why did you add croton powder to the fried cakes?"
At this moment, Aunt Zhou and the others, who were still confused, widened their eyes upon hearing Jiang Yuwei's words.
Ning Qiu was a straightforward person. Seeing that Liu Sheng dared to do something underhanded in the shop, she was immediately enraged. Without saying a word, she took out her whip and lashed Liu Sheng hard.
"Liu Sheng, you have no heart! Madam treated you so well. She took you in without hesitation when she saw you were a homeless man and even paid you a job. Yet you are so heartless as to ruin Madam's shop. You truly only deserve to be a homeless man!"
As Ning Qiu spoke, he was about to raise his whip to strike Liu Sheng again, but Ning Wu, seeing this, quickly grabbed Ning Qiu's arm to stop him, saying:
"Wife, don't be impulsive. Let's hear what Madam has to say first."
Seeing this, Ning Qiu could only spit fiercely at Liu Sheng, who was kneeling to the side, before putting away the whip and standing aside.
At this moment, Liu Sheng was already terrified to see himself surrounded and questioned by so many people. He trembled and kept kowtowing to Jiang Yuwei.
"Madam, Madam, this matter really has nothing to do with me!"
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