Chapter 67: Be on Guard
After Duan Hongzhe finished explaining his situation, he asked anxiously, "What's wrong with everyone? Why are you so pale?"
Duan Hongzhe's sudden return immediately attracted the attention of Sun Ran, who was full of anger. Missing the assessment at the brick factory made him desperate. Someone must be held responsible for this!
Captain Cao was indeed right. If Chen Hong and the others had poisoned everyone, there was no need for them to drink the mushroom soup themselves.
However, the poisonous mushrooms that inexplicably appeared in the kitchen were not simple in themselves. The moment he saw Duan Hongzhe, Sun Ran felt as if he had figured out something key.
"No! We were all poisoned, how come Duan Hongzhe escaped? He must have placed the poisonous mushrooms in the kitchen."
As soon as Sun Ran finished speaking, everyone's eyes were focused on Duan Hongzhe.
Yes, among the thirty or so people in the educated youth camp, only Duan Hongzhe was not poisoned, and he had not been seen for the whole morning. It was indeed...
Duan Hongzhe's face turned pale. "What kind of poisonous mushrooms? Has anyone been poisoned? I, I really don't know anything."
Zhang Wan looked at her lover's pale and panicked expression, her face full of heartache: "Sun Ran, even if you didn't become a salesperson, you can't take it out on Brother Duan!"
"You said he poisoned me. Do you have any evidence?"
Xue Yongchang stared at Duan Hongzhe with deep eyes, and said after a while: "Hongzhe, don't blame us. This morning, someone suddenly put a basket of poisonous mushrooms in the kitchen. After everyone ate the mushroom soup, they were all poisoned. Only you didn't drink the mushroom soup, so everyone is inevitably confused."
"In order to dispel everyone's doubts, I will ask you a few questions on behalf of everyone. I hope you can cooperate. This is also for the sake of your innocence."
Zhang Wan was furious. "How could you doubt Brother Duan? He..."
"It's okay. I believe that those who are innocent will be cleared. Captain Xue, you can ask."
Duan Hongzhe stopped Zhang Wan with a firm expression and a bit of indignation at being wronged.
He knew in his heart that the timing of coming back today was not right and he had already attracted everyone's attention. He might as well take this opportunity to dispel everyone's suspicion.
"Okay, then let me ask you, we always go to the mountain to check the traps after work in the afternoon. Why did you go in the morning today and didn't even have breakfast?" Xue Yongchang stared straight at Duan Hongzhe, not missing any subtle expression on his face.
"As far as I know, this is the first time you didn't have breakfast at the Youth League Center."
"Hey, actually I dreamed about my mother last night, so I woke up before dawn. Because I was in a bad mood, I didn't eat breakfast and went to the mountain to look at the traps. Actually, I just wanted to relax."
"After all, I haven't dreamed of my mother for a long time."
"It was because I was thinking about my mother and was in a trance that I accidentally fell down the hillside."
Duan Hongzhe's face was filled with sadness, and he did not feel guilty at all for using his mother's early death as an excuse.
As for the poisonous mushroom incident, no matter how much they suspected it, they couldn't convict him without concrete evidence.
"Brother Duan, you, don't be sad..." Zhang Wan advised, looking at the man covered in wounds with pity.
These people are really too much. How can they bring up Brother Duan’s sad story?
"Since you got up so early in the morning, did you see who put the poisonous mushrooms in the kitchen?"
Zhang Wan stood up, unable to bear it any longer. "Are you guys done yet? Didn't you see that Brother Duan is covered in wounds? What reason did he have to poison everyone?"
"Don't think that just because you treat your work in the brick factory as a golden bowl, others are the same as you."
After hearing what Zhang Wan said, Zhong Qing couldn't help but speak up for Duan Hongzhe: "I can testify that Hongzhe never said that he was going to take the assessment at the brick factory."
"This must be a misunderstanding. Hongzhe would never do such a thing."
"It seems to make sense. Since Duan Hongzhe is not participating in the brick factory assessment, he will not poison everyone for no reason."
"I don't think so. Duan Hongzhe usually gets along well with everyone. He doesn't look like that kind of person at first glance."
Duan Hongzhe maintained a sad expression. He had thought it through when he started planning. As long as there was no evidence, everyone would only be suspicious. As long as he refused to admit it, no one would be able to do anything to him.
But he didn't expect that bitch Wang Paner would suddenly appear and ruin his entire plan!
Sun Ran saw that everyone was trying to excuse Duan Hongzhe, and he became even more agitated. "No, I don't believe this was an accident. Someone must have deliberately harmed me. If it wasn't Duan Hongzhe, then the murderer was also in this yard."
"I'm going to the police station in town to report the crime. I must catch the murderer who murdered me!"
No one expected that Sun Ran would actually go to the police station to report the crime. People these days have a natural fear of the police, and waves of opposition soon arose around them.
"Sun Ran, there's no need to call the police. This is just a small matter and no one is in any serious trouble."
"Yeah, I don't want to be interrogated by the police. I haven't committed any crime."
"Sun Ran, forget it. The brick factory will definitely recruit again soon."
When Duan Hongzhe heard Sun Ran say that he was going to the town to call the police, his heart tightened. Although he was very confident in his plan, if the police came to investigate, the affair between him and Wang Pan'er might be exposed.
By then, the crime of hooliganism alone would ruin his life.
Even if he said that Wang Pan'er did it voluntarily, his reputation would be ruined and he could only marry that village girl.
Therefore, we must never let Sun Ran call the police!
Duan Hongzhe pushed up his glasses with the missing legs on his face and said, "Sun Ran, everyone understands your reluctance, but it's really too impulsive to do this."
"Don't overthink it. It's very likely that someone picked these mushrooms and put them in the kitchen as a snack for everyone, but they didn't realize they were poisonous and harmed everyone. So they didn't dare to say it out loud for fear of being blamed."
"After all, there wasn't any serious damage this time. If you insist on calling the police, and the police can't find this person, then everyone at the scene will become a suspect!"
"If the villagers knew that someone among us educated youth had poisoned people, who would dare to contact us? How could we live in Wanyang Brigade?"
Cao Yin couldn't help but persuade him, "Sun Ran, let it go this time. There's no need to make such a big fuss."
Cao Yin knew too well the consequences of being excluded by fellow villagers. When the five of them had just arrived in the countryside, they had offended the people in the team because of the distribution of pork. During that period, the work they were assigned was the most tiring, and when they encountered farm work they didn't know how to do and wanted to ask someone for help, no one was willing to pay attention to them.
Now that the relationship has finally been eased, we can't let Sun Ran act recklessly again.
Receiving Cao Yin's hint, Xue Yongchang also advised: "Sun Ran, stop making trouble. If the reputation of the educated youth is ruined, even if there are any positions next time, it will have nothing to do with us."
"Duan Hongzhe, just wait. I will definitely not let you go!"
Sun Ran's face was full of reluctance, but he didn't dare to gamble on fairness by using his future opportunity to be a worker, so he could only go into the house angrily.
Seeing the situation, the others also stood up and went back to the house to rest, but from time to time, low whispers could be heard in the house.
Although Duan Hongzhe's reasons were very sufficient, this incident was too coincidental, and many people were still wary of Duan Hongzhe.
After all, we should always be on guard against others. This time it was just a stomachache, but I don’t know if I will lose my life next time.
Duan Hongzhe, supported by Zhang Wan, pretended to limp towards the barefoot doctor's home in the village. Thinking of everyone's suspicious looks just now, his face turned cold.
It seems that I can’t stay here any longer…
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