Chapter 186

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Some content in this chapter is【not】very suitable for reading during meals; it is recommended that everyone【not】read this at mealtime.

Song Miao followed her into the storeroom.

The room was filled with large hemp sacks, and three people stood nearby; one was there to collect grain, while another, the grain manager, stood to the side holding a brush and paper—he had been borrowed from the Zhang family of Weizhou to manage the warehouse's inbound and outbound records.

Seeing Song Miao enter, everyone's spirits lifted.

Zhang Siniang did not dare be negligent; she immediately walked to a large sack nearby and pointed, saying, "Young Lady, there is something not right here—these past few days we have been the ones collecting grain, and all the other sacks are tied the same way, but this sack's opening is different: the other two sides are tied tight, with the rope tied in a dead knot leaving no tail, but this one is tied with the rope reversed, in a slipknot, leaving a tail."

"Just now we felt something was off and thought to move it out, but accidentally tugged the slipknot, and it opened by itself."

"Young Lady instructed us to pay special attention to these grains and flours, and to report immediately if anything was wrong, so I hurried to report!"

Hearing this, Song Miao stepped forward to examine it closely; indeed, as Zhang Siniang said, the outside of the sack looked no different from the others, but the sealing method at the opening was completely different; looking into the opening, the inside was yellow and lumpy, exactly like coarse-ground stale flour, with nothing wrong.

But Song Miao was after all a cook, with a sharper sense of smell; she leaned in to distinguish for a while, and finally smelled something wrong.

Stale flour no longer had much flour fragrance; logically it should only have a faint bran smell, but this sack, besides the stale bran smell, also had a faint, intermittent miscellaneous odor.

Slightly pungent, with a bit of a greasy feel.

This miscellaneous odor was extremely faint, and Song Miao was not familiar with it, but she immediately became cautious, and had several other sacks opened and smelled carefully; none had this odor.

The grain manager was right there; Song Miao first asked when this sack of flour had arrived, and what else had arrived in the same batch.

The other party didn't even need to check the register, but pointed to a spot in the corner and said, "Young Lady, as you said, everything that comes in each batch is tied with different colored ropes; those tied with red rope are from the same batch as this sack of flour."

Song Miao glanced over; indeed, a large area of sacks were all tied with red ropes.

The storeroom was not small, and there were many things, but the kitchen was an empty pot with a cold stove; they couldn't wait to inspect everything here one by one.

She thought for a moment, then changed the morning's variety, having the Sichuan pepper pancakes changed to scorched rice soup and barnyard millet pancakes, had the corresponding ingredients taken out, and ordered those at the front to start making them.

Unlike flour, rice, barnyard millet, and various mixed beans were ingredients that could be seen clearly at a glance; no matter what was mixed in or what tricks were played, when rinsing the rice and washing the beans, one look and one smell would reveal it immediately.

They were all simple styles; now that the kitchen staff had been tempered and coordinated over seven or eight days, as long as Song Miao decided on the dish, and it was something made before, following the method and seasoning proportions, they only needed to keep an eye on the key steps, and could copy the gourd to make the food nearly the same.

After arranging the most important matters properly, Song Miao breathed a little easier, freed her hands, and first led everyone to inspect the warehouse situation.

The doors and windows were fine, and besides, there was the grain manager present.

The grain manager, because something had happened, was very nervous; he pointed to a corner room outside and explained hurriedly, "To let Young Lady know, I have slept here these past few nights, not even stepping out the door; when I needed to relieve myself I used a chamber pot, because I have always been a light sleeper, even if rats climbed the beams at night and squeaked a couple times, or crickets called outside, I would be woken, but I truly heard no great commotion."

Song Miao didn't say much more, only asked him a few detailed questions: when he slept, when he rose, who were the last few people he saw before sleeping, and who were the first few people he saw after rising.

She also asked whether he had noticed anything wrong with the people delivering goods these past few days, or with the timing.

The grain manager thought carefully, but shook his head: "They are all people who often came before, and they arrived according to the usual days; I saw nothing wrong."

Simply smelling something wrong could not serve as any evidence, after all, and perhaps there really was no problem.

Song Miao thought for a moment, then called someone over and said, "I remember Young Master Han said last time that the Zhang family of Weizhou sent a physician over to take charge, who usually stays in the shed by the riverway; you know how to drive a cart, hitch a mule cart, and invite him over for a trip."

That person received the order and left.

Song Miao then took out a purse from her sleeve and handed it to Zhang Siniang nearby, saying, "Go see if anyone in the village has chickens they are willing to sell; buy two to try."

Zhang Siniang responded and left; not long after, she led in two roosters in their prime breeding age, happily saying, "It was also a coincidence—the family at the village head said they had breeding chickens, but after going to the city market twice no one wanted them; now they are at home pecking at each other all day and even pecking people randomly, so it's just right to sell them!"

Just as she was speaking, they heard carriage sounds and voices outside—it turned out the physician had been invited.

The physician was also surnamed Zhang; hearing Song Miao explain the matter, he stepped forward to smell it, his brow furrowed tightly, and said, "It doesn't smell like a good smell, but the scent is too faint; I can't tell what it is right away."

Song Miao then said, "Let's try feeding it to the chickens; please help us keep an eye on it, Physician."

Speaking, she had someone scoop out half a ladle of flour from the sack, mix it with some chopped old vegetable stalks, put it in a bowl, and place it on the ground.

The two chickens were indeed very lively; once released, they immediately wanted to fight each other, but were pulled apart and had their feet tied separately, so they couldn't peck each other for a moment, and instead glared at each other with angry chicken eyes.

I don't know if it was just about sunrise; the two chickens clucked and glared at each other a few times, I don't know which one started, but all at once they began to crow; while crowing, when the crowing stopped slightly, they were busy at leisure, pecking a few times at the vegetable scraps mixed with flour.

Although the two chickens were tied, it didn't hinder them from crowing while eating, and within the limited range of the rope, they held their heads high and chests out, walking around the courtyard, flapping their wings and pooping everywhere, looking extremely proud.

However, it was only the time it took to speak; it was simply fast to an astonishing degree, and everyone present noticed something was wrong.

When the two chickens crowed again, their voices were lower by one note, the frequency was slower, they didn't flap their wings anymore, their combs couldn't even perk up, they didn't glare at each other randomly anymore, but just squatted listlessly, continuously passing rotten stool.

They originally pooped everywhere; the chicken droppings from last time and this time laid on the ground for comparison were indeed vastly different.

Seeing the reaction of the two chickens, and looking at the chicken droppings, Physician Zhang even stepped forward to compare, smelled it for a while; in just an instant, cold sweat broke out on his head, and he said, "I fear it is barren bean!"

Hearing this, Song Miao's heart also tightened.

Although she had never seen what barren beans looked like, she had also read through several medical books, knowing that barren beans are hot in nature, pungent in taste, and have great toxicity; if not prepared correctly and used according to the physician's medical instructions, accidental ingestion would not only cause vomiting and diarrhea, but in a bad case, losing one's life was not impossible.

Thinking of this, she did not dare delay, and immediately arranged for someone to notify the Riverway Duty Officer for today.

The physician added, "But barren beans have an extremely strong taste, pungent and spicy, and greasy; although after processing the taste can become not so obvious, the medicinal power is also reduced by half; I see that the pungent spicy taste in this sack is so faint, the barren bean powder should be extremely little."

Song Miao did not receive any comfort at all; she hurriedly said first, "I remember that if barren beans are accidentally ingested, there is an antidote? Can we try with this chicken?"

The physician hurriedly said, "Young Lady is right."

He took a small packet of medicine from his medicine box and said, "Use these Yellow Coptis slices to quickly boil a medicine decoction; in a while we will force-feed it to try; this chicken didn't eat much, perhaps it can still be saved."

Soon someone took the Yellow Coptis to boil water.

A sack of flour contained barren bean powder; naturally, the flour in the other sacks was not something they dared to use anymore.

Song Miao told everyone not to move things around, and carefully retreated out the door.

Not long after, the people of the Riverway Duty Officer for today arrived; it was a Clerk from the government office.

Hearing Song Miao and the others explain the matter, the Clerk was so frightened his eyelids kept jumping; he hurriedly ordered someone to summon the person on duty at the Law Department, and also stepped forward to smell the flour seriously for a while, examine it for half a day, and even found some proper flour to compare with; finally he said, "It seems there is something wrong, and also seems there isn't; sigh, my nasal passages are a bit unblocked, but I can't tell clearly!"

He also asked, "Is every sack mixed with barren bean powder?"

Soon the two Law Department officials also arrived; they carefully searched the room but found no clues; they only had all sacks of the same batch opened; besides carefully comparing themselves, knowing Song Miao's nose was the most sensitive, they also asked her to help distinguish along with several young ladies with good noses.

Song Miao only looked at the two bags and felt this method was truly too exhausting; she thought for a moment and said, "Smelling may not detect it well — a bag of flour is this large; what if the barren bean powder is mixed in the middle? Pressed too far down, it definitely can't be smelled out, but it's also not good to pour it all out — where would we find such a large empty space?"

She added, "Just now Eldest Sister Zhang said barren bean has a strong taste; if the barren bean powder isn't mixed in enough, the effect will be poor; if it is enough, it can definitely make people smell it out — if I were a bad person, smelling something off, I most likely wouldn't mix it into the flour anymore."

Speaking, she asked the Grain Manager, "Was only rice and flour delivered this batch? Was there anything else? Mustard seed powder, star anise, eight-angle, fermented black beans, Sichuan pepper, things like that."

These words were very easy to understand; the two from the Department were also many-year case handlers, and immediately reacted, also following up to ask the Grain Manager, "Can it be investigated or not?"

The account books were right at hand; the Grain Manager flipped through for a moment and immediately said, "There are quite a few eight-angle, cassia bark, fermented black beans, Sichuan pepper — all placed in the neighboring storeroom."

Song Miao immediately had the numbers clear in her mind.

Everyone together went to that neighboring small storeroom and quickly found those few hemp sacks tied with red rope.

By now the sun had already risen; the sky was already fully bright.

The storeroom door was wide open; outside light shone in, bright and clear.

Everyone carried the several bags from inside the room to the doorway, for convenient careful comparison.

The others were still checking one by one, but Song Miao had already taken the lead to ask, "Where is the Sichuan pepper?"

The Grain Manager produced one large bag.

Song Miao opened it, and a pungent spicy smell rushed straight at the nose — more pungent, more nose-stinging than usual, but carefully distinguishing, there was also that indescribable greasy taste, not quite the same as ordinary Sichuan pepper powder.

At this moment, smelling the other spices, none had this taste.

She pointed at that Sichuan pepper powder and said, "This one is wrong; take this one first to try."

Two roosters had been force-fed yellow coptis water and were still trembling and crying; another two prime-age chickens were brought in.

This time Song Miao dared not use much — she only gave a tiny bit mixed into crushed old vegetable stalks, not even one-tenth or two-tenths of the amount the previous two chickens ate, but this time the chickens instantly collapsed on the ground, defecating everywhere, nearly unable to even have the yellow coptis water poured in.

Song Miao had no time for anything else; she immediately called Zhang Siniang over, leaned close and instructed, "Go tell the kitchen — this morning's mixed bean cakes and scorched rice soup, and also all future meals, not only must a small portion be kept aside as a sample, but also cook a pot and first serve a bit to chickens and ducks to eat; only after testing with no problem should the meal be delivered."

Zhang Siniang hurried off.

Song Miao then turned to the two from the Department and said, "Just wanted to tell the two officials — originally this morning was to make Sichuan pepper cakes."

Both changed color, almost simultaneously asking the Grain Manager, "Who delivered this batch of goods?"

The Grain Manager wiped sweat; the ledger he was familiar with beyond measure, he flipped back and forth but couldn't find the page he wanted.

Everyone waited; the Clerk wished he could snatch it over to help search.

Right in the anxiety, Kong Fuyang arrived in haste, having received word.

Whether the Department or the Clerk, seeing him, two asked "Does Younger Brother Han know?", one said "This matter is very urgent; I'm afraid we must inform Han Li."

Kong Fuyang hastily wiped the sweat from his head and face and said, "Something happened in the riverway; Zheng Yan is handling it right now and can't get away for the moment; he sent me to take a look."

He then asked Song Miao, "Does Stall Owner Song have anything to convey? Tell me; if urgent, I'll immediately go find Zheng Yan to question."

As they spoke, the Grain Manager suddenly cried out urgently, "Found it! The one who delivered that day was Fang Quan! Fang Quan of the Fang Family Horse Stable!"

On this side, the two from the Department immediately finalized it, went back to issue documents to take Fang Quan back to the office for questioning; on the other side, only three or four li away on a stretch of riverway, a fierce quarrel was underway.

Wang Sanlang stood at the rear, hearing that in the crowd's center there were not only noisy voices but actually clanging and banging, clang-clang ringing, as if iron implements had already been used; he hurriedly grabbed the person in front and asked, "What's going on? Perfectly fine, just now it was a quarrel, how did it suddenly turn into a fight!"

The person in front looked back and said, "Wang San, your Big Brother is in front mediating; seems he took a Qun Tou hit — why aren't you hurrying to help!"

Wang Sanlang was startled, about to ask in detail, but heard someone shout from behind, "Front don't block! Make way, make way, quickly make way!"

He looked back — it was two from the Patrol Team.

The person in front saw only two people coming and hurriedly said, "How come only two? Quickly call two squads of Patrol Soldiers! You two going in — an iron shovel wouldn't even fit in your tooth gaps!"

This person was still about to speak; glancing, he saw the people coming behind — and hurriedly shoved his buttocks to squeeze past the person beside him, himself also urgently moving aside, shouting, "Young Master Han Xiu Cai has come! Quickly make way! Quickly make way!"

The crowd parted; Han Li walked in with quick steps.

Standing at the very front facing Han Li was a middle-aged man; at this moment his face was frighteningly red, blue veins bulging on his forehead, speech somewhat stammering, "All... all said, said it wasn't me! You! You how can you still frame people, wrongly accuse people!"

The one standing with his back to Han Li had a much sharper tongue, loudly saying, "If not you, then who? I saw with my own eyes — you squatted in our riverway for a long half-day; when you came out you even crossed paths with me; the moment you left, I went in to work and one foot nearly stepped on it — you Weizhou people, taking advantage of our Hua Prefecture is one thing, how can you be so shameless, running into someone else's dug riverway to shit! You Weizhou dog barbarian!"

This person wasn't cursing one person, but an entire prefecture's people.

Originally quite a few Weizhou people were watching from behind; hearing these words, they all stepped forward in support.

"What problem, you say it is and it is?"

"Lao Ba just went to see what that side was dug like, made a round and came back; that bit of time isn't even enough to take off pants, what are you babbling about!"

Another person couldn't help stepping forward and shouted, "Who are you calling a dog barbarian?"

"Whoever is a Weizhou person is a dog barbarian!"