"You've been working hard, Boss Shao!"
"It's okay. Anyway, they've got nothing better to do. Come and give me a hand?" said a slightly overweight man with a smile on his face.
The yamen runners around also stepped forward one after another, their eyes full of smiles. "We're really grateful to Boss Shao for sending us meals! Otherwise, the magistrate would still be worried about our food."
"It's just a small thing! A small thing!"
"Kind-hearted people like you are really rare!"
"Come and help quickly!"
"Coming!"
"Boss Shao!"
"..."
Xiao Heyuan watched the people outside through the crack of the door, a smile in his eyes. He turned to Liu Rumei and asked, "Miss Liu, have you had your meal?"
Liu Rumei's expression turned a bit cold. Looking at the yellow petals, a sneer curled up on her lips. "What a wonderful Boss Shao!"
Noticing Liu Rumei's strange expression, Xiao Heyuan immediately frowned. "Miss Liu, have you discovered something?"
Was there something wrong with this Boss Shao?
Just as he was thinking, he saw Liu Rumei get up and walk towards the door, her face looking extremely ugly.
Outside, Xue Zhan was helping the yamen runners distribute the meals. Seeing Liu Rumei coming, a bright smile appeared on his handsome face. "Miss Liu..."
Boss Shao beside him also had a glint in his eyes. He stepped forward and said with a smile, "This must be Miss Liu. You're really as famous as the rumors say!"
No wonder the Prince of Guo'an would protect her. Although this beauty was not as stunning as the extremely gorgeous Imperial Concubine Zhang, she had a unique charm of her own.
However, Liu Rumei ignored them both and walked straight to the meals brought by Boss Shao.
Smelling the faint fragrance, Liu Rumei stopped in front of the bucket of chicken soup.
Boss Shao quickly stepped forward with a smile. "Miss Liu, would you like to have a taste? This is a new dish in my restaurant."
Xue Zhan also noticed that something was wrong with Liu Rumei's expression at this time. He stepped forward, frowned and asked, "What's going on? Is there something wrong with this chicken soup?"
As soon as he said this, Boss Shao was shocked. He hurriedly said, "My lord Xue, you can't say that! This chicken soup was also sent yesterday, and you all ate it. There was no problem!"
The yamen runners beside him also paused for a moment and said one after another, "Miss Liu, Boss Shao is right. We've been drinking this chicken soup for several days, and there's nothing wrong with it!"
"Boss Shao, don't worry. Miss Liu won't wrong an innocent person!"
"Miss Liu, what on earth is going on?"
"Boss Shao is a kind-hearted person. He can't be a murderer!"
"Yes, Miss Liu, you have to investigate clearly!"
"..."
Listening to everyone's words, Liu Rumei sneered in her heart. She looked coldly at Boss Shao in front of her and angrily said, "Don't you know that chicken can't be eaten together with chrysanthemums?"
Everyone was shocked. Boss Shao was also full of panic. "Miss Liu, why can't they be stewed together?"
"Stewing chicken with chrysanthemums will lead to death once eaten!" It must be because there wasn't much of this chicken soup and each person only got a little, so they were still alive. But if they drank it a few more times, they would surely die!
"I'm wronged!" There was anxiety in Boss Shao's eyes. He just wanted to get rid of those sick chickens and used chrysanthemums to cover the smell. How could such a thing happen! "My lord Xue, you must make the decision for me!"
Xue Zhan's face also turned a bit cold. He recalled carefully in his mind. Those sick yamen runners had this chicken soup for every meal...
"Come here. Detain this man first!"
Then he turned to Liu Rumei and asked, "Miss Liu, where did you get this conclusion?"
They had never known that stewing chicken soup with chrysanthemums would be poisonous. Maybe no one had ever done such a thing before!
Liu Rumei's face was full of frost. She glanced at those people lying on the ground in pain and said with pursed lips, "Whether it's true or not, we can find out by trying. Decoct one qian of asarum and five fen of coptis with water and let them drink it."
Xue Zhan nodded and immediately ordered the yamen runners to go and buy the herbs.
Seeing Liu Rumei so confident, Boss Shao kept complaining in his heart. If he had known this, he shouldn't have gotten involved in this matter! He should have just thrown those chickens away! He never expected that such a disaster would be caused.
Xiao Heyuan's expression also became solemn instantly. No wonder he couldn't find out anything. It turned out that the poisoning was caused by food!
He immediately said to Xue Zhan, "My lord, there was this chicken soup in every corpse!"
This was enough to prove that what Miss Liu said was not false!
Liu Rumei's expression was a bit cold. Maybe Boss Shao had not done it on purpose, but in the end, a great disaster had been caused.
She knew about this because she had encountered a case like this in modern times.
After a while, the yamen runners brought back the herbs and ordered someone to decoct them.
As the sun was setting and the night was gradually falling, a yamen runner suddenly rushed into the room. His face was full of joy. He said to Xue Zhan, "My lord, they are really getting better!"
Xue Zhan was overjoyed. He quickly got up and walked towards the door. Liu Rumei and Xiao Heyuan followed closely behind.
Who would have thought that just as they walked out of the door, another yamen runner came over with a look of anger on his face. "My lord! This Boss Shao is really a bad guy!"
Xue Zhan frowned. "What did you find out?"
"Boss Shao raised some chickens in a village outside the capital. A few days ago, there was an outbreak of chicken plague suddenly, and all the chickens died of the disease. This chicken soup..."
He was really a greedy merchant!
Before he finished speaking, Xue Zhan and the others had already changed their expressions, with a faint sign of nausea.
Xiao Heyuan also didn't expect the truth to be like this. It seemed that Boss Shao had added chrysanthemums to the chicken soup to cover the smell!
"Ugh! We even regarded him as a kind-hearted person!"
"This heartless man has killed so many people! My lord, we must not let him go!"
"I said it was so strange. It was really him!"
"What a heartless boss!"
"..."
Xue Zhan's face was extremely ugly. He walked into the isolated area and saw that the condition of the common people had really improved a lot. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Then his eyes fell on Liu Rumei again. He bowed to her and said, "Thank you, Miss Liu. If it weren't for you, I might still be kept in the dark!"
If not, who knew how many more people in the east of the city would die!
Liu Rumei immediately shook her head. "It's just good luck!"
If she hadn't encountered such a case before, she might not have recognized it either. "Since the matter has been solved, I'll go back first!"
Xue Zhan nodded seriously. "I'll send someone to take you back!"
Liu Rumei didn't refuse. The night was getting deeper. Last time when she walked at night, she met an assassin. It was better to be careful.
After Liu Rumei left, Xue Zhan said coldly to Xiao Heyuan, "Immediately lead people to seal up the Shao's Restaurant! And make public the prescription and the reason that Miss Liu just told us!"
"Yes!"