The black-bellied peasant girl is reborn, and her weird relatives are mad

Only the Tang family and Hu Yu were left on the covered bridge.

"Uncle, how could you let everyone go? What if the real murderer is in the crowd?" Jiang Pizi asked puzzledly.

"It can't be them. Cao has been so arrogant for more than a year or two. If these ladies wanted to harm her, they would have done it a long time ago. Why wait until today? Judging from Lord Lou's reaction, he was also unaware of it. This is interesting. If Cao dies, who will benefit the most?"

After everyone thought for a moment, they said, "I can't think of anyone else except Lord Lou himself."

In the pavilion, Nanny Zhang had already cleaned the room with the servants and served new tea.

"Please come in." Tang Shiyan took Hu Yu to the pavilion and sat down, and several people began to analyze the murder case tonight.

"Father, it's getting late. You should go back and have some rest. Can I investigate the case together with Lord Hu?" Tang Zhongbai felt sorry for his father as he looked tired. He wanted to help him solve his problem.

Tang Shiyan looked at his son. After two years away from home, his face had lost its childishness. His gestures showed the decisiveness of an official, and he could analyze things from many perspectives. He was no longer the rascal who stole cats and dogs every day.

He smiled and said, "Well, you have been serving as the Jue Cao in Suanzao County for a year. It's a good opportunity for me to see your ability to judge cases and decide cases."

Hu Yu echoed, "With the help of Mr. Tang, I can rest assured. Ever since Zhang Juecao returned to his hometown to mourn his father, I have taken over this matter. I am always worried that there will be a murder in the city. It really makes me feel very embarrassed."

Tang Shiyan smiled without saying anything. He bowed to him and walked out of the pavilion. Everyone stood up and bowed to his back.

After Tang Shiyan left, Tang Zhongbai spoke freely to Hu Yu about his doubts and opinions on the case.

"Let's assume that Cao was drugged after entering the mansion. Then when, where and how was it done? Was the person who poisoned her instructed by someone else or was he a grudge against her? Or was he instructed by someone else? Only after we figure this out can we move on. Mu Xia has been in the backyard and can see more clearly than us, so let her tell us what happened."

Jiang Muxia nodded and told the story clearly about how she met Cao and took her back to Zhulinyuan to put on makeup, their conversation, and the quarrel that took place.

"That is to say, the people who had close contact with her included the two maids she brought with her, and the three of you, master and servant." Tang Zhongbai said.

"Yes." Jiang Muxia went over all of Cao's actions in her room in her mind over and over again, and did not find anything unusual. She was also very surprised. What went wrong?

"Banquet, banquet..." Tang Zhongbai held the teacup in his hand, looked into the distance, and muttered to himself. He had a hunch that the poison was given at the banquet and entered Cao's stomach in a very clever way.

"Banquet--" Jiang Muxia continued speaking as he spoke, and she suddenly thought of an incident at the banquet that only Cao had exchanged.

"Chopsticks." Tang Zhongbai shouted in unison with her.

"That's right, only the Cao family changed chopsticks. Oh no, let's go to Qiufeng Courtyard quickly." Tang Zhongbai stood up quickly and followed Tang San and Tang Si to run to Qiufeng Courtyard.

When Caiyun heard that the poison might have been put on the chopsticks, her legs went weak and she broke out in a cold sweat.

Qingyun beside her helped her up and asked, "What's wrong?"

Caiyun shook her head and suppressed her fear. Hopefully, she grabbed Jiang Muxia's sleeve and walked quickly towards Qingfeng Courtyard.

They were still a step too late. The servants had already cleaned up and the Qiufeng Courtyard was back to its original state, clean and tidy. There were only two or three servants left in the yard doing the finishing work, preparing to drag the garbage in the wooden barrel to the back alley.

"Wait." Jiang Muxia stopped him, "Where did all the chopsticks at the banquet go?"

"My dear, the chopsticks used in the annual festival banquets are all customized new bamboo chopsticks, which are thrown away after use. They are all in these wooden barrels."

"Okay, please pick up the chopsticks."

"Ah, this..." The servant was embarrassed. It was almost midnight, and he was still waiting to drag the barrel to the back alley and go back to rest early. Looking at the posture of these people, he was afraid that they would not let him go easily. He was reluctant in his heart and his hands moved reluctantly.

"What are you dawdling for? Hurry up." Tang Zhongbai shouted. He quickly came to the wooden barrel and rolled up his sleeves. Before he put his hand into the barrel, Tang Si shouted, "Sir, don't move. It's too dirty. I'll do it."

He jumped forward, pulled the servant, and picked out all the chopsticks from the four large wooden barrels in front of them.

Here, Jiang Muxia had already led people to move all the lanterns in the yard around the wooden barrel. Although the light was dim, it still illuminated the surroundings clearly.

She was troubled by the pile of dirty chopsticks. None of them knew medicine, so how could they tell whether the chopsticks were poisonous or not? What made her even more anxious was that Cao used the chopsticks to pick up the food, so the poison on the chopsticks would definitely get on the food. If anyone else touched the food on the plate, they would definitely get poisoned like Cao. Cao, who was more seriously poisoned, had already died, and the fate of the others could be imagined.

Thinking of this, she felt a chill on her back and stood up suddenly.

Tang Zhongbai saw her pale face and asked nervously, "What's wrong with you?"

Jiang Muxia expressed her worries, and Tang Zhongbai also felt that the situation was serious, but he quickly calmed himself down and asked her, "Do you remember who was at the table with Cao?"

Jiang Muxia forced herself to calm down. Just as she was about to speak, Qinghong beside her spoke for her: "Second Master, at that time, there were Madam, Madam, Madam Lu, and..."

"What if I don't decide whether they have eaten from the same dish with Cao?"

"Don't worry, my lady. Cao calmed down after she took the new chopsticks. Later, I was afraid that she would cause trouble for you again, so I kept watching her. She only ate a few bites of the steamed fish. And after she made a fuss, I didn't see the other ladies pick up chopsticks again."

"you sure."

"I'm sure." Qinghong thought carefully about what happened at that time, and determination returned to her eyes.

Jiang Muxia finally let go of her worries. If she had a dispute with Cao and harmed the other wives, it would bring great trouble to the Tang family. She would be blamed and unable to face her wife, let alone Tang Zhongbai.

"It's okay. The poison of the blood-strychnine is not without a cure. As long as you are still alive, you can use red-backed bamboo grass to cure the poison. I saw this grass planted in the back garden of the mansion. If you are worried, you can boil water with this grass and send it to the ladies to drink, and you will be fine."

"Tang San, go and arrange it right away. Everyone who comes to the mansion for the banquet today will receive a bowl of medicine."

"Yes."

Fortunately, there were only about twenty ladies attending the banquet. Hu Yu quickly checked the twenty or so pairs of chopsticks and picked out a pair and threw it on the ground.

"That's them."

Jiang Muxia glanced over with a pair of cold eyes, and Caiyun shuddered all over, with no trace of blood on her face.

Caiyun knew that this was a serious matter. Now that the culprit had been found, and she was the one who took the pair of chopsticks, her suspicion increased sharply.

All the hope in her heart was gone.

She knelt down in front of Jiang Muxia and said, "Madam, I didn't poison you. You have to believe me. I really didn't poison you."

"Let me ask you, where did you get the chopsticks from?"

Caiyun was trembling all over, tears falling silently, "I... when I went to get it, there was only this pair of chopsticks left in the chopstick cage, I..."

Tang Zhongbai's eyes darkened, and he raised his chin towards Tang Si, "Go and invite all the people in the kitchen here."

"Yes."

Caiyun was so choked up that she couldn't speak. Qingyun knelt beside her and pleaded for her, "Second Master, my lady, it's impossible that she poisoned me. I will vouch for her with my own life."

"With you, even if you had ten lives, you couldn't afford to pay for Madam Lou's life."

Tang Si went away for a while and then returned. With a gloomy face, he came to Tang Zhongbai and reported, "Second Master, the chef in the back kitchen died in the room. He left a note at the head of the bed."