Although Sister Xiang was not the county magistrate’s wife, she had been a companion of his for years. He didn’t have the heart to put her in such a hopeless position. If Xiao Baoshan couldn’t prove Ye Xiaoxian’s innocence, he would leave her in jail for life.
“Have you handled Lai Er?” he asked.
Sister Xiang answered at once, “Yes! I’ve given him some money and asked him to hide elsewhere.”
Hearing that, he shook his head in disapproval. “You should be neater. It would be better to stamp out the source of trouble in case he might blackmail you some day.”
She found that she couldn’t agree more.
When Xiao Baoshan arrived at the restaurant, Ye Xiaoxian was already in prison. The place was in an awful mess. Some relatives of the patients were even venting their anger on the utensils, tables and chairs, smashing them to pieces. Out of fear, Li Hongmei hid under the counter and shivered involuntarily.
Xiao Baoshan stopped the trouble-makers and promised to compensate them. He said quite seriously that if they continued making trouble, he would instead ask them for compensation.
These people, incited by Sister Xiang’s servants, were all daunted by this tall, robust man. Immediately, the crowd dispersed and the disturbance came to a temporary halt.
Li Hongmei climbed out from behind the counter and cried out loud, “Baoshan, you’re finally back! I, I was almost scared to death just now!”
“It’s all right now. Mom, please compensate the patients well. I have to go to the government office now.”
“Okay, I know. Little Ye was arrested, and I don’t know what is going on now.” Li Hongmei said as she sniffled.
Xiao Baoshan asked Little Five and Little Six to take care of his mother and headed for the government office.
Xiao Tieshu had been waiting at the gate of the government office. Seeing his nephew arrive, he said instantly, “Baoshan, I’m afraid that things are very serious. They didn’t even question Little Ye before putting her in prison. I went to the jail just now and learned that she’s safe for the time being. No one’s torturing her. But I don’t know what our county magistrate is thinking. He hasn’t taken any action.”
“Still?” Xiao Baoshan frowned involuntarily.
“Baoshan, I hope you can investigate how this incident happened and what poison it was. We should take the initiative rather than being led by the nose.”
Gratefully, Xiao Baoshan patted Xiao Tieshu on his shoulder and said, “Uncle, please help me take good care of Little Ye. You’re right. I should find out the truth.”
“Good boy!” Xiao Tieshu was comforted.
After they parted ways, Xiao Baoshan first headed for a clinic and asked an old doctor what poison had caused the trouble.
The doctor, however, was also perplexed. “I also have no idea what poison it is. It is weird. Those poisoned will vomit and suffer abdominal pain within one hour of ingesting, but they will recover automatically. What I prescribed was just some ordinary medicine to cure stomach illness. The patients mainly recovered by themselves.”
After that, Xiao Baoshan returned to the restaurant. He asked the people present numerous questions, including where they had bought the food and what water or sources they had used. But the answers he got were the same. Everything had been as normal that day. The ingredients had all been bought and washed as usual. Nothing unusual had happened. The only difference was that Lai Er had been to the kitchen that day.