"Yang Ming, let’s talk about the poisoning incident!" After eating, Xiaoxiao felt energized and thought it necessary to discuss who couldn’t stand to see their family do well.
"It’s very late, let’s sleep first, you need to rest!"
Suddenly, her cheap husband just blew out the candle, got on the kang bed, and fell asleep, leaving Xiaoxiao puzzled. Oh well, he had taken care of her all day and was tired too. Let’s talk tomorrow then, Xiaoxiao thought, as she too drifted off to sleep.
Early the next morning, family members gradually came over, and seeing Xiaoxiao awake and no big deal, they finally felt relieved.
This incident had also greatly shocked everyone; seeing that the third daughter-in-law was awake, they all gathered together to think of a solution.
"Third sister-in-law, I’m sorry, it’s all because I was sleeping so deeply, otherwise this wouldn’t have happened..." Yang Dong felt very guilty since he knew about the incident, wondering how he hadn’t noticed anything!
"It’s not your fault!" Who could she blame? She had too good an opinion of human nature, thinking that not having unreasonable people meant there were no sneaky, malevolent ones around.
In this lock-less place, she had only thought of having someone watch the yard. Why hadn’t she thought of getting a couple of dogs to guard the gate as a reminder? Sometimes her brain was ridiculously slow.
"Now the question is, who put the poison? Who’s envious of our family prospering?"
Silence fell over the family; they had lived in this village all their lives, always been honest people, had good relations with the villagers, never quarreled or fought with anyone, and really couldn’t think of anyone who would harm their family.
"Xiaoxiao, I plan to report this to the government office so they can investigate! Poisoning is no small matter!"
"Hmm, but it’s only the fourth day of the month now; will the government office send someone?" She also wondered when the government office resumed work after the New Year, and wasn’t it said to be full of corrupt officials interested only in money?
"Hmm, let’s try it. As long as the government office agrees to handle it, it might expose the culprit!"
"What about those pickles? What should we do?" It wasn’t a small amount, and Xiaoxiao felt a headache coming on just thinking about it.
"Third younger sister-in-law, can’t we try using rats? If the rats don’t die, then surely it’s safe for us to eat it!" At that moment, the second elder sister-in-law, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.
"Right, what if some weren’t poisoned? With so many jars, could they all be poisoned? If some are safe, wouldn’t it be a waste to throw out all those pickles?"
"Yes, so many jars, if they all had poison, that would require a lot of rat poison!"
As everyone analyzed back and forth, Xiaoxiao suddenly saw the light—right, that would require a lot of rat poison! Maybe they could start by investigating the poison used.
"Better safe than sorry; even if it doesn’t kill someone, we couldn’t bear it on our conscience."
"Don’t worry, wait till spring. I will find a place to dispose of the pickles," Yang Ming understood what his wife meant, "Right now, we need to hurry to notify Yuelai Restaurant to compensate with Silver, then track down the person who administered the poison."
"Yang Ming, let’s go to the small courtyard again and see if we can find any clues!" Xiaoxiao said as she got up to get off the kang; she couldn’t lie down any longer.
"You’re still not well!" Yang Ming immediately held his wife back, not letting her get off the kang.
"The medicine will be ready soon, eat it first!"
"After you eat, I’ll let you go!"
Seeing the couple , the family members didn’t say anything more and quietly left.