At this moment, Long Liu should have knocked out the arsonist and taken him away. The guests were all making noise. The boss had to promise everyone free food and accommodation before everyone went back to their rooms.
Xu Zhizhi couldn’t sleep anymore after the fright. She stared at the ceiling and muttered to herself, “No wonder there’s a saying ‘East or west, home is best’. They were barely away for two days and they almost lost their lives.”
Ding Yao comforted Xi Zhizhi, “Nothing… will happen again…tonight. Go to sleep, don’t worry…”
Xu Zhizhi was rather curious as she looked at Ding Yao and asked, “You’re clearly younger than me, why aren’t you afraid of such an incident?”
Ding Yao smiled but didn’t answer. She was not a little girl. She was an imp that had lived two lifetimes.
“Go to sleep,” Ding Yao said finally before she closed her eyes to sleep. She knew that Long San and Long Liu were in the inn, so she fell asleep very quickly.
The next day, they changed to another carriage. Lin Qiang was still chatting and laughing with Wen Jiang as if nothing had happened. On their third night away, Ding Yao received another reminder from Long San, “Be careful of poison-laced food.”
Long San and Long Liu’s disguise was different from before. This time, they stayed downtown. The inn was bigger and there were more guests. There were many people eating in the hall and it was almost full. Ding Yao watched Lin Qiang eat. He ate every dish at the table since the start, which meant that none of those dishes were laced with poison. When the last dish, a steamed sea bass, was served, Ding Yao noticed that the waiter had steady feet and sharp eyes. It was obvious that something was wrong since she had been on guard the whole time. The waiter placed the steamed sea bass on the table and left.
Lin Qiang took the serving chopsticks and started to break up the fish. He tried his best to introduce the most delicious part of the sea bass as he was doing so, as it Ding Yao and the rest had never had a steamed sea bass. Wen Jiang and Xu Zhizhi had indeed never tried it before so listening to Lin Qiang’s introduction alone made their mouths water. Ding Yao was as calm as ever. What had she not tasted in her previous life?
Lin Qiang put pieces of fish on Wen Jiang and Xu Zhizhi’s bowls. Seeing that Wen Jiang was about to eat some with his chopsticks, Ding Yao suddenly said, “Wait… Let me see… if it’s poisonous…”
Everyone was stunned. Xu Zhizhi reacted and quickly held down Wen Jiang’s chopsticks. She said, “Listen to Ding Yao. We’ll eat it later.”
After Lin Qiang recovered from his shock, he said, “Miss Ding Yao, are you kidding? How can these dishes be poisonous? People would laugh us to death if they heard this. Also, don’t let the inn owner hear your words or he’ll kick us out.”
Ding Yao ignored Lin Qiang and poked a silver needle into the fish sauce. When she took out the needle, it was black. She turned her head, pointed at the waiter who just served the dish and shouted, “Catch him! He poisoned the dishes!”
The waiter was shocked and ran out immediately. The hall was instantly chaotic as some zealous people hurriedly chased after him. Lin Qiang was shocked but quickly followed suit. Xu Zhizhi was so frightened that she put down her chopsticks and stood three meters away from their table. With a sad face, she said to Wen Jiang, “What if we don’t go to the capital? It’s been so scary along the way…” It had barely been three days and they had almost lost their lives twice. It’s really east or west, and home was the best!
Wen Jiang was also scared out of his wits. He patted Xu Zhizhi’s hand and comforted, “It’s okay, it’s okay. Fortunately, Ding Yao is smart and cautious.”
Ding Yao was not worried that the waiter would escape. She knew that Long San and Long Liu would catch him. Not long after, the waiter was indeed dragged back by Long San, but no matter how they beat him, he clenched his teeth and did not say a word. Lin Qiang went up and gave him a few fierce kicks. His kicks were very powerful, as if he wanted to kick the waiter to death. When his last kick was aimed at the waiter’s heart, Long San stopped him, “If we kick this person to death, we won’t have any clues to follow up on.”
Usually, for a person who was bribed to poison someone at the last minute, even if they kept him alive, they would not be able to discover the real mastermind. Moreover, the people working at the inn all said that they had never seen this person before. It was likely that this person had sneaked into the kitchen waring a waiter’s uniform. As to why he had poisoned their dishes, they would only know after interrogating him. Someone had already called the police. Not long after, the police came and took away the waiter.