"Upon hearing this voice, Yang Chuxia looked carefully and found it was actually the old man from Wangquan Town who sold ground beans.
In front of the old man stood someone who appeared to be a boss, with a face like a pointed monkey, sporting a goatee, and behind him stood three or four men dressed as servants.
"Old man, I kindly looked after your business and bought ground beans from you to sell in my restaurant, but you actually poisoned me. Now my guests have been poisoned and are still unconscious, what should we do?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" The old man shook his head, "I myself eat these ground beans, how could they be poisonous?" He picked up a ground bean that was fallen on the side and stuffed it in his mouth as if afraid of disbelief.
"Hmph, just because this pot of ground beans isn’t poisonous doesn’t mean the others aren’t!" the bearded man said. "In any case, my guest got poisoned after eating your ground beans. Now you either compensate for my guest with a hundred taels of silver, or tell me how to fry these ground beans."
"I don’t have the silver, I don’t have the silver, I have never had a hundred taels in my life." The old man repeatedly said, his expression extremely dejected, "Even selling ground beans for my entire life won’t earn me a hundred taels."
"No hundred taels, fine! Then tell me how you fry the ground beans. We’ll consider it settled then, or else you’ll end up in prison." The man with the goatee stroked his beard and said ominously.
"No, no, I can’t tell you the method!" The old man shook his head without thinking, "This is a recipe passed down from my ancestors, I can’t tell anyone, absolutely not; otherwise, how can I face my ancestors? You can send me to jail, you can send me to jail."
Upon hearing that the old man would rather go to jail than reveal the secret recipe, the bearded man was almost faint with anger, thinking the old man really didn’t know a good deal when he saw one.
He couldn’t help but threaten, "You’d better think it through, not everyone is allowed into the prison, and not everyone can come out either."
"No, no, I’ll go to jail, I didn’t poison anyone, and I won’t give you the recipe." The old man was clearly principled and had his own resolve, if he didn’t do it, he didn’t do it; he would rather die than give up something passed down by his ancestors.
"Hmph, since you insist on being unreasonable..." The bearded man paused in resentment, turning to the servants behind him, "Take him to the officials, I don’t believe he can evade confessing to the poisoning under the torture of the county office."
Upon hearing the bearded man speak, two servants stepped forward to seize the old man.
"Wait a moment!" Having overheard the matter, Yang Chuxia couldn’t help but feel some pity for the old man, she thus raised her voice, "This old master seems to be a bit hasty."
The man with the goatee saw the one who was stopping him was a girl, and sneered, "Where is this meddlesome girl from, looking for a fight, are you? Hurry home and play."
Yang Chuxia gave him a sardonic glance upon hearing him, then sarcastically remarked "You are right, I really am a meddlesome girl, so what can you do about it?"
Without waiting to see the bearded man’s reaction, she went to the side to help the old man up, "Old man, get up first, this matter is not as severe as it seems."
"Miss..." The old man said gratefully, "Miss, this is my own business, you don’t have to intervene, hurry home, don’t get involved and get yourself in trouble."