Lin Yuan thought to herself that the young maid was clever, knowing how to roll with the punches. She also put on a worried expression, "There is something fishy when things are out of the ordinary. Did your young mistress eat or drink something? Otherwise, it’s impossible for her to suddenly become ."
The maid recalled the pastry Meng Chunyan had on the carriage and exclaimed, "Oh, I remember now! My young mistress ate a piece of pastry right before the incident, and then suddenly asked the coachman to crash into the carriage next to us. But, that pastry was bought from the Century-old Cake Shop, it shouldn’t be a problem, right?"
"Century-old Cake Shop?" Lin Yuan picked up a scattered cake box from the ground, and while hiding her actions with the wide sleeve, she surreptitiously sprinkled the Five Stones Powder onto it, "Is this it?"
Her movements were quick, and with her clothes concealing her actions, no one noticed her sleight of hand.
However, Xia Zheng, whose cunning nature was akin to a sly fox, saw the whole scene clearly. Since Lin Yuan was venting anger on his behalf, he decided to let the Meng Family Wine House off the hook for the time being.
The maid, looking at the pastry Lin Yuan had picked up, nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, that’s the one."
"Here you go." Having put all the Five Stones Powder into the cake box, Lin Yuan, to avoid suspicion, handed the box to the maid.
Meng Chunyan was completely unaware of Lin Yuan’s intentions at that moment. She had just been discussing the carriage incident, and suddenly the topic switched to the pastry. She stood there dumbfounded, wanting to say something, but afraid of speaking out of turn, the maid quickly pleaded with her in a low voice to stay quiet.
Meng Chunyan huffed and turned her head away, paying no further attention.
Lin Yuan gave Liuzi a look, "Go to Shande Hall and bring Doctor Hu over."
Liuzi immediately drove the carriage away; Shande Hall was on the next street. It wasn’t long before they brought Doctor Hu over.
Seeing Lin Yuan picking up pastry and calling for a doctor, the onlookers didn’t know what had happened, but some of the more astute ones, connecting it with the recent rumors against Rice Flower Fragrance, vaguely guessed something.
Lin Yuan greeted Doctor Hu, saying, "Doctor Hu, this young lady suddenly started acting strange, supposedly after eating this pastry. I took the liberty of calling you here. Please examine these pastries for any abnormalities."
With that, Lin Yuan gestured to the maid, who promptly and obediently presented the cake box for Doctor Hu to inspect.
He examined it meticulously, with everyone’s eyes on him, holding their breath and waiting quietly for the results.
After a short while, Doctor Hu shook his head and sighed, "This pastry, it actually contains Five Stones Powder!"
Naturally, Doctor Hu had also seen the red paper on the cake box, and his tone was filled with a mix of sighing and anger. Originally, hearing that someone had put Five Stones Powder into pastry had greatly shocked him, and after clarifying for Rice Flower Fragrance, he had already had his suspicions that someone was framing them. To his surprise, upon checking today, he found that the Century-old Cake Shop’s pastry contained Five Stones Powder. The Century-old Cake Shop had been in Zhuma Town for many years and had never had any issues. How could they have made such an unforgivable mistake in their carelessness?
Five Stones Powder? Five Stones Powder!
Many people recalled the rumor-mongering from a few days earlier. So, it wasn’t Rice Flower Fragrance that had the Five Stones Powder, but the Century-old Cake Shop!
Lin Yuan’s goal was achieved, and she sighed, "My Rice Flower Fragrance has been hurt by rumors before and knows what Five Stones Powder means for a cake shop. Everyone, perhaps there’s some misunderstanding here, and we shouldn’t speculate wildly in this place. After all, this is only one piece of pastry; not all the pastries are necessarily affected."