Only after one hour did the pain begin to lessen. The sweat on Xiao Baoshan also turned cold. He turned to Little Five and Little Six and said, “I have to go on a long journey. Please look after the restaurant.”
Little Five asked, “Brother Baoshan, how long will you be gone?”
“About three days, perhaps five.” Xiao Baoshan replied.
Since Ye Xiaoxian’s restaurant had got into this mess, Sister Xiang’s business began prospering again. Although the tastes were light and the prices were high, customers believed that their health was guaranteed there. At least they wouldn’t experience what they had suffered in Ye Xiaoxian’s restaurant.
Some assumed that The Xiaos’ Cuisine had bought stale meat, and some guessed that something had gone wrong with the sauces. After all, Ye Xiaoxian had been making the sauces privately at home. It was likely that she had used the wrong ingredients.
Sister Xiang was wild with joy on seeing so many customers cramming into her inn.
“Humph! Ye Xiaoxian, you’re just a clodhopper,” Sister Xiang thought. “You’re not qualified to be my rival at all. As for Lai Er, I don’t care about him at all. He was really a good-for-nothing. Good riddance to him.”
…
Ye Xiaoxian had been in prison for two days. Her desperation increased as time went by. At the very beginning, she thought that she would soon be released after being interrogated. But she had in fact spent the night in the cell. After that, she felt herself no better than the other prisoners. Her hair was messy and her face greasy.
The food provided there always smelled off. She had been curious as to why the food in prison was sour. Why did they allocate the food after it had spoiled? But now she had the answer. The rice was of the poorest quality and smelled naturally sour even if it was freshly cooked. She couldn’t cope with the taste at first. But later, for survival, she was compelled to close her eyes and chew the food.
Xiao Tieshu slipped in once and told her that Xiao Baoshan was investigating the case. Ye Xiaoxian was confused. Shouldn’t it be the county magistrate who conducted the investigation? Why was Xiao Baoshan having to do this? But Xiao Tieshu said that the county magistrate might have convicted her of the crime without any investigation or giving her any real sentence.
After saying this, Xiao Tieshu heaved a deep sigh and cast a sympathetic look towards her.
Downhearted, Ye Xiaoxian shivered involuntarily.
…
During these past days, Liu Qianqian had also been running about to help Ye Xiaoxian. Jia Zhenbo and her had fallen in love and planned to marry at the end of the following month. Since their first meeting, they had been writing letters to each other occasionally. Everything was so sweet for them until Ye Xiaoxian got into trouble.
It was a pity that Squire Liu and his family didn’t get themselves involved in official circles or have a close relationship with the county magistrate. Therefore, they could merely give the jailers money to take some delicious food to Ye Xiaoxian.
Four days later, Xiao Baoshan was back with a new piece of information. The toxic substance was amaranth poison, which was mix into a powder. Amaranth powder was normally used to cure malignant sores, but other than that it could be quite dangerous. When it was put in food, it would become a poison that was highly toxic yet temporary.
In the county, amaranth powder was only sold by “The Huangs’ Herbal Medicine Shop”. Xiao Baoshan went there and asked the boss who had bought any amaranth powder recently.
According to the boss’s description, Lai Er was the one who had bought the most amaranth powder.
