A disgusting sour smell made An and the maid frown.
“Hurry up! Dump it.” An was enduring a tumult in her stomach.
“Why are you so hurry, Madam? My father’s problem is here. How can you dump it?”
“Oh!” (The sound of vomiting)
Before Su Muge finished her words, Su Lun began to vomit again.
Everyone couldn’t help frowning again.
After Su Lun had vomited almost everything in his stomach, he felt the tingling in his stomach had eased a lot.
“How do you feel, father?”
Su Lun nodded. “Well, I feel much better.”
“My Lord, I was so terrified just now.”
“Father, the problem lies in these dishes. You’d better interrogate the people in the general kitchen.”
Su Lun put on a sullen face. “Go! Bring me all the people in the general kitchen!”
“Yes.”
“Tell me why on earth I have become like this.”
Su Muge asked An to put the copper basin filled with Su Lun’s vomit on the table and use chopsticks to pick out the filarial worms inside.
“You see, this is what causes your stomachache.”
Looking at the tiny blood-red wriggling worms, Su Lun only felt chill rushing up from his soles.
“What, what is this?”
“This is a filarial worm. I wonder if Madam knows it.” Su Muge raised the chopsticks to An and looked at her with a faint smile.
An unconsciously clenched the embroidered handkerchief in her hands and said without changing her face, “Muge, you must be kidding. How can I know what it is?”
Soon, everyone in the general kitchen was escorted into the room and knelt down.
“My Lord, please forgive me. My Lord, please forgive me. I don’t know anything…” A middle-aged fat woman wearing a crimson front-opening dress was brought in firstly. As soon as she entered, she kept kowtowing and begging for mercy.
Her move seemed to have confirmed that the problem with this meal must be related to the general kitchen.
Li Mama reproached, seeming to be disappointed and exasperated at her behavior. “What are you crying for? My Lord hasn’t interrogated you yet!”
The crying woman was Sun Mama, the mother-in-law of Li Mama’s youngest son.
In Shunyang prefecture, Sun Mama had been in charge of the general kitchen with the help of Li Mama. It had been several years, during which she had gained much profit.
Just now, Li Mama had sent her a message to get prepared for the interrogation. However, Sun Mama had never seen such a big occasion before. She was so afraid of losing her job that she kept crying and begging.
“Li Mama, you’re right. My father hasn’t spoken yet.” Su Muge let out a sneer as a satire to Li Mama. My Lord hadn’t spoken yet, how dare she interrupt?
Li Mama choked but reacted rapidly. “My Lord, please forgive me. I was rude just now.”
“Muge, I wonder what’s wrong with this meal?” In the end, it was An who spoke. After all, she had arranged this meal. The kitchen staff was also her followers. If something went wrong, she was also responsible.
Su Muge took a piece of lettuce from the table and tore it apart. It was clear that a filarial worm was wriggling on it.
“Father, the worms from your stomach come from this vegetable.”
Su Lun liked to eat fresh vegetables without cooking, which was known to everyone around him.
“Bang!”
Seeing this, Su Lun patted the table heavily with his palms.
“Say, what the hell is going on?”
On hearing the two characters of filarial worms, Sun Mama felt her legs softened inexplicably. Just as she wanted to speak, she met Li Mama’s eyes and knowingly understand her meaning.
“My Lord, please investigate it! These vegetables have been all specially cleaned. I must have been so careless that someone has taken advantage of it. My Lord, please punish me.” Sun Mama confessed her own mistakes now, but she only committed the crime of oversight and pushed the major crime to others. After this incident passed, she would still be safe and sound.
Su Muge sneered; her goal today was mass destruction!
“Father, there are dozens of or even hundreds of worms in your vomit just now. So many worms can’t be reproduced so soon after eating them. That is to say, you must have eaten this kind of worms for quite a few days.”
Hearing Su Muge’s words, Su Lun put on a sullener and sullenly face.
“You unruly slaves! How dare you murder me?!”
Hearing this, the people kneeling on the ground started kowtowing and begging for mercy.
“My Lord, please forgive me. My Lord, please forgive me. I don’t know anything!”
“By the way, father, I’m afraid of worrying you, so I haven’t told you that my brother was unwell before and it was also because of this kind of worms. Someone has put the worms into my mother’s meal, just like the way of treating you.”
An’s eyes flickered. “What? The young master also has this kind of worms in his stomach! How dare these slaves murder the young master?!”
The relationship between Su Lun and Zhao had eased largely because of the existence of little Wenmo.
He was his only son; how could he tolerate anyone persecuting him?!
“Come on, drag them out and gave them fifty floggings before selling them out!”
Hearing it, the servants working in the kitchen were all scared and pale.
“My Lord, please forgive us. My Lord, please forgive us. We don’t know anything …”
Sun Mama was panicked as well. She had also signed a servitude indenture. Not to mention being sold, she was afraid that she couldn’t survive the fifty floggings!
“Madam, Madam, please beg My Lord to spare my life …” Sun Mama knelt to An. She didn’t want to die! She had finally saved a large sum of money which she hadn’t enjoyed yet!
“Father, it’s improper to flog or sell them before the matter is made clear. They’re just servants. How dare they murder the masters? I’m afraid they have been instructed.”
Hearing her words, An tightened her face.
“What do you mean, Muge? Are these people instructed?”
Su Muge ignored An but glanced quietly at the people kneeling on the ground.
“I know that not everyone is involved in this matter. Those involved must have received rewards while those innocent haven’t. They shouldn’t be punished together.”
“The eldest Miss, please investigate it! The eldest Miss …”
“Now, I give you a chance to confess what you know. Don’t be afraid of being retaliated against. Is there anything worse than being flogged and sold?”
Hearing Su Muge’s words, several people were a little encouraged.
Su Lun also said in a deep voice, “Say what you know. If it is true, you’ll not only be innocent but also be rewarded.”
Hearing Su Lun’s words, a skinny woman with sallow complexion at her 40s came out and said, “My Lord, the eldest Miss, I always felt Sun Mama quite sneaky these days. Since she was in charge of the kitchen, she was able to rest in a private room. There were several times when I went to find her, I found she was looking at something and immediately concealed it at the sight of me.”
“What nonsense are you talking about? Framing me up in front of the masters, aren’t you afraid of being punished by heaven?!” Hearing her words, Sun Mama couldn’t sit still and pointed at the woman angrily while scolding her.
Her vulgar words made Su Lun even sullener.
“Who are you?”
“My Lord, I’m responsible for cooking soup in the kitchen.”
“My Lord, the bitch hasn’t finished her words yet.” Sun Mama snorted.
It turned out that the woman who came out was Song Mama who was originally in charge of the general kitchen. However, after Sun Mama came, she was replaced by her. Since she was always careful and diligent in work and Su Lun loved to drink her soup, An made her stay in the kitchen.
From Sun Mama’s point of view, Song Mama was dissatisfied with her replacement and was retaliating against her and taking the advantage to destroy her!
“Father, as for whether there is any problem with Sun Mama, we can search her room to find it out.” Su Muge spoke at the right time.
Su Lun thought so too.
“Come on. Send someone to search Sun’s room.”
“Yes.” Seeing that the searching people were all her followers, An was about to exhale a sigh of relief; however, Su Muge spoke again.
“Xinche, follow them.”
“Yes.”
“Miss, don’t you trust those people?” An couldn’t stay calm.
“Of course I do, Madam, I’m just afraid that there is not enough manpower.”
Hearing that Su Lun was to search her room, Sun Mama was not afraid at all; she had already got rid of those things. How could she be so stupid to leave any evidence?!
“What will happen if the worms enter the human body?” Now that the interrogation was stopped, Su Lun thought of this question.
Thinking of so many disgusting worms in his body, he felt terrified!
“This kind of worms are called filarial worms. It will begin to reproduce after entering the human body for a certain period. It lives on the food in the stomach and the blood of the human body. If the number of worms becomes so large that the daily food is not enough for them to consume, they will eat the organs in the body.”
“What!” Su Lun instantly turned pale.
“My Lord, I found it!”
In a while, the searching people came back, and the leading maid had a bottle in her hand.
“My Lord, I found this in Sun Mama’s room.” The maid brought a clean copper basin, opened the porcelain bottle, and poured out its contents.
A series of red things flowed out of the bottle into the copper basin and quickly separated in the basin while wriggling. It was exactly the kind of worms that Su Lun had spat out!
“Sun, how dare you!”
Sun Mama was too frightened to speak for a while.
“So many worms are so scary. Sun Mama, how dare you? Tell us, why do you murder my father and brother?!” Su Muge stared coldly at her with a stern look.
“My Lord, I’m wronged. Someone wants to frame me up. I really didn’t hurt you and the young master. It’s Song Mama! The bitch is framing me up!”
“Sun Mama, if you tell the truth who instructed you to do this, maybe my father will spare your life. If not… there will be only a shabby straw mat waiting for your dead body.”
Su Muge’s words completely scared Sun Mama.
“Madam, Madam, it was Madam who asked me to do this. But I just put the eggs of the worms in the leeks for the eldest Madam. I’ve never thought about murdering My Lord …”
