Mysteries of the Great Zhou Dynasty

Chapter 179 Poison
Upon hearing that Yan Mingzhang was an official, many people's expressions turned quite grim. After all, the reason this secret meeting was called a secret meeting was that it must contain many shady dealings.

A few timid ones had already quietly moved to the doorway, trying to slip out in the chaos.

The boy in black, expressionless, shouted loudly, "No one is allowed to leave! Close the door!"

The boy in white chuckled and said, "Please be patient, everyone. I guarantee with the reputation of Jiuqu Pawnshop that we will find the murderer. I have already had my servants prepare rooms, but since there are limited spaces, there will be five people per room. Please understand. As for the selection, it will be done by drawing lots, so... please proceed! Please be patient..."

"What do you mean by limited rooms and having to draw lots? It's just a way to keep an eye on us as murderers and keep each other under surveillance!" someone in the crowd shouted.

"..." A lot of time had already been wasted, and everyone was increasingly dissatisfied, but they were afraid of the power of Jiuqu Pawnshop.

"What do you mean by clearing our name? It was clearly your Jiuqu Pawnshop that was greedy for money and killed someone! Now you actually want to pin this dirty label on us. What do you mean by finding the murderer? I think you're just the thief crying 'stop thief!'" A wealthy merchant with a round belly was so angry that his hands were trembling as he pointed at the boy in white and cursed.

"That's right, why won't you let us leave! Open the door! Open the door!" A tall, thin old man angrily waved his fist, about to hit the white-robed boy in the face.

The boy in white was no pushover to begin with. He dodged backward, deflected the old man's fist with a chop to the wrist, and twisted the old man's hand behind his back: "Anyone else have a problem with this?"

Overwhelming force may maintain peace for a time, but it is not a long-term solution.

"How long will it take you to find the murderer? We can't hold out much longer here," the boy in white asked Yan Mingzhang, turning his head.

Yan Mingzhang's expression hardened: "Everyone, please give me one hour! I will definitely give you an explanation. As for other matters, if the people don't report them, the officials will not investigate."

Upon hearing this, everyone quieted down.

Rong Wanyin and Yan Mingzhang exchanged a smile, and the group each took on their respective roles and got to work.
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Yan Mingzhang took out a silver needle and tested each of the old beggar's foods one by one—no poison!
The old beggar's throat was indeed poisonous, but all the food was not poisonous. How did the poison get into his mouth?
Rong Wanyin saw the doubt on Yan Mingzhang's face. She squatted down, wrapped a handkerchief around the old beggar's wrist, lifted it up, and sniffed it carefully. Rong Wanyin carefully smelled both palms, then shook her head at Yan Mingzhang, the meaning clear—no poison!
“Impossible, something must have been missed. The tea, the food, all the utensils, even the things on my hands are not poisonous…” Yan Mingzhang pondered, pacing around the scene, carefully observing everything, not missing anything. “No, something must have been missed.”

Suddenly, Yan Mingzhang walked closer to the table, his eyes sharpening as he looked at the tiny bone fragments scattered around it: "These bones... how come they're so brittle..."

Yan Mingzhang squatted down, picked up a pair of chopsticks, and used them to pick up the chicken leg bone that the old beggar had spat out. The chicken leg bone was originally a long one, but now it was missing half of its length, and the other half had been reduced to bone fragments.

"This old beggar really eats cleanly, he doesn't even leave the chicken leg bone behind," Mo Yun retorted to Chang Feng.

"They probably don't get a proper meal on ordinary days, so naturally they wouldn't want to throw away the chicken bones after such a feast!" Changfeng nodded. Rong Wanyin glanced at Yan Mingzhang, not caring whether the bones came from the old beggar's mouth or not, and was about to smell them.

"Let me try it with a silver needle." Yan Mingzhang stopped Rong Wanyin, took out a silver needle, and probed into the marrow of the chicken leg bone. The silver needle visibly turned black!

"It's unbelievable that the murderer actually put the poison in the middle of the bone marrow." Yan Mingzhang examined the broken bone carefully again and found that there was a small hole at the end of the bone that had not been bitten apart—a hole the size of a mung bean.

Yan Mingzhang and Rong Wanyin instantly understood the murderer's method.

"What did the murderer use to make a small hole in one end of this bone, and then put some poison in it?" Rong Wanyin and Yan Mingzhang exchanged a glance, both seeing shock in each other's eyes. "This is not only ingenious, but also requires familiarity with the old beggar's behavior. What kind of person is so meticulous yet so vicious?"

“If we can find something the same size as the hole in this chicken bone, we’ll know who the murderer is…” Yan Mingzhang turned to the boy in white and said, “Please search everywhere first. If you don’t find it, it might still be on its person. Then we’ll have to search each guest as well. This is a bit difficult. Thank you for your hard work.”

"Young Master Yan, what are you saying? This is a matter for Jiuqu Pawnshop, and we have no choice but to help! We are deeply grateful." The boy in white bowed to Yan Mingzhang in thanks, and then, without further ado, sent his servants in groups of three to search the area.

"Clang!" A soft metallic clanging sound came from the pillar at the far end of the hall.

"Who?" Rong Wanyin's expression sharpened, and she turned to look.

"Ding—" A soft sound suddenly came from the pillar at the far end of the hall. "Who's there?" Rong Wanyin instantly became alert, her eyes flashing towards the source of the sound like lightning. At the same time, she lightly touched the ground with her toes and moved away like a ghost using her lightness skill. However, when she arrived behind the pillar, she found that there was no one there.

The boy in white stiffened: "Miss Rong, although I wear white, my surname is not Bai. I am Qian Shoujun, and my younger brother Qian Shouyu and I are both managers of this pawnshop."

Rong Wanyin touched the tip of her nose, somewhat embarrassed: "Manager Qian, I'm sorry. What clues did you find?"

Qian Shoujun's face was somewhat grim. He shook his head and said, "We just found more than a dozen similar items, but when we compared them with the hole in the chicken bone, they didn't seem to match. They were either too big or too small. I guess the murderer has already thrown the item away somewhere, but we just haven't found it yet. Time is almost up, but we've made no progress."

Suddenly, the candlelight in the lantern on the nearby pillar crackled softly, a wisp of very faint white smoke rising above the flame before dissipating into the air. Rong Wanyin subconsciously sniffed, catching only a faint, almost imperceptible smell of burning, mixed with some indescribable pungent odor. Qian Shoujun also frowned slightly, and the two exchanged a knowing glance, almost simultaneously reaching out to take the lantern down.

The moment the lampshade was lifted, a gold hairpin, more than an inch long, lay prominently on the edge of the lamp base. The tip of the hairpin was already somewhat blackened by the heat. Rong Wanyin picked up the other end of the hairpin and examined it closely by the candlelight. She could see that the blackened tip was a mark left by the burning.

The unburnt part of the gold hairpin still had something stuck to it. Rong Wanyin brought it closer, smelled it, and her eyes lit up: "Oil!"