The employee, chopsticks in one hand and a bowl in the other, had fear written all over his face.
The seemingly trivial amount of food was, in fact, laced with enough poison to kill more than half of those present.
The man’s hands began to tremble even more.
Cong Ge eyed him suspiciously, "What’s wrong?"
The employee swallowed, "I had already eaten in the kitchen before serving, and now I’m... I’m too full to eat."
Following those words, Cong Ge’s expression changed.
Yan Wanqing, legs crossed nonchalantly in her seat, fanned herself leisurely with a wicker fan, "Did you eat your fill, or are you too afraid to eat?"
When the employee heard her speak, he shivered all over and imdiately knelt down trembling, his bowl and chopsticks clattering to the floor, now dusted and inedible.
He knelt on the ground, "Madam, please spare my life, I couldn’t hold them steady because of my trembling hands."
"Cong Ge, serve him a bowl of soup. He can’t eat the food, but he can drink so soup," Yan Wanqing squinted her peach blossom eyes and said with a slight smile, stretching her posture as a wealthy madam should, when handling others.
It made all the employees at the inn furrow their brows.
They had thought she was a generous and easygoing madam, but it turned out she enjoyed tornting people just like other rich folks.
This poor fellow was truly miserable.
He was caught.
Everyone cast sympathetic looks at the employee kneeling on the ground.
Today was a disaster.
Why did his hands have to tremble?
At that mont, Cong Ge placed a bowl of soup in front of the employee, "Here, drink this soup and we’ll overlook the disturbance you’ve caused our madam."
"The soup, it’s a bit hot," the employee’s face turned pale, squeezing out an unnatural smile.
Cong Ge was about to speak when Yan Wanqing interjected.
"No worries, you can drink it when it cools," she said.
As ti ticked by, the employee’s complexion grew increasingly uncomfortable, as if all the moisture in his body had been drained.
Finally, the bowl of soup lost all its heat.
Cong Ge’s tone was icy, "Can you drink it now?"
The employee’s eyes darted around, trying the sa trick again, but Cong Ge quickly seized his hand.
She called out coldly, "Soone, hold him down! If this bowl of soup spills again today, you’ll all answer for it!"
The soldiers, strong and forceful, grabbed the man’s neck while another forced his jaws open and poured the soup down his throat.
A horrifying scene unfolded!
The previously lively employee now lay on the ground convulsing, foaming at the mouth!
"What—what’s wrong with him?"
The onlooking innkeeper, originally hoping to keep the peace, thought Yan Wanqing was targeting the employee because she was pregnant and perhaps not in the best spirits.
But who would have guessed that after this bowl of soup, the employee ended up in such a state, twitching on the ground a few tis before falling still?
The innkeeper scrambled over to him, trembling as he placed his hand under the man’s nose.
"Ah!" the innkeeper cried out in horror.
"He’s dead! Dead!" he pointed at the soup on the table, "There’s sothing wrong with this soup!"
Cong Ge’s gaze was icy as she commanded, "Seize everyone in the inn!"
The first to be forcefully knelt before Yan Wanqing was, of course, the owner of the inn.
The innkeeper, tears and snot streaming down his face, pleaded, "Madam, Madam! I knew nothing of this. Even if you gave ten thousand guts, I would never dare to add Peacock Gall to this dish!"
A tiny bottle of Peacock Gall could poison all the fish in a pond, yet three large packets were added to this dish!
The employee struggled and twisted, barely a sip of the soup had gone down.
Just the soup running down his throat was enough to kill him instantly.
Then they searched and found three large packets of remaining poison wrapped in the employee’s clothes!
"Madam! Madam, that Peacock Gall is very expensive and hard to buy, I couldn’t afford it!" the innkeeper felt incredibly wronged, as if disaster had struck from nowhere. He had thought it was a foolproof business, but now a life had been claid.
The fellow had died, and the lady had nearly been hard.
Seeing the soldiers wrapped three layers inside and out of the inn, this spectacle had to involve a lady from so General Residence.
The more the shopkeeper thought about it, the more afraid he beca. On the hot sumr night, he nearly fainted.
Yan Wanqing, however, was not afraid at all. She continued to wave her palm-leaf fan, gently fanning away the mosquitoes, "Who cooked these dishes?"
Upon hearing this the shopkeeper exclaid, "Yes! Right, right! The food was cooked by our cook, where is she?!"
The cook had already taken off her apron and slipped through the inn’s fence hole into the bamboo forest the mont the fellow carried out the dishes.
She had a daughter and didn’t want to give up her life there.
The cook ran frantically through the forest as if a flood beast were chasing her. However, the entire inn was under Yan Wanqing’s control. As soon as she stepped out of the bamboo, the soldiers caught her and brought her back.
Under the moonlight, dim lanterns hung under the bamboo eaves, white moth wings beat frenziedly against the lanterns, making a crackling noise.
The cook seed as if she had been fished out of water, appearing on edge, and was brought in front of everyone by the shoulders.
Seeing her, the shopkeeper understood the whole story.
"It was you, wasn’t it! The Peacock Gall was your doing!"
"I treated you well, even doubled your salary. Why must you oppose like this!"
The shopkeeper stepped forward, grabbed the cook’s neck with both hands, and choked her until her eyes rolled back.
Seeing this, the soldiers quickly kicked the shopkeeper away. He rolled on the ground twice and started crying.
The cook caught her breath, and was pressed down to kneel in front of Yan Wanqing.
Yan Wanqing examined her from head to toe, pointing her fan at the fellow who was dead beyond revival.
"If you don’t confess clearly, this will be your end."
The cook didn’t want to die.
She still had concerns about the Divine Church of Light.
So, she moved her knees forward a bit. Cong Ge imdiately raised his hand to block her, "Just kneel here and talk!"
The cook’s voice choked up, looking sowhat pitiful.
"Indeed, we administered the poison, but the mastermind is soone else, madam! We had no choice; we are all from poor families. That person threatened with my daughter, saying if I didn’t comply, she would kill my daughter. I really had no choice!" She burst into tears.
"Who is this person you are talking about?" Yan Wanqing remained unmoved.
Seeing her dignified appearance, the cook felt uneasy and disclosed everything.
"It’s the Miss of the Divine Church of Light," the cook began.
"Miss?" Yan Wanqing raised her eyebrows.
"Yes, everyone calls her Miss Song."
Miss Song?
A contemplative look flashed across Yan Wanqing’s eyes.
"Song Ning?"
At these words, the cook nodded repeatedly.
Everyone in the Divine Church of Light feared Song Ning.
She had been dead for over twenty years, always lying in an ice coffin, but now she had apparently co back to life, a fact that was chilling for anyone to consider.
"Miss Song Ning is in poor health, so she likes to take her frustrations out on us servants. Anyone who slightly displeases her gets a severe scolding, and when she feels well enough to get out of bed, it’s even harder for us. Hence, since my daughter is in her hands, I have to do whatever she asks. I really had no choice, madam..."
Lying in an ice coffin for over twenty years, her health was surely not good.
Yet, according to Song Huaxu’s description, Song Ning was a kind-hearted woman. How could she do such cruel things?
Could it really be that having been revived, a person from the Underworld returning to the Mortal World, thus beca tainted with the malice of the Underworld?
"Do you want to live?" Yan Wanqing looked at the cook, speaking word by word.
Hearing that she could live, the cook imdiately nodded eagerly, "Just command , madam!"
"Now, go back to the Divine Church of Light and tell Song Ning that your task was successful," she gave Cong Ge a look.
Cong Ge imdiately took out a red dicine jar, poured out a dicinal Pill.
"This is a poison no less potent than Peacock Gall. If you don’t get the antidote within ten days, you will die violently, your body dissolving into a pool of blood." Cong Ge stuffed the dicinal Pill directly into the cook’s mouth, "Do your job well and then co to for the antidote."
The cook swallowed the poison, incessantly agreed, then scurried away into the night and left.
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