Chapter 398 - Culprit

"Hello," Ning greeted the owner of the mill, the man called Miller. He had decided to find out if his hunch was correct or not.

"Hello. Do you need something?" the old man asked. 

"Yes, just some answers," Ning said. "Is your mill incapable of separating the ryegrass from the wheat?"

The old man was taken aback for a moment and finally realized that he had seen Ning just a few minutes ago. 

"You were with that little miss from the Golden Flour, weren't you? What do you want? Do you want to drag our name down? It was an honest mistake," the old man said. 

Ning walked up to the old man and put his arms around his shoulder. he asked," Was it?" 

The old man's eyes changed and he replied, "No, it wasn't a mistake."

Ning's eyes brightened; his hunch was right. 

"Then you did it knowingly?" he asked.

"Yes, master. I personally added the ryegrass flour to the wheat this morning," the old man said with no hesitation.

"And why did you do it? Did you have some problems with them? Did they not pay in time? What was the reason?" Ning asked. 

"Nothing of that sort, Master. I was just paid to do it," the old man said. 

"Huh? Paid to? By who?" Ning asked. 

"I do not know. A man came to me at the crack of dawn and told me that if I did what he said, he would pay me handsomely," the old man said. 

"And you did? Shame on you. Was it worth it? How much did you earn?" Ning asked.

"That man gave me 10 Gols, master," the old man said. 

"10 Gols to betray the trust of a loyal customer. Quite the businessman you are. Where are the 10 Gols?" Ning asked. 

"Right here, master," the old man brought out an old necklace from his chest pocket. 

"Bring it out," Ning said.

The old man nodded and brought out the 10 Gols. Ning took the money and kept it for himself. "Tell me, what did this man look like? Have you ever seen him before?"

"I don't know. The man was wearing a scarf around his face and his eyes were hidden by his top hat. His voice wasn't the most recognizable either, so it could've been anyone," the old man said. 

"Any guesses?" Ning asked.

"Hmm, maybe it was the theater company from the west end of the city? They always come second to the one from the city center, so it could be that," the old man said.

"Sigh, I guess I will have to find out on my own," Ning said. "Go back to what you were doing. I will call you if I ever need you again."

"Yes, master," the old man said and walked back into the mill. 

It was still a hot day with the sun up high in the sky, but Ning didn't seem to care for the heat as much. 

'A rival theater company huh? Could it be that?' he wondered. Those could certainly be the culprit, seeing as how much of a loss the theater had suffered from this debacle. 

But something didn't sit straight with Ning, so he decided to find the answer without wasting any more time.

"System, who was the person the old man was talking about?" Ning asked. As easily as that, Ning found the exact information he was looking for. 

"Oh," he said in surprise when he found out the identity of the person behind this whole thing. 

"Give me more information, like current location," Ning asked. Soon, he got what he wanted and from what he learned of the person, he could see where the motivation to do what they did came from. 

Ning felt his stomach growl once more. "Damn, was that single bread, not enough? I should have known. Well, let's go kill two birds at once," he said and walked away. 

Just after a few minutes of walk, he came across a bakery that was not that far away from the Golden Flour bakery. The number of people walking in and out of the bakery was an astounding many. 

With one of the nearby bakeries closed down, the other was suffering from the workload. Even as he walked in, Ning could see a long line of people waiting for their turn to get their bread. 

It was going to take a while to get his bread, but he could wait. After nearly 15 minutes, it was his turn to order. 

"Hello, can I get 2 pieces of bread please," Ning said.

"2 pieces of bread. Here you go," the lady at the counter wrapped up two loaves of bread in a paper bag and handed it to Ning. 

"Oh, and this one doesn't have Ryegrass in it right?" Ning asked as he paid for the bread. 

"Sorry?" the lady looked confused. "I don't know what you mean sir."

"I was asking if this bread had Ryegrass mixed in it. My body can't handle that poisonous weed very well," Ning said.

"Sir, we never make bread from Ryegrass flour," the lady said. 

"Ah, I see," Ning said. "So you only put them in your rival's bread huh?"

The lady looked really surprised and tried hard to find her cool. "Um, s-sir, you are blocking the line. Please let the other customers get their food," 

"Oh sure. I have nothing to do, so I will wait by the table until it isn't as crowded anymore," Ning said with a smile that said he knew about it all. 

Ning did as he said and sat down at the table close to the counter. He was genuinely hungry so he started eating his bread without anything else but the water that was available at every table. 

From time to time, he looked towards the girl and smiled as he waved his hands towards her. 

Soon the number of people coming into the shop lowered to almost none and Ning finally stood up from his seat.

The lady saw that and quickly ran to the back.. Before Ning could do anything, 2 buff men walked out from the kitchen with dough rollers in their hands.