Chapter 111: Fortunately, I Reacted Quickly
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
However, just as he was about to interrogate again, he heard someone beating the drum outside the hall. A chef with a scarred face came to the Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant. The chef knelt down as soon as he appeared in court. “It’s me. I poisoned Second Master Ning for my own selfish reasons. It’s me who made the decision on my own. I wanted to deceive him into giving me the secret recipe so that the shopkeeper would promote me to be the head chef.”
County Magistrate Shen slapped down the wooden gavel. “Ridiculous! Human lives are at stake!”
The chef took out another packet of powder that was said to be the remaining of the poison that he used.
According to the bailiff’s investigation, the scar-faced man was indeed the one cooking in the kitchen today. However, there was no way to verify the poison. This was because on the way back, the bailiff encountered a group of beggars who came out of nowhere and smashed all the food. Not to mention testing the poison, he could not even tell what the original dishes were.
Shopkeeper Lei sighed and said to the chef in a disapproving tone, “You disappoint me too much.”
He was naturally being hypocritical. He was very satisfied with this chef’s performance.
The Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant had many servants like the scar-faced man who were at their wit’s end. These people had no relatives, and their lives were in Lei Wanjun’s hands. Not to mention asking them to come out and admit their crimes, even if they were asked to die, these cowards would not dare to say anything.
At this moment, Shopkeeper Lei slowly presented the letter that “Ning Fengcai” had written to him. “To be honest, I’ve actually received this. I’m treating him to a meal today just to reject him.”
The handwriting on the letter was crooked, and there were many erroneous words. After checking, the adviser confirmed that it was Second Uncle Ning’s handwriting. This result shocked Second Uncle Ning, who had just been carried back from the medical center. He immediately went from weak to energetic. “He’s lying! He clearly asked me to come!” But he had no evidence.
Shopkeeper Lei asked with a faint smile, “If someone really spread these words to Brother Ning, why didn’t your first reaction be to inform your big brother but to come to the appointment? It can be seen that you really have the intention to give your big brother’s secret recipe to me. In that case, if 1 really have the intention to covet that secret recipe, can’t I just get Brother Ning to bring it back to me? Why do you have to poison you?” Second Uncle Ning was speechless.
At this moment, Shopkeeper Lei gave the chef who confessed a look. The latter immediately admitted with a tremble that he was the one who sent the message to trick him over so that he could poison him.
Lei Wanjun looked at the county magistrate in the hall. “County magistrate, since the truth has been revealed, can I leave now?”
There were witnesses and evidence, and the details matched. Even the criminal confessed. Hence, even if County Magistrate Shen felt that something was wrong, he had to let the others leave after putting the chef in jail.
***
On the way back, the servant could not help but sigh. “This is strange.”
Shopkeeper Lei looked gloomy. “Is County Magistrate Shen’s wife from the Li Family of Jiangnan?”
Shopkeeper Lei said in a low voice, “The Fragrance Restaurant is the Li Family’s business. Looks like they can’t hold it in anymore.”
The Li Family’s shops were everywhere in the world, and Fragrance Restaurant was one of them. All these years, Uncle had been strongly supporting the Lei Family and the Li Family in fighting for the right to the royal warrants. He thought that the Li Family could see the situation clearly, but it turned out that they were lying low and waiting to cause trouble for him here. However, he did not know if Ning Feng was being used as a chess piece or if he had already secretly joined the Li Family.
The more Shopkeeper Lei thought about it, the more he felt that his suspicion was reasonable. He immediately asked the servant to pay attention to the movements of the Ning Family and the county magistrate. With this attention, he realized that County Magistrate Shen went to the eldest branch of the Ning Family in Fortune Village two days later.
“Fortunately, I reacted quickly. If 1 let Shen Congjun send me to prison, I might be falsely charged with something..”