CH 133

After another ear-piercing wail, Mr. Cao asked, “Which disease was your husband suffering from? Which doctor did you find for medical treatment?”

The widow stopped crying, and said bluntly, “A severe cough, you weren’t available the day he fell ill. I invited Dr. He from the west of town instead.”

Mo Feng came out from behind Ms. Liang and said, “You’re talking nonsense. Mr. Cao has confirmed none of the dried fruit is poisonous. Who knows how your man died? Should my family be responsible for everyone who died?”

The woman probably didn’t expect Mr. Cao to get to them first, and saw Wang Wang lying on the ground while panicking, “Look, this dead cat is the evidence!”

Mu Yan chuckled, “Ma’am, this cat had never eaten candied fruit!”

The woman subconsciously glanced at the crowd before saying, “Beef jerky, my husband ate beef jerky. Didn’t your cat die after eating beef jerky?”

How did she know that the cat died after eating beef jerky?

Mr. Cao said by the side, “How could a person with a coughing problem eat something as dry as beef jerky?”

Ms. Liang also said, “That’s right, I also have a bad cough. The weather is already dry in this season, and I wouldn’t dare touch beef or mutton.”

Mo Yan asked, “Since you believe your husband was poisoned by us, what do you want?”

“It was a mistake on your part. If you pay me a hundred silver taels, the matter will be over. Otherwise, I’ll sue you and send you to jail.”

Mo Feng stepped forward and said to the woman, “One hundred silver taels! That’s highway robbery!” Then, he turned to Mo Yan, “Are you stupid? This is obviously full of holes, but you have to pay her money? We don’t have nearly enough to pay her!”

If even Mo Feng could tell something wasn’t right, how could the onlookers not be able to tell?

She bowed her head and kneeled to ‘admit her mistake’, “Esteemed brother of mine, how should I deal with this situation?”

“Let the judges decide who’s in the right!”

Mo Yan kowtowed and said, “Alright, I shall do that!”

Zhou Liangsheng said he was going to find the governing official. Lu Junming replied, “He’s not a judge, and this involves a death. You should go to Yi City to report to the county magistrate, and ask him to send an officer to check. Chuzi, Get the horse ready!”

Xiao Chuzi agreed and ran away, but Manager Liang came out to stop him from the crowd and said, “Why rush to report to the authorities? Her husband was terminally ill and just left a few days earlier. You only have to pay the funeral expenses.”

After finishing speaking, Manager Liang turned to the widow, “Please ask less from them!”

This really had something to do with Manager Liang. Once they agreed to pay, it is tantamount to admitting their goods were poisonous, and it’d be impossible to argue otherwise.

Mo Yan said coldly, “Manager Liang, you want to be a mediator, but this is human life, can you bear its weight?”

Lu Junming loudly urged Xiao Chuzi to get the horse, and Mo Yan struck while the iron was hot, “I heard that the coroners in the county government are very powerful, and can instantly find out how people died. If you spread slander, you will go to prison.”

The woman trembled in fright and nearly fell down. The people who came with her all looked flustered and retreated one after another.

Manager Liang winked at the woman and said, “We’re all from the city. Your man just left this world a few days earlier, so forget about it!”

Seeing them about to flee, Mu Yan pointed to Wang Wang on the ground and said, “You may be generous and willing to forget about it, but I refuse. My family’s Wang Wang is also a life, how did it die? We must find out today!”

Manager Liang began to retreat slowly into the crowd. Mo Yan said to Xiao Chuzi, “Brother Chuzi, close the door. The murderer who killed Wang Wang is in this yard.”

The onlookers looked about excitedly. Two young men looked panic-stricken and wanted to flee through the door. Xiao Chuzi recognized that they were the two people from the back kitchen of the Shunlai Restaurant, so he closed the door, pressing his back against it tightly.

Manager Liang said calmly, “It’s just a cat, it might not have died from food poisoning.”

Just then the widow said the cat died eating beef jerky, but now he’s saying otherwise. He’s too eager to cut ties with her, making him suspicious.

“Wang Wang only eats what godmother feeds it.”

Manager Liang seemed to be grasping at straws. He snorted coldly, pointed at Ms. Hua and said, “Look, the murderer is right there.”

Zhao’er argued, “My mother is not the murderer. Someone deliberately threw poisonous beef jerky in my yard, and my mother fed Wang Wang without knowing it.”

“Godmother, have any outsiders entered your yard recently?”

Ms. Hua thought for a moment, then said with a glimmer in her eyes, “No! The only person who came here recently was your father.”

Now, Manager Liang spoke again, “Look, the murderer is from their family. I’ve heard they’d divorced, but I didn’t expect Shopkeeper Mu to be so cruel. I’ve also heard that he also kidnapped his own daughter and wanted to marry her to a fool…”

Mo Ling was so angry that her face was flushed. Just as she was about to speak, Mo Yan spoke up first, “Even we didn’t know about this, how did you know?”

Ms. Liang scolded, “Exactly! Stop talking nonsense to ruin my daughter’s reputation, she’s already engaged.”

Mo Yan passed through the crowd and walked towards the gate. Manager Liang looked back, and the two workers in his back kitchen were standing there.

She walked up to those two people, “I think both of you are smart and capable. Our workshop has just opened and is recruiting workers. Male workers get a thousand dollars a month. You won’t be exposed to the elements in the factory, do you two want to go?”

One of them said, “We tried to apply for a job, but Mr. Lu refused to accept us. He said that he had enough male workers.”

“The workshop is looking to expand, and it needs more male workers. Do you want to go?”

The other replied, “Of course! That’s much better than earning two hundred dollars a month.”

Mo Yan turned to Lu Junming, “Young master Lu, I think these two are smart and capable, and can be entrusted with buying goods from the Upper Valley in the future, what do you think?”

Lu Junming nodded and said, “Sure.”

The two of them first whispered to each other, and then looked at each other and smiled. They must have felt like it was easy money.

The two said with joy on their faces, “So, is it settled?”

Mi Yan said, “Naturally, but I have a small condition.” After she finished speaking, she looked at Manager Liang, who glared at the two, “Don’t listen to their nonsense, they’re lying to you.”

At this time, the two of them only had eyes for the easy money, and couldn’t care less about Manager Liang. They kept asking Mu Yan what the conditions were. Mo Yan glanced at the Manager Liang from time to time, and slowly asked, “On the eighth day of New Year, were the two of you in Yi City?”

The two immediately replied in the affirmative. Manager Liang immediately shouted at them, “Is there no work in the back kitchen? Get back in!”

Post-translation notes: This is going to get really spicy, really quick. The demise is imminent, although I’m not sure if I’ve already said that. As always, thanks for reading!