The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

Chapter 74: The Poisoning Event at the Same Year's Party - Part 1

"Don't panic, everyone. Try to stay where you are and don't move about, so as not to damage the evidence on the scene! The brothers sitting at the door, please call the servants outside and let them guard over all the people in the restaurant, so as not to let the murderer escape!"

Although it was the first time in his second life that Sun Shaozong had seen someone get poisoned and die in front of him, his excellent professional qualities allowed him to step out and control the scene immediately.

In this sudden situation, people tend to follow blindly, not to mention the death of Zhu Peng. Sun Shaozong should have been respected at the scene, so most people acted according to his words.

Just a few of them were on Zhu Peng's table, so it was hard to calm them down. Some of them tried scratching their throats and retching. Some people agitatedly grabbed Wang Bingxian and asked him why he entertained guests with poisoned wine!

"Don't worry. There should be no poison in the wine."

As Sun Shaozong walked toward the corpse, he said, "If the wine was poisoned, the people on the table should all be dead."

He said that regardless of the reaction of those people, he squatted beside Zhu Peng's body and carefully analyzed it.

Zhu Peng's pupils and muscles were tight, his limbs were severely twisted, and there was a small amount of milky foam vomit at the corners of his mouth

Judging from these signs, he really died of acute poisoning. As for the type of toxin, it couldn’t be distinguished by a pair of naked eyes.

In addition, Zhu Peng's facial expression was extremely distorted, which may have caused acute asphyxia after poisoning, which also led to his indistinguishable expression before his death.

Moreover, Zhu Peng spilled a handful of wine on his chest and left sleeve. It seems that he already had a toxic reaction after drinking half of it and accidentally spilled the remaining poisoned wine on his body.

After checking the condition of the corpse, Sun Shaozong pulled another piece from the table skirt [the silk ornament on the edge of the table], carefully picked up the broken two pieces of wine bowl fragments, put them beside the candlestick, and looked carefully. He found that there was some milky white colloidal residue on the bottom of the bowl.

He let Zhu Hu hold the wine jar, poured some rice wine onto the fragment, shook it slightly, and then saw that the milky residue had melted into half.

.

Seeing this, Sun Shaozong frowned deeper.

"Brother Sun."

Zhu Hu asked with concern, "What do you see? Who is the murderer that killed my brother?"

They all stretched their necks and opened their ears, waiting to hear Sun Shaozong's answer.

Seeing Sun Shaozong's frown was not eased, he shook his head slightly and said, "It's hard for me to judge who the killer is at present. But the poison was placed in the wine bowl because this poison can dissolve at a fast speed in the wine. If it is put in another place, it is impossible to leave a poison residue at the bottom of the bowl."

"In the wine bowl..."

Zhu Hu repeated this sentence and suddenly came forward and grabbed Wang Bingxian by the collar. He asked with gnashing teeth, "Wang Bingxian, did you do it?! You have long harbored resentment against my third brother. Besides, this restaurant is yours. Who else can poison him like this?"

"Zhu... Brother Zhu Hu, don't cast malicious words on me!"

Wang Bingxian's hands and feet trembled in confusion, his eyes kept moving, and his mouth was hesitating, "I... I never... Since when did I have a grudge against Zhu Peng?"

With such a flustered appearance, more than half of the people present doubted him.

"Since when have you ever not harbored resentment against him?"

When Zhu Hu saw this, he naturally became angrier. He could not hide anything more. He angrily said, "He pretended to be drunk by the wine at your house that day and forcibly insulted your wife. How dare you say that you don't hate him?"

As soon as this remark was made, all the people there were in an uproar, and they suddenly were not surprised that Wang Bingxian would poison Zhu Peng with such unparalleled hatred!

"Yes, I... I do hate him, but I didn't poison it!"

Wang Bingxian shouted in a panic, but who would listen to him?

Zhu Hu said with a sneer, "We should just call the kitchen staff for questioning to see if you are the one who poisoned my brother.”

With this, he signals to the servants of the Zhu family. The servants immediately went to the back kitchen and brought all the cooks, handymen, and wine-serving staff who had been taking a long time to come into the hall.

Zhu Hu swept at them one by one, coldly, only to see that all the people were silent. He then suddenly raised his voice and asked, "Who brought the wine bowl to the main seat?"

Puff~

A shop assistant immediately fell to his knees and shouted in a panic, "I was wrong! I went to the wine jar and wine bowl in the back kitchen with other people. How can I poison the bowl in full view of the public?"

The shop assistant's reasoning was much clearer and more organized than that of Wang Bingxian.

However, someone in the crowd immediately refuted, "You may have poisoned other people on the way when they were unprepared! It was a mess at that time. Who would have noticed what you did on the way?"

When they heard this, they were all deeply convinced.

Zhu Hu's face became a little gloomy again, and he was waiting to be asked whether he had been instructed by Wang Bingxian.

However, the assistant in the shop hurriedly discriminated and said, "I was wrong, Lord! The wine jar weighs at least ten kilos. In addition, there are 15 wine bowls on each table. It's already very hard for me to hold the wooden tray in my hands. How can I free my hands to poison the young master?"

As it was a gathering of martial arts scholars, there was no preparation of the wine pot or anything. They were all directly put into the 10 kilos wine jar, in addition to the wooden tray and wine bowls. He’s afraid that everything weighs more than 20 kilos.

In particular, it was difficult to balance the wine jar and the wine bowl when walking. It was indeed impossible to spare hands and feet on the way to secretly put the poison in Zhu Peng's bowl.

While the people were thinking in silence, the smart shop assistant seemed to recall something and hurriedly said, "Report to all Lords, I know who was the one that put the poison!"

He then got up and pointed to Wang Bingxian's servant and said, "It's him, it must be him! When the young master shouted at all the people in the back kitchen for a lecture, I saw him sneak into the back kitchen!"

The servant's face suddenly changed, and he shouted, "Don't cast malicious words on me. It's the master who asked me to guard the back kitchen door to see who would sneak into the back kitchen! I didn't even go in at that time. How could I poison the bowl?"

This case was a turning point!

The people focused again on Wang Bingxian, but after seeing his face change, they finally said, "Yes, I indeed asked him to guard the back door! Because a few days ago, I suddenly received an anonymous letter, which said that as long as I was willing to call out all the people in the kitchen that day, someone would take the opportunity to teach Zhu Peng a lesson!"

Speaking of this, he quickly distinguished himself and said, "I didn't know that man would poison him. I thought he just wanted to punish Zhu Peng!"

Zhu Hu did not pay attention to his discrimination, but just wrung his eyebrows, waited for the previous young servant to finish his words, and asked, "You said you were at the door at that time. Have you ever seen someone sneaking in?"

"Yes, yes! I did see a man sneaking into the kitchen!"

As he said this, the young servant padded his feet and wandered around the crowd. Suddenly, he was surprised and pointed to someone in the corner and shouted, "It's him, it's him! I saw him sneak into the back kitchen with my own eyes. He must have poisoned the bowl!"