booknovelhub
Chapter 232 - 228: Poisonous Fungus_1
Chapter 232 - 228: Poisonous Fungus_1
Chapter 232: Chapter 228: Poisonous Fungus_1
Translator: 549690339
In the hustle and bustle of everyone, May passed by in the blink of an eye.
Now it was the time to harvest apricots and peaches again.
This time, Yingbao did not have to worry about it, as her second cousin had invited some friends to help out.
The Jiang family and the villagers had already harvested the mushrooms once and had replanted them again.
Some villagers also sold their excess mushroom seeds to the people of West Village.
As a result, several more families from West Village moved to the South Slope, including Chen LaoShuan’s family.
Yes, it seems that Chen LaoShuan had come to his senses after the water disaster and spent a huge amount of money to build five large tile houses on the South Slope.
The house was built on the farmland of his youngest son, Chen Changhai.
As soon as it was completed, even before the whitewash had dried, Chen LaoShuan and his wife moved in with Xubao, Chen Zhao, and Chen Tiantian.
Thus, whenever Yingbao went out to dig for medicinal herbs, she often saw Chen Zhao and Chen Tiantian taking their little brother Xubao to play in Dongchen Village, sometimes even running to the martial arts training ground and staying for half a day.
Yingbao couldn’t help but wonder if these two weren’t apprenticed to the pharmacy anymore.
What’s even more outrageous is that these two even took Xubao to their own orchard and asked Jiang Quan for apricots and peaches, and her second cousin actually gave them some.
Yingbao wanted to warn her second cousin, but she decided to leave it alone.
She wanted to see what they were up to, always hanging around her house.
But before she could figure it out, a large group of guards suddenly came to the village, led by none other than Xiao Mo.
Also with him was the County Magistrate, Cao Can.
“Where is the village chief of Dongchen?” Cao Can, riding on a horse, looked disdainfully at the bustling villagers.
Jiang Sanlang happened to be at home and ran out immediately when he heard the news.
His gaze fell upon Cao Can, and he moved forward to pay his respects, “Dongchen village chief, Jiang Sanlang, greets Official Cao.”
Cao Can lifted his chin and said, “Your villager Chen sold poison that harmed an important person, do you know about this?”
Jiang Sanlang was taken aback and quickly responded, “Chen’s villager sold poison? Who exactly was it? Please clarify, Officer Cao.”
Cao Can snorted, turned his head, and motioned for someone behind him, “You come over and tell him!”
A servant named Aqiu stepped out from amongst the soldiers.
After paying respect to Cao Can, Aqiu turned to Jiang Sanlang and said, “Two months ago, my master bought several pounds of mushrooms from the Clan Leader of the Chen family at a high price. However, they harbored malicious intentions and sold us poisonous mushrooms.”
“The Clan Leader’s family sold mushrooms to you?” Jiang Sanlang didn’t believe it at all, “How is that possible?”
All the mushrooms in their village, without any left, were sold to Furuifeng Trading Company via Steward Zhou, including part of the golden mushrooms from Jiang family.
How did this man get his hands on the mushrooms? He couldn’t be here to cause trouble, could he?
“How can it not be possible? It was Chen Clan Leader’s daughter-in-law who sold it to us.”
Aqiu stated firmly, “If you don’t believe, call them over and we can confront them.”
Jiang Sanlang furrowed his brows and instructed a villager to invite the Chen Clan Leader and his daughter-in-law over.
In a while, Clan Leader Chen hurriedly arrived, followed by Chen Zhu and his wife Shao.
“Sanlang, what’s happened?” Clan Leader Chen, on hearing that someone said his daughter-in-law had sold poisonous mushrooms to others, got a fright and hurried over.
Chen Zhu was worried about his father, so he and his wife followed.
Jiang Sanlang said, “This man is claiming that your daughter-in-law sold poisonous mushrooms.”
“How is that possible?” Clan Leader Chen glanced at Shao and shook his head, “My daughter-in-law is honest and upright, when has she ever sold poisonous mushrooms? Aqiu, you cannot make unfounded accusations.”
At this point, Aqiu became anxious, “Clan Leader Chen, I swear to the heavens, it was indeed your daughter-in-law. That day, as our carriage was passing by near your house, your second daughter-in-law, Han, stopped us to talk. She said she had mushrooms and wanted to sell them to my master’s son.”
Clan Leader Chen stood frozen.
The Han Family! It’s the Han Family again!
He was just about to be frustrated to death by that foolish matter.
Cao Can spoke up, “Clan Leader Chen, hurry up and hand over the person. Let’s get this over with as soon as possible.”
Clan Leader Chen’s hands were trembling, he turned to his youngest son and said, “Quickly go fetch your second sister-in-law.”
He couldn’t allow a single Han family member to jeopardize his entire family.
Just as Chen Zhu was about to run to call for people, he heard Xiao Mo say, “Since the evidence is clear, there’s no need to delay. Magistrate Cao, you can send people to arrest them all.”
Cao Can: …
Looking around, County Magistrate Cao instructed the guards he brought with him, “Have that man lead the way and arrest the criminals and their family members. Make sure not to let a single one escape!”
“Yes!” Ten or so county guards immediately followed Chen Zhu and ran down the mountains.
Mr. Jiang’s face grew serious. He initially wanted to ask Clan Leader Chen what was going on, but he held back.
Hearing that even the family members would be arrested, Clan Leader Chen was stunned. He in a hurry to protest, “Officer, it should be the person who committed the crime that bears the responsibility, this has nothing to do with the rest of the Chen Family.”
Chen Fu couldn’t figure out what was happening. The fact that Xiao Mo from the prefecture city personally came to arrest people, and wanted to arrest the entire family, bewildered him.
Xiao Mo ignored him and turned to Jiang Quan, “Not only do I want to arrest criminals, I also need Clan Leader Jiang’s help for something.”
Jiang Quan only felt his scalp tighten, “Captain Xiao, you’re too polite, just let me know anytime if you need any help.”
Xiao Mo: “I received an order from my superiors to find a child who possesses medical skills. I noticed that your daughter, Yingbao, is quite skilled in medicine, so I thought I would let you know that tomorrow I plan to take her to the capital to treat an important person’s illness.”
“That won’t work! My daughter is just a few years old, she doesn’t know how to treat people. Captain Xiao, please see this clearly.” Jiang Quan bowed to Xiao Mo.
Xiao Mo didn’t respond, just quietly scanned Jiang Quan and the others.
Soon, Clan Leader Chen’s eldest son’s family and second son’s family were brought in, and even the mobility-impaired Chen Boyuan was carried over.
Aqiu pointed at Han Miaoniang and said to Magistrate Cao Can, “It is her who sold us the poisonous mushrooms.”
Han Miaoniang was terrified and screamed, “I didn’t do it. What poisonous mushrooms? They are golden ears that we grew at home. How could they be poisonous mushrooms?”
Cao Can gave a cold sneer and waved his hand, “Put them on the prison cart!”
As the soldiers encircled them, two large prison carts pulled by two horses each were revealed.
Amidst the screams of Clan Leader Chen’s family, the soldiers picked them up one by one and shoved them into the prison carts.
At this point, the villagers became agitated, some yelled, “Why do you all have the right to arrest them?”
“Let them out quickly!”
“What crime have they committed! Why do you guys have to arrest all of them?”
Clan Leader Chen, after all, was the pillar of the family and the face of the Chen Family, once he was arrested, their reputation would be ruined. How could they hold their heads up in front of outsiders?
Seeing the situation, Xiao Mo gestured to Cao Can: “Let Clan Leader Chen and his wife go. The rest will be taken back to the County Government Office for trial.”
So, Clan Leader Chen and his wife were pulled out from the cart and tossed aside.
“Daddy! Daddy! Please, save me! Save me!” Han Miaoniang was scared face pale, shouting repeatedly.
Now she was more alarmed than anyone, because she knew it was her golden ears that had caused this problem and allowed the distinguished person to fall ill.
Maybe the noble person had been eaten to death, that’s why these people came to arrest her family?
But she really didn’t know that thing would kill people. If she had known that, even if someone offered her a thousand taels of silver, she wouldn’t dare to sell it to anyone.
Han Miaoniang held onto the wooden fence and cried out, “The Jiang family did this to me! It’s the Jiang family’s spores that caused the problem! It wasn’t my fault! Officer, we are innocent! If you have to arrest someone, arrest someone from the Jiang family…”