Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Chapter 334 Money Bag

When the Jiang family's food sharing was delivered to the Cui Mansion, Zhao Yue had just sent Madam Zhou away. Lian Huan was standing behind her, gently rubbing her head. There was also a maid standing behind Cui Shuhua, rubbing her head slowly.

The room was silent for a long time. The maids didn't even dare to breathe, but kept their heads down and remained silent.

Guizhi came in from outside with a little maid. She looked happy as if she didn't notice the dullness in the room. She laughed cheerfully, "Madam, the fifth lady from the Jiangxia County Prince's Mansion sent something over. She said that Miss Jiang made it this afternoon. She brought it over on the way. It's getting late, so she won't come in to bother you anymore. She'll come with Miss Jiang another day."

When she mentioned that Jiang Shangxian had someone send food over, Zhao Yue's expression eased slightly. She raised her eyelids and looked around. "What could be so worthy of her asking someone to bring it over? It's a good thing Li Wuniang is willing to do this for her."

Cui Shuhua raised her hand to stop the maid's movements. Perhaps because she had closed her eyes for too long, a trace of tears welled up in her eyes when she opened them. She glanced at Zhao Yue, who was speaking insincerely, and said indifferently, "Since you don't like it, I'll take it back. This will save Nian Nu's kindness from being wasted."

"Who said I don't like it anymore?"

Zhao Yue glared back, unwilling to be outdone, and waved her hand: "Set up the meal, Jiulang probably won't be back today."

Guizhi pursed her lips and smiled as she took the food box from the little girl. She took the dishes out and placed them on the table. She stepped aside and said, "Mrs. Li said she bought these at the Yong'an Canal in the afternoon. There were a lot of children catching snails in the canal, and Miss Jiang was jealous. She came up with a lot of new ways to eat them. She also had some freshly brewed rice wine, saying it would make her look bad, so she just happened to bring it over."

Zhao Yue pointed at the four plates and said to Cui Shuhua, "You said she would be thinking carefully about what story to tell us tomorrow, but now she's only thinking about food."

"Okay, put the food on the table and you can leave." Cui Shuhua stood up, straightened her skirt, washed her hands, sat down, and started to chase people away.

The two people had something to say, so the maids quickened their movements, quickly set the table, and went out to close the door.

The aunt and sister-in-law then started talking.

Since no one was around, Zhao Yue didn't bother to serve. She picked up a snail and ate it neatly. She spat it out, and the empty shell fell on the table. "What do you think Madam Zhou meant by this?"

Cui Shuhua took a sip of rice wine first, then turned her head away with some disdain, not wanting to see her unruly appearance. "This rice wine is quite good, not sour, but sweet, and even has the fragrance of osmanthus. Nian Nu is indeed much better than others at making these foods. I like this wine. If you don't want it, give it all to me."

"It's not even time to go to bed yet, why are you talking in your sleep?" Zhao Yue picked up the wine glass and took a sip, savoring it for a moment before drinking it all in one gulp. "This wine is quite refreshing."

Cui Shuhua sneered at this and said, "It's like a cow drinking water."

Then, before Zhao Yue could open her mouth to fight back, she said, "What else could it mean? Their family is now this person's money bag."

She raised her hand and made a four: "We have no right to interfere in the affairs of the imperial court, and even less so in the affairs of the royal family. Our family has never been involved in these matters. Whoever sits on the throne has the final say."

"Are you trying to emulate Duke Ying?"

Zhao Yue wasn't completely clueless: "He's quite ambitious. Did people before school really want to learn this much?"

"Oh, I underestimated you in the past. When did you learn to use double entendres?"

Cui Shuhua slowly picked at the snail flesh with a small silver needle. Her hands were beautiful, white, tender, slender, and long, like the finest jade. Her movements were a delight to the eyes: "Isn't it just the way Your Majesty has spoiled me that I'm so carefree?"

One of them had no children, and the other only gave birth to Cui Bianxu. They simply could not understand why Li Shimin, an emperor who was obviously blessed with advantages in military and national affairs, was so confused about the issue of children.

"Since she came to our house, I'm afraid it was that person's idea?" Zhao Yue was still a little worried. It would be easy for Cui to talk to others, because her son was an official in Chang'an.

"No matter whether it is true or not, our family will not get involved. So what if he is a prince? Jiulang just needs to remember that a minister must be loyal." Cui Shuhua was not worried at all. If they were unwilling, would the King of Wei dare to force them to take sides?

The Cui family is not a pushover!

What's more, Cui Yi is a stubborn donkey who will take three steps back if you whip him!

"Then Madam Zhou will never come again, right?" Zhao Yue was really annoyed. She didn't want to deal with merchants, and even more so, she didn't want to deal with Madam Zhou.

Dali Temple

Xiao Cui, who was working overtime, felt that his brain was not enough.

"You said Xingyun was poisoned?"

Ding Yuan was a very active coroner. Worried that Cui Bianxu might not understand, he gestured for him to squat with him. He held the oil lamp close to the corpse's mouth and said, "Corrosive livor mortis has appeared here."

Xiao Cui, who had just finished eating pig food from the Dali Temple cafeteria, didn't want to get so close to the corpse: "I saw it, and there's more? Do you know what the poison is?"

Ding Yuan felt a little disappointed when he saw that he hadn't taken the bait. Every time he coaxed Cui Bianxu into doing these things together, he felt quite happy. "To be precise, there are two kinds of poison. One is a slow-acting poison called Chunyi. It's colorless and odorless, with a slightly sweet taste. Even a drop of it in water wouldn't be noticed. He must have been poisoned for some time, but this poison isn't fatal. It only slowly paralyzes the limbs, and eventually leaves the person lying in bed unable to move."

"What's another one?"

"The other is the poison of the autumn herb. This poison is mostly in the form of white powder and tastes slightly bitter..."

Ding Yuan was also very puzzled. "This poison isn't good. It's easily detected. If the dose is insufficient, it won't kill you immediately. It will only cause abdominal pain, heartburn, and vomiting. If it doesn't work the first time, you'll have to add more poison. It's very troublesome."

If he were asked to poison someone, he would definitely use arsenic. It is the simplest and most convenient way to kill someone quickly and thoroughly.

"Didn't you say before that Xingyun's cause of death was that his heart was pulled out..." Wang Leisheng scratched his neck and couldn't figure it out. Why did the cause of death change every now and then?

To tease him?

"I didn't say no."

Ding Yuan blinked and spread his hands. "But with these two poisons, even without that thief, Xing Yun wouldn't survive more than seven days. Although the Qiufan poison he was infected with isn't serious, the combination of the two poisons will kill him in seven days at most."

"If he died from these two poisons, can the coroner in Wannian County find out?" Cui Bianxu suddenly felt that what Wang Leisheng said before made sense. He was afraid that there were many people who wanted Xingyun dead.

"We can find out."

Having worked together before, Ding Yuan had some understanding of the level of the coroners in the two counties: "But they don't know how to investigate."

"Why?"