"Ha Qiu!" At the same time as Fu Zhixi's longing thoughts, Luo Ge couldn't help but sneeze.
Turning his head, he glanced at the pavilion, but the person there had already disappeared.
But it didn't matter, the flaying that was due wouldn't be affected by someone leaving!
"I see!" Upon hearing Doctor Ming's words, the crowd understood.
"Then according to this, First Class Pavilion must be irrelevant to this matter."
"Yes, it seems First Class Pavilion is actually the victim here!"
"We were mistaken to have suspected them earlier, how unfair of us!"
"Who was the one spouting nonsense earlier, slandering Boss Gu like that? If I find out, I'll tear that mouth of theirs apart."
The agitated old woman spoke a bit too loudly, and everyone present heard her.
The few who had just been arrested by the officers shuddered involuntarily.
"Your Honor, the crowd is saying these few have been spreading rumors and causing trouble, slandering First Class Pavilion. We caught them when they tried to flee."
The "crowd" here was actually referring to Gu Jinchen and Luo Ge themselves.
At the same time, Gu Jinchen also brought forward the skinny little man.
"There's also this person. The attendants at the pavilion saw him acting suspiciously, trying to approach the dishes used by these two guests."
"This humble one felt something was off, so we brought him here. Please investigate, Your Honor."
"No, it's a misunderstanding, we didn't do anything!" Hearing this, the few immediately started protesting.
Before the county magistrate could speak, the crowd couldn't stay silent anymore.
"What misunderstanding? I recognized you! You were the one slandering Boss Gu and his family behind their backs. I remember it clearly, it was you!"
"That's right, and you too!"
"You were also involved!"
Hearing the crowd's accusations, the old county magistrate turned to look at Gu Jinchen and his wife, nodding to assure them he would handle this matter.
"With so many witnesses here, what defense do you have?"
"Explain yourselves. Why did you spread such nonsense and slander others?"
"And you! What are you hiding? Why are your hands shaking so much?"
"I... nothing... no, nothing!" Hearing the county magistrate's words, the man started shaking even more violently.
His task was to slip poison into the dishes when he had the chance, but he hadn't succeeded and hadn't managed to discard the evidence yet.
With a gesture from the county magistrate, Hu Jun stepped forward and searched the man's clothes.
"It's a vial of poison, Your Honor!"
"Hand it to Doctor Ming. Doctor Ming, please examine what substance this is."
The few who had been stirring up trouble saw that the skinny accomplice had failed and didn't even have the sense to get rid of the evidence when fleeing. They were almost enraged enough to faint!
This damn fool! He never seemed this stupid before, so why did he slip up at such a critical moment?
"Your Honor, this is indeed the same poison that Lin Guest was afflicted with!" Doctor Ming carefully examined the vial and squinted, quickly responding.
"What?!"
Hearing this, the crowd gasped in shock, everyone staring at the vial of poison.
Lin Guest himself straightened his posture, looking towards the man.
"Guards, seize the criminal!" The old county magistrate narrowed his eyes and immediately gave the order.
He could tell this man was a coward, and such people were most afraid of intimidation.
In this situation, if he could scare some useful information out of him, it would maximize the assistance to Gu Jinchen.
This way, when Doctor Ming reported this matter to The Prince of Nanyang, he would likely gain some favor as well.
The old county magistrate was indeed a shrewd one.
"No, no, don't arrest me, Your Honor, don't arrest me!"
"Big brothers, big brothers, save me!"
Seeing the officers about to take him away, the skinny man panicked and immediately cried out to the few who had been stirring up trouble, begging for their help!
Hearing his cries, those leading the disturbance inwardly cursed, remaining silent and unmoving.
For now, they would pretend not to know him. That way, they could still struggle a bit, as long as the fool didn't blurt out anything else.
"Big brothers!"
"Save me, big brothers!"
The skinny man wailed for a while, but seeing no one respond, and that he was about to be taken away, he panicked even more.
"Stop yelling. You committed a capital crime, no use struggling. Save your breath and accept your fate." Hu Jun was a bit disdainful, fanning the flames a little more.
Capital... crime?!
Hearing Hu Jun's words, the skinny man was alarmed.
"You're still so young, it's a pity. But if you confess truthfully, maybe His Honor will show you some leniency and spare your life?" Seeing his reaction, Hu Jun muttered another line.
"!!! I'll talk, I'll talk!"
"I'm innocent, someone else instigated us to do this!"
"It was Young Boss Fu from Spring Bloom Pavilion, that woman. I saw it with my own eyes, my big brother secretly meeting with her!"
"But I was spotted! She promised my big brother a lot of silver to sabotage this wine pavilion! The needle in that person's body was stabbed by my big brother!"
"I've been following my big brother and stealing things for years, so I'm pretty skilled. My big brother told me to poison the dishes, said something about... making the evidence undeniable!"
"Your Honor, I've confessed everything. I didn't mean to harm anyone, I really didn't mean it!"
"Don't let me be executed!"
By this point, the skinny man had surreptitiously glanced at Gu Jinchen and Luo Ge. Amidst his flustered appearance, his eyes were calm and cold.
Seeing the look in his eyes, Luo Ge was stunned.
Hearing the skinny man's words, everyone present was shocked!
"It was Spring Bloom Pavilion?"
"Spring Bloom Pavilion did this? So the Young Boss of Spring Bloom Pavilion is so vicious! Trying to take someone's life!"
Thinking it through carefully filled them with dread. Realizing the implications, they suddenly felt it was terrifying.
If what this man said was true, then today's events were all orchestrated by Spring Bloom Pavilion. It was truly frightening!
Such malicious intentions, to go so far as to harm others!
"Heavens, how scary! I'll never dare eat at Spring Bloom Pavilion again."
"And it was the Young Boss of Spring Bloom Pavilion, just a young lady. If the owner is like this, who would dare eat there anymore?"
"Exactly, right? If we ever happen to offend this Young Boss at Spring Bloom Pavilion by some chance, wouldn't we risk losing our lives too?"
The more they thought about it, the more terrified they became.
"Come to think of it, you may be right. I've heard people say before that this Young Boss of Spring Bloom Pavilion is trouble. Whenever something happens at other wine pavilions, there are always rumors that she was behind it!"
"I've heard those rumors too, but from the neighboring town. My relatives there told me about it!"
"This isn't baseless speculation, there really were such incidents. If you all investigate, you might uncover more!"
With these few making up such nonsense and getting arrested as an example, the crowd hastened to speak up as well.
They were afraid of falling behind.
"Indeed, I am aware of this matter. When I went to the provincial capital before, I heard some rumors about it."
"It seems this matter is true."
Listening to the comments from the crowd, the old magistrate turned to look at Gu Jinchen and Doctor Ming.
He thought to himself, Gu Jinchen should have handled this matter well.
He felt it was satisfactory.
Those few people who were stirring up trouble saw the situation unfold this way and quickly turned to glance at the spot where Fu Zhixi had been standing earlier.
Seeing no trace of her there, they realized that Fu Zhixi had abandoned them, and their hearts sank immediately.
The men looked at each other, and finally gave up struggling.
The leader of the men bowed to the old magistrate: "Yes, sir, what my subordinate said is indeed true."
"This visit was certainly at the instruction of Young Boss Fu, and I have evidence in my hands."
He was cautious and had obtained some leverage just in case, to leave a way out for himself.
"Moreover.... Young Boss Fu has asked us to take action at other wineries before."
Since you have abandoned us, we cannot be blamed for turning against you.
Admitting the truth at this point was their best choice.
"!!!"
Hearing this, the crowd widened their eyes, because this statement confirmed that what they had said about the Spring Bloom Pavilion case was true!
After speaking, the leader of the men also bowed his head in apology to Gu Jinchen, Doctor Ming, and the two poisoned guests.
Seeing this, his other companions followed suit.
They confessed and admitted their crimes.
This was to show a better attitude, in hopes of receiving a reduced sentence.
