Tan Yicheng was so frightened that he was trembling all over. He knelt on the ground and buried his head tightly, not daring to say a word.
Seeing this scene, Chu Nanzhi first asked calmly: "Master Yi Cheng, where did you get the salt for cooking for everyone today?"
Tan Yichen raised his head obediently and replied without thinking: "Of course it was sent by Yandao Yamen."
Then, he deliberately turned his attention to Kang Mingyuan and emphasized: "Your Majesty the County Magistrate, this salt was personally transferred from the salt warehouse by the salt magistrate and sent to the county government offices at all levels. There will be nothing wrong with it."
Kang Mingyuan considered and nodded: That's right, the salt officer was replaced only last month. No matter how careless this person is, he will not dare to slack off on the affairs of the yamen.
Seeing that Hu Maoxi hadn't come back yet, Kang Mingyuan had to report back to Lin Jinxiao: "The salt in the salt warehouse is all taken from the government's salt field near Sanghai. It cannot be faked, and the salt used by the yamen at all levels in the county has been carefully verified.
, no one dares to do anything."
"Master Yikang, do you mean that we are deliberately causing trouble and spreading rumors here?"
Lin Jinxiao had a cold expression on his face. Wherever he could see from the corner of his eye, the government officials were running back and forth looking for huts without caring about their dignity.
It is simply unbecoming for something like this to happen in the dignified county government post house.
Looking at Li Sanmu who was just clutching his stomach and suffering from abdominal pain, Lin Jinxiao ordered in a stern voice: "Go and bring your uneaten food over and let Mr. Kang inspect it himself."
Just as Li Sanmu was about to turn around, Kang Mingyuan looked very annoyed and stopped him with deep annoyance: "No need."
Then he looked at Lin Jinxiao and vowed: "Your Majesty, I will conduct a strict investigation and I will give you a satisfactory explanation."
After saying that, he glared back at Yi Cheng angrily and yelled: "Why don't you hurry up and call all the cooks and handymen who are cooking today? I will interrogate them all strictly."
Tan Yicheng left in response, and soon brought a total of six people including the cooks and handymen from the back kitchen of the post house.
Kang Mingyuan pointed at a few people and started to curse in anger: "You idiots, tell me truthfully how the food in the post house was prepared today?"
The chief cook was so frightened by his scolding that he replied tremblingly: "Young master, I cook everything according to Master Yi Cheng's instructions. Every dish is cooked with care, and I don't dare to slack off at all."
"fart."
Kang Mingyuan was so anxious that he cursed: "Please show me carefully. These distinguished guests from Luyan Port only felt sick after eating the food in the post today. You still dare to quibble. If you don't recruit them from the truth, I will definitely
You were beaten until your skin and flesh were torn."
Looking at everyone who was at a loss and frightened to death, the chief bookkeeper Tan Miao reminded him at the side: "Did any of you make unintentional money and steal the inferior salt in the market?
If it is true that this is a first-time offender, I can ask the county magistrate for a lighter sentence. If not, once found out, he will be punished according to the serious crime of murdering an official of the imperial court."
After hearing this, the six people began to look at each other.
Chu Nanzhi looked over inadvertently and noticed that the back of the head of the head cook who was speaking was white and missing a hair, which was very abrupt.
At this time, she didn't have the heart to appreciate this. After hearing these people mention private salt, she also wanted to see what the private salt they mentioned looked like. By the way, she wanted to see what the No. 1 lawyer in Haikang County had to offer.
I can detect those who adulterate salt.
I saw his sinister eyes slowly passing in front of everyone like a blade. Wherever he looked, everyone was frightened and did not dare to look directly at him.
"It's not too late to confess now. Murdering an official of the imperial court is a serious crime that will kill one's head."
Tan Miao looked at everyone while threatening: "I keep my word. As long as you are willing to truthfully confess and admit your mistakes, I will beg to the death for the life of the county magistrate, Paul and others."
After such enlightenment with both grace and power, when he looked at the muscular head cook Chen Wu again, the man immediately lowered his head and replied in fear: "It was a little carelessness. I accidentally killed him."
A batch of illegal salt detected by Mr. Zhu last month was put into the meals."
"Illegal salt discovered by the county magistrate?"
Tan Miao said in surprise.
Kang Mingyuan immediately reacted to his reminder: "Last month, Magistrate Zhu County indeed discovered a batch of crude illicit salt. For this reason, I replaced the salt commander."
As he spoke, he glared at the chief cook with a majestic glare, and shouted loudly: "Chen Wu, you are so brave, you dare to hide low-quality private salt in the post house, what do you want?"
Chen Wu tremblingly replied: "Reporting to the county magistrate, it was just a moment of negligence. It was just because the new salt had just arrived in the past few days, and there was some chaos in the treasury. I didn't have time to deal with the last batch of private salt."
"Can you bring me the misplaced salt?"
Chu Nanzhi interrupted the chief cook.
As soon as she finished speaking, Kang Mingyuan shouted loudly: "Hurry up and go."
Waiting for the chef to fetch the misplaced salt, Chu Nanzhi held the jar of salt in his hand and looked at it carefully. Then he used his fingers to pick up some seemingly normal salt and put it on his tongue to taste.
As Ma Laifu said, the salty taste is indeed mixed with a strong bitter taste.
But after repeatedly tasting it, I still couldn't smell the faint smell of rust.
This is quite strange.
Although I don’t understand the process of making salt, even if I eat the inferior salt, the adverse reactions will not be so severe. I am afraid that only industrial salt can cause this series of adverse reactions.
Obviously, judging from the color, the salt in your hand is white and flawless, with a strong salty taste, like fine sand, which is very different from the gray and granular industrial salt.
Just now he looked at Liu Shuyang and Li Ce looked like he was in pain. If he really took industrial salt, no matter how strong his body was, he would die within a few months if he took it for a long time.
"But how can we produce industrial salt in this era?"
Chu Nanzhi silently wondered in her heart.
She has no clue yet, and she cannot connect this matter with Zhu Xiancheng's death.
So the best way at the moment is to remain silent and not alert others.
She handed the salt shaker back to Chen Wu with a smile and said gently: "This salt is indeed crudely made, but it won't be a serious problem. Thousands of people in this county can eat it. We can eat it occasionally."
No one died last time."
Hearing the second half of her words, Kang Mingyuan was so frightened that his whole face turned dark, and he quickly defended: "Ms. Chu, please don't talk nonsense. The salt production in this county is related to people's livelihood. I have always been strict."
There is supervision and control, but it is difficult to prevent villains. There are always some unscrupulous people who try every possible means to secretly produce substandard salt and flow it into the market. I am also very troubled by this."
"What your Lord said is absolutely true."
Chu Nanzhi said with a fake smile: "Now that the matter has been cleared up, I won't bother you two adults anymore. The civilian woman still has to prepare for a confrontation with the Registrar in court tomorrow, haha."
"I will wait for Mrs. Chu at the court tomorrow."
Tan Miao replied calmly, he did not believe that this woman could really refute the facts he had deduced.