Chapter 61: The Heinous Arsenic

  Gu Zhaobei lifted his head, looking at her holding the food box, and his eyes lit up: "I was just thinking of going to have lunch with my colleagues, didn't expect you'd come."

  Shen Guiyan smiled and walked in, putting the lunchbox on the table.

  The lady of the house couldn't stay too long in the Sixth Department, and Shen Guiyan naturally didn't plan to have dinner with him. She just brought out all the dishes: "Recently, Big Brother has been shutting himself indoors, and Big Sister has been busy running around, all because of the imperial examination. Has Master heard any rumors?"

  Gu Zhāo Běi was originally smiling as he looked at the dishes on the table, but upon hearing this, his smile faltered, and he raised his head to look at Shen Gui Yan: "What's with the question?"

  "It's just a question." Shen Guiyan finally brought out the duck blood soup: "The atmosphere in the government is very strange, and the people are also very strange."

  Big brother is in the east wing, where will it affect everyone in the mansion? Gu Zhaobei felt suffocated and couldn't help but think with a bit of petty mind, could it be that Yan'er cares about big brother, so she came to deliver food for him?

  It's not his fault for thinking that way, who let Yan Er like Gu Zhaodong so much in the past. Even though she is already married to him now and behaves very properly, he still can't help but think...

  Is she always having a regret in her heart? Regret for not marrying the one she loved, but instead married him.

  "The wind didn't hear anything, Big Brother just got rich for five cars, even if there were some mistakes, it should be within the top three." Gu Zhaobei lowered his eyes: "Can I eat now?"

  "It's no good."

  Shen Guiyan didn't give him chopsticks at all.

  Gu Zhaobei slightly furrowed his brow and looked up at her, only to see her with a serious expression: "There's something wrong with the dish."

  Is there a problem? Gu Zhaobei was taken aback, and Shen Guiyan had already removed the silver hairpin from her head, lightly dipping it into several dishes to test them. The silver needle turned half black. Then she took the other end of the silver flower and put it in the duck blood soup, taking it out to look at it, and the entire silver flower was black.

  "What does this mean?" Gu Zhaobei raised an eyebrow: "Want to harm her own husband?"

  Shen Guiyan pursed her lips: "If I wanted to harm you, why would I waste a silver hairpin? These dishes were all made by my own hands in the kitchen of the mansion. Except for me and Lin Dama, no one else has touched them."

  "When she was washing vegetables, I saw her hiding something in her sleeve. Out of curiosity, I didn't make a sound. She helped me wash and put away the dishes, and when serving the soup, she even sprinkled salt into it."

  "She pointed at her own eyes: 'Does she think I'm blind? Does she really think I'd be careless enough not to notice someone making a move under my nose?'"

  Gu Zhaobei was taken aback.

  The swallow was very observant and had a good memory. It's not that Lin Dama thought people were foolish, but rather she treated her as an ordinary person doing some small actions, who would have thought that they would all fall into her eyes?

  "Come to ask you about your brother's affairs, isn't it because Lin Dama has also helped the East Wing with things before?" Shen Guiyan said in a low voice: "This time putting these vicious things in your food again, what does it mean?"

  Is he trying to get rid of Gu Zhaobei and vacate the position of Servant Lang, so that he can take it for himself? Shen Guiyan had been thinking this way all along.

  Gu Zhaobei composed himself and stood up, wrapping his arms around her waist. He didn't respond to her words, but instead asked: "Is the wound on your back healed?"

  Shen Guiyan was taken aback for a moment, then nodded: "It doesn't hurt that much anymore."

  "Then go back and wait for me. As for Lin Dama's affairs, let's talk about it when we get back." Gu Zhaobei said softly: "After all, it's a family matter."

  "Alright." Shen Guiyan nodded and reached out to gather up the dishes on the table. Finally, she glanced at Cao Bei, seeing that he wasn't flustered in the slightest, with a confident air about him, which made her feel somewhat reassured. She followed procedure and left the Ministry of Justice.

  Gu Zhaobei sat back in his chair, tapping on the table and staring blankly.

  In the past, he didn't have much to show for himself. When his older brothers were competing with each other in front of their father, he was always left out and never got into any trouble. Now, however, disaster after disaster has befallen him one after another.

  Not only internal worries, but also external troubles. Yuwen Changqing has already come to greet him and said that he has taken care of Hu Chang, and there may be some aftereffects.

  It's still better to retreat in order to advance.

  Shen Guiyan took the lunch box back and went straight to the kitchen, with a hint of sadness on her face.

  "Fourth Master's wife, how come you're back so soon?" Lin Dama was still peeling beans: "Does Fourth Master still like the dishes?"

  Shen Guiyan looked up and gazed at her dejectedly: "Not only didn't I like it, but I didn't even eat a single bite. What a waste of so many things, I'm so angry I could die."

  Lin Danni was taken aback, wiping her hands on her apron: "How could you not like it? Let me take a look, what's wrong with it?"

  Shen Guiyan took out all the dishes and pulled her to sit on the corridor outside the kitchen: "Auntie, try it and see if I put less of something?"

  "Uh..." Lin Danni smiled awkwardly: "Didn't Young Mistress try it herself?"

  "No, I think the flavors I've tried aren't quite right." Shen Guiyan looked at her with a serious face: "Let Auntie try it instead."

  As she spoke, she also stuffed chopsticks into her hand.

  Lin Danni's forehead was covered in cold sweat, her hands stiffly holding chopsticks, and suddenly she clutched her stomach and said: "Ah, my stomach hurts so much."

  "What's wrong?" Bao Shan came over and supported her: "Do you want to call a doctor?"

  "No need, no need." Lin Danni waved her hand and said: "The slave will just go to the thatched cottage, ah..."

  "It's nothing." Shen Guiyan smiled and looked at her: "You go early and come back early, I'll be waiting for you here."

  Lin Danni's face turned even uglier, she covered her stomach and nodded randomly, then immediately ran towards the toilet.

  Shen Guiyan held onto her treasure and waited in the same spot, but after a long while, Lin Dama still hadn't returned.

  "Baoyan, go take a look."

  "Yes." Bao Shan pinched her nose and went to the outhouse, searched inside and out, then came back shaking her head: "Miss, no one's there."

  Run? Shen Guiyan chuckled and turned her head to look at Chef Tian in the kitchen. Can a monk run away, can he also run away from the temple?

  The dish was sent to Doctor Liu for examination, and Doctor Liu soon gave the answer: "It's arsenic. The mansion used it to poison old mice. How did it end up in human food?"

  Shen Guiyan's face turned pale.

  Arsenic again.

  Shen Guiyan clenched her fists and without saying another word, took Bao Shan along to search Lin Dama's bedroom where she usually slept.

  "Recently, only Lin Dama in the kitchen asked me to take half a catty, saying it was left to slowly poison the mice." Liu Daifu followed her and said: "Putting so little in the dishes is just a stomachache at most. The most in the soup, if you drink it with good luck, you'll just have a stomachache for half a night. If you're unlucky and drink too much, you won't be able to save yourself."

  "Have Master Tian bring him to the main hall for me." Shen Guiyan's eyes were filled with frost: "Wait until Chancellor and Fourth Young Master return, then notify each house, Guiyan has something to say."

  "Yes." Bao Shan led the order and went to handle it immediately.

  She never wanted to see arsenic again in her life, yet someone was actually going to use it to harm the person most important to her!