CHAPTER 232: CHAPTER 229: EXTORT, EXTORT WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT!

Fu Zhen handed him a cup of tea: "What happened?"

"Zhang Shicheng’s cousin, Liu Yan, was poisoned and died while having lunch at Wanbin Building!"

Fu Zhen paused: "Zhang Shicheng’s cousin?"

"Yes! His uncle’s son, called Liu Yan! They were a group of four and ordered a table of dishes.

"During the meal, they saw puffer fish in the kitchen and insisted on ordering it. Manager Su refused to sell it, saying it was reserved for the owner to entertain guests. But those people became aggressive, threatening to smash the shop if they weren’t sold the dish!

"With no other choice, Madam had the shopkeeper serve a portion to them. But before the meal was even finished, that Liu Guan died!"

Fu Zhen was bewildered: "Truly dead?"

"Dead! Thoroughly dead! They came at noon, the dishes were served at the second quarter of the noon hour, Liu Guan fell ill by the end of the noon hour. Madam immediately called for a doctor, but he couldn’t be saved, and he died around the middle of the afternoon!

"Later, both the Zhang family and the Liu family came, and so did the people from the government and the coroner. The autopsy confirmed it was death by poisoning.

"Now the Zhang family is furious and insists on taking Madam to the government office!"

Fu Zhen left without a word: "How many people were involved in the incident?"

"Four people in total were dining, only the one with the surname Liu died!"

Fu Zhen abruptly stopped: "Four people dined together, yet only this one named Liu died?"

"...Yes!"

Fu Zhen’s eyes flickered, then he said, "Bring more people! Send a message to the General! And investigate what kind of family the Liu family is! What about the backgrounds of his companions?..."

...

At Wanbin Building, the entrance was packed solid with people.

Fu Zhen squeezed inside and saw indeed that the people from Shuntian Prefecture, and the soldiers from the Five City Command, were there, as was Zhang Shicheng’s father, General Dingyuan, Zhang Feng.

Mrs. Ning, surrounded by Manager Su and others, stood on one side of the shop. At this moment, naturally, there wasn’t a single diner in the shop; only in the center of the room, surrounded by all these parties, lay a man with a face ashen and purple.

Beside him stood three men in their twenties.

It was indeed a full house crowded with people!

"Zhen Er!"

Mrs. Ning, originally standing calmly, came forward as soon as she saw Fu Zhen, and everyone’s eyes in the room turned to Fu Zhen.

No one took the initiative to greet, and Fu Zhen didn’t acknowledge them either, calling to his mother: "What’s going on? Explain it to me in detail first."

Mrs. Ning said: "The shopkeeper from the south specially delivered a basket of puffer fish, not too many, and I intended to save them for you all to eat.

"In the morning, the kitchen was just taking them out for cleaning. Who knew how two of these people managed to wander into the back kitchen, saying they wanted to have a look. Naturally, the kitchen didn’t allow it, and they then demanded the puffer dish that was being cleaned.

"Today, Manager Lin was on duty at the shop. Manager Lin repeatedly explained that the puffer fish was for personal use, but they wouldn’t accept it. Later, Manager Su also tried explaining, but they still insisted on eating it and said not selling it meant looking down on them, threatening to smash the shop.

"To avoid trouble, I had Manager Lin serve a portion out.

"Who knew that soon after the dish was served, an incident occurred! Their companions started to cause a scene, saying our Wanbin Building served dirty food and used poison to kill people!

"After the incident, I summoned four doctors from nearby to jointly treat him, but none had any solutions."

Mrs. Ning glanced at the elderly doctors next to her as she spoke. The doctors also bowed toward Fu Zhen: "In response to the General’s wife, we rushed over as soon as we got the news, within less than a quarter of an hour."

Fu Zhen frowned at the corpse on the ground, squatted down, and lifted the white cloth, seeing the deceased with eyes wide open and face purple, indeed a typical condition of poisoning.

Since marrying into the Pei family, Mrs. Ning had grown increasingly wary of the undercurrents in Fu Zhen’s social circle, understanding what Fu Zhen wanted to hear, she selectively reported the key points:

"We sell an unknown amount of these puffer fish daily, and the cooks at the shop are all experienced chefs with decades in the kitchen. We have specialized personnel checking each ingredient, and specialized cleaners. After so many years in business, how could we not be cautious about these matters?

"Yet the incident happened precisely at their table. And such a major incident at that!

"I can assure you the fault does not lie with us, but considering the misfortune of Mr. Liu, I’m still willing to offer part of the compensation, though they refuse and insist on taking it to court!"

Fu Zhen covered the cloth again, stood up, and cast his gaze on the three people who dined with Liu Yan.

"Which two went to the kitchen?"

Manager Lin hurriedly pointed to the tall man in blue and the short man in moon-white clothes: "It was Mr. Lu Yun and Mr. Qi Sheng."

Lu Qi and Qi Sheng immediately started examining Fu Zhen from under their brows.

Fu Zhen didn’t recognize them, but judging by their appearance, they didn’t seem like thugs casually found on the street.

No restaurant would let anyone barge into the kitchen. They used the puffer fish as a threat after being stopped, clear as day they came with a purpose to extort!

However, extorting that led to a death means the underlying oddity couldn’t merely be targeting Wanbin Building!

Ordinarily, Fu Zhen would have already had them coerced into confessing with a few fists and kicks, doubting they could withstand it.

But they had already summoned the authorities, and the Zhang family had arrived, so this method would not suffice.

Fu Zhen turned, directing her gaze to the Shuntian Prefecture personnel, noticing that today it was the Prefecture Chief from Shuntian Prefecture, the successor of Xie Zhang.

She asked, "How may I address you, sir?"

"My name is Li, Yangsong, a subordinate, at the service of the General’s wife."

The opposite party offered a salute swiftly, appearing competent, albeit a bit delayed in the manner of the gesture.

Fu Zhen ignored him, as the matter at hand was more pressing: "Mr. Li, how do you plan to resolve this case?"

"A human life is of utmost importance. The incident occurred at Wanbin Building, so logically, Wanbin Building should bear the responsibility. Presumably, the General’s wife will understand."

Fu Zhen tilted her lips: "If it were Wanbin Building’s responsibility, naturally we would bear it. But why do I feel we’re being made a scapegoat?

"I wonder if Mr. Li has thoroughly investigated the entire incident? Have you confirmed any oversight in Wanbin Building’s kitchen?

"If not, it’s insufficient to prove the deceased died due to this puffer fish dish, as you should know."

Li Yangsong turned to summon two coroners forward, pointing to a nearby table of leftover dishes and said: "Therefore, during the time before the Madam’s arrival, I had these two coroners, who have served at the Shuntian Prefecture office for twenty-six years each, meticulously examine the corpse and the dishes. They confirmed that this bowl of puffer fish was indeed poisonous.

"The four doctors Mrs. Ning summoned can also attest that Liu Yan’s death was due to consuming the poisonous puffer fish."

"I know he was poisoned, what I’m asking is why you are sure it was the puffer fish’s poison and not someone deliberately poisoning the dish to unjustly implicate Wanbin Building?"

Fu Zhen raised her head, "Doctors and coroners can only identify the poisoning, but can’t identify what toxin it was. What evidence do you have to assert that the deceased was poisoned by the puffer fish?"