923 Guessing the Poison

After hanging up, Guo Zhenghe took a sip of tea. He turned to Xu Xinyuan, who was beside him, and asked, “Have you heard about what happened in the county?”

“I did get word of it,” Xu Xinyuan said. “I’m sorry, Young Master.”

“Whatever you have to be sorry for, it isn’t your fault,” Guo Zhenghe said with a smile.

“I haven’t done my job well, and I haven’t made any substantial progress,” Xu Xinyuan said. “I haven’t been able to help you with your burden.”

The reason he had come was to help Guo Zhenghe solve the problem. So far, he had only played a very limited role. He only had an inkling of what was going on with the continuous deaths caused by poisoning. This was the least he could do, but he had no clue how to handle it.

“Uncle Xu, you don’t have to blame yourself at all for this,” Guo Zhenghe said. “The criminal investigation experts from the province have already been here for quite some time. They are also quite anxious and have made little progress.”

“But Uncle Xu, I’m very angry. These people are running rampant. They don’t have any respect for the laws and regulations. They see no value in human life.” Guo Zhenghe lit a cigarette. He seldom smoked, usually reserving it for occasions when he was elated or devastated. It was obviously the latter this time. He had to hold himself back from saying, “And, they did all of this on my territory!”

“Yes.” Xu Xinyuan nodded.

No matter who the other party was or what their purpose was, they were extremely unrestrained in committing those crimes. They were openly against the state’s public laws and were seeking death.

However, they were helpless against them for the time being.

“Some days ago, I promised that you could take a rest and relax for a while,” Guo Zhenghe said. “I’m going to have to break my promise.”

“Just let me know about any plans you have, Young Master,” Xu Xinyuan said.

“I want you to fully investigate this matter,” Guo Zhenghe said in a sharp tone. “Use all the resources you can. Tell me what you want to do. If you do not have the power to do it, I shall figure out how it can be done. I want to know who did it. If it can’t be found out in a day, take a week or a month. Even if it takes a year or two, I need to know who did it. I want to bring them to justice!”

“Yes, Young Master,” Xu Xinyuan replied.

“There is one more thing,” Guo Zhenghe said. “I just received news that Yang Guanfeng, who is investigating in the Valley of Thousands of Medicine, has managed to seek help from the people there. The valley has accepted their request and selected two people to come back with them to assist us in the investigation.” The phone call he had just received informed him of this piece of news.

“Are they men from the Valley of Thousands of Medicine?” Xu Xinyuan slightly frowned.

“Yes.”

“Regarding these cases, isn’t most of the suspicion on them? Is it really suitable for them to be further involved?”

“I think Captain Yang’s thinking is that it may produce other leads,” Guo Zhenghe said. “The two people who went to the Valley of Thousands of Medicine this time are the best criminal investigation experts in southern Yunnan. They seemed to have gained some insight into the Valley of Thousands of Medicine, but they don’t have enough evidence. They were unable to catch the criminal suspect last time as well. It is impossible to not accomplish something when two experts join forces.”

“Insights?” Xu Xinyuan asked. “Do you know what the insights are, Young Master?”

“I’m not clear about that.” Guo Zhenghe shook his head.

“They have arrived.”

In He County, four people were in a private room at a reception center.

The group included Lu Xiufeng and Yang Guanfeng, along with two men from the Valley of Thousands of Medicine, Miao Qingfeng and Miao Changhong.

They had driven to He County without resting. Now they could finally take a breather and relax.

Lu Xiufeng took out a box of cigarettes and pulled one out. Gesturing to Miao Changhong, he asked, “Cigarette?”

“Thank you, but I don’t smoke,” Miao Changhong said with a wave of his hand.

“Tut, you don’t smoke either, huh.”

“There are not many people who smoke in our stockade,” Miao Changhong said. “Those who smoke use tobacco pipes.”

“Old Yang, here you go.” Lu Xiufeng passed the cigarette to Yang Guanfeng, who was next to him.

People in their field were under immense stress and needed to release it in certain ways. Oftentimes, people in their field were fond of smoking and drinking.

“Thank you for your hard work,” Yang Guanfeng said.

“You’re welcome, Captain Yang,” Miao Qingfeng replied. “Helping you is actually helping ourselves. We also want to find out who the criminal is as soon as possible and prove our village’s innocence.” He was telling the truth.

“Come on, let’s have a drink,” Lu Xiufeng said as he raised his glass.

“Cheers!” After that, he tilted his head and drank all the wine in the glass.

Miao Qingfeng and Miao Changhong also downed the wine in their glasses.

“You guys were welcoming hosts when we were in the Valley of Thousands of Medicine. This time, we shall be the ones entertaining you guys. Of course, we were in a hurry and didn’t prepare much. You guys will just have to make do with it for now!” Lu Xiufeng fluently spoke those words of good etiquette. He was better at speaking them than Yang Guanfeng.

“Captain Lu, you’re too kind. You’ve already done more than enough,” Miao Qingfeng hastily replied.

The four of them drank a few glasses of wine and ate some food. They arranged for Miao Qingfeng and Miao Changhong to settle down in the hostel.

“Have a good rest,” Lu Xiufeng said. “You guys might be very busy tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Miao Qingfeng replied.

“Call us whenever you need anything.”

After that, Lu Xiufeng and Yang Guanfeng left the hostel. When they got to one of their houses, the two men discussed the case.

“Miao Qingfeng is the leader out of the duo.” Lu Xiufeng lit a cigarette.

“Yes, he’s considered the spokesman of their stockade outside, so it makes sense that he was selected to deal with these outside affairs,” Yang Guanfeng said. “There is a key question that goes with that. How can we make use of their roles to get a breakthrough in this case?”

“It depends on both their attitudes and abilities,” Lu Xiufeng replied.

“I plan on filling them in on the details of the case tomorrow,” Yang Guanfeng said. “We will take them to see the bodies from the two most recent cases.”

“Yes, I agree.”

In the hostel, Miao Qingfeng and Miao Changhong were also having a discussion.

“What should we do?” Miao Changhong asked. Although he was a decade older than Miao Qingfeng, he had to listen to the other man both inside and outside of the stronghold.

“According to the instructions given by the chief before we left, we will try our best to cooperate with them to solve the case,” Miao Qingfeng said. “We need to find the murderer as soon as possible and prove the innocence of the stronghold. At the same time, we should handle these affairs very carefully. After all, this is the outside, and we are going to be working with two criminal investigation experts. We should try our best not to reveal too many of the stronghold’s secrets.”

“Alright, I got it,” Miao Changhong said.

A peaceful night passed.

In the morning, the sun steadily rose.

At 8 a.m., the four men gathered. Yang Guanfeng and Lu Xiufeng brought the two men from the Valley of Thousands of Medicine to the local police station. They introduced them to their colleagues and told them the details of the entire case. Thereafter, they took them to see the bodies of the dead who had not yet been processed but were in the morgue.

After seeing the bodies, the two men immediately became serious.

“Can we move the body?”

“Yes.” Yang Guanfeng nodded and took out the gloves that he had already prepared.

“Put these on.”

They began to examine the bodies. They looked over all three bodies.

After the inspection, Miao Qingfeng sighed and said, “If only we had arrived two days earlier.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s definitely poisoning.”

“What poison?”

“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly.” Miao Qingfeng shook his head. “After all, we didn’t see what the bodies looked like just after death. Moreover, these bodies have been kept chilled. Some things can’t be seen after that happens.”

After hearing that, Yang Guanfeng was a little disappointed. They hadn’t achieved the results he had expected. He thought that when these two people arrived, they would be able to immediately determine the poison that had been used.

While they were talking, Miao Changhong was still squeezing the muscles of the corpses while knocking on their chests and abdomens at the same time.

“What did you find?” Miao Qingfeng asked.

After a moment of contemplation, he said, “It’s a little like the poison of a Five Poisons Stick.”

In terms of medicine and poison, Miao Changhong was more knowledgeable than Miao Qingfeng. It wasn’t just by a small margin. He had considerable talent in both areas, and he was more than a decade older than Miao Qingfeng.

“Five Poisons Stick? What is that?”

“It’s a common plant in the jungles of southern Yunnan,” Miao Qingfeng said. “It can be used as medicine to disperse cold and relieve pain, but it contains a huge amount of toxins. It must be used carefully. If it isn’t measured correctly, it can be lethal.”

“Can you be sure it’s that?”

“Since they have been dead for a few days, I’m just speculating,” Miao Changhong said.

“Is there such a thing on the market?”

“Not really. Normal drugstores wouldn’t sell that kind of herb,” Miao Qingfeng said. “If you don’t use it properly, it will cause severe problems. It’s recorded in traditional Chinese medical books.”