“Ningning, what are you looking for?” Yao Chunhua asked in a low voice. She could tell that her daughter seemed to be searching for something.
Soon, Gu Jia Ning used a twig to rake through a pile of something the pigs had left behind. Quickly, her gaze fixed on an item. She found a clean large leaf, and used the twig to lift the item onto the leaf. “Mother, do you recognize this thing? Have you ever given this to the pigs to eat?”
Yao Chunhua leaned in to take a look. At a glance, she quickly figured it out. “This… this isn’t Poisonous Bean, is it? How did this get here? I’ve never given Poisonous Bean to the pigs to eat!”
Because of her surprise, Yao Chunhua’s voice rose in volume.
At this point, the villagers outside heard.
“What, Poisonous Bean? Did the pigs get sick because they ate Poisonous Bean?”
“Poisonous Bean is poisonous! How could you feed it to pigs?”
Old Zhang was the first to step forward to look. His cloudy eyes immediately identified it. “Yes, it’s Poisonous Bean. So that’s the reason!”
The look in his eyes towards Gu Jia Ning was approving. This young woman was good; she had discovered what he hadn’t, and she even recognized the plant.
A long time ago, someone had mistakenly eaten Poisonous Bean and was poisoned. Later, after the knowledge about this plant was disseminated, everyone would avoid Poisonous Bean upon seeing it; they would not pick it, nor would they step on it.
At this moment, Yao Chunhua had already taken the large leaf to outside the pigsty.
“Everyone, look. This was just found by my Ningning. Does anyone know what this is?”
Experienced villagers stepped forward, squinted their eyes, and quickly recognized it.
“Isn’t this Poisonous Bean?”
“Yes, although it’s crushed, it’s certainly identifiable as Poisonous Bean.”
“But isn’t Poisonous Bean poisonous? Oh my god, the pigs got sick from eating this Poisonous Bean!”
“Chunhua, how could you feed Poisonous Bean to the pigs?” Qin Zhaodi complained, trying to pin the blame on Yao Chunhua.
Yao Chunhua glared at Qin Zhaodi. “Qin Zhaodi, if your brain isn’t working properly, do you want me to give you a good knock to fix it?”
“Anyone who’s been up the mountain knows Poisonous Bean, knows it’s poisonous. I must have been blind to have used this to feed the pigs.”
“I’ve raised pigs in this pigsty for three years. How could I not know the difference between pigweed and Poisonous Bean?”
Qin Zhaodi mumbled, “Maybe you are blind.”
Yao Chunhua sneered. “If I were really blind, could I have raised such big fat pigs for the past two years without any problems?”
After saying this, the villagers nodded in unison.
That’s the truth.
Even children know about Poisonous Bean. It’s impossible for Yao Chunhua to not know, and to still use it to feed the pigs. After all, she’s in charge of the pigsty, and if something happens to the pigs, she’s the first one responsible.
Moreover, everyone knows what kind of person Yao Chunhua is.
“Aunt Yao, so what you mean is…”
Yao Chunhua, now calm and assertive, said, “When I left last night, these pigs had already eaten. This morning, I intended to feed them, but they couldn’t eat. My pile of pigweed is still there, untouched. This shows that someone secretly fed the pigs Poisonous Bean between last evening and this morning!”
“If that’s the case, then this person is either targeting me, Yao Chunhua, or they’re trying to harm the collective interests of our village.”
As soon as she said this, everyone present was immediately agitated.
If the person was targeting Yao Chunhua or even the Gu Family, it would be one thing. But if they were targeting the village's collective interests, then that person would be too evil, and they absolutely couldn't be let off.
And so, someone spoke up. “Qin Zhaodi, you were so quick to jump to conclusions earlier. Could it be that you secretly fed the pigs the Poisonous Bean?”
After all, Qin Zhaodi clearly had a grudge against Yao Chunhua.
Qin Zhaodi’s eyes widened. She hadn’t expected that simply disliking Yao Chunhua would lead to suspicion. She immediately jumped up. “I’m also a member of Huaihua Village, and I’m looking forward to eating pork at the end of the year. Why would I want the pigs to die?”
“Don’t you spread rumors!” Qin Zhaodi’s eyes darted around, thinking quickly. “I think it’s unlikely to be someone from our village. It’s more likely to be those Intellectual Youths. After all, they don’t get any pork.”
Everyone listened and thought Qin Zhaodi’s words made sense.
It was indeed unlikely that the villagers of Huaihua Village, who were all looking forward to eating pork, would do this. The Intellectual Youths, however, were more likely suspects. And although they were relatively quiet now, everyone remembered how troublesome they were when they first arrived.
“Don’t make false accusations! Do you have any evidence?
We are highly educated individuals. We would never do something like poison the pigs.”
“You need to catch the thief red-handed. Did anyone see anything? If you don’t have any evidence, we’ll report you to the commune leader and the police comrades for justice!”
At this moment, the Intellectual Youths, unusually, stood together.
The villagers and the Intellectual Youths started arguing, making a commotion outside the pigsty.
Until Father Gu stepped forward and shouted, “Stop arguing!”
“Let’s first think about whether anyone approached the pigsty between last night and this morning.”
“Let’s talk about accusations when we have evidence.”
“The most important thing now is to get the pigs better.”
The village chief, Gu Shun, a paternal uncle of the Gu family, also spoke up. “That’s the truth.” Then he looked at Gu Jia Ning. “Ning girl, since you figured out that the pigs got sick from eating Poisonous Bean, do you have a way to cure them?”
Everyone’s expectant gaze fell on Gu Jia Ning, even Old Zhang.
He had seen cases of Poisonous Bean poisoning before, but he had never treated them; once he discovered it was Poisonous Bean poisoning, he would directly advise the patient to go to the hospital.
Under everyone’s expectant gaze, Gu Jia Ning didn’t disappoint. “Yes.”
Then she listed several herbal medicines and asked Old Zhang. “Uncle Zhang, do you have these herbal medicines in your clinic?”
Old Zhang quickly nodded. “Yes, yes, I do.”
“Then I’ll go to your place to get them and boil the medicine.”
“Of course.”
Upon hearing that Gu Jia Ning was going to get herbal medicine from Old Zhang to treat the pigs, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the pigs could be cured, that was fine.
Gu Jia Ning didn’t dare delay. The pigs’ condition was not optimistic, and medicine needed to be administered as soon as possible. If it was delayed, acute poisoning could be fatal.
But before leaving, Gu Jia Ning quickly spent 5 points in the System Mall to buy something.
【Scent Tracker: 1-month validity. Can locate anyone who has directly touched a certain item, regardless of distance, and automatically mark their location.】
Gu Jia Ning currently only had 20 points, but she thought spending 5 points was worth it, as long as she could find the person who framed the Gu family.
“System, activate the Scent Tracker, track the person who last directly touched this Poisonous Bean.”
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