Chapter 107: Finding the Traitor

Liu Qin pulled back her wandering thoughts and asked again, "Was it you who put the poison in the brine?"

"No, absolutely not! Although I am a scoundrel, I would never do anything to take a life. Had I known he would resort to poison, I would have refused him outright. I only wanted to claim the food was unclean, so that people would stop coming to the Jade Nectar to drink..."

Wei San's voice grew softer and softer, clearly overwhelmed by shame.

There was nothing more to gather from Wei San; this was likely the extent of his knowledge.

"Get some rest. We will talk about the rest after you recover."

Liu Qin stood up. Wei San hurriedly bowed low on the bed. "I will do as you command, Young Master."

Only after everyone had left did he raise his head. It was then he realized he had forgotten to beg the young master for one thing. But just as the thought crossed his mind, the young master, who had already stepped out, walked back in, stood at the doorway, and said, "As for your mother, we will send someone to inform her and see that she is well looked after. You need not worry."

"Thank you, Young Master."

Tears of gratitude welled up in Wei San's eyes. If his desire to follow Liu Qin moments ago was merely out of a sense of gratitude, at this very instant, he truly pledged his loyalty to her. From this moment on, he regarded Liu Qin as his true master, willing to climb mountains of daggers or plunge into seas of fire for her sake.

"The young master is truly kind-hearted," Hongjing sighed. She had seen people returning good for evil before, but for such a young child to possess such a broad mind, to forgive others' transgressions, and to be so meticulous and constantly considerate of others—she had indeed never met anyone like her before.

"You are kind-hearted too, Sister. You risked your own safety just to save someone."

"I simply did not want the young master to suffer a loss. Besides, the wine at the Jade Nectar is so exquisite. If I could never drink it again, it would be a terrible shame."

Her words brought laughter to everyone. Once they moved to another room, Wanyue informed Liu Qin that the Drunken Spring Pavilion also had backing—specifically, the Fang family, whose head was the current Assistant Prefect of Wucheng.

"The Fangs are ruthless in their dealings. You must be very careful, Young Master."

Wanyue looked at Liu Qin with concern. Although she herself did not fear the Drunken Spring Pavilion, the Misty Rain Pavilion could not openly interfere in this matter. They could not break the rules of their trade, and besides, the Fang family was no easy opponent.

"Do not worry, Sister. We won't try to fight them head-on."

Learning that the Drunken Spring Pavilion was backed by the Fang family, Liu Qin felt no fear. Nor would she act rashly and pick a fight to the death with them. She knew very well that even her father could do nothing against the Fangs, let alone a wet-behind-the-ears child like herself.

However, knowing one's enemy and knowing oneself ensures victory in every battle. The enemy was in the light while she was in the dark. With a clear target, as long as she played her cards right, there would always be a way to make the Fang family suffer a silent loss, without them ever finding out who had dealt the blow.

Upon returning that day, Liu Qin summoned Datong, Changsheng, and the others, instructing them to focus their efforts. They were to investigate everyone in the shop thoroughly, determined to root out the traitor hiding within.

The matter was clear. Since it was not Wei San's doing, and careful questioning had confirmed that no outsiders had entered the kitchen courtyard that day, the poisoner had to be one of their own.

Leaving this traitor unexposed was like keeping a ticking time bomb by their side; it was impossible to rest easy.

Having received their orders, Datong and the others went off to their tasks.

Three days later, the gathered information was brought to Liu Qin. She singled out three individuals: Sun Peng, Wang Hao, and Zhu Xishui. She directed the team to focus their investigation on these three, looking into everyone their families had interacted with recently.

There was a reason Liu Qin singled out these three. The poisoning was not done out of spite, but for money. She had never mistreated them, so spite was out of the question. That left only greed. These three had either experienced recent family troubles or had suddenly acquired an inexplicable sum of money, which naturally raised suspicion.

Take Sun Peng, for instance. His household spanned three generations, consisting of his grandparents, his parents, himself, and his younger brother—six people in total. They relied almost entirely on his father's hard labor to make ends meet. Not long ago, his father had offended a wealthy family and was beaten black and blue by their guards before being thrown out. Uncle Cheng had even helped find a doctor to treat him at home. Though his life was saved, the family's livelihood was completely cut off.

During that period, Sun Peng had been constantly gloomy. Although he was still underage, he was the eldest son. With his father incapacitated, the heavy burden of the household naturally fell on his shoulders. Even though Uncle Cheng tried his best to assign him to serve wealthier guests so he could earn more tips, it was a mere drop in the bucket and could not resolve his family's plight.

Yet, suddenly one day, Sun Peng appeared before everyone beaming with joy, and he frequently bought food to take home. It seemed his family's situation had drastically improved.

Wang Hao's situation was similar to Sun Peng's, except that his grandfather had suffered a sudden stroke and became paralyzed. His father, a filial son, had run up a massive debt to pay for the grandfather's medical treatments.

Zhu Xishui's situation, however, was different from the first two. He had lost his mother at an early age, and his stepmother had brought her own daughter when she married his father. His father was weak-willed while his stepmother was domineering, so Zhu Xishui had suffered endless torment at her hands.

Zhu Xishui's stepsister was two years older than him and had reached marriageable age. A while ago, word went around that a wealthy young master had taken a liking to her and was willing to take her as a concubine. The Zhu family was instantly filled with joy, but they quickly grew anxious about the dowry. Even though she was to be a concubine, having her own dowry would make her life easier in her husband's household.

Frustrated over the dowry, the stepmother and stepsister vented their anger on Zhu Xishui. During that time, he was always sporting injuries of some kind, prompting much pity. However, in this era, parents could do no wrong. As long as Zhu Xishui's father remained silent, others could only utter a few words of righteous indignation but had no right to interfere.

Liu Qin had singled out Zhu Xishui because she knew that children who suffered constant abuse like him were prone to psychological distortion. Given the right catalyst, they might commit harmful acts that brought no benefit to anyone, not even themselves.

There were far too many such examples in her past life—those who poured gasoline to burn buses or went on stabbing rampages in schools were all people with such distorted psyches.

A day later, everyone gathered in the Ink Fragrance Courtyard to report their findings one by one.

Sun Peng had an uncle who did business in another province. He had recently returned home in glory. Grateful to his elder brother for fulfilling his filial duties to their parents on his behalf, and seeing the dire straits his brother's family was in, he gave him a sum of money, resolving the Sun family's urgent crisis.

From the looks of it, Sun Peng was not the culprit. He was crossed off the list.

The debt Wang Hao's family owed was for his grandfather's medical fees. His grandfather had once done a favor for the physician, who declared that the debt could be repaid whenever they had the money. Not only that, the physician also frequently provided them with financial relief.

Wang Hao was also clear. Crossed off.

That left only Zhu Xishui.

"There is definitely something wrong with the Zhu family," Changsheng said, frowning. "I saw Zhu Xishui's stepsister with my own eyes. She is so homely that let alone a wealthy young master, even I wouldn't spare her a second glance. They say one marries a wife for her virtue and takes a concubine for her beauty. Unless that man is blind, there is no way he would take her."

Leaving aside how ugly Zhu Xishui's stepsister was, her sheer affectation and the thick layer of powder caked on her face made her hard to look at. Yet, she fancied herself a great beauty, casting flirtatious glances at any decent-looking man she saw. At the thought of the sultry wink she had thrown him this afternoon, Changsheng felt like throwing up his dinner from the night before.

"Second Brother, you talk about her like that now, but when she was throwing those glances at you, you looked like you were quite enjoying it to me," Changkang teased, needling him playfully. This jab hit home so hard that Changsheng actually bolted for the washroom.

To throw up.

Everyone burst into laughter, and the heavy atmosphere instantly dissipated.