NABC Chapter 288 Poisoning
Chapter 288 Poisoning
"?!!!"
Wei Gongming was completely stunned. Was this some kind of ghost?!
It didn't matter if the county government lost this person's information; they could just reissue it. But a pharmacy in the capital suddenly disappeared without anyone, and the county magistrate didn't even know!
"Immediately wake up everyone near Changchun Hall and find out where Meng Changhuai is!"
"Send more people to the city gates to inquire whether this person has left the capital..."
After giving his instructions, he hurriedly changed his clothes and left the mansion.
Huang Fan also quickly received the news, and he was furious!
His first reaction wasn't that Meng Changhuai had disappeared, but rather that he suspected Wei Gongming was using this as a pretext to force him to take sides on behalf of the Third Prince.
But upon closer reflection, could Wei Gongming, a mere county magistrate in the capital, possibly possess such great power? Not only could he make a person disappear, but he could also silently empty the entire pharmacy?
He suppressed his doubts and stared at the sky until dawn before he had no choice but to wash up, change his clothes, and go to court.
The court was completely quiet, as was the case on any other day.
When the Third Prince and the Crown Prince met, the Third Prince nodded to him as usual as a greeting, and then went to their respective places to report the regulations.
Emperor Qi Xiao listened absentmindedly to the reports from his court officials on affairs in various regions, and then announced the adjournment of the court.
The apparent calm made it impossible for Huang Fan to find peace within himself.
After court, he deliberately walked alongside Qin Muyan for a moment, but the prince seemed lost in thought, as if he hadn't seen him at all. Instead, he saw the Minister of Revenue with a bright smile, eagerly chasing after him...
Huang Fan was certain that this matter had nothing to do with the Third Prince.
Whether it is related to Wei Gongming remains to be seen.
Unfortunately, the waiting time was the most agonizing, even maddening. After finishing his business at the yamen, he went to find Ding Huangshi.
"The person is gone? Changchun Hall is gone too?!" Upon hearing this news, Ding Huangshi felt as if every pore on her body had exploded. Her voice screamed like a rooster's crow, and she was completely devastated!
"Big sister, don't play dumb now. Are you afraid I'll hurt him, so you let him escape beforehand?!" Huang Fan's second suspect was his eldest sister.
He helped her cover up all the traces back then, but she was the one who betrayed him!
"It wasn't me, absolutely not me, I swear to God!" Madam Ding pointed her finger to the sky. "Even if I'm attached to our past, I know the limits! All these years, I've used both soft and hard tactics to prevent him from leaving the capital, because I was afraid he would turn around and bite me after he left..."
"What's the use of saying all this now? He should have died more than 20 years ago, but you insisted on letting him live for another 20 years! Do you know how much impact and harm this will cause? It is very likely that because of him alone, the Huang family will fall into an abyss, and all the efforts and hard work over the years will be in vain!" Huang Fan said angrily.
"What's the use of saying all this now? You must find him!" Ding Huangshi was also full of regret and panic. "He has always been grateful to me, confided in me, and even when I asked him to do bad things, he agreed to everything..."
"Could someone have kidnapped him? Or did he escape on his own?" Ding Huangshi refused to believe that he could be so heartless.
Huang Fan really wanted to tear open his sister's brain to see how such a rational and clear-headed person could become so idiotic and brainless when it came to matters of the heart!
"If you have any news about him, you must inform me immediately. This person must be eliminated; he absolutely cannot be allowed to live any longer. Do you understand?!"
Although reluctant, Ding Huangshi understood that she couldn't act impulsively. "This time, I won't be soft-hearted..."
Huang Fan looked around to make sure no one was watching, then immediately left.
Wei Gongming also sent people to search all day, but there was no news. He also asked at the four city gates of the capital, but no one remembered Meng Changhuai, let alone the goods that had traveled to the pharmacy.
He could only send Huang Fan these two details: either Meng Changhuai was still in the capital, or he had quietly left the capital under a different guise, completely abandoning the Changchuntang business.
Huang Fan rubbed his brow.
He originally didn't want to use his own people to target Meng Changhuai, but now it seems he has no choice but to do so.
He searched through the cases at the Dali Temple and connected them to a case involving a spy.
"I must join forces with the county government to arrest Meng Changhuai, whether he's dead or alive, I must see his head!"
……
The capital city is conducting a covert search.
Liu Yuechu stared in disbelief at Fang Suozi and Hou Lai.
When Fang Suozi received news from Liu Yuechu and went to inquire about Meng Changhuai, he discovered that Meng Changhuai was already moving all of Changchuntang's belongings, suggesting that he was attempting to abscond.
And where could he possibly find out about what happened twenty years ago? He could only try to get information from Meng Changhuai directly.
When their attempts to elicit information failed, the two began to argue.
Fang Suozi naturally took action to capture him and gave him a severe beating, but he didn't expect Meng Changhuai to release poison, intending to die together with him.
Fortunately, Hou Lai arrived in time, saving Fang Suozi's life.
There was no room for maneuver, so he had no choice but to go his own way. He emptied Changchun Hall, tied Meng Changhuai up, stuffed him into a box, and made a grand show of going to the Princess's mansion.
Liu Yuechu was speechless upon hearing their conversation.
“Now every household in the capital is searching for him, and they’ve decided he’s a spy.” Fang Suozi said sheepishly, also feeling that the matter had been somewhat reckless.
"But this isn't my fault. I didn't expect him to release the poison without saying a word. It's completely unpredictable!" He sighed, relieved to have escaped with his life. If Hou Lai hadn't appeared, he would have been finished!
"Why did you suddenly go to see him?" Fang Suozi looked at Hou Lai with great curiosity.
Hou Lai shrugged. "It was purely by chance." He naturally couldn't reveal the entanglement between this person and Yuan Cuo.
Fang Suozi scorned and rebuked him, "Couldn't you have come up with a more noble reason to brush me off?"
Liu Yuechu wasn't surprised, since Fang Suozi's actions were exactly as she had anticipated.
"There's no need to be polite. He's a murderer who helped Ding Huangshi frame Wanwan's mother, and who knows how many other evil deeds he's committed. Anyway, you arrested him, so why don't you interrogate him? I want to know what his relationship is with Wanwan's aunt."
"What if we make a mistake? What if he pulls out the poison from somewhere else?" Fang Suozi couldn't stand the resentment suffocating in his heart!
"I've already had Yuechan search it. Have her keep an eye on things from the side." Liu Yuechu hadn't expected that her younger sister would actually have such a talent for medicine and poisons.
Fang Suozi accepted the order and went to retrieve his lost face.
After watching him walk away, Liu Yuechu also found an excuse to send Xia Zhi and Gu Yu away.
"Did your son-in-law ask you to keep an eye on him?" Liu Yuechu naturally thought of Yuan Cuo.
Hou Lai nodded. "He's involved with a lot of people, he can't die now."
"So who exactly is he?" Liu Yuechu sensed that Hou Lai knew about this. "Knowing how much trouble I went through investigating, why didn't he come out and tell me sooner!"