Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 486: The Poisonous Hand Falls Invisibly (Part )
Noon, backstage.

Compared to the hustle and bustle of the outside world, this "player rest area" is relatively quieter and more orderly.

In this competition, the contestants' dining areas, including the chefs who provide them with meals, are obviously separate from those used by the spectators outside.

The reason is very simple: if everyone eats together, then if someone poisons someone, it will be difficult to prevent and even more difficult to investigate.

Right now, within the competition venue, there are several thousand people coming to watch the game, participate in the game, and organize the game. If you don't manage them separately, when the meal starts, they will swarm together and you won't be able to keep an eye on them even if you hire ten security captains like Fangzhang.

So in the catering industry, there are two standards.

Backstage, there is a special "small kitchen" where meals are prepared by trustworthy chefs transferred from the Murong family and the Baquan Sect. When they are cooking, there are special people patrolling nearby to prevent anyone from tampering with the meals when the chefs are distracted.

Only those who are "qualified to enter the backstage" can eat these "special meals"; if something goes wrong with the food of those who dine here, the scope of investigation will naturally be much smaller.

Of course, it would be better if you bring your own food, or if you want to go out and eat with people outside, it is your freedom, but you are also responsible if you get poisoned.

Outside of the backstage, things are more free.

The people supplying food here are all merchants in Cangzhou City. They all received the news released by the Baquan Sect in advance, saying that there will be a "market" here today. Those who want to make extra money can set up stalls here at noon.

For these merchants, the organizers are only responsible for maintaining the safety and order of the "market" and do not care what they sell or at what price.

Anyway, judging from the situation at noon on the first day, there was a wide variety of choices and business at each stall was pretty good. In addition to the common steamed buns, noodles, wontons and dumplings, there were also stir-fried dishes and wine. When noon arrived, the dozens of stalls in this area were filled with the aroma of delicious food and bustling with people.

Some people may ask after seeing this: What if the people eating in this "market" outside are poisoned?
Actually, if you think about it carefully, this is a pointless question. If someone wanted to poison one or several of these people, couldn't they have done it when they were eating in Cangzhou City after arriving there a few days ago? The city is not as strict as here.

To put it bluntly, poisoning happens every day in the world, but there are not many sects or individuals who have truly mastered the advanced poisoning technology.

The way ordinary people poison people is similar to how ordinary people poison people today, maybe even a little more concealed; there are so many eyes watching here, you take out a bag of powder, or a small bottle of liquid, and "add ingredients" to other people's pots and bowls, can't they see it? If you poison someone else inaccurately, and your target is fine, but you are still exposed, isn't that funny?
Furthermore, many people who roam the world have their own ways of testing and avoiding poisons, so they would be on guard in such situations.

To sum up, what we need to focus on today are actually those "high-end poisoning targeting backstage players."

but……

There is a person whose method of poisoning, the poison he chooses, and even the purpose of poisoning are not very sophisticated.

But he happened to be backstage and had very good conditions to poison.

I'm sure you have guessed it, this person is Shao Shanhu.

Shao Shanhu's target was undoubtedly Dugu Yong, who had embarrassed him in public a few days ago.

Let’s not talk about Shao Shanhu’s method of poisoning for now, since everyone will see it soon. Let’s just talk about the “poison” he chose and the purpose of poisoning... In fact, they are quite simple, or quite LOW.

His plan was to put some laxative in Dugu Yong's lunch so that Dugu Yong could go to the toilet and have some fun after dinner.

Moreover, he had already calculated that Dugu Yong's next match, the first match of the second round, would not start until the afternoon at the earliest. By that time, firstly, Dugu Yong's legs would have been numb from squatting, and secondly, the effect of the laxative would probably have almost worn off, which was a very delicate state.

By then Dugu Yong would definitely be unwilling to give up the competition, and this reason would not sound good to others. Then he would most likely go on stage with his head held high, and then... the best scenario would be that he would exert force on the stage and his pants would pop out, and he would lose face. Even if he could resist the urge to pop out, his condition would definitely be greatly affected, and he would have to swallow his anger if he was eliminated.

The most important thing is, if someone really investigates laxatives and suspects Shao Shanhu, he can completely blame it... He just said that the food prepared by the organizer was not clean and his stomach was uncomfortable, so what?

Let's take a step back and say that even if he was caught red-handed while administering the laxative, so what? It's not poison, can I apologize to you? Or should I just eat it?

Even though Shao Shanhu is neither smart nor sophisticated, his plan of administering laxatives today is indeed a good plan with benefits far outweighing risks, and is very close to the level of the "Double Harmony Poison Plan".

It's just... he himself didn't expect that his action, which he had no intention of and dared not to kill anyone, would be taken advantage of by others, and by accident, he made a big mistake that was difficult to recover from.

"Senior Dugu, Sect Leader Gao, Brother Dugu, Miss Gao, I am honored to be here."

Shao Shanhu did what he said. Not long after lunch started, he took a glass of wine and walked slowly to the table of Dugu father and son and Gao father and daughter, and greeted them one by one.

A brief mention here, although the "Hundred Turns and Thousand Blades Sect" did not participate in the competition, Gao Shengyue, as an old friend of Dugu Sheng, had no problem bringing his daughter Gao Yadian to accompany Dugu and his son to the backstage as a relative; the main thing is... except for Dugu Yong himself who still hasn't come to his senses, everyone else, including many local gangs, has already tacitly accepted that the Hundred Turns and Thousand Blades Sect is the in-law of the Jinling Sword King's Mansion, so what's the point of saying that they are a family? Therefore, no one thinks that there is any problem with the rules for these four people to come together.

"Hmph... Are we very familiar with you? Are you trying to get close to us?" Gao Yaodian was not the type to give the other party any face just because Shao Shanhu said something soft with a fake smile on his face. She just sat there without even raising her eyelids and started to retort.

"Hey~ girl, how can you talk like that?" Gao Shengyue next to her couldn't let his daughter act like this. After all, they all made a living in Cangzhou, and they would see each other every day. If she didn't treat the other person as a human being and completely broke off relations with him, it would not be good. So, he pretended to scold Gao Dian and secretly kicked his daughter's heel under the table, signaling her not to make things difficult for her father.

"Haha, my dear nephew Shao, my daughter speaks her mind, please don't take it to heart." After a moment, Gao Shengyue turned around and gave Shao Shanhu a "business smile."

Although his tone and words were polite, he just sat on the stool without moving at all, which showed that he had no sincerity and did not like Shao Shanhu very much.

Under normal circumstances, these two sentences would have been enough for Shao Shanhu to flip the table three times.

But today he came here with the intention of doing something bad, so he could still endure it.

"Hahaha... I wouldn't dare, I'm sorry for offending you these days. I hope Sect Leader Gao, Miss Gao..." Shao Shanhu said, looking at Dugu Yong, "and Brother Dugu... please forgive me, please forgive me."

As he spoke, he bowed, assuming a very humble attitude.

But based on his acting skills and scheming, not to mention the two old men present, even Dugu Yong and Gao Yadian would not believe it.

Everyone knew that this guy was holding back his fart, so the more he acted like this, the more wary everyone at the table became.

"Brother Shao, you are too serious. I was also impulsive that day..." According to Dugu Yong's usual style, he would not pay attention to the other party, but now his father is next to him, and Gao Shibo's attitude seems to be more relaxed. Dugu Yong responded to give face to these two elders and to quickly send Shao Shanhu away, "As the saying goes, it is better to resolve a feud than to create one. We are all children of the rivers and lakes. It's fun to settle grudges. There is nothing to be said... Let's drink this cup and write off whatever happened before."

After saying that, Dugu Yong picked up the wine glass in front of him, stood up and toasted Shao Shanhu.

This was exactly what Shao Shanhu wanted. He came over with a glass of wine, waiting for this moment. According to his thinking, since the other party had drunk this glass with him, as long as he did not say goodbye immediately, the other party would at least ask him to sit down and have a few more glasses out of courtesy. Then he would have the opportunity to drug him.

Unexpectedly, after Dugu Yonghe finished the cup and exposed the bottom of the cup, he raised his hand very smoothly, said "please", then turned his eyes away from Shao Shanhu and sat down by himself.

My goodness, now let alone Shao Shanhu, both old men Dugu Sheng and Gao Shengyue couldn’t stand it anymore.

The word Dugu Yong said was not "please" at all, it was clearly "get out".

However, although Dugu Yong's move was impolite, he did it too efficiently and as if it was a matter of course, so it was others who were embarrassed.

After Dugu Yong sat down, Shao Shanhu stood there blankly for five or six seconds. These few seconds seemed extremely long. The shame and anger he felt at this moment was even greater than when he was knocked off the stage by Dugu Yong.

This time, Shao Shanhu really wanted to overturn the table.

But unexpectedly, just when he was about to lose his temper and reveal his true colors...

"Hey~ Isn't this Brother Hu? Come on, let's sit together." Sun Yixie appeared out of nowhere, and chattered with Shao Shanhu's arm in arm, acting like a familiar figure, and immediately rescued him from the predicament.

Of course, all readers must understand that Sun and Huang have been watching the situation here in secret for a long time. Sun Yixie's appearance at this time must have his own conspiracy.

"That's what I told you, we are all brothers, just resolve any misunderstandings. Well, excuse me, uncle, let's squeeze in." Sun Yixie's face was thicker than everyone at the table combined. As he spoke, he squeezed in and sat down next to Dugu Sheng.

The table that everyone was using at this time was a square table, but the stools were not round stools that could only seat one person, but rather long and wide stools, so two people could sit side by side on one stool.

With these two moves, Sun Yixie not only sat next to Dugu Sheng, but also naturally pulled Shao Shanhu to the table and let him sit next to Dugu Yong. In this way, the two of them separated Dugu father and son.

This made Shao Shanhu very happy. He thought to himself, Brother Sun is really like timely rain. Not only did he solve my embarrassment, but he also provided me with such good conditions to drug me. If this succeeds, I will become sworn brothers with you.

He didn't know that when Sun Yixie came up to him and put his arm around his shoulder, he had already "switch" the bag of laxatives hidden in his belt behind him.

What does forty years of experience in stealing mean? Although Sun Yixie is not a professional pickpocket, it is not a problem for him to do this little trick behind Shao Shanhu's back while he is angry and about to lose his temper.

From Sun Huang's perspective, a few minutes ago, they noticed that Shao Shanhu was like a fool, glancing furtively at Dugu Yong's table, and touching his lower back from time to time, as if he was checking whether there was something in his belt.

So, Sun Huang was there discussing and analyzing what Shao Shanhu was going to do.

Finally, the conclusion was drawn: This guy would not dare to use any deadly poison. He probably wanted to use some laxative, knockout drug or something with mild toxicity to affect Dugu Yong's game.

If we think in this way, why don't we play along and "switch the substance" for him? Give him a packet of vitamin C so that he will think that the drug was successfully administered. Then we can find an opportunity for him to eat his own packet.

Of course, I just said "vitamin C" like that. Actually, it refers to the kind of colorless and tasteless powder that has no effect when taken. Huang Donglai has plenty of this kind of thing because he has a hobby of "making medicine and alchemy". Although the success rate of refining what he really wants to make is not high every time, various strange by-products will be produced from time to time, such as the "stinky powder" mentioned in the previous document.

In short, after Sun and Huang made a plan, they started to act. Sun Yixie was responsible for dealing with Shao Shanhu, and Huang Donglai... naturally went to divert Shao Dejin's attention.

Because Shao Shanhu's plan of using laxative must be known to his father, as the saying goes, people of the same family tend to stick together.

In order to prevent Brother Sun from being discovered by Shao Dejin on the other side when he switched the things, Huang Donglai came to Shao Dejin at the same time as Sun Yixie met up with Shao Shanhu, greeted him and took a seat, thus blocking his view.

"Uncle Shao, why are you sitting here alone? Where did Brother Wang go?" Huang Donglai sat down and asked.

Shao Dejin had to answer: "Ah? Ah... it's you, my dear nephew..." As his sight was blocked, he could only temporarily pull his attention back from his son and replied, "That... the Three-Character King, right? Well, he insisted on eating outside, so I can only send a disciple to go with him and keep an eye on him."

Shao Dejin was also being evasive in what he said, after all, the Three-Character King was recommended to him by Sun Huang, and he did have the ability, so even if he had many dissatisfactions, it would not be convenient for him to make them clear in front of the other party.

In fact, the reason why King San Zi did not eat at the same table with the Shao family father and son was, in his own words, "it's disgusting."

The Three Character King is like this. He doesn't indulge anyone, and he doesn't like to lie and rarely does.

More importantly, with his wisdom and his understanding of Sun Huang, he had basically guessed that Sun Huang wanted to harm the Shao father and son, so he must stay away from him, otherwise he would have no place to complain even if he got covered in shit.

"Oh...Is that so? It's okay. I'll have a few drinks with you." Huang Donglai didn't point out anything. He naturally took the wine pot to pour wine for the other party and started to make arrangements. "Hey, man, come on, add two more dishes, pork belly, and this braised fish fillet must be made with Huadiao wine, you know..."

Huang Donglai was talking to the waiter who was serving the dishes, while Shao Dejin had moved his body slightly and was glancing at his son out of the corner of his eye.

At this time, Shao Shanhu had already been pulled to sit down by Sun Yixie, and Sun's "switch" had already been completed, and Shao Dejin didn't see it at all.

Shao Dejin even thought: Nephew Sun helped Shan Hu out of the embarrassing situation and created an opportunity for him to drug him, which was a great help. It would be great if I had the opportunity to adopt promising young men like Nephew Sun and Nephew Huang as my sons.

Just as he was daydreaming like this, he saw... Shao Shanhu in the distance was about to take action.