Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Huimin Pharmacy has been surrounded by people.

When Chen Shao's carriage approached, someone shouted "The master is coming", and the crowd retreated to both sides, making way for the carriage to pass.

The carriage was stopped as soon as it entered the crowd.

A group of people, regardless of gender, age or status, all knelt in front of the carriage and begged Chen Shao to make the decision.

Chen Shao stopped the Yulin guards from shouting, calmly got out of the carriage, glanced at the kneeling people, then glanced around, asked everyone to stand up, then quickly walked around them and came to the eleven corpses lined up in a row in front of the drugstore door.

"Sir," said Master Qi at the door of the pharmacy, looking shocked, angry and afraid, but his words were full of confidence, "There is absolutely no problem with our medicine!"

Behind him, a group of doctors, hunched over, echoed his words in unison.

"It's kudzu poison." Chan Yi said in a low voice with a cold face after quickly glancing at the people still kneeling on the ground.

Li Tianliu stood beside her, protecting her. The Yulin Guards beside her were also alert and surprised.

Chen Shao did not respond, but carefully examined each body from left to right.

All the corpses had tiny blue-black blisters on their exposed skin, their eyes bulged outward, their tongues had small blisters and cracks, their lips were cracked, their ears were swollen, their bellies were bulging, and their nails were blue-black. These were indeed the symptoms of kudzu poisoning.

Eleven bodies, rigor mortis has developed all over the body, and is quite hard. Lividity has also formed all over, and it cannot be completely faded when pressed. Rigor mortis combined with livor mortis can confirm that the time of death is about eight hours ago. Now it is noon, which means that the death is around 12:00 yesterday. The time of death of the eleven bodies is less than an hour apart.

Due to the weather, the eleven bodies were all wearing thick winter clothes, which covered everything except the face, making it difficult to determine whether there were other wounds on the bodies.

Taking the handkerchief handed over by Chan Yi, Chen Shao wiped his hands and asked, "Where are their medical records?"

A doctor beside Master Qi handed over the records swiftly.

Chen Shao took the record and glanced at the doctor who wrote it. He was one of the fourteen township doctors. If she remembered correctly, his name should be Shen Limin.

The eleven dead had all gone to Huimin Pharmacy yesterday to see a doctor for common colds. They saw different doctors, but the prescriptions they received were exactly the same. In other words, these eleven people went to Huimin Pharmacy to see a doctor or get medicine only after she asked for a unified prescription.

After asking Chan Yi to fetch some paper and pen, Chen Shao closed the medical records, turned to look at the people kneeling on the ground, and asked gently, "Are you all their family members?"

After they answered yes one after another, Chen Shao raised his hand and patted the cart beside him, "Who are this lady's family members?"

Two middle-aged men and a woman walked out of the crowd quickly, followed by five or six children of different sizes.

The two middle-aged men had indignation on their faces, while the two women held their handkerchiefs and lowered their heads, crying quietly. The children were not wearing thick clothes, their faces were red from the cold, and they kept sniffing. There was no sadness or joy on their faces, only confusion and timidity.

After taking a look at them and the other children in the crowd, Chen Shao turned around and saw that the Seventh Master's daughter, Sister Miao, was also there, so he said, "Sister Miao, please take these children to the back to warm them up and prepare some food for them."

Miao Jie came out immediately and beckoned the children to follow her, "Come, come, follow me. There is a charcoal fire in the back room, it's warm."

Only a few children stood up here and there, while most of the children were held behind them cautiously by the adults, who were unwilling to let them stand up.

Miao Jie called her son and daughter, and took away the children who stood out. Then she quickly walked up to the people who were holding the children, slapped their hands away one by one and said, "Why stop them? There are so many people watching, how can we kidnap them? Come with me quickly, and see how frozen they are!"

"That's right. You didn't even bother to dress your child in thick clothes before you went out. If you don't go in with him to keep him warm, you'll end up not only failing to get justice, but also putting your child in danger."

"The Huimin Pharmacy is right here, how can they eat people?"

There were people who originally refused to let their children go with Miao Jie, but after hearing the accusations from the onlookers, they had to let go.

After Sister Miao took all the children away, Chen Shao looked at the family who had come out again and asked slowly, "What are their names? Which village do they live in? How did the old lady get into trouble? I'd like to trouble you to tell me in detail again."

The two middle-aged men looked around subconsciously, as if they had not expected that she would interrogate them in front of so many people.

"Don't worry," Chen Shao comforted. "When you came to see the doctor yesterday, you should have seen that there were at least two to three hundred people coming to Huimin Pharmacy for treatment. If it's a problem with the medicine, then you wouldn't be the only one in trouble. So I want to understand the basic situation first and see where the problem lies."

"My father got into this accident because he took your medicine. Don't even think about shirking your responsibility!" A man in his early thirties said angrily in the crowd.

Chen Shao looked at the person who spoke and said calmly, "If I wanted to shirk responsibility, I wouldn't have come to the door of the medicine store to understand the situation. So please rest assured, and please rest assured that if it is indeed the responsibility of the medicine store, then according to the Datong Law, I will not show any mercy to the judgment! Of course, if it is not the responsibility of the medicine store, but someone deliberately killed them to frame the medicine store, or even framed me, then I will not show any mercy either!"

The man who spoke changed his expression slightly and avoided her gaze uncomfortably.

Chen Shao looked at the others again, and when he saw that no one questioned him anymore, he looked back at the family that had stood up.

Among the family, the older middle-aged man looked honest, while the younger middle-aged man looked shrewd. The honest middle-aged man didn't know how to answer, so he looked at the shrewd middle-aged man next to him. The shrewd middle-aged man looked at Chen Shao quickly, then said half-fearfully and half-hesitantly: "I am Su Er, from Sujiaba, and it is my mother who died."

Chen Shao nodded, indicating that he should tell him what happened.

Su Erchao looked around and said, "My mother caught a cold the night before yesterday. After lunch yesterday, my elder brother and I took my mother to Huimin Pharmacy. After returning home, I followed the doctor's instructions and helped my mother take medicine shortly after dinner. Not long after taking the medicine, my mother suddenly fell to the ground. When my elder brother and I helped her up, we saw that she had rashes on her hands and face, and her eyes were getting bigger and bigger. My elder brother was afraid that something had happened to her, so he and I took her to Huimin Pharmacy. Halfway through the journey, my mother died."

Chen Shao looked at his evasive eyes and continued to ask, "What time is it when you serve the medicine to the lady?"

Su Er pulled at his clothes and answered, "It should be the end of the twelfth month or the beginning of the eighth month. I can't remember the exact time."

The time was right, Chen Shao continued: "Madam got sick not long after taking the medicine?"

Su Er avoided her gaze and answered, "Yes."

Chen Shao asked: "How long is the interval between taking the medicine and the onset of the disease?"

Su Er shook his head: "I don't remember."

Chen Shao looked at the honest middle-aged man, who was Su Er's elder brother Su Da.

Su Da's face flushed and he looked at Su Er guiltily.

Chen Shao followed his gaze and looked at Su Er again.

Su Er tugged at his clothes tightly, "Should, should..."

"It's only been less than a cup of tea." The woman behind Su Er replied.

Su Er breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen Shao glanced at the woman and continued, "You just said that your mother died halfway when you were sending her to the county town. What is this halfway? How far is it from the Su family?"

Su Er pulled his clothes tighter and said, "It's about two cups of tea away from Sujiaba."

Chen Shao looked at the clothes that were pulled straight by him and asked the key question: "Do you suspect that the medicine sold by Huimin Pharmacy was poisonous and killed your mother?"

Su Er's body froze for a moment. He quickly glanced at the row of corpses before answering, "I didn't say that. It's just that my mother..."

Chen Shao interrupted him: "Did you bring the medicine residue?"

Su Er looked at the woman behind him, and she quickly took out the wrapped medicine residue and handed it to him.

Chan Yi snorted secretly, took the residue and opened it. During the inspection, her face suddenly changed, and then she quickly and accurately picked out a small handful of kudzu from the pile of residue.