Marrying Wife and Concubine Together: After Rebirth, I Remarried the Scumbag's Father on the Sp

“It’s not just about having people, it’s about having influence and power, someone who can control everything in Jingcheng.” Zhan Miao’s tone was icy. “Besides Zhou Chongshan, I can’t think of anyone else who can control the water supply, the rumors, and the city’s defenses and the people’s sentiments.”

Zhou Chongshan, the deputy city lord of Jingcheng, holds great power over city defense, water conservancy, and civil affairs. During the period when the city lord was missing and the young city lord was still young, he had already turned Jingcheng into his personal fiefdom.

When the epidemic broke out, he was the first to jump out, pretending to take charge of the overall situation, but secretly he kept shifting the blame to Zhan Miao and her group, saying that they were outsiders who had disrupted the local energy of Jingcheng and brought in the plague.

At first, Zhan Miao thought he was just vying for power and profit, but it wasn't until the people surrounded the mansion today that she saw the truth for the first time.

This is not a simple power grab at all; it is a bloody conspiracy that uses the lives of the entire city's inhabitants as pawns.

As darkness fell, the first team of men was the first to report back.

A thick stack of records lay on the table, densely packed with patient information.

Zhan Miao flipped through the pages line by line, and the more he read, the colder his eyes became.

All the deceased exhibited strikingly similar symptoms: initially, they had a persistent high fever and body aches; three days later, they developed incessant coughing and wheezing, and their skin developed bluish-black bruises, ultimately leading to death by suffocation.

Even more bizarrely, the first dozen or so households to fall ill shared the same old well, a century-old well at the foot of the western city.

"Let's go to the old well in the west city."

Zhan Miao stood up, put on his cloak, and walked out without saying a word. Mo Ziyu immediately followed, and Princess Youyi, though frightened, gritted her teeth and followed closely behind.

The group changed into casual clothes and made a low-key trip to Xicheng.

At this time, the western part of the city was already lifeless and desolate.

The streets were deserted, doors and windows were tightly closed, and the occasional cry could be heard, but it was suppressed and no one dared to make a sound.

A faint smell of medicine and an lingering deathly silence filled the air, making one's chest feel heavy.

The century-old well is located at the entrance of the alley. The well platform is smooth, but there is no one around, as if it has been abandoned long ago.

The accompanying physician stepped forward and took out a silver hairpin, soapberry, and herbs, testing them one by one according to ancient methods.

The well water is clear, without any turbidity or odor. A silver hairpin does not change color when placed in the water, and herbs do not wither when placed inside.

"Miss Zhan, the water is non-toxic," the physician whispered.

The surrounding guards were all taken aback.

If it's not a water problem, then where did the epidemic come from? Could it really be a plague god descending upon the world?

Zhan Miao did not relax for a moment. She squatted by the well, her fingertips gently tracing the cool well wall, her gaze going down inch by inch until it finally landed on a few very shallow, very new scratches on the edge of the well.

The marks looked like they were left from being repeatedly struck with a heavy object.

"Drain all the water from the well," Zhan Miao suddenly said.

Everyone was shocked: "Drain it? This is the drinking water source for hundreds of households!"

"Do as I say." Zhan Miao's tone left no room for doubt. "I want everything from the bottom of the well, not a single piece of soil, not a single scrap of cloth.

The guards dared not disobey and immediately found a well pulley and buckets, taking turns to use them.

Buckets of well water were drawn out and poured into the nearby ditch.

As night deepened and the moon climbed above the treetops, the bottom of the well was gradually revealed to everyone.

When the water recedes, mud appears; the silt is black, smelly, damp, and sticky.

Zhan Miao carried a lantern and personally squatted down by the well to illuminate the bottom of it.

Deep within the silt, seven or eight long, rectangular objects wrapped in dark brown tarpaulins were half-buried in the mud, and could not be noticed unless one looked closely.

"What is that!" Princess Youyi exclaimed in a low voice.

"Go down and carefully retrieve it," Zhan Miao instructed in a deep voice.

The guards climbed down the rope and carefully retrieved the pieces of oilcloth wrapped around their heads.

As soon as it landed, a very faint, extremely fishy, ​​and extremely strange smell quietly spread out as the tarpaulin was pried open.

It wasn't a foul stench, nor did it smell like medicine; it was a cold, fishy odor that made one's heart race and spine tingle.

The physician stepped forward and took a look. His face turned deathly pale, and he staggered back a step: "This...this is the Bone-Corroding Poisonous Herb!"

The bone-rotting poisonous plant grows in the cold and shady places of southern Xinjiang. It appears non-toxic, but its roots and stems do not rot, making it extremely poisonous.

Wrap it tightly in oilcloth and bury it under well water. After seven days, the poison will gradually seep into the water, colorless, odorless, and invisible. People who drink this water will not die immediately, but will slowly damage their heart, lungs, and bone marrow, leading to high fever, bruising, shortness of breath, and death. The symptoms are exactly the same as those of an epidemic, and ordinary doctors cannot distinguish them at all.

The truth has finally been revealed.

What is called an epidemic is not an epidemic at all.

Someone used such insidious means to poison the drinking water source, killing the people of Xicheng!

"Who, who could be so cruel?" Princess Youyi covered her mouth, tears instantly falling down her cheeks.

Mo Ziyu clenched her little fists tightly, her eyes red-rimmed, but she held back her tears: "Aunt Miao, it must be Zhou Chongshan, it must be him!"

Zhan Miao didn't speak, but squatted down, gently touching the withered black poisonous grass with his fingertips, his eyes as cold as ice.

She should have thought of that sooner.

Zhou Chongshan was in charge of water conservancy and city defense. Only he could secretly bury poisonous herbs in the old well in the heavily guarded West City. Only he could control all the information after the incident and direct everything to the natural disaster and to her, the outsider.

But now, there are only poisonous weeds, no witnesses, no physical evidence, and no direct evidence pointing to Zhou Chongshan.

He holds a high position of power and has deep roots in the government. As long as he stubbornly denies the truth, the people of Jingcheng will remain in the dark.

Zhan Miao slowly stood up, carefully rewrapped the poisonous herb, and said in a low but firm voice:

"Don't make this public for now. What we lack now is not the truth, but irrefutable evidence that will bring Zhou Chongshan to ruin."

"Since he set up the scheme, he must have left something behind."

"Tonight, we'll lure the snake out of its hole."

Late on the first night, Zhan Miao laid out the second plan.

She deliberately had her trusted confidants secretly spread the word in the western part of the city:

The city lord's mansion has already investigated the problem at the old well and found key physical evidence. Tomorrow morning, they will publicly announce the murderer's name and seek justice for the deceased.

The news spread like wildfire throughout the western part of the city overnight.

Some were skeptical, some were overjoyed, and some were filled with fear.

When Zhou Chongshan, who was hiding in the villa, heard his subordinate's report, he suddenly stopped drinking tea, spilling hot tea and burning his hand without even noticing.

"What did you say? She found something in the old well?"

"Yes, yes, sir. The people from the city lord's mansion spent half the night searching the old well and it seems they really did find something. Now the whole city is saying that the real culprit will be announced tomorrow."

Zhou Chongshan's expression changed drastically, and he abruptly stood up.

Oops.

To be on the safe side, he had his confidant plant the poison himself, and afterwards he killed two servants to cover it up. He thought he had done it perfectly, but he never expected that Zhan Miao would actually dare to drain the old well and actually find the poisonous herbs!

Once those things are made public, he won't be able to clear his name even if he has a hundred mouths.

"Idiots! A bunch of idiots!" Zhou Chongshan roared furiously, "Who told you to leave it so obviously!"

His subordinates trembled and dared not utter a sound.

Zhou Chongshan paced frantically inside the room, his mind racing.

No, we absolutely cannot let the physical evidence remain in Zhan Miao's hands.