235 Qin Canglan’s Arrival

It was about the Old Marquis being poisoned.

Su Mo investigated from the residence. He asked his trusted guard to carefully investigate all the servants in the residence who had the chance to come into contact with the Old Marquis’s food and drink. He did not find anything unusual, so he ruled out the possibility of the attack being committed in the residence.

From this point, at least it meant that the interior of Marquis Manor was safe. The investigation turned toward the ingredients from outside the residence. The huge Duke Mansion had dozens of ingredients every day, and this did not include the oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar rice that they bought regularly…

This was a huge project. Fortunately, the heavens did not disappoint. Finally, this morning, his trusted guard caught a butcher selling meat.

“It’s a butcher surnamed Hu.”

The trusted guard said, “The Old Marquis likes to eat meat. He has been buying meat at his shop for the past few years and nothing has gone wrong.”

Su Mo asked, “Is there a problem with this butcher?”

The trusted guard shook his head. “No, there’s nothing wrong with him. It’s the dumpling leaf he used to penetrate the flesh that was soaked in poison. In order not to be discovered, the dosage was very small. It won’t cause any harm if one eats it once or twice, but it’s hard to say for a month or two.”

Su Xiaoxiao said, “Why isn’t anyone else poisoned?”

The trusted guard replied, “The Old Marquis only likes to eat the most tender rib meat. Every time, it would be prepared for the Old Marquis alone. The chefs in the residence occasionally steal a bite, but firstly, that would not account for much. Secondly, there are several chefs in our residence so the same chef does not eat it every time. However, they’ve been a little dizzy recently. They just thought that they were too tired and didn’t take it to heart.”

It seemed that he had been poisoned over time.

Su Mo asked, “Where’s the vendor selling dumpling leaves?”

The trusted guard said awkwardly, “I caught him… but I didn’t watch him closely. I wasn’t careful and let him bite his tongue to commit suicide.”

Su Xiaoxiao said, “Ordinary people can’t bite off their tongues.”

This was a trap specially set up for the Old Marquis, no, perhaps for the entire estate of the Marquis of Zhenbei.

Su Mo was clearly not satisfied with this outcome. He was not angry and still looked gentle. However, Su Xiaoxiao’s sharp eyes noticed that the guard’s forehead was starting to sweat.

This eldest young master of the Su family was not as simple as he looked.

“However…” The trusted guard panted and was secretly glad that he did not stop. He continued to investigate.

“That person’s name is Xiangzi. He came to the capital last October. At the end of the month, he came with a caravan. Then, he somehow broke up with the caravan and lived on the streets. Later on, he worked for a provision shop. The dumpling leaves were sold from that shop.”

“There’s no problem with the shop for the time being. However, according to the waiter in the shop, Xiangzi has a lover in a big family. Once, the waiter bumped into him. Xiangzi threatened him not to tell anyone, or else he would be killed.”

Su Mo frowned. “Which big family?”

The trusted guard hesitated for a moment and said, “The Protector Duke’s Estate.”

…

After the trusted guard left, Su Mo fell into deep thought.

“What are you thinking about?” Su Xiaoxiao asked.

Su Mo said with a serious expression, “Last October, something big happened in the Marquis of Zhenbei.”

Su Xiaoxiao looked at him and gestured for him to continue.

Su Mo said, “Grandfather and Father had a big fight in the study. That day was Grandmother’s birthday banquet and many guests came. Grandfather threatened to abolish Father’s position as the heir. This news spread. Just as Grandfather broke off relations with Father, a ‘vendor’ came to poison Grandfather. I think this might not be a coincidence.”

“Why are they arguing?” Su Xiaoxiao asked.

Su Mo said seriously, “Father suggested that the ancestral shrine be moved to the capital. Grandpa didn’t agree and threw a huge tantrum. Actually, it’s just a matter of anger. How can father and son have overnight grudges? However, rumors are terrifying. In the aristocratic families, there are countless sisters, brothers, and father-son grudges.”

Su Xiaoxiao said, “Oh.”

Su Mo glanced at her and said, “If you hadn’t discovered that my grandfather was poisoned in time, the worst outcome would have been that my grandfather is no longer around. All kinds of evidence pointing to my father killing his father to protect his title would have jumped out.”

Su Xiaoxiao said, “Oh.”

Su Mo was speechless.

Su Mo opened the small food box on the table and pushed it to her.

“Huh?” Su Xiaoxiao looked at the jar full of smashed walnuts and blinked strangely.

“Don’t you like to eat this?” Su Mo asked.

Su Xiaoxiao picked one up and flipped it around.

Was this really a smashed walnut?

Which person suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder did it?

It was too complete!

Su Xiaoxiao took a bite.

“How’s Uncle’s condition?” Su Mo asked.

When they left yesterday, Su Cheng was still unconscious. They could tell that Su Cheng had been agitated. In order not to cause Su Cheng’s agitation again, they decided to return to the residence first.

Otherwise, with the Old Marquis’s personality, he would have brought Su Cheng’s family back.

Su Xiaoxiao explained Father Su’s situation concisely.

Su Mo was silent for a long time before he said, “It’s good that he doesn’t remember.”

He could roughly guess what that painful memory was.

Grandaunt used her life to stall the assassin in exchange for a chance of survival for her biological flesh and blood.

It was very likely that Su Cheng had witnessed his mother being cruelly killed.

He was only a six-year-old child at that time. This scene would be difficult for anyone to bear.

Neither of them mentioned letting Father Su recover his memory. Restoring his memory was only painful and had no benefits. As for whether there would be any clues to find the murderers in Father Su’s memory…

Were they dead?

Or were they so incompetent that they needed to use a method that would torment Father Su to find clues?

Su Xiaoxiao wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt Father Su, including herself.

Father Su had already suffered too much. She didn’t want him to be sad for the rest of his life.

She would shoulder the grudge from his past.

She would not let any of those people off.

—-

At Pear Blossom Lane, after Xiaohu and Erhu woke up, Dahu showed off to his two stinky brothers the sweet times when he and his mother walked the foal and ate roasted sweet potatoes together.

The two brothers were jealous and ran to the door. Unexpectedly, after waiting for half a day, their mother did not return.

The two of them felt aggrieved and were about to cry.

Dahu said, “Hehehe!”

It was their fault for staying in bed.

Erhu and Xiaohu were fierce.

Their brother was so annoying today!

“Alright, alright, don’t be angry. Grandpa will roast sweet potatoes for you.”

Su Cheng went to the kitchen and roasted two big black sweet potatoes.

Erhu and Xiaohu refused in their hearts, but seeing that their grandfather’s face was blackened by the stove ash, they still reached out and took a roasted sweet potato…

Ugh.

It tasted so bad…

Then, Su Cheng brought the three little ones to the alley.

Qin Canglan had just returned from a trip.

He happened to pass by Scholar Street and remembered that his granddaughter seemed to be learning the zither in Pear Blossom Lane.

“To Pear Blossom Lane,” he said to the coachman.

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