Soon, the few of them arrived at the restaurant where one of the crime scenes was.
As the waiters responsible for serving the ruffians, the shopkeeper on duty in the lobby, and the chef in charge of the kitchen were all first-line witnesses, they had all been summoned to the main hall of the county government. At this moment, only trembling shrimps were left in the restaurant.
There was also a middle-aged man who looked like the boss at the scene. He sighed from time to time and wiped the cold sweat on his forehead from time to time.
The table where the accident happened was well protected and almost maintained its original appearance.
When they arrived at the scene, the man who looked like the boss came over immediately.
"Chief Cao, can we talk in private?”
The man nervously moved closer to Cao Fei, while quietly stuffing a silver ingot weighing five kilograms into Cao Fei's mouth.
Cao Fei had no intention of making things difficult for him, so he comforted him,""I'm just here to check if there are any tricks in the dishes. There's no need to do this.”
The man asked worriedly,"Chief, I wonder if the county government…"
"The magistrate of the county government has already gone up to the stage to settle the case. The result will be known soon. If the wine and dishes in your restaurant are clean, there will be no problem.”
After sending the man away, the few of them gathered around the table of wine and food. The coroner professionally took off the bag he carried with him and took out some professional tools from it.
Cao Fei and a few bailiffs could not help in the short term. They could only surround the crime scene to prevent anyone from interrupting the coroner's work.
After Zhou Zunfeng reported to Cao Fei, he calmly led two bailiffs to inspect some key areas of the restaurant, such as the kitchen at the back and the wine storage in the cellar.
In the end, he asked some of the waiters at the restaurant one by one and obtained some circumstantial evidence.
Cao Fei, on the other hand, kept a close eye on the coroner's every move.
Then, he turned the big bowl of rice upside down.
Finally, his gaze fell on the broken wine container.
As the container had long been broken, the wine inside had long been spilled.
And the alcohol was the focus of this inspection.
The latter suddenly sighed and took out a bottle of grayish-white powder from the cloth bag with a frown. He carefully sprinkled it on the broken wine containers.
It was unknown what the powder was, but after it came into contact with moisture, it quickly changed its color, gradually turning from grayish-white to dark gray.
Finally, the coroner dipped his fingers into the powder and tasted it carefully.
Every time he tasted it, he would rinse his mouth with water. He did not dare to be careless.
"Master Cha, what did you find?" Cao Fei quickly asked.”
The coroner looked around carefully and replied in a low voice,""There's poison in this wine, but I can't tell what kind of poison it is. It should be a kind of snake venom that can kill people. It doesn't seem to be from the Central Plains.”
Cao Fei was also stunned.
Although he had almost figured out the truth behind it, the plain-looking coroner in front of him could tell that the wine was poisoned with a kind of snake venom based on his experience and simple tools.
The wisdom of the people of this era really couldn't be underestimated.
"Chief, although this container is broken, it is still first-hand evidence. Get someone to carefully collect it and bring it back to the county office.”
"Naturally."
Cao Fei had always listened to the opinions of professionals.
After that, he went through another round of inspection. Compared to the gains from the restaurant, the gains this time were minimal.
In the end, they rushed to the house of the two dead hoodlums and met up with the team on the other side.
After this investigation, it was already noon.
It was already the peak period for the magistrate to settle cases in the county hall. Cao Fei and the others waited outside the door. From time to time, they could hear the sound of the gavel hitting the table.
Since the first-hand evidence had been sent back, the magistrate immediately chose to rest. Then, some relevant personnel were summoned in.
Cao Fei was waiting outside. As he was deep in thought, Zhang Yasi, who had a friendly expression on his face, appeared in front of him.
"Chief Cao, you've worked hard.”
Cao Fei narrowed his eyes and sized up Zhang Yasi, but he still could not find any useful information from the other party's expression. He could not help but sigh." What an old fox. Looks like he has a plan in mind?"”
Even so, Cao Fei still politely cupped his hands and returned the greeting." It's all part of my duty. What's the point of working hard?”
After the county magistrate got hold of the first-hand evidence, the process of settling the case in the afternoon was obviously sped up. The hall of the case was also bustling with activity. From time to time, the sound of bamboo shoots stir-frying meat could be heard, accompanied by screams.
The truth of the medicine shop case was revealed.
The original victim, the family members of the dead ruffians, became accomplices.
The original defendant, Shopkeeper Wang's herbal medicine store, became the victim.
The entire process of the case was completely exposed to everyone.
The Ximen family resented Shopkeeper Wang's herbal medicine shop for seizing the county market that should have belonged to him. They colluded with three hoodlums to go to Shopkeeper Wang's herbal medicine shop to see a doctor and prescribed medicine on the spot.
Then, the butler of Ximen Manor came out and privately invited three ruffians to a banquet. The wine at the banquet was poisoned with the venom of the Western Regions, causing two ruffians to feel unwell after drinking and die that night after returning home.
As for the other surviving hoodlum, he had a stomachache and was lucky enough to miss the poisonous wine. However, he was scared out of his wits by the death of his two companions and hid in a dilapidated temple in the city.
Later, he was found by Constable Lei's men and became the most important witness in the court.
At the same time, Ximen Manor still did not know that there was still a hoodlum who survived. They still followed the original plan to encourage the families of the two deceased hoodlums and promised a large sum of money to blame the death of the hoodlum on Shopkeeper Wang's medicinal store. They sued the other party in one fell swoop.
For a moment, he was at an absolute disadvantage.
Although there were still a few suspicious points in the case, such as whether the amount of poison in the wine of the butler of Ximen residence exceeded the standard? Did he have the intention to kill her? Did he receive instructions from the person in charge of the Ximen residence, Ximen Qing?
After they were not sure if the surviving hoodlum was still alive, the Ximen Manor dared to collude with the hoodlum's family and sue Shopkeeper Wang to the county government. Was it audacious or negligent?
This was no longer important.
The case had officially entered the second phase.
It was time for both sides to compete in money and connections.
(That's all for today. I've updated 20 chapters in three days, totaling 45,000 words. If everyone is happy, please vote. The new book needs all kinds of data. I might have to prepare the contract tomorrow. I'll update later. At least 5 chapters and 10,000 words.)）
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