It was five o'clock, but none of the young ladies present asked to leave. On the one hand, Boya Xuan had not announced the end of the banquet, and the prize money for the banquet had not been distributed to the ladies. On the other hand, everyone was waiting for the results of the verification by the owner of Boya Xuan, and the maids also diligently served tea, snacks and dried fruits to everyone.
Regarding the poisoning incident, perhaps for all the young ladies, it was just something that happened at a banquet. Although it was shocking and unbelievable, it was good that it did not happen to them.
But it is different for Boyaxuan. Things have come to this point, and Boyaxuan is completely implicated. If Boyaxuan cannot resolve this matter quickly and satisfactorily and completely remove Boyaxuan from the matter, once the Qianjin Banquet is over and the matter gets out, it will be greatly disadvantageous to Boyaxuan, and the reputation of the Qianjin Banquet will also be ruined.
In the pavilion in the middle of the lake, the atmosphere between Boyaxuan and Wen Xinya seemed harmonious, but who could have imagined that just now, the two had a fierce battle.
The owner of Boya Xuan was deep-minded and sharp-minded, while Wen Xinya was calm and composed. The two of them exchanged secret codes back and forth. The owner of Boya Xuan did not gain any advantage, and Wen Xinya did not fall into inferiority either.
At this time, a maid carrying a tray led an old gentleman into the pavilion in the middle of the lake.
The owner of Boyaxuan was shocked and asked gently, "Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Sun. I wonder how the investigation is going?"
Now, the owner of Boyaxuan just wants to finish this matter as soon as possible, for fear that if it is delayed any further, it will cause complications, and he is also afraid that something unexpected will happen if he delays. After all... Wen Xinya is not an easy person to deal with, and there is Mr. Mo standing behind her.
Maybe others don't understand Mo Gong and just think he is indifferent, but she knows better than anyone that Mo Gong is the most protective person. If the matter does not involve the bottom line, he will let you do whatever you want, but once you touch his bottom line, he will let you understand what "Dragon's Rebellion" means.
The old man stroked his gray beard and said, "After my inspection, I found datura powder in the tea and cakes just served to the young ladies. The poisoner is well versed in pharmacology, so he has a very accurate grasp of the datura poison and the dosage is just right. He put the poison in the tea and cakes, which is difficult for people to detect."
Fortunately, he was well-versed in traditional Chinese medicine and had a special talent for identifying medicines, so he was able to find clues from the tea stains left in the teacup and the remaining crumbs on the plate of pastries.
But, more importantly, today's Qianjin Banquet was quite busy, and the replaced teacups and dishes had not yet been washed, so we were able to verify everything so quickly.
The people below were also shocked when they heard this.
The owner of Boyaxuan looked gloomy: "This proves that what Lin Yingxin said about the mandrake poison was not false."
As long as it can be proved that the matter of the Datura poison is not groundless, the following matters will be easy to verify. The first is the poisoning. No matter whether the poisoner did it himself or manipulated or bribed others to poison, there are traces to be found.
In addition, there is another important clue, which is the maid who delivered tea and pastries to Wen Xinya and Lin Yingxin. The poisoned tea and pastries were obviously aimed at Wen Xinya. So the maid must know which pastries and tea were problematic, so that she could put the pastries in front of Wen Xinya without any mistakes.
As for why the poisoned tea and pastries ended up on Ying Xin's desk, let's put this question aside for now.
With so many clues, it would be quite easy to investigate carefully, and soon the finger was pointed at Xia Ruya.
The old lady in charge of the kitchen cried out, "Madam, I didn't poison you. Because today is a banquet, we are more strict in the kitchen than usual..." Her eyes rolled around as if she was afraid that others wouldn't believe her. Then she suddenly thought of something and said quickly, "Except for the few people you arranged to help in the kitchen, only Miss Xia has been in the kitchen."
The owner of Boyaxuan immediately asked, "What is Miss Xia doing in the kitchen?"
The old lady said quickly, "Miss Xia said that Madam asked her to help prepare the scented tea that will be used in the Qianjin Banquet. She wanted to taste the cakes made in the kitchen in advance so that she would know what kind of tea to pair with it."
It was a reasonable explanation, but Xia Ruya became the only suspect.
With the old lady's testimony, everyone understood what was going on. In the following questioning, Xia Ruya would be involved to a greater or lesser extent.
The sister-in-law who was in charge of the tea room said, "Madam asked Miss Xia to teach us how to make scented tea and pair it with the cakes served at the Qianjin Banquet. Miss Xia was afraid of mistakes, so she gave everyone some guidance before the Qianjin Banquet began."
The owner of Boya Pavilion asked again: "Besides Miss Xia, are there any other people who entered the tea room?"
The sister-in-law in the tea room thought for a moment and shook her head, saying, "The tea room is an important place in Boyaxuan. There are countless kinds of precious teas and precious tea sets in it. Even on ordinary days, I dare not neglect it. Today's Qianjin Banquet is even more strictly managed. Except for Miss Xia, no other strangers have entered the tea room. There are cameras in the tea room as evidence."
Therefore, Xia Ruya also entered the tea room, which made her even more suspicious.
The aunt in charge of serving tea and water also said, "Miss Xia once reminded everyone that the combination of flower cakes and tea should be based on the preferences of the young ladies. Miss Xia seemed to know the preferences of the young ladies very well, so the tea and snacks we served later were all matched in advance. However, because Miss Wen doesn't like lilies, we went to the kitchen and asked them to prepare flower cakes with different flavors for Miss Wen."
The lily cake in Boyaxuan tastes excellent and is well received at every Qianjin Banquet, so there is lily cake in every cake. After Xia Ruya mentioned this, the kitchen dared not serve lily cake to Wen Xinya.
In this way, all the flower cakes can be distinguished, making it easier to work with. The person who serves tea and cakes will know that this unique cake is warm and elegant.
The owner of Boyaxuan looked more and more gloomy, and listened to the words of the maid who served tea and snacks to Wen Xinya and Lin Yingxin: "Because the tea and snacks were distributed in advance, I knew that the snacks and tea without the lily cakes were to be served to Miss Wen. Later, because I accidentally knocked over Miss Du's teacup, I was in a panic and served the wrong cakes and tea. I only realized it after the service, but..."
However, the wrong dish had already been served and it was too late to change it. Not only would it be impolite, it would upset the guests and the owner of Boya Xuan. Anyway, there was only one piece of lily cake in a serving, so if he didn't like it, he could just not eat it. So he simply pretended not to know about it.
Now everyone understood why Wen Xinya was poisoned but Lin Yingxin was the one who was poisoned.