Li Zi'an was about to go out, but Shen Tianshu suddenly remembered, asked for paper and pen, wrote down some medicines and gave them to Princess Rui: "Although the banquet has just started, everyone has not eaten a few bites of food, but if we meet For those who are frail, there is no guarantee that it will not cause problems. Please ask the princess to ask someone to take medicine according to the prescription and give everyone a bowl of medicinal tea, so that you can be prepared."
"This is important. Thank you very much, Miss Shen." Princess Rui took the prescription and handed it to the maid behind her, saying, "Hurry up and do it."
Li Zian took Shen Tianshu out of the back door and went all the way to the kitchen.
At this time, everyone in the kitchen was under control, and everything in the kitchen was left intact.
The food that had been removed from the banquet was placed intact on several rows of tables temporarily built with wooden boards in the east wing.
Fan Yuru is also already waiting in the room.
When he saw Li Zian entering the door, he saluted and asked anxiously: "Master, are everything okay with the princess and the guests?"
"Fortunately, Miss Shen found out early, otherwise something big would have happened." After coming out of the concubine's palace, Li Zian had a straight face and exuded low pressure all over his body.
"Miss Shen, I'm asking you to take care of me here." Fan Yuru raised his hand to Shen Tianshu.
Shen Tianshu felt more and more strange. Liu Xukun was clearly in charge of the palace. If something like this happened, why did no one want to come to him?
However, she was confused, so she went forward and checked the dishes on the list one by one, and said: "There is no problem with the other dishes, only the fresh mushroom and tofu stew and the fungus in this cold dish are poisonous fungus, which the palace purchased this year Have you ever eaten Qiu Er before? Or is it your first time to eat it during the banquet today?"
"My mother doesn't eat mushrooms, so the kitchen at home rarely cooks them. I don't remember if I have done any." The more Li Zian said, the more depressed he became.
"Can you go to the back kitchen where the dry goods are kept?" Shen Tianshu asked.
Li Zian immediately asked someone to lead the way, and the three of them went to the storage room in the back kitchen to check the dried fungus.
As soon as the box containing the dried fungus was opened, Shen Tianshu reached in and looked through it, frowning and said: "There is nothing wrong with these fungus, so where did the fungus for today's banquet come from?"
Li Zian originally did not believe that this incident was an accident, so he was not surprised at all when he heard Shen Tianshu's conclusion, but he was also very angry. The person who could do such a thing was almost certainly someone from the mansion.
It is not a secret that Princess Rui does not eat mushrooms. The servants in the palace know it, and it is not difficult for outsiders to know if they are interested.
But the person who can enter the kitchen and replace the ingredients for today's banquet must be in the palace, and outsiders cannot do it.
There was something wrong with these two dishes today, and the person who manipulated it was clearly targeting the guests that the palace was entertaining today.
If the poisonous fungus had not been discovered by Shen Tianshu, Princess Rui and Princess Rui would have been safe and sound, but the guests were all poisoned by the luncheon, and the table full of food had been eaten, and the rest would have been poured into the swill bucket long ago. This is really true A basin of sewage is poured on my body and I don’t know where to start.
Thinking of this, Li Zian couldn't help but look at Shen Tianshu quietly.
What happened today is really thanks to her, otherwise the palace would have fallen into new trouble before his father's illness improved.
And when he looked at Shen Tianshu, he found another intense gaze that could not be ignored, which had also been falling on Shen Tianshu.
After Shen Tianshu checked the dried fungus, he stood up and said, "Go to the kitchen and take a look to see if there are any that have been soaked but not used yet."
When Fan Yuru saw her standing up, he immediately withdrew his gaze, and when he raised his head, his eyes met with Li Zian's.
Li Zi'an felt a little unhappy and glared at Fan Yuru.
Then I felt that something was wrong. Why should I be unhappy?
However, he soon thought that such a big thing happened in the palace, and this boy didn't pay attention to find out the problem quickly. He actually had the time to visit the girl's house. It was really not doing his job properly.
Thinking of this, he immediately ordered Fan Yuru: "Go and call out the chef, second chef, assistant cook and busboy who cooked these two dishes, and interrogate them carefully. Be sure to find out the poison in today's dish. Where did the fungus come from?”
Seeing that Fan Yuru was ordered to go down to do some work, Li Zi'an followed Shen Tianshu into the kitchen.
Shen Tianshu walked around the back kitchen and found a small pot of fungus still soaked in water. It must have been unused for cooking today.
"What is soaking in the basin is all poisonous fungus." Shen Tianshu looked at the aisle carefully and said, "It seems that it is as the prince said. This incident should not be an accident. Indeed, someone deliberately used poisonous fungus to pass it off as ordinary fungus."
Li Zian said solemnly: "Then let's go over and listen to what those people have to say."
The back kitchen of the palace is like a reduced royal kitchen, with a clear division of labor from the chief cook, second cook, assistant cook to handyman.
The chef is responsible for serving dishes and seasoning, the second chef is responsible for preparing ingredients and changing knives, the assistant chef is responsible for handling the ingredients, and the handyman is responsible for cleaning and other chores.
The key to the back kitchen warehouse is only in the hands of the chief steward and the four second stewards.
The second steward in charge of the dry goods knelt on the ground and wanted to swear: "Yesterday, the young man opened the warehouse with his own hands. He weighed the fungus from the box and gave it to the cook Zhou Ying.
"When I locked the warehouse door and went back, I passed by the kitchen door and saw Zhou Ying cleaning the dust on the fungus and soaking it in a big wooden basin.
"Your Majesty, everything I said is true. I hope you will understand clearly!"
"Zhou Ying?" Li Zian heard this and turned to look at the head chef.
The chief steward wiped the sweat from his head and said: "To tell you the story, Zhou Ying secretly ate a bowl of fresh mushroom and tofu stew. Now his head and face are swollen like a pig's head, and he is rolling on the floor in pain!"
Hearing this, Li Zi'an exchanged glances with Fan Yuru. Although Zhou Ying himself was also poisoned, Shen Tianshu also said that the poisonous fungus was not well-known, it was just pain and swelling in the head and face, and he suffered some sins.
Therefore, although Zhou Ying himself was poisoned, he could not be cleared of suspicion.
Just when Li Zian was about to ask another question, a guard responsible for guarding the kitchen staff quickly entered the room and whispered in his ear: "Master, the cook Zhou Ying who was poisoned just now is dead."
When Li Zian heard this, his eyes widened instantly.
At this juncture, someone actually died?
He reached out and pulled Shen Tianshu aside and asked in a low voice: "Are you sure this poisonous fungus won't kill anyone?"
Shen Tianshu was stunned for a moment when asked, but still answered cautiously: "Under normal circumstances, it will not cause death. Even if you don't seek medical treatment, you will slowly recover in a few days. But if you eat too much, or have other incompatible diseases, If the food is eaten together, or the poisoned person is weak, there should be a possibility of death!"
She didn't react until she finished speaking. She looked up at Li Zian and asked without saying anything, "Is that person dead?"
Li Zian's face became even more ugly and he nodded slowly.