223: Chapter 223 The Poisoned Chicken Soup

After hearing this story, no one could bring themselves to laugh.

Because the old man was already gone.

Even Lei Zhen hadn't expected that Old Man Ou had experienced something like this before he died.

"Don't you all find it funny?" The doctor noticed that everyone's expressions were off.

"Because Ou Mingquan is already dead," Lei Zhen said calmly.

"Ah?" The doctor was clearly very surprised. "He... he's dead?"

"Could the old man's death be related to Zhang Suxia?" Gu Qingcheng suddenly interjected.

She looked at Lei Zhen after saying that.

"Ou Xiaochun is clearly not telling us the truth," Lei Zhen said with a serious expression. "His father's death must be related to his mother. I suspect that Ou Mingquan most likely did not die of sudden death."

After thanking the doctor, Lei Zhen took Gu Qingcheng and the others and left the hospital.

"Where are we going next?" Zhu Xiaojun asked as soon as they got into the car.

"First, we'll go to Ou Xiaochun's home to conduct a thorough search and see if they have any rat poison."

After saying this, Lei Zhen looked at Gu Qingcheng. "Do you know what exactly this rat poison is?"

Gu Qingcheng shook her head. "I did learn about it when I was in police academy, but I've long forgotten."

"Why don't you call your sister and ask," Lei Zhen said while driving.

"I thought you knew everything," Gu Qingcheng pouted before dialing Zou Yuqing's number.

"The chemical name for rat poison is Tetramethylenedisulfotetramine. It is a highly toxic, banned chemical. The country began strictly regulating it in 2002, and selling it privately can carry a maximum penalty of the death sentence, so it is basically impossible to buy on the market now."

"Pure Tetramethylenedisulfotetramine is a white powder or crystal, odorless and tasteless, and is very easily mixed into food and beverages, making it extremely covert."

"Additionally, rat poison is a central nervous system stimulant. After poisoning, one will generally experience symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, numbness of the lips, and an unsteady gait."

"In severe cases, there will be violent muscle contractions throughout the body, lockjaw, foaming at the mouth, and eyes rolling upwards."

"If not treated in time, the patient will experience respiratory muscle spasms and asphyxiation, or develop cerebral edema, heart failure, respiratory failure, and other conditions, with an extremely high mortality rate."

After hearing Zou Yuqing's explanation, the three of them had a basic understanding of this poison.

"But I can't figure it out. If the person who poisoned the food was Sister Pang, why would she poison her own relatives and friends at her husband's funeral? There is absolutely no motive for this."

Lei Zhen said, "Whether there is a motive or not, we will only know once we have a thorough understanding of their family."

Upon arriving at the crime scene, Lei Zhen immediately conducted a comprehensive search of Ou Xiaochun's home, but the result was quite unexpected; he didn't find anything in the house that resembled rat poison.

Lei Zhen simply went to the neighbor's house to question Ou Xiaochun.

The two of them sat face-to-face at one of those old-fashioned square tables found in rural areas. Gu Qingcheng sat to Lei Zhen's right, and Zhu Xiaojun sat to his left, acting as the on-site recorder.

"The forensic pathologist has already confirmed that the chicken from your house contained traces of rat poison. Tell me honestly, do you have this stuff in your house or not?"

Ou Xiaochun paused, but still insisted, "Officer, there really isn't any. Our family has never bought this stuff."

"Then have your parents, or you, made enemies with anyone recently?"

Ou Xiaochun shook his head again. "No. My parents are very honest and hardworking, and they have good relationships with everyone in the village. Whenever anyone has a wedding or a funeral, my parents go to help out. Let alone making enemies, they rarely even have arguments with anyone."

"And you?" Lei Zhen asked again.

"I haven't either. I work overtime every day at my unit and only come back once or twice a week. My wife also has a good personality, and I haven't heard of her having conflicts with anyone."

"I see," Lei Zhen said, falling into deep thought. "That's strange. It's clear that the chicken at your father's funeral was poisoned, but the dosage was very small. The other party clearly didn't want to make a big scene; they just wanted to teach your family a lesson or lash out at you. If you haven't offended anyone, it doesn't quite make sense."

"We really haven't offended anyone," Ou Xiaochun emphasized. "Could it be an issue with the catering service? Did they offend someone, and the other party is trying to mess with them?"

This provided everyone with a brand-new line of thought.

"That's right, Master, that possibility isn't non-existent." Even Zhu Xiaojun expressed agreement.

Lei Zhen said, "Alright, we'll go find the owner of the catering service and ask. You should also think back carefully; if you remember anything, notify us immediately."

"Okay, Officer Lei."

Ou Xiaochun stood up to shake hands with Lei Zhen. Lei Zhen suddenly asked, "By the way, when your father passed away, was it really just a cerebral hemorrhage? Were there any other strange signs? Like foaming at the mouth or anything?"

Ou Xiaochun was stunned and immediately said, "No... no, it was just the appearance of a cerebral hemorrhage."

However, while he was speaking, Lei Zhen suddenly grabbed his hand and pulled it towards himself. Ou Xiaochun might not have been paying attention, so his arm extended forward, and his whole body moved forward by half an inch.

Only then did Lei Zhen let go of him and smiled. "That's all then. Thank you for your cooperation."

After saying this, Lei Zhen took his group and strode away. Ou Xiaochun watched Lei Zhen's back, then looked at his own hand, not understanding what the point of that sudden tug was.

Lei Zhen took Gu Qingcheng and Zhu Xiaojun and prepared to return to Qinghe to interrogate the owner of the catering service.

But as soon as he got into the car, he said, "That guy lied."

Gu Qingcheng was stunned. She buckled her seatbelt and looked at Lei Zhen. "Why do you say that?"

Lei Zhen said, "You should have seen that when Ou Xiaochun was answering my question just now, I suddenly pulled him, right?"

"We saw it," Zhu Xiaojun said. "I was also wondering why you pulled him."

"Actually, this is a very simple psychological experiment. When we ask someone a question, if we suddenly pull their hand the moment they finish answering, if they are lying, they will be pulled forward easily. If they are telling the truth, their muscles will reflexively resist, and you won't be able to pull them."

Gu Qingcheng and Zhu Xiaojun looked at each other in confusion.

"You really shouldn't doubt it; this trick works every time. Of course, it has to be on the premise that the other person doesn't know about this psychological experiment. Actually, it's not just pulling the hand; if you place your hand on their palm and press down while they are answering a question, if they aren't lying, you absolutely won't be able to press it down."

"You know quite a lot, don't you?" Gu Qingcheng believed him. "But why would Ou Xiaochun lie? If their family really offended someone, why would he protect the culprit?"

"I can't figure that out either," Lei Zhen said. "Let's go and find out about the situation with the catering service owner first."

They soon returned to the Qinghe Police Station. The catering service owner surnamed Zheng was sitting in the interrogation room, looking completely bewildered.

His food had caused over thirty people to fall ill, and this Boss Zheng knew he couldn't shirk the blame. Hearing that no one had died yet, he felt slightly more at ease.

Facing police interrogation, Boss Zheng complained bitterly.

"I've been running this catering service for seven or eight years and have never encountered any issues with the food. Really, if you don't believe me, you can investigate. I've taken at least several hundred jobs over these years; let alone ending up in the hospital, no one has even had an upset stomach."

Just at this moment, Zou Yuqing from the criminal investigation technology department called again.

"We tested all the food and beverages from the scene. Only that basin of chicken contained traces of rat poison; nothing else did."

"Alright, thank you for your hard work." Lei Zhen hung up the phone and looked at Boss Zheng.

"The forensic pathologist called to say that there was a problem with the chicken. What do you think about this?"

Upon hearing this, Boss Zheng's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"Then that has even less to do with me. Those chickens were provided by the old lady."

Indeed, the old lady herself had mentioned this.

"Did you slaughter these chickens on the spot?" Lei Zhen asked.

"How would I have the time for that? They were all slaughtered in advance by the old lady and taken out of their home freezer," Boss Zheng said. "We do have stewed chicken on our menu, but I usually use feed-raised chickens. The old lady said they raised chickens and that we could just use theirs. I tried to persuade her against it at the time, as there are people on the market who specifically buy free-range chickens and pay by the bird—one hundred yuan each—but I could at most deduct fifty yuan per table for her."

"And then?" Gu Qingcheng asked.

"But I don't know why, the old lady insisted on providing them herself, saying it didn't matter if she lost a little money feeding her relatives. So, I requested that she slaughter them beforehand, as the ones we buy outside are all slaughtered in advance, and the old lady agreed."