Chapter 97: Case Filed and Investigation Launched
Upon arriving at the state-run restaurant, Li Yi first carried the mushrooms the children had picked inside, while the ones Feng Qian and the others had gathered were loaded back onto the car.
Seeing this, Liu Jingshan asked curiously, “Brother Li Yi, why are you keeping a few baskets?”
Li Yi didn’t hold back; he immediately recounted what he had discovered.
Upon hearing this, Liu Jingshan was startled, then said in a grave tone, “Brother Li Yi, you did the right thing. We absolutely must call the police—we can’t let those bastards get away with this!”
To be honest, Liu Jingshan had broken out in a cold sweat just hearing that.
He knew full well that the head chefs in the kitchen rarely inspected the mushrooms while preparing them.
If the vegetable washers hadn’t picked out the poisonous mushrooms, they would have ended up on customers’ plates.
And most of the staff washing the vegetables were locals from the county town; they certainly wouldn’t know how to tell the difference between edible and poisonous mushrooms.
More importantly, the people who usually dined at state-run restaurants weren’t just ordinary folks. If a guest accidentally ate one—especially if it were a high-ranking official—the consequences wouldn’t just be serious; they’d be nothing short of catastrophic!
“Don’t worry, Brother Liu. I have a temper, and I’ll find that person!” Li Yi said in a low voice.
“That’s good to hear!”
“Brother Liu, I’ll get some illustrations of poisonous mushrooms for our restaurant later. You can post them in the kitchen so the staff washing vegetables will be more careful when handling them—we can’t let anyone take advantage of the situation!” Li Yi reminded him.
“Got it!”
…….
After settling the payment, Li Yi didn’t go to the supply and marketing cooperative as usual, nor did he head to the sugar factory to set up his stall. Instead, he went straight to the police station.
Upon arriving at the police station, Li Yi headed straight for Wang Anguo’s office.
When he saw Li Yi knock and walk in, Wang Anguo was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing. “What brings you here, kid?”
Li Yi smiled and replied, “I’m here to file a report!”
“What? File a report?”
Wang Anguo was taken aback as well and immediately began asking for details.
Li Yi recounted everything that had happened today in full detail, making a special point of mentioning the toxicity of the autumn-born scaly ear fungus.
Realizing this was a serious case of poisoning, Wang Anguo immediately grew serious.
“Brother Li Yi, I’m sure you have someone in mind you suspect, right?”
“Yeah, barring any surprises, it’s probably one of those male educated youths in the village, and the most suspicious one is a guy named Xu Dxmbang Hong!” Li Yi said.
“Do you have a history with that man?” Wang Anguo asked.
“Yeah, that guy bullied my wife, so I beat him up. After that, he came here to report me, and I beat him up again. So he has plenty of reason to want to get back at me!” Li Yi said.
“So what do you want to do?”
“Follow standard investigative procedures—do whatever needs to be done!” Li Yi said.
“Alright, then. Let’s examine the baskets of mushrooms you brought in and see if there are any other poisonous mushrooms besides that one autumn-growing scaly ear,” Wang Anguo said.
“Okay!”
Wang Anguo then called over a few experienced veteran detectives, and they went out to the courtyard to examine the baskets of mushrooms Li Yi had brought.
They wouldn’t have known without checking, but when they did, they were in for a shock.
It turned out that all three baskets contained poisonous mushrooms—different species with varying degrees of toxicity.
Now everyone could see that this was definitely not a simple case of mistaken foraging.
After all, anyone who mistook so many different types of poisonous mushrooms for edible ones wouldn’t have survived this long. It was now safe to conclude that someone had deliberately poisoned them.
Immediately, Wang Anguo ordered his men to file a case according to standard procedure and then set up a special task force to investigate the matter.
The decision to form a task force wasn’t because the complainant was Li Yi, but because public order in Qingshan County had always been good, and major crimes rarely occurred locally.
And a poisoning case like this was a very serious criminal offense—more than enough to warrant the formation of a special task force!
Originally, Li Yi had thought that the police should go directly to the educated youth commune to make an arrest. Given Xu Hong’s spineless nature, a little pressure would be enough to make him spill everything.
However, Wang Anguo was, after all, an experienced criminal investigation captain. He flatly rejected Li Yi’s suggestion and instead decided to personally lead a team to Nianzishan Village to stake out the area—he intended to catch the culprit red-handed.
To avoid alerting the culprits, Wang Anguo instructed Li Yi and Tang Xue to carry on as usual once they returned, doing their best not to act suspiciously.
As Wang Anguo put it, since “Venomous Snake” had already made his move, he would certainly strike again if he hadn’t achieved his goal.
Li Yi agreed with Wang Anguo’s plan.
After all, everyone has their own area of expertise, and when it came to dealing with criminals, Wang Anguo was clearly more professional than he was.
Therefore, after leaving the poisonous mushrooms behind as evidence, Li Yi left the police station with Third Sister and Tang Xue.
After leaving the police station, Tang Xue asked curiously, “If it’s really confirmed that those male educated youth did it, will they go to jail?”
Li Yi replied immediately, “Yes, definitely! Because their actions meet the legal criteria for a charge of poisoning!”
“How many years will they be sentenced to?”
“Whoever commits arson, flooding, explosions, or the release of toxic, radioactive, or infectious pathogens, or otherwise endangers public safety through dangerous means—without causing serious consequences—shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years.”
Tang Xue said in surprise, “So the minimum is three years?”
“Yes! That’s just under normal circumstances. If there are special circumstances, a sentence of over ten years isn’t out of the question!” Li Yi said.
“Sigh,” Tang Xue sighed, then fell silent.
Although she didn’t yet know who exactly had poisoned the food, Tang Xue agreed with Li Yi’s deduction that it was likely connected to those male educated youths.
After all, in the entire village of Nianzishan, they were the only ones left with a motive to harm her.
Thinking that they had come here to work in the countryside alongside her, only to end up behind bars, made Tang Xue’s heart sink.
But she couldn’t plead for those men’s mercy. After all, they hadn’t just tried to harm Li Yi—they’d also targeted her, Feng Qian, and the others.
After what they’d done to them, if she were to show mercy and plead on their behalf, what kind of person would that make her?
Li Na clearly sensed Tang Xue’s thoughts and immediately comforted her: “No matter who it is, and no matter how many years they’re sentenced to, they deserve it. Who told them to harm others?”
Li Yi, however, said calmly, “Misfortune and good fortune have no fixed doors; they are summoned by one’s own actions! We can’t control things like this, so you don’t need to blame yourself!”
Tang Xue nodded and said, “I just feel sorry for them. The situation has completely stabilized now, and who knows—maybe they’ll be able to return to the city at some point. But with this incident, they won’t be able to go back even if they want to!”
“They brought it upon themselves. They have no one else to blame,” Li Yi said.
“Mm-hmm!”
……..