Siheyuan: Xu Damao's New Life

Not long after, two security guards came back with old-fashioned gas masks, boots and gloves. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, enemy spies were rampant, and these were supplies distributed to prevent enemy spies from releasing poison gas. Everyone put on their equipment at the entrance of the cafeteria and walked into the cafeteria under the leadership of Zheng Gang.

The six of them first came to the private room where they had dinner last night. Xu Dabao pointed at the scene and recounted what happened yesterday, while Cui Yong supplemented it. Zheng Gang observed and nodded to show that he understood.

Xu Damao pointed at the table and asked, "Director Xu, I fell on the table halfway through drinking last night. I don't know what happened afterwards. But didn't we say that we should keep the scene? We drank a lot of wine last night, but we didn't eat much. Look at the table now..."

After hearing this, everyone looked at the table carefully and found that there were indeed a few plates and wine bottles missing from the table.

Xu Dabao said, "I asked all the staff to leave when we were drinking last night, and I didn't ask anyone to clean up the table. Oh, and last night Shazhu said he was afraid there wouldn't be enough food, so he didn't leave. When there wasn't enough wine, I asked him to bring a few bottles of wine."

"Captain Xu is a more careful observer. I thought the people in the cafeteria had simply cleaned up the place. Let's go to the kitchen and take a look," said Zheng Gang.

The six of them went straight to the kitchen. As soon as they entered, they still smelled some strange odors, but it was much better than before. The kitchen was still in a horrible state, with yellow stains everywhere. There were also many wine bottles and plates scattered on the ground.

"It seems that Sha Zhu did not go home after sending Deputy Section Chief Xu off last night. Instead, he took some wine and food and drank here alone. This is the leftover wine and food we had last night." Xu Dabao said, pointing to the wine bottles and plates on the ground.

Cui Yong said, "So Sha Zhu and we had the same meal yesterday. It's impossible for the food to spoil in such a short time. Food poisoning can be ruled out. Then why is it that everyone else is fine, but only Sha Zhu got into trouble?"

Xu Damao went on to say, "It is very likely that someone has tampered with the place since we left. And judging by the surroundings, it is very likely that Croton was used."

"Well, what you said makes sense. I'll arrange for someone to check along the Croton line to see if anyone has purchased it recently."

Xu Damao pointed to the four unopened bottles of wine in the box in the corner and said, "That was the bar that Sha Zhu moved to last night. I remember he entered the private room carrying two bottles of wine."

Xu Dabao recalled carefully, "Yes, it should have been moved from the small warehouse in the cafeteria. There is always some wine there for entertaining the leaders. Yesterday, Shazhu brought two bottles of opened wine into the private room, which were poured directly from the bottles, and then apologized and toasted."

Zheng Gang said, "If he entered the room with an opened bottle of wine, then the problem is most likely with the two bottles of wine at the back. Director Xu, can you identify the bottles?"

"This is probably hard to tell. We all drank Moutai yesterday," Xu Dabao replied.

Xu Damao also looked at the bottles on the ground carefully and was a little worried. How should he guide them? He couldn't just go up and identify the two bottles himself. Then an idea flashed in his mind. Got it!

"I know how to tell the difference. We drank all the wine we had before last night, and then Sha Zhu brought us two bottles of wine. There are six bottles in a box, and four of them are still unopened, which matches the number Sha Zhu took away. If Sha Zhu wanted to drink, he wouldn't have taken the bottles we had already drunk, so the two bottles on the ground were the wine that Sha Zhu brought into the room later."

"Excellent! Chief Xu's reasoning is really brilliant and logical. I regret not bringing you to our security department." Zheng Gang praised and applauded.

Seeing this, everyone applauded to show their approval. In the past, everyone said that Xu Damao was a flatterer, but now it seems that this is not the case at all. This terrifying logical reasoning ability is not something that ordinary people can do. It would be a waste if he didn't do criminal investigation. From this moment on, everyone began to truly recognize Xu Damao.

Zheng Gang stopped the applause, "Okay, if that's the case, let's take these two bottles and go out first."

Everyone nodded, picked up the two bottles and left the canteen. After all, the smell was still a bit unbearable. At this time, the workers who were watching at the canteen door had already dispersed. The six people hurriedly took off their gas masks and breathed in fresh air in big gulps without caring about their image. It was really uncomfortable to be inside.

Zheng Gang took two bottles and smelled them respectively, then pointed to one of the bottles that still had some wine left and said, "There's something wrong with this bottle. It's probably the one that was poisoned with croton."

Upon hearing this, everyone came over to smell the wine, and then said that the taste of the wine was indeed wrong.

"Chief Zheng, there is still some wine left in the bottle. How about we find a living animal to test it? Or send it to a specialized testing department for analysis?" Xu Dabao said.

"Why bother the inspection department with such a small matter? Just find a living thing. Xiao Li, Xiao Wang, go see if there are any live chickens or ducks in the purchasing department or logistics department."

The two of them received the order and went to the Purchasing Department and the Logistics Department respectively. The other four people had some free time and took out their cigarettes, lit them up and started smoking.

Xu Damao didn't sleep well last night, and he was even more exhausted today. His strengthened body couldn't take it anymore. He simply stopped caring about his image and sat down on the steps in front of the cafeteria. The other three were also exhausted, so they followed suit and sat down on the steps.

After finishing his second cigarette, Xu Damao felt that it was not enough and ordered another one, and passed one around to the three people. Before he finished the second cigarette, Xiao Li and Xiao Wang came back carrying chickens and ducks.

Everyone took two deep puffs before throwing away their cigarette butts and stamping them out. Then they pinched their necks and forced someone to drink, and then they just waited.

Sure enough, after about ten minutes, both animals started to have diarrhea. (If horses can do it, then chickens and ducks should be able to do it too!)

Xu Dabao slapped his thigh excitedly, "Sure enough, we were right. Someone put croton seeds in the wine." Everyone nodded. This was a good progress. The next step was to go to some hospitals and Chinese medicine shops to inquire, and wait for Sha Zhu to wake up and question him.

After Sha Zhu was sent to the hospital, it was still Ma Hua who accompanied and took care of him. It has to be said that Ma Hua is really loyal to Sha Zhu.

After Zheng Gang and Xu Dabao sent the man to the hospital and paid some fees, they didn't care about Sha Zhu and hurriedly drove back to the factory. Now they don't know whether Sha Zhu has woken up or not.

After discussing it, they decided to split into two groups: Zheng Gang took Xu Dabao and two people from the security department to the hospital to ask Sha Zhu; Cui Yong and Xu Damao took a few people from the inspection department to nearby hospitals and Chinese medicine shops to inquire if anyone had purchased croton seeds recently.

Zheng Gang led his men on the three-wheeled sidecar motorcycle of the Security Department and headed directly to the Red Star Hospital. Cui Yong and Xu Damao stared at each other in amazement. Their Inspection Department was only established yesterday and they didn't even have an office yet. The Inspection Department establishment meeting that was supposed to be held in the afternoon was cancelled and changed to a field meeting. Where should they find people?

In fact, the two of them didn't know that the office space had already been prepared for them, but they were forgotten to be notified because of Sha Zhu's incident.

Finally, Xu Damao came up with a solution, which was to notify the inspection personnel through the broadcasting station to gather at the factory gate in ten minutes.

They did what they said and went straight to the radio station. Since Xu Damao was also the deputy chief of the Propaganda Department, the announcer was happy to help broadcast the message three times. Then the two went directly to the factory gate to wait for people to gather.

Not long after, they saw Yang Weimin and more than 20 people running towards the factory gate. The two then remembered that there was another deputy chief in the Inspection Department.