Chapter 1187: Overnight Soup

Chapter 1187: Overnight Soup

Just then, Jin Long and Lin Cheng returned. The moment their eyes landed on Gu Zi and Su Shen, they both let out a visible sigh of relief.

Lin Cheng, however, looked unusually grim, as though the anxiety had hollowed him out. His expression remained taut, and he sat down quietly to the side, clearly too worried about Li Hua to muster even a forced smile.

Jin Long stepped forward, speaking quickly. “You’ve arrived—good. We went to the police station again just now, hoping to see Li Hua and the others. Still no luck. They said we need to wait for approval from higher up.”

Su Shen clapped Jin Long on the shoulder, his voice laced with gratitude. “You’ve been running around for us while we weren’t in Guangcheng. Thank you, bro—it’s been a hard few days.”

Jin Long gave a hearty laugh. “You helped me through plenty in the past, didn’t you? We’re bros. It’s been, what, half a year since we last saw each other? And now you’re acting all polite?”

Gu Zi stepped forward, her tone gentle but firm. “Jin Long, no matter what, we truly owe you this time. If you hadn’t been here, I honestly don’t know what we would’ve done. But now that we’re back, I want to get a clear picture of what happened that day. Mom, can you remember anything specific?”

Strangely enough, the atmosphere that had been frantic and muddled just moments ago began to settle. Now that Gu Zi and Su Shen were here, it was as if a stabilizing force had returned. An Yun, too, felt her thoughts clearing. She gathered herself and began to recount.

“It was a Friday—very busy. Waves of customers kept coming in. The store in town was under renovation, so everyone had come to help out at the city branch. Even with all hands on deck, we could barely keep up with the crowd.

“Around mid-morning, Gu Shan and Zhang Mei came in. They ordered a portion of crispy shrimp and two bowls of white fungus soup, said they wanted it packed to go. Your sister-in-law even commented how strange it was—the Gu family coming to support our business? But at that time, there was only one bowl of white fungus soup left. She offered to substitute it with a bowl of mung bean dessert, but Zhang Mei wouldn’t have it. She insisted on having two bowls of white fungus soup and pointed to a bowl we had brought over from the town branch that morning, demanding that specific one.𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“Who would’ve guessed that bowl of soup would be the root of all this trouble? According to Zhang Mei, Gu Shan had severe vomiting and diarrhea after drinking it and ended up in the emergency room. They called the police, claiming he had gotten food poisoning from our so-called overnight soup. The next day, our store was sealed off, and the police took all of us in for questioning.”

She sighed, lowering her voice.

“Your sister-in-law told them she was the owner. The officers noticed my poor health, so they let me go, but they kept your sister-in-law, Zhang Yao, and Aunt Yang in detention. The Gu family is demanding five thousand yuan for medical and emotional damages.”

Gu Zi’s brow furrowed. Their store had always maintained a strict habit of keeping food samples for safety inspections. If this really was a food poisoning case, they could easily clear their name by testing the samples. But the catch was… Zhang Mei had insisted on taking that one specific bowl from the town branch. The timing and her persistence felt far too calculated.

She asked sharply, “Was the white fungus soup from the town branch made the night before?”

An Yun shook her head. “Of course not. After your father and I moved to the city, Aunt Yang and Zhang Yao took over the town store. To make commuting easier, Zhang Yao even moved her whole family closer to the shop. That soup was made fresh that very morning by her and Aunt Yang—just for the staff to drink. It was never meant for sale. That’s why there were no samples kept. Who would’ve thought it’d turn into something like this?”

Gu Zi nodded slowly, piecing things together. “So no samples. Just one bowl. And that one bowl was conveniently purchased by Zhang Mei, taken home, consumed—and then Gu Shan gets sick that night. Now there’s no leftover soup, no container. They said they threw it away, right?”

An Yun nodded again, weary. “Yes. The Gu family claimed they threw out the container after they finished eating. No trace left behind. They’re absolutely insisting that it was our overnight soup that caused the food poisoning. And we can’t prove otherwise.”

Gu Zi pressed, “Then who exactly made that soup? Zhang Yao and Aunt Yang?”

“Correct,” An Yun confirmed. “Which is also why the police won’t release them. Yang Zhen has been beside herself with worry—she hasn’t slept in days. I only managed to convince her to go home and rest early this morning.”

Gu Zi sat in deep thought. “This is going to be tricky. Without the actual soup, we can’t clear ourselves through testing. We’ll have to find another angle. But from what you’ve described, I can’t shake the feeling that the officers are deliberately siding with the Gu family. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they even allow a visit with Sister-in-law? Captain He isn’t in a position to intervene right now… Su Shen, is there anyone else at the police station who might be able to help? We may need to pull a few strings.”

Su Shen wrapped an arm around Gu Zi, giving her a reassuring squeeze. “I know what you’re thinking. Don’t worry. Before I head back to the capital, I’ll make sure all the right people are spoken to. I’ll handle the visitation rights too. Leave it to me.”

Then he turned to Jin Long and Lin Cheng. “You two, come with me. We’ve got work to do.”

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