Chapter 641 — Poisoning the Cafeteria

"Right you are, Young Master Zhong!" The worker nodded and went back to his business, paying Zhong Yongliang no further mind.

After all, this was hardly Zhong Yongliang's first trip to the back kitchen. The cafeteria was still in its pre-opening preparations; the serving trays had not yet been carried out and all the dishes sat waiting in the back. Even when Zhong Yongliang ate, he chose his dishes back here.

Zhong Yongliang shoved the kitchen door open and swaggered in. When he saw that the head chef was the only one inside, he breathed a sigh of relief. The back kitchen usually held more than just the chef — there were vegetable cutters, dough handlers, and others besides — but today, perhaps because only the final dish remained, everyone else had gone out to help wipe down tables and chairs for opening.

To save on costs, a high school cafeteria never hired many workers; most of them were part-timers.

With an easy, careless air, Zhong Yongliang called out to the chef, who was busy with the last dish: "How's the food today? Got anything hearty?"

The chef glanced back, saw it was Zhong Yongliang, and thought nothing of it. Privately he had little use for these rich brats who lived off their families' clout, but at the end of the day he still had to earn his rice on their turf. So what if he had a skill? So what if he made his living by his own hands? They could fire him outright and hire another cook just like that.

So the chef said, "Just the pork ribs stewed with potatoes left. It'll be out of the pot in a moment; everything else is ready. Have a look for yourself."

"Oh, then let me taste this ribs-and-potato first, see if it's any good!" Zhong Yongliang walked up beside the chef, glanced at the pot, and said, "Go find me a bowl and dish out a piece of rib so I can taste it!"

"Fine, wait a moment!" The chef had no choice. He turned and left the kitchen to fetch Zhong Yongliang a bowl. The tableware wasn't kept in the kitchen but in the sterilization room next door.

The moment the chef turned his back, Zhong Yongliang whipped a small bottle from his pocket, unscrewed the cap, and dumped the entire contents — a powdered poison — into the pot of pork ribs and potatoes before him. Gao Xiaofu was busy too, tipping poison into the other dishes.

Because the bowls and chopsticks were being sterilized at that moment, the chef had to shut off the cabinet before he could take any out, which cost him some time — time enough for Zhong Yongliang and Gao Xiaofu to do their work. The two of them emptied every last drop of poison into the serving dishes, and still the chef had not returned.

The school's daily menu was six dishes and a soup — no more, no less — and the seven bottles of poison went in just right. Had there been one dish fewer, the job would have been awkward.

In truth, hardly anyone ordered all six dishes and the soup at a single meal. Apart from the wealthy, almost no one did such a thing.

But close classmates often gathered in groups of three or five around one table, each buying a dish or two different ones, and together they made up the full six dishes and soup. This pooling of orders was very common among the students, so the odds of being poisoned rose considerably.

By the time the chef returned with the bowl, Zhong Yongliang was already standing, perfectly at ease, back beside the great pot of ribs and potatoes. Seeing the chef, he said with some impatience, "What took you so long? Hurry up, hurry up, I can't wait!"

"The bowls are in the sterilization cabinet — they're a bother to get out!" the chef explained with a wry smile. "Young Master Zhong, will you taste it now?"

"Yeah, hurry it up!" Zhong Yongliang nodded and pointed into the pot. "That rib there — that one, that piece is nice and fatty!"

The chef hastily fished out the rib Zhong Yongliang had picked and handed it over.

Zhong Yongliang "couldn't wait" to pluck the rib out and pop it into his mouth. "Delicious!" he declared. "Give us two portions of this ribs-and-potato, and that egg soup too — two bowls of that as well!"

"One dish and one soup?" The chef looked at Zhong Yongliang uncertainly. Why would Zhong Yongliang ask for only these two today? Knowing his character, if he didn't take the whole spread, he'd at least want three or four dishes!

"I don't much care for the rest! Get on with it — give me plenty of meat!" Zhong Yongliang said impatiently.

"Yes, yes!" The chef understood then — so Zhong Yongliang simply didn't like the other dishes. No wonder. He quickly served them two portions of ribs and potatoes and two bowls of egg soup, then carried them out to a table. Zhong Yongliang and Gao Xiaofu each took two steamed buns and sat down.

"Brother Liang, they're all poisoned — can we still eat this? We won't die, will we?" Gao Xiaofu was a little frightened and didn't dare lift his chopsticks.

"Hell, if it could kill me I'd be dead already — didn't I just eat a rib?" Zhong Yongliang said with a curl of his lip.

"Oh, but there's the egg soup too. Eating both together — we won't get poisoned, will we?" Gao Xiaofu was still worried.

"You fool — if it could poison me, would I still be eating it?" Zhong Yongliang shot him a glare and went on: "The Medicine King himself told me: eaten together, these two herbs aren't poisonous in the slightest. On the contrary, they fortify the kidneys and strengthen one's virility!"

"Oh, I see..." Gao Xiaofu nodded, though he still didn't quite dare to pick up his chopsticks.

"Eat up, now! We're here to poison someone — if we don't eat a little before leaving, we're bound to raise suspicion later!" With that, Zhong Yongliang tucked in with gusto.

Gao Xiaofu had no choice but to steel himself and eat heartily. But after a few bites, he found the food quite delicious — and nothing felt off in his body — so he relaxed and ate his fill...

Once the meal was done, Zhong Yongliang whisked Gao Xiaofu out first. After all, having just slipped in the poison, it wouldn't do for them to linger too long in the cafeteria.

"Captain, what are you thinking about?" When the last morning class ended and the lunch break began, Kang Xiaofeng turned around to find Wei Zhao frowning in deep thought, and asked with some puzzlement.

This was the final semester of senior year — every inch of time worth an ounce of gold — and Kang Xiaofeng, too, was burying himself in his studies. So throughout the morning, apart from exchanging a morning greeting with Wei Zhao, he had spent the rest of his time with his nose in a book.

"Nothing. Shall we go eat?" Wei Zhao's mind was elsewhere — he was working out how to find an excuse to approach An Liwen and pry some information about Qiu Lingshan.

Though Wei Zhao had agreed to help Yang Huaijun, he had no point of entry. If this had been in the past, he would have gone straight to An Liwen's home and demanded the person from him — and if An refused, simply killed him on the spot. But that wouldn't do now. Even if he did kill him, he would have to choose a discreet opportunity, one that could not be linked to Qiu Lingshan's case.

"Let's go." Kang Xiaofeng nodded. "Have you called your sister-in-law yet?" RO