Miao Chu

Chapter 164 Making a Mistake
As soon as Song Miao made the suggestion, almost every cook in the kitchen turned around and looked at Gong Liang, the man urinating.

Gong Liang's expression changed completely. He had been smiling with a sly look on his face, but now he could no longer maintain that smile.

He was fine, but Liu Yong, who was in the same group as him, had a dark expression on his face.

This was the very person who had been urinated on half of his body. He felt as if he had been struck on the head with a blow. He secretly regretted that he hadn't checked the almanac before leaving home. Not only was he urinated on, but he was also implicated. It had nothing to do with him, but just because he was in the same group as Gong Liang, he had to drink that phlegm and urine with him!

There was an undercurrent of tension among the people in the room, but Song Miao pretended not to notice.

With her excellent memory, she had already memorized everyone's names and faces from the roster, and she also knew the corresponding earthenware jars. Now, she would call out two names and stand aside, waiting for the person in charge of cleaning the earthenware jars to come forward and pour out the well water from the jars.

With Dabing watching over them step by step, the others washed the vat diligently, completing all the steps. Knowing it was clean, they were not embarrassed when they saw the water poured out was very clear, and drank it on the spot.

After drinking the first set, it was time for the second set.

The other two drank as well, and after they finished, they stood aside.

Following the same pattern, it should have been Gong Liang and Liu Yong's turn to wash the vats, but Song Miao skipped them and continued on.

Only after everyone had drunk from their own vats did she point to the last two vats and say to Gong and Liu, "Please stop."

The two exchanged a glance, realizing they couldn't avoid it, and reluctantly stepped forward. They first found the clean vat, poured out the water and drank it, leaving quite a bit of residual water inside. They intended to use it as a smokescreen, but when they were about to pour the second vat, Song Miao said, "Wait!"

He called out "Big Pancake!" and then called to the two men outside the door, "Young men!"

The two men entered, one carrying a basket on his back—one was Zhang Gong's cousin apprentice at the official post station, and the other was a post station worker.

The two had been standing outside the door for a while, but seeing that something was going on inside, they kept quiet and watched the commotion for a long time.

Song Miao said, "Could you two please lend us a hand and empty the water from the vat?"

Since Song Miao had asked for a favor, and it was such a small matter, the two of them naturally wouldn't refuse, and both rolled up their sleeves.

One of them said, "No need for flatbread, I can manage on my own!"

Another said, "I'll lend a hand!"

As he spoke, he stepped forward and helped the earthenware jar.

The two bowls of water in the vat had been soaking for the longest time, softening the filthy things inside. When they were poured out, the water was not only murky but also contained disgusting floating matter and a foul stench. The two men burst into laughter at the sight and hurriedly moved aside to fetch water to wash their hands.

Upon seeing the two bowls, everyone in the room looked at Gong and Liu with schadenfreude.

Song Miao urged, "Cook Gong, you just said you washed yourself so clean you could crawl into the vat to lick it. Now you don't need to lick it. Just drink this water and we'll let this matter drop."

Gong Liang remained motionless, his face alternating between pale and flushed, before managing a dry laugh. He said, "It was a momentary lapse of attention; I suppose I accidentally missed washing one. My young lady is soft-hearted; how could she hold this against me..."

Before he could finish speaking, Song Miao turned hostile and demanded, "You probably don't know, do you? When these vats were delivered, I had already asked the shopkeeper to send someone to wash them. Chef Zhang and Postmaster Sun both saw it with their own eyes. They were already clean. I washed them again today so that you could learn how to be 'clean'. How did they get so dirty? Tell me the truth!"

Even though Gong Liang had already been exposed, he remained stubborn and even defiant, saying, "I didn't touch anything, how was I supposed to know it would be so dirty? If I don't admit it, what are you going to do? Are you going to force me to admit it? Are you going to hit me?"

"If you hit me, I'll go and tell the authorities! If you curse me, curse me all you want, oh my, what a lovely young lady you are, I'd beg for your permission to curse me! Come closer, spit your saliva on my face, I'll just lick it up, I won't mind!"

Song Miao sneered, "I won't hit you, I won't scold you, it's not my place as a cook to hit or scold you—what do you think this place is?"

"This is an important official post station, Zhang Gongchu's territory. Officials on official business all eat and drink here. Have you thought about how your superiors would view your misbehavior here?"

As she spoke, she immediately exclaimed, "Big pancake!"

When Dabing saw the two bowls of water, he was both angry and annoyed, and deeply resented his own incompetence for letting someone take advantage of such a big loophole and do such a disgusting thing. Just as he was blaming himself, Song Miao called out to him, and he quickly stepped forward.

Song Miao pointed to the food box beside her and said, "Cook Gong and Cook Liu dare not drink it, and they won't admit what they did. Take this water to the prefectural government office. Do you recognize the officer who brought these cooks here this morning?"

Dabing nodded repeatedly.

Song Miao added, "If he's here, go find him, tell him what happened in front of everyone, and ask him what to do."

"If he is not here, go to the back office and find someone. In front of everyone, tell them what happened here, and ask them who to report to and how to deal with it."

"You tell me, after the lettuce in this earthenware jar has turned sour, there was supposed to be a jar here for Zhang Gong's cook to use. Now I suspect that one of the newly sent cooks in the yamen has malicious intentions and wants to poison the jar. I've heard that recently there are envoys from the vassal states who want to go to the capital to celebrate the Empress Dowager's birthday, and there's also unrest in the southwest. If the envoys and their messengers, while reporting military intelligence, were to eat this poisoned food at the official post station and get sick, not to mention you and me, no one in the official post station, or even the entire yamen, can bear that responsibility!"

After saying that, he immediately appointed two cooks and said, "You two go with him and watch this bowl of water, lest it be switched halfway!"

"Go!"

The pancake should be ready immediately.

The two who were called out were quite excited, as if the matter had nothing to do with them and they were eager to see the excitement, so they immediately followed.

Gong Liangxian was initially unconvinced, but seeing Song Miao's serious demeanor and increasingly frightening words, and her actually sending someone out, he was finally startled and exclaimed, "Don't try to fool me! Do you think I'm easily frightened!"

Song Miao ignored him completely, and instead walked to the middle of the kitchen, pointed to a nearly dried yellow stain on the floor, and asked, "Such a strong odor, is it because someone poisoned the area and left poisonous water or substances here?"

The room fell silent. Many people glanced furtively at Gong Liang, but a few cooks suddenly realized what was happening and looked at the crooked, soft-looking man.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Song Miao had already guessed what was going on and said, "It's okay if you don't want to say."

She walked over to the group of cooks, asked them to stretch out their hands, and examined each one carefully. After looking around, she stopped in front of Liu Yong, pointed to the wet stains on his feet and outer robe, and said, "Cook Liu, take off your shoes."

Liu Yong was both shocked and horrified, his face turned pale, and he subconsciously pulled his feet back.

Song Miao said, "Don't hide anymore. Confess now. Did you hide the poison? The smell on your shoes and outer robe is exactly the same as the smell on the ground."

As he spoke, he turned to the postman and the cook apprentice beside him and said, "I would like to trouble you two to be witnesses so that when the yamen officials arrive, we can take him to see the magistrate."

Liu Yongyuan, who had been holding back, could no longer bear these words and immediately shouted, "Miss Song! This has nothing to do with me!" He then looked up at Gong Liang opposite him and yelled, "Gong, aren't you going to say anything?! I have parents and siblings to support. If you really get me thrown into jail..."

Gong Liang quickly winked at him.

Liu Yong was in no mood to read anyone's expressions. Besides, he was already angry about being half-covered in urine earlier. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he immediately betrayed her, saying, "I'll tell you, Miss Song! This time, someone spat and urinated in that earthenware jar, saying they wanted to teach you a lesson!"

In this way, they indeed learned all the deeds of Gong Liang and that crooked little soft man.

Song Miao frowned and said, "It's not that I don't believe it, but this matter is too absurd—besides, how do we know if you're trying to escape the serious crime of poisoning by implicating others!"

Then, looking at the others in the room, he said, "Those who poison others will be hanged according to the law. Those who know about it but do not report it will be exiled three thousand miles away. You were all in this room before..."

Her tone was very calm, and she spoke at a slower pace than usual, as if she were genuinely and empathetically concerned for everyone.

Before he could finish speaking, the faces of all the cooks in the room changed.

At this moment, no one had time to think about anything else—rather than covering for Gong Liang, it was best not to get involved in any trouble themselves.

Listening to this young lady's constant use of terms like "envoy," "urgent," "official business," "official," and "important place," and the fact that she had everyone memorize a bunch of rules and regulations and even have them sign them—someone who can come up with so many rules and regulations in one go, making people's heads ache from memorizing them, is, after all, from the capital, and is literate. She is surrounded by officials and scholars, so how could she be easy to mess with!
"It's Gong Liang! Young lady, it was Gong Liang and that old Bao who urinated and spat into this vat!"

"Yes! I can testify! I originally wanted to inform the young lady, but I was afraid of retaliation and couldn't bring myself to do it!"

"Me too! Me too! I was planning to secretly find an opportunity to tell the young lady about it later, but I haven't had a chance yet!"

"Young Lady Song, I didn't mean to urinate, and I didn't spit! I was forced to by Gong Liang!!"—These words were spoken by the crooked, soft-spoken old man, Lao Bao.

Seeing everyone kicking him while he was down, Gong Liang was trembling with anger.

But how could he possibly overcome such a situation on his own?

Someone nearby was already urging and cursing him, "Gong Liang, you idiot, what are you trying to prove! Hurry up and admit your mistake! If you get involved in the poisoning, are you not afraid of dying yourself, or is your whole family not afraid of dying?!"

Someone else urged, "You'd better confess honestly! Your life is worthless, but my family is old and young, and we are not as valuable as you!"

Everyone had been laughing and no one had tried to stop him from urinating, but now they all started urging him to hurry up.

The prefectural government office wasn't far from the official post station, and there was still a commotion here. Outside, Da Bing, along with two cooks, had already invited two government officials and one clerk over.

The clerk was not the same one from the morning. When he saw Song Miao, he greeted her politely and said that the man from the morning had already gone out on business and that he was on duty. Just as Da Bing and the others were giving their reply, Wu Gongshi and Cen Tongpan were also nearby. After hearing this, they were furious and ordered him to investigate the situation before taking any action.

He then asked, "But I wonder if Miss Song has any thoughts on this?"

Song Miao said, "I am not a government official and have no official duties, so I cannot comment on such crimes at will—just follow the law."

He added, “Just now, everyone pointed out that the two men were urinating and spitting into the vat. This behavior is truly disgusting. Please have them clean this room first. If the other officials staying in the post station find out, the entire prefectural government will surely lose face.”

After saying that, she pointed to the many jars and said, “Now I dare not take these jars anymore, and I dare not use the lettuce they touched. I will ignore the others, but I will have to pay compensation, right? As for these people—sir, please take them back and do as you please—if they are still left in the construction site kitchen, I am afraid I will not have peace day or night.”

Finally, he said, "Could you also please pass on a message to Qian Kongmu, telling him that I don't need to worry about the cooks here anymore. I've repeatedly emphasized that they need to be of good character, reliable, and honest, especially considering how many they've sent..."

The clerk noted everything down. Sure enough, he first had them move the vats out of the kitchen, then had the floor mopped and cleaned, and wiped the stoves, tables, and cabinets. He asked them many times to make sure there were no other disgusting actions before taking the twelve cooks away together.

Before leaving, the man added, "Don't worry, young lady, Magistrate Cen instructed that this matter will definitely be resolved!"

After seeing the people off, Song Miao hurriedly apologized to the postman and Zhang Gong's apprentice, saying, "I only wanted to borrow a kitchen, but I didn't expect it to cause such a commotion and bring so much trouble!"

Both of them waved their hands, one saying, "Nonsense, who could have predicted these people would be so disgusting!"

The man said, "The young lady has locked everything up, and nothing else got dirty. She even mopped and washed the floor, which saved me a lot of cleaning work—that's great!"

After all that commotion, it was already noon, and everyone went about their own business without further ado.

After lunch, seeing that Da Bing was in low spirits, Song Miao specially comforted him, saying, "You did a good job today, don't blame yourself. Who would have thought that someone could be so disgusting?"

Dabing didn't even have the face to look up, saying, "I only just realized they dropped the bag right under my nose. If it weren't for Miss Song checking again, I'm afraid I would have really been fooled—and then everyone would have eaten him up..."

He became even more upset as he spoke.

Song Miao observed Da Bing's personality and knew that he was already very self-reflective and ambitious without needing to be urged. She really didn't want him to blame himself like this, so she said, "Then let's all remember the mistakes we made today. How old are you? As long as you do something, you're bound to make mistakes. Who in the world never makes mistakes? The only mistake is not doing anything."

"This time you're leading twelve people all by yourself, and they're all adults, and troublemakers at that. It's already quite difficult. Young Master Han warned us long ago that this group shouldn't be used. I'm here to test them out. If we get this opportunity, we can learn and practice well. When we really need people in the future, we'll know how to guard against them and fill in the gaps. Wouldn't that be better?"

As he spoke, he took out the kitchen regulations again and, together with the flatbread, improved the rules, adding that all those who come into contact with food and water must eat and drink with the kitchen staff every day, and that they must not urinate, defecate, or spit anywhere, etc.

She sighed, "I was never careful enough; I never imagined someone could be so disgusting."

Dabing hurriedly said, "If young lady isn't meticulous, then who dares to say they are meticulous?"

He added, "It's a pity that I bought so many lettuce stalks, intending for them to make dried lettuce as you instructed, but now we don't have a single person to help. Even if I work quickly, I'm afraid I won't be able to finish processing them by tomorrow. It's quite a hassle..."

Song Miao said, "It's alright, I have a way to preserve these lettuce. They'll keep for three or four days without any problem. We can just hire more people—this time we'll choose them ourselves!"

The two men were talking in the front hall when they heard a voice outside ask, "Sir, I'm here to deliver goods—I don't know that Miss Song..."

Song Miao turned around and saw that it was indeed the strong woman who had washed clothes at the fish stall that morning, now standing at the door with a smile on her face, carrying two wooden buckets.

　Thank you so much for the unexpected gift of a corner of the He Shi Bi jade and a sachet :)

　　Thank you to book friend 20220905075237163 for sending me a sachet, and to Xiaoxiang Caterpillar MT for sending me a sachet. ^_^
　　Thank you to reader 20250807121324424 for the four amulets, and to reader 20210301105364913388 for the two amulets! =3=
　　Thank you to readers 20221119070048283, Special Agent Cat, Xiaoxiangjiang Fengdanxia, ​​and Songbing for sending me a lucky charm :)

　　Thank you everyone ~
　　Your name is a pancake symbol, but I can't type the symbol, so I'll just call you Pancake (it should be pancake, not dorayaki or something, haha~).

　　(End of this chapter)