Chapter 94: Beneath Zhelong Mountain, Poisoned By Mist-top Golden Thread Tea
Luckily, no more falling rocks appeared from above while they were moving the stones.
Hu Ba Yi immediately drove forward, and the group rode in the car for half a day on the rugged mountain road, finally arriving at the foot of Zhelong Mountain.
At the foot of Zhelong Mountain, there was an inn, which was exactly the Caiyun Inn mentioned in the original story.
This inn specialized in hosting the horse caravans and tea merchants passing through, so there was no village nearby. The owner was a young widow, with a girl of sixteen or seventeen helping her.
The girl was named Kong Que, the boss’s wife’s younger sister-in-law. She had a pair of big eyes and looked delicate and cute. After seeing Su Mo and his group, her big eyes kept darting between Su Mo, Zhang Qiling, and Xue Li Yang, as she had never seen such beautiful people here at Zhelong Mountain.
“Brother, where are you from?”
Seeing that Kong Que was charming and lovely, Wang Pang Zi couldn’t help but chat her up:
“Us? … We’re from the Capital City!”
Hearing that they were actually from the Capital City, Kong Que immediately widened her eyes:
“Then you must often go to places like the Great Wall and the Forbidden City to hang out, and you can see the flag raising ceremony every day?”
In this era, many places in Diannan didn’t have television. Kong Que had only heard from passersby that the Capital City had the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and Tiananmen, where a flag raising ceremony was held every day, so she yearned greatly for the Capital City.
Fatty grinned and said:
“Yeah, my home is not far from Tiananmen. Every morning, I can see the flag raising just by opening the window!”
Fatty’s words were pure bragging and nonsense, but Kong Que seemed to somewhat believe it, her eyes full of envy.
Fatty continued:
“Little Kong Que, do you want to go to the Capital City? How about coming with brother to visit the Capital City later?”
Kong Que pursed her lips and secretly glanced at her widowed sister-in-law:
“I’m afraid that won’t work! My sister-in-law won’t let me run around!”
After saying that, she looked at Su Mo again, her eyes smiling like crescent moons:
“This handsome brother, do you also live at Tiananmen?”
Su Mo smiled faintly:
“I don’t live there, but if you want to see it, brother can take you!”
“Great!”
Kong Que couldn’t help but clap excitedly upon hearing this, with an eager expression.
Nearby, Hu Ba Yi couldn’t help but quietly poke Wang Pang Zi:
“See that? You said you’d take her to the Capital City, and she said her sister-in-law won’t allow it. But Master said he’d take her, and she agreed immediately!”
Wang Pang Zi couldn’t help but sigh:
“No way around it. Who let Master be more handsome than me? Sure enough, handsome people get by anywhere!”
Xue Li Yang, watching the conversation between Su Mo and Kong Que, just smiled without a care, as the girl was only sixteen or seventeen—just the age of a city high school student. Even Fatty was just teasing her, and no one thought otherwise.
At this time, two lean, dark-skinned men entered the inn. Their attire looked similar to the locals, and they carried two large bamboo baskets full of tea leaves on their backs.
The area produced a type of Mist-top Golden Thread Tea. It was said that when brewed with water from the snowline, every leaf looked like it was made of gold, very precious. Therefore, every year at this time, many tea merchants went into the mountains to acquire tea leaves.
The two tea merchants were both in their thirties or forties, looking very honest. After entering, they warmly greeted Su Mo and the others, then unloaded the baskets from their backs.
Soon it was evening, and the boss’s wife brought out rice and some simple dishes. Wang Pang Zi then took out the white wine, dried beef, and such things he had brought, and everyone ate together. He also gave some alcohol and food to the two tea merchants and casually asked them about the situation at Zhelong Mountain.
The two tea merchants were not polite either. After taking the alcohol and food, they said it was their first time coming here to collect tea leaves, so they weren’t very familiar with Zhelong Mountain.
Su Mo listened and only silently glanced at them without saying anything.
Soon after finishing the meal, Su Mo and the others returned to their rooms.
Before they could lie down, there was a knock at the door. Hu Ba Yi opened it and saw it was the two tea merchants, who had brought tea they had collected, brewed with boiling water, to Su Mo and the others’ room. They said that since Hu Ba Yi and the others had treated them to drinks today, and they had nothing good to offer, they were treating them to Mist-top Golden Thread Tea they had collected.
Indeed, when this Mist-top Golden Thread Tea was brewed, each leaf shone like gold, with a rich fragrance assaulting the nose.
After Hu Ba Yi and Wang Pang Zi thanked them, they turned to drink the tea, but Su Mo suddenly lightly patted them and said in a deep voice:
“Be careful, the tea is poisoned!”
Hu Ba Yi and the others were just about to drink when they heard Su Mo’s words and couldn’t help but be startled.
The tea water had no strange smell and no visible impurities—how could it be poisoned?
Su Mo said in a low voice:
“This isn’t ordinary poison. It’s a cyanide compound—completely colorless and odorless!”
At this point, he sneered:
“These two look like tea merchants but aren’t familiar with Zhelong Mountain, and the tea they brought is poisoned. Clearly, they’re after us! The falling rocks at the cliff today were likely their doing too!”
“What!”
Hu Ba Yi and the others were shocked again.
Today on the mountain road, the group had encountered falling rocks. Hu Ba Yi and the others had found it suspicious but hadn’t thought it was deliberate.
“I’ll go kill them right now!”
Wang Pang Zi gnashed his teeth in hatred and grabbed his handgun, ready to rush out.
Su Mo shook his head:
“Don’t be impulsive. We’ll play along and wait for them to come. There are likely more than just these two!”
Hu Ba Yi and the others immediately understood. After exchanging knowing smiles, Wang Pang Zi suddenly clutched his stomach and dramatically cried out:
“Ouch! Why is my stomach hurting? Maybe the food today wasn’t clean!”
Hu Ba Yi also said:
“Yeah, my stomach is inexplicably hurting too!”
The two shouted a few times, then smashed the tea bowls nearby on the ground to make some noise. Then all of them slumped crookedly, some lying, some sprawled on the table, pretending to have been poisoned to death.
As they pretended to collapse from poison, the room fell completely silent.
After a while, the door was pushed open a crack. One tea merchant poked half his head in from outside, scanned the room, then pushed the door open and walked in.
The other tea merchant followed. Both held short knives, and with vigilant expressions, they walked into the room. Suddenly, they stabbed at the bodies of Zhang Qiling and Su Mo lying outside, fearing it was a trick, so they tested with a stab.
Just as the knife tips were about to pierce the two, Su Mo and Zhang Qiling suddenly rolled over, grabbed their right wrists holding the knives, wrapped their legs around their lower limbs, and instantly reached out with their left hands to seize their necks, slamming them to the ground.
Although the two had some kung fu, Su Mo and Zhang Qiling struck extremely fast, not giving them a chance to cry out!
