The waitstaff entered to rearrange the tables and chairs. The executives were seated at the main table in the very center of the banquet hall, while the sofas, small coffee tables, and assistant stools at the front were removed and replaced with identical round tables and chairs.
Cold dishes began arriving one after another. Onstage, a professional troupe launched into their performance. The company had invited two veteran singers, as well as a sketch comedy and opera troupe from the Northeast. There were even raffle draws interspersed throughout. The atmosphere was utterly lively.
Old Master Jiang’s legs were weak, and the doctor had ordered him to refrain from smoking and drinking.
Yet the grand toast midway through the banquet was a decades-long tradition of the group, requiring all executives and employees present to raise their glasses together. No matter what, Old Master Jiang would not skip it.
The cameras turned toward him, broadcasting live to the employees in the other halls.
He lifted his glass and picked up the microphone. “This toast is to everyone’s hard work over the past year. Thank you all for your dedication! I wish you good health, happiness for your families, and even greater success in the coming year. Cheers!”
Qiuyun sat with the young miss at Table Three, reserved for distinguished guests. Jiang Chuling was too short, so she stood on her chair to raise her glass—though hers was filled with coconut water.
Everyone shouted, “Cheers!” and drank together, sending the banquet atmosphere to its peak.
Once the mass toast was over, Qiuyun helped the young miss down from her chair. She wiped the surface of the chair with a wet wipe, then dried the moisture with a tissue before allowing the young miss to sit back down.
By the time she had finished making the rounds, Qiuyun was practically the last person to take her seat.
Just before sitting down, however, she caught sight of a waiter standing by the side entrance with a tray in hand. His eyes were fixed intently on the center of the banquet hall. After glancing around to both sides, he circled toward the central main table.
?
With decades of experience—especially at crowded and complicated social functions—Qiuyun’s instincts immediately sounded the alarm at the sight of such an obviously suspicious minor player. She discreetly watched his movements.
The waiter carried a tray of drinks as he slowly approached. Along the way, he refilled several guests’ glasses. Then, while Old Master Jiang was engrossed in conversation with the directors at his table, the waiter stealthily reached out, preparing to take away the glass by Old Master Jiang’s hand—the one he had finished, leaving only a trace of liquid behind.
Thirty centimeters. Twenty. Ten...
Just as he held his breath, on the verge of succeeding, a fair yet powerful hand suddenly closed around his wrist.
Startled, he turned around to see a beautiful young woman smiling at him.
“Hello,” she said. “Our table has finished the wine. Could you come over and pour us some more?”
As she spoke, she half-pulled, half-dragged him away.
Seeing this, Jiang Yihua knew Qiuyun was not someone who acted without cause. He quickly instructed Secretary Zhu and Assistant Qian to quietly go over and help, and to find out what was happening.
Qiuyun immediately told Secretary Zhu, “Use a tissue to wrap up Old Master Jiang’s wineglass. Then find a way to get him to the lounge on the ninth floor.”
Secretary Zhu was shocked. “You mean—?”
“It’s only a suspicion.”
She then told Assistant Qian to keep an eye on the shifty waiter.
The waiter was drenched in sweat and tried several times to run.
In truth, all he knew was that his assignment was to take away and clean the former chairman’s used wineglass. It should have been nothing serious, but the other party had offered him three hundred thousand yuan to keep it confidential!
That price alone was enough to make anyone suspect something was going on.
It wasn’t as though he hadn’t wrestled with the decision.
But three hundred thousand. Three hundred thousand!
All he had to do for that enormous sum was wash a glass. Besides, he didn’t know anything. It was almost too easy, too good a bargain to pass up.
With no time to lose, Secretary Zhu immediately alerted Butler Lin that something was amiss. Butler Lin promptly relayed the matter to Old Master Jiang, who soon excused himself from the assembled guests and made his way to the reception room on the ninth floor.
“What happened?” Old Master Jiang asked as he entered. Jiang Yihua had come with him.
Qiuyun brought both the man and the glass inside. “There was something wrong with the wine. We need to make him vomit immediately!”
As soon as she had gotten hold of the glass, she had dipped a chopstick into the remaining liquid and smelled it. There was no bitter-almond scent and no odor of garlic.
After a moment’s thought, she touched a fingertip to the faint trace of moisture and tested it herself.
In an instant, a familiar, mildly acrid taste spread across her tongue, accompanied by a bitter, metallic tang of rust.
It was Shewang poison!
The poison had an extremely short incubation period and took effect with terrifying speed. It could kill a person in less than the time it took an incense stick to burn. Within the inner household, it was considered even deadlier than arsenic.
“What?” Jiang Yihua stared at Qiuyun in shock, then turned to Old Master Jiang. “Dad, we need to get to a hospital!”
“There isn’t enough time.” Qiuyun quickly calculated how long it had been. “It’s already been seven minutes since Old Master Jiang drank the poisoned wine. If we delay any longer, the poison may take effect!”
For a moment, silence descended over the reception room.
Anyone would have hesitated when a junior assistant suddenly summoned them upstairs, claimed that the wine had been poisoned, and insisted on inducing vomiting at once.
Jiang Yihua glanced at the tension in Qiuyun’s face, gritted their teeth, and decided to trust her. “Dad, you know Assistant Qiu is the one who helped clear my name online. She would never make a claim like this without evidence! Better safe than sorry. Let’s induce vomiting first!”
Butler Lin also turned toward the pensive Old Master Jiang, waiting for his instructions.
“No!” Qiuyun darted forward and saw that the former chairman’s face had turned pale, while his lips and the tip of his tongue were taking on a faint bluish-purple hue.
“The poison is taking effect! Quickly, help me!”
Qiuyun had Secretary Zhu and Butler Lin hold Old Master Jiang upright to keep him from choking on his vomit. She then immediately located the Tiantu acupoint, the hollow at the center of the notch above the breastbone, along the midline of the neck.
She pressed the knuckle of her index finger into the hollow, pushing forcefully downward and backward along the windpipe.
“Someone press here!”
Still applying pressure, Qiuyun instructed Assistant Qian to press the Neiguan acupoint, roughly three finger-widths above the crease of the wrist.
“Press straight down with your thumb. Use plenty of force, and hold it for thirty seconds to a minute each time!”
Sweat poured down Assistant Qian’s face as they were hastily pressed into service. “Understood.”
Both points were known for triggering the body’s vomiting reflex. When Qiuyun felt the esophagus begin contracting more rapidly beneath her fingers, she had someone bring over a trash can and hold it beneath Old Master Jiang’s mouth.
“Cough, cough, cough... Ugh!”
Old Master Jiang’s entire body convulsed violently. Amid wrenching coughs and a harsh retch, wine, half-digested food, and other stomach contents came surging out.
The room reeked of sour vomit and blood. Old Master Jiang slumped back in his chair, eyes squeezed shut as he struggled to catch his breath.
Qiuyun took two steps back and steadied her breathing. “Getting it out will make you feel much better. Contact the hospital immediately for detoxification and gastric lavage. And don’t touch the vomit or the wineglass—leave everything exactly as it is for the police.”
Butler Lin, true to his experience in handling major crises, promptly set about making the necessary arrangements once he saw that Old Master Jiang was out of immediate danger.
“Are you all right? You should go to the hospital with the chairman later and get checked out.” Assistant Qian was somewhat acquainted with Qiuyun. Upon learning that she had tasted a small amount of the poisoned wine, he hurriedly asked after her condition.
“I’m fine.” Qiuyun felt a little dizzy, but fortunately, the dose she had consumed was far, far smaller than Old Master Jiang’s. She did not need to be induced to vomit, but to be safe, she still had to go to the hospital for an examination.
