Chapter 006 Fruit Tracking
“This is it!”
Ruan Rong pointed to a grocery store not far ahead and said, "They're the only one that sells white berries!"
When the word "white berry" was mentioned, her shoulders slumped and her brows furrowed, looking uncomfortable all over.
But the one who reacted even more violently was Feng Xin next to him. His old face turned dark and green as he rode on his horse. He swallowed hard a few times, but still couldn't suppress the acid in his stomach. He retched with a "wow" sound.
There was no other way. After observing for a long time, Sun Shaozong could only determine that Ruan Rong's vomit and fruit residues were 70% to 80% similar. In the end, to be on the safe side, he had to adopt the most primitive analysis method - tricking Feng Xin into eating it and distinguishing it by taste!
So after a series of indescribable tests, Sun Shaozong finally determined that the assassins ate a fruit called "white berry", which is a specialty of the neighboring Zhen State. Due to the inconvenience of transportation, only two merchants in the city sell it.
One of them was a restaurant, and whiteberries were only used to entertain VIPs, and were never sold to the outside world. Considering that the assassins were unlikely to go to the restaurant in groups to consume before taking action, this grocery store in the north of the city should be the source of the "whiteberry residue"!
In addition, Ruan Rong also provided a piece of information: As the two heroes among the six kingdoms in southern Xinjiang, Zhen Kingdom and Qianxiang Kingdom have been mortal enemies for hundreds of years. In recent years, Qianxiang Kingdom, relying on the support of Da Zhou, has shown signs of annexing Zhen Kingdom and dominating southern Xinjiang, causing great panic in the government and the public of Zhen Kingdom.
Therefore, it is reasonable to infer that the "knight" from Zhen State came to assassinate the special envoy of Da Zhou with the intention of provoking relations between the two countries, and before taking action, he gave him food and fruits unique to his hometown to cheer him up!
Stop talking nonsense.
However, they rode their horses at full speed all the way until they arrived outside the grocery store in the north of the city. Sun Shaozong told Feng Xin and others to wait on the street, then he dismounted and walked in side by side with Ruan Rong.
It is called a grocery store, but in fact it is a three-story attic covering a very large area. After entering the door, the shelves are filled with a dazzling array of goods. Not only are there specialties from the six southern Xinjiang countries, but there are also special areas for the Great Zhou and the Western Regions. It is like an ancient version of an international hypermarket.
Before Sun Shaozong could take a closer look, a shop assistant came forward with a big smile on his face and said, "Please come in, gentlemen! I wonder if you are interested and want to see what we have, or if you have already found something you like? The things here are a bit mixed. If you have something you like, just let me know and I will help you find the way."
This guy is quite sweet-talker.
Sun Shaozong pretended to ask casually: "I heard that you sell white berries here? They are the specialty of Zhen country."
"Yes, yes, yes, you two follow me!"
The clerk led the way, and the two followed closely behind. Soon they arrived in front of a cellar. He bent down and grabbed a red rope, took out a rattan basket from the cellar, and handed it to the two men, saying, "Look, sir, this is all the stock we just replenished this morning."
Sun Shaozong looked down, and saw that there were only twenty or so ping-pong-ball-sized fruits scattered at the bottom of the basket. They were bright red and still steaming, and looked very pleasing to the eye.
Although this thing's name contains the word "berry", it actually looks similar to lychee, with a hard shell on the outside and a medium-sized core inside.
"Yes, that's it!"
Ruan Rong shouted with joy, and then asked, "Hey, did anyone buy a lot of white berries at once between yesterday and today? It's enough for at least a dozen people!"
"this……"
She asked too eagerly, which aroused the clerk's vigilance. He looked at the two of them suspiciously and said perfunctorily, "Sir, I don't know how much we sell in our store in a day. I really can't remember..."
Halfway through his words, the clerk suddenly stared at the palm of Sun Shaozong's hand - to be precise, he stared at the change in his palm!
Sun Shaozong casually threw the silver forward. The shop assistant hurriedly held it with both hands, shook it gently, and found that there was at least four taels of silver. His face suddenly smiled like a chrysanthemum.
Sun Shaozong asked with a smile: "You should remember it now, right?"
“I remember, I remember!”
The clerk nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, and said with a smile: "A wealthy customer did come this morning. He bought a whole basket of white berries without saying a word, and spent a total of sixteen taels and three cents of silver!"
Bought a basket?
That should be 80% correct!
Sun Shaozong couldn't hide his excitement and asked, "Do you remember what he looked like? How was he dressed? Was he a servant or the master? Which direction did he go when he left? Did he take a car or walk?!"
The barrage of questions made the clerk dizzy, but for the sake of the silver, he still tried his best to recall: "The man didn't look special. Judging from his clothes, he should be a servant of a wealthy family. When he left, he drove a carriage and seemed to be heading north."
"Heading north?!"
Sun Shaozong was overjoyed now. The grocery store was in the north of the city, and if he searched further north, the range would be much smaller!
After getting a positive answer from the shop assistant, he reached out and grabbed two "white berries" from the rattan basket, then pulled Ruan Rong out the door without looking back.
On to the street.
Without saying a word, Sun Shaozong peeled one and put it in his mouth, chewed the flesh, and then spit the core into the palm of his hand.
The guards were just looking at him in bewilderment when they saw him hold the peels and cores in front of him and shout, "Brothers, look carefully! Everyone, split up and search all the storage yards north of this grocery store carefully. If you find similar peels or cores, report to me immediately!"
The so-called "dumpyard" is the garbage dump in ancient times.
At least seven or eight hours have passed since morning. Normal people would not leave these garbage at home, so as long as they can find these fruit peels and cores in the yard, they can follow the clues to find the assassin's hiding place!
Of course, if the assassins were so cautious that they didn't even take out their garbage, then Sun Shaozong would have no choice but to inform the Qianxiang court of this information and have them conduct a carpet search.
But in this case, it is hard to say whether the contributions made by everyone are enough to make up for their mistakes.
