C80 Part1

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Envoy Shen shook his head and said that he didn't know,

"Opium Poppy is very harmful.

As early as fifty years ago, many countries explicitly banned the cultivation of Opium Poppy, and if we found Opium Poppy in the wild, we had to eradicate it.

No one in the North Yan country would dare to plant Opium Poppy."

Murong Ci and Shen Zhiyan asked a few more questions before they said goodbye to Envoy Shen and left the Imperial Hospital.

Qin Ruo also felt the seriousness of the situation,

"Your Royal Highness, do you suspect that Lord Zhuang was killed by taking too much Opium ointment?"

Shen Zhiyan nodded solemnly,

"With my years of post-mortem experience, I can ascertain that Lord Zhuang was poisoned by taking Opium ointment."

"Transfer this case to the Dali Temple!

We can't let the Jingzhao Palace interfere."

Murong Ci made a decision.

"Okay. I will tell Master Gu the reason."

He looked at the sky, and the sun had started to slant west,

"Your Highness, I want to go to the Ministry of Engineering."

"I'll go with you,"

she said firmly.

He knew that His Royal Highness was obsessed with investigating the case, so Qin Ruo followed her to the Ministry of Engineering, which was in the Palace, close to the Palace Gate.

When they arrived at the Ministry of Engineering, most of the officials in the Palace hadn't left yet.

As they saw His Royal Highness and Master Shen, the famous hero who settled cases, come to the Ministry of Engineering, the officials of the Ministry of Engineering were a little confused:

'Is this for the case of Zhuang Qin?'

Zhang Zhong, the Minister of the Ministry of Engineering, hurriedly invited them in, and had tea prepared for them.

Shen Zhiyan refreshed his eyebrows elegantly,

"Minister Zhang, today I'm here for a routine inquiry."

"Master Shen, feel free to ask us anything and we'll answer to everything we know."

Zhang Zhong, the Minister of the Ministry of Engineering, smiled.

"We have worked with Lord Zhuang for many years.

He suddenly fell ill and died.

We are also very sad."

"Do you think Lord Zhuang's behavior was unusual lately?"

Shen Zhiyan asked.

"I have worked with Lord Zhuang for many years and known him since a long time ago.

He has always been diligent, rigorous and attentive.

In the past six months, I don't know why, he always made mistakes.

I told him several times, and he said that he would pay more attention and change, but he still committed lots of mistakes."

The Minister sighed,

"He was getting thinner and thinner, skinny and a bit scary.

I didn't know if he was suffering from a disease."

"Recently, Lord Zhuang's reactions were very slow, and he's only respond when called three times.

He yawned but seemed to be unable to sleep all day.

We all guessed that it was because he had spent more times with beautiful girls at night and that squeezed him dry."

A small Official said from the side.

"You shouldn't talk without being asked!

Pay more respect in front of His Royal Highness."

Zhang Zhong gave him a stern look.

"Other than that, what else was unusual about Lord Zhuang?"

Murong Ci secretly observed Zhang Zhong.

"This lower official remembered one thing.

Once when I went to the hut, I heard a weird sound coming from the back of the hut, so I went to check what it was."

Another young Official said,

"Walking to the back of the hut, this lower Official saw Lord Zhuang squatting in the corner and twitching constantly.

His face was scarily white, like a ghost.

I called him, and even if he should have been able to see me, he didn't seem to see him, and his eyes were floating in the air so much that it was scary."

"Did he have any hobbies?"

Shen Zhiyan asked again.

"Lord Zhuang liked to drink tea, and his hobby was to make a cup of hot tea every day.

But recently, for some reason, he didn't drink much tea anymore, and he was listless in everything."

A small Officalial replied.

"Your Royal Highness, Master Shen, is Lord Zhuang really dead?"

Zhang Zhong asked cautiously.

"The Dali Temple is investigating it, and the details of the case cannot be disclosed for the time being, please forgive me."

Shen Zhiyan said coldly.

"Apart from going back and forth from his house to the Ministry of Engineering, where else did Master Zhuang like to go?

Or did he have any other hobby?"

Murong Ci asked again.

"Although this humble Official have worked with Lord Zhuang for many years, as colleagues we rarely mentioned personal affairs.

Lord Zhuang liked to go to drink tea and wine, and I really don't know about other things."

Zhang Zhong replied cautiously, and then looked at the other Officials with a slightly flashed look,

"Do you know anything?"

"These Officials don't know."

The others said in unison.

It was way too obvious,

'How could Shen Zhiyan and Murong Ci fail to see it?'

Perhaps Zhang Zhong was worried about what would happen if they were involved in Zhuang Qin's death case.

They were worried about being implicated, so he gave his subordinate Officials a wink and asked them not to talk anymore.

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END of CHAPTER 80 PART 1

.....................to be continued