Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Chapter 1195 Control Mouse Experiments

Jiang Zhiming examined the mouths of everyone at Luming Academy.

Apart from the old man with the black beard, everyone else's teeth were relatively clean, and Jiang Zhiming secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Shen Zheng still did not fully trust the people in the academy. After all, only those who consume "spiritual powder" for a long time will have abnormal teeth, while those who take it for a short time will look no different from ordinary people, and it is difficult to detect the abnormality with the naked eye.

Shen Zheng sighed inwardly.

It would be great if there were a "urine test".

I wonder if Li Shiyuan can come up with a way to identify it.

"Sister Shen." Just then, Fang Ziyan appeared beside Shen Zheng without her noticing, handing her a scallion pancake and saying, "It's almost noon, please eat something first, lest you ruin your health..."

The scallion pancakes were golden brown on both sides and smelled delicious. Jiang Zhiming cast an envious glance at Shen Zheng.

Just as Shen Zheng was about to take it, a commotion arose outside the crowd, followed by shouts from the people: "The rat has been caught!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than two soldiers came carrying two openwork bamboo cages, each containing two rats.

Seeing this, Shen Zheng withdrew her hand and said to Fang Ziyan, "Ziyan, you hold onto it first, I'll eat it later."

Fang Ziyan knew what was about to happen. After a moment's pause, he wrapped the scallion pancake in oil paper and put it in his pocket.

The bamboo cage was placed on the ground by the soldiers, and the fat, gray-black rats inside squeaked and scurried about in a panic.

The guards then handed Shen Zheng two porcelain bowls and a packet of cooked millet. Shen Zheng poured the millet into the two bowls and placed them on the bamboo basket.

"Please take a look," Shen Zheng said, pointing to the bamboo cages. "In each of these two cages are two mice, who will be our experimental subjects. Later, I will mix 'spiritual powder' into the bowl of millet on the left and feed it to the two mice in the left cage, while the bowl of millet on the right will not contain 'spiritual powder' and will be used to feed the two mice in the right cage. Please observe carefully to see how it goes."

Everyone immediately understood that Lord Shen wanted to show them the comparison.

For a moment, the people were extremely excited and crowded towards the center. It wasn't until Shen Zheng covered her mouth and nose and opened the oil paper package containing the "spiritual powder" that they came to their senses and retreated.

The sky was clear and windless today. Shen Zheng shook the reddish-brown powder into a bowl and mixed it evenly with the millet.

Next, the two porcelain bowls were placed into the bamboo cages.

Almost no one looked at the bamboo cage on the right; everyone's eyes were on the bamboo cage on the left.

At first, the two mice in the left cage were squeaking and scurrying around, but after a while, they seemed to smell the aroma of rice, stopped and sniffed twice, and then climbed onto the edge of the bowl.

The people exclaimed in surprise, "They're going up there! They're going up there! We're going to eat!"

Shen Zheng also kept a close eye on the two rats on the left.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, the two mice on the right had already started eating the millet, but the two mice on the left were still sniffing around the bowl, seemingly hesitant.

The people were extremely anxious: "What's going on? Did they smell poison in the rice and that's why they're afraid to eat it?"

"What should we do? We can't just go over and feed them!"

"Wait a little longer, wait a little longer. The beasts will definitely eat when they're hungry. Look at those two rats' bellies, they've probably been starving for a long time. I don't believe they can resist eating!"

As soon as he finished speaking, one of the mice in the left cage lowered its head and picked up two grains of millet from the bowl.

A sharp-eyed person exclaimed, "There's medicine powder mixed in with the rice! It's going to eat it!"

Sure enough, under everyone's watchful eyes, the mouse opened its mouth and swallowed the millet whole.

Seeing its companion begin to eat, another mouse hesitated for a moment before also picking up the millet mixed with "spirit powder".

The people held their breath, both hoping for a reaction from the rat and fearing that it would suddenly die right before their eyes.

After a short while, both mice had eaten their fill and began licking their paws and grooming themselves in the cage.

Seeing this, the crowd became suspicious and whispered among themselves, "These... the rats in the cages on both sides don't look any different."

"Could it be that the poison won't take effect until later?"

"Could it be... that the medicine doesn't work on animals?"

"Impossible! It works for humans, but it would only cause a worse reaction in animals!"

Immediately, the people were abuzz with discussion, with some even saying, "It might really just be a tonic."

A light sweat broke out on Jiang Zhiming's forehead. He raised his sleeve to cover his mouth and whispered to Shen Zheng, "Lord Shen, could we have searched for the wrong thing? Could it be that Huai Shaoyong is deliberately misleading us, and the 'spirit powder' is actually something else?"

Shen Zheng's eyes were calm as she shook her head: "It can't be wrong, let's wait a little longer."

Huai Shaoyong has no precognitive abilities, so the only thing he could carry close to him must be "Spirit Powder".

Just as the discussion among the people was getting louder and louder, the two mice in the left cage suddenly stopped moving and stopped grooming themselves.

"squeak--!"

A sharp squeaking sound came from the left cage, abruptly stopping the discussion as everyone hurriedly looked over.

The two rats' fur bristled one after the other, their tails snapped straight up, and after squeaking a few times, they began frantically scratching at the bottom of the cage with their claws, so hard that the bamboo cage shook.

"He's really getting into it! He's really getting into it!" the people exclaimed. "He's doing exactly the same thing as Huai Shaoyong before!"

"Look! They've started ramming against the cage!"

In just a few breaths, the two rats in the left cage completely lost control, running around wildly in the cage, making the bamboo cage clang loudly. One of the rats even resorted to biting at the cage walls after realizing it couldn't break through them.

"Ka-ka-ka-"

The gnawing sound wasn't loud, but for some reason, everyone felt their hair stand on end after hearing it.

Jiang Zhiming was so frightened that his teeth chattered: "Lord Shen, why do I feel like that rat's eyes are all red, just like Huai Shaoyong's..."

Shen Zheng squatted down in front of the cage, only an inch away from the rat inside.

Upon closer inspection, Shen Zheng noticed that the rat gnawing on the cage wall did indeed have somewhat red and cloudy eyes.

Just as Shen Zheng was about to get closer to observe, the mouse suddenly began to convulse, its front paws shaking uncontrollably. After a few breaths, it fell backward and crashed straight to the bottom of the box.

"Dead?" Shen Zheng frowned.

Although mineral poisoning can be fatal, didn't this rat die a little too quickly?

She had previously anticipated that the two rats would likely go berserk for a while, but would not die directly.

But now...

Looking at the dead rat in the cage, Shen Zheng's eyes grew increasingly dark.

Was it because the rat was physically weak and intolerant to the mineral poison, or was the toxicity of the "spiritual powder"... far exceeding her expectations?

With suspicion in her eyes, Shen Zheng looked at the other mouse in the cage that was still "banging its head against the wall".

Hopefully... the truth isn't what she thinks.