"Head west out of the city, ride fast for about half an hour, and you'll reach a crossroads with a temporary shack. The owners are an elderly couple, probably in their sixties or seventies," Sam Summers said. "My master absolutely loves their buns. Every time we pass by, we have to stop and eat there."
Grace's eyes lit up. She said, "Sam, I might have a lead! I'll go to that bun shop early tomorrow morning and ask around, then come back to find you."
Sam nodded in confusion.
...
The next day, Grace left the city before dawn and returned to the elderly couple's bun shop from yesterday.
She arrived early. The old couple had just gotten there and were making buns, not yet steaming them, and there were no customers.
The old lady who'd been hit by the black-clothed maid was fine and back to work.
Seeing her, the old lady hurried over and asked, "Miss, why are you here so early? The buns aren't even steamed yet!"
Grace shook her head. "Ma'am, I'm not here for buns. I came to ask you about something."
"What is it?"
"About twenty days ago, did an elderly gentleman get poisoned here?"
"Poisoned... Are you asking about Mr. Conrad?" the old lady asked, puzzled.
"Yes, that's him! Do you know him?"
"He comes here often to eat buns," the old lady replied. "I wonder if his poisoning has been cured yet?"
"No," Grace shook her head. "If we don't cure him soon, he might not make it past today or tomorrow!"
"Such a pity, he’s such a good man!" The old lady sighed. "He even cured my husband's cough!"
"Honestly, Spirit Practitioners have sharper hearing than normal people," Grace said. "When I left yesterday, I heard you mention 'the woman who poisoned someone a few days ago.' Were you talking about Elder Conrad?"
"Well..." The old lady's face turned fearful and she fell silent.
"Ma'am, if Elder Conrad isn't cured today, he'll die! If you know anything, please tell me, okay? I'm begging you!" Grace pleaded.
"Miss, we're just ordinary people. The grudges and killings among Spirit Practitioners are none of our business! We wouldn’t dare get involved," the old man spoke up. "Otherwise, we wouldn’t have survived this long!"
Grace nodded. "I understand. I promise, I'm only looking for a way to save Elder Conrad. I won't mention you to anyone, okay?"
The old man pondered for a moment and said, "There were three people with Mr. Conrad that day—his apprentice Sam Summers and a woman."
Grace nodded.
That woman was, of course, Lily Xu.
"The one who poisoned him was that woman with them," the old man said. "I saw her myself in the shack, sneaking something into Mr. Conrad's tea while he and Sam Summers were arguing with someone else."
"Really?" Grace took a deep breath. "Did you see what color the substance was?"
"It was red," the old man replied. "As soon as it hit the tea, it dissolved completely—totally invisible."
Red...
Different methods of preparing Sevenfold Venom result in different colors.
If it's red, that narrows things down.
"Miss, please keep your promise and don't tell anyone about this. Otherwise, we might not survive," the old man said.