"Is there something wrong with this soup?"

Lin Jie shuddered immediately and asked anxiously, "Sister Lanruo, is the soup poisoned?"

"Don't worry, it won't harm your body in the short term."

Shen Lanruo reassured him and explained, "After you drank a few sips of this soup, I clearly felt some kind of stimulation to the heart, with your heart rate jumping from seventy-five to eighty-five."

"This increase in frequency, although not very significant, is very abrupt. Ah Jie, I can conclude that there must be some kind of stimulant added to the soup."

Lin Jie looked at the bowl of clear old duck soup.

The weather was hot, and because of heart issues, Lin Jie had long adopted a habit of eating bland food.

Zhang Xiaoxiao and others also took care of his taste when cooking, using light salt and less oil, and not adding spicy or stimulating seasonings like chili or peppercorn.

If it's not the seasoning, maybe it's the ingredient that's the cause.

"Xiaoxiao, did you buy this duck and winter melon at the market, or were they sent by the Fu Family?"

"They were delivered by the Fu Family early this morning. The poultry, vegetables, and eggs delivered on Wednesday were used for the Wednesday gathering, and those delivered on Sunday are enough for us to eat for three to four days."

After explaining, Zhang Xiaoxiao asked strangely, "Ah Jie, why are you asking this all of a sudden? Don't you like the taste of this old duck soup? I think it tastes pretty good."

An Kemeng took another sip of the soup and nodded, saying, "Brother Jie, it's delicious."

"No one drink it for now."

Lin Jie advised, then went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to see a lot of ordinary vegetables like green beans, eggplants, tomatoes, and cucumbers stacked inside.

He took out a small tomato and took a big bite.

The sweet and sour taste rampaged in his mouth. After finishing the small tomato in a few bites, Lin Jie asked thoughtfully, "Sister Lanruo, did you perceive anything?"

After waiting for about twenty seconds, Shen Lanruo's voice sounded again, "I can confirm, this tomato indeed contains substances that stimulate an accelerated heart rate."

"Ah Jie, it might not be a big issue for ordinary people, but you'd better be careful."

Shen Lanruo affirmed, "I think I found the source that made your heart rate slightly faster than usual during the last surgery. The stimulating substances contained in the food made it difficult for your heart rate to return to its usual level."

Zhang Xiaoxiao, who followed over, saw Lin Jie eating a raw tomato and complained, "Ah Jie, even though these vegetables look clean, if you want to eat them raw, you should wash them first."

She nervously asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"Ah Jie, what did you find?" An Kexin, who also came over, seemed a bit tense.

"It's hard to say, maybe I'm overthinking."

Saying this, Lin Jie took out three small tomatoes, put them in a food bag, and handed them to Qin Gang, instructing seriously, "Although today is the weekend, the pathology department of the Affiliated Hospital always has someone on duty."

"Take this and have them do a toxic substance analysis."

Upon hearing the term "toxic substance," Qin Gang's eyes narrowed.

He solemnly took the food bag, nodded, and turned to leave without saying a word.

"Ah Jie, did you taste something?"

Facing An Kexin's inquiry, looking at Zhang Xiaoxiao, and seeing An Kemeng's concern, Lin Jie smiled and said, "You don't need to worry too much. Maybe I'm just being overly cautious, and it might turn out to be much ado about nothing."

He further explained, "Even if something toxic is found, you don't need to worry. The amount is very minimal and won't have much impact on us."

Despite his words, An Kexin and Zhang Xiaoxiao couldn't hide their worry.

They both thought of one thing: maybe this toxic substance wouldn't harm them much, but for Lin Jie...

Otherwise, Lin Jie wouldn't have noticed it after drinking just a few sips of the old duck soup.

An Kexin thought of another point: could this have been deliberately aimed at Lin Jie with harmful intent?

Suppressing this thought, she suggested, "Ah Jie, since such a thing happened, maybe you should find an excuse to decline the invitation to Fang Jianbin's banquet tonight?"

Lin Jie waved his hand and said, "There's no need to make a big fuss. It's about time we go pick up Miaomiao."

Seeing his insistence, An Kexin didn't try to persuade further.

She drove Lin Jie and the others, first picking up Lin Miao, who was working on a Sunday, and then heading to the Crown Holiday Hotel together.

The banquet this time was arranged by An Kexin at a restaurant in this hotel specializing in local cuisine.

Those present had known Fang Jianbin since their time at the Bamboo Sea Field Hospital.

After meeting, they quickly broke the ice, occasionally recalling those memorable events, sharing their work, and life experiences...

This gathering turned out to be very harmonious, and everyone enjoyed themselves.

"With the strong support from all over the country, the rebuilding phase after the Bamboo Sea earthquake disaster area is now intense and busy."

Fang Jianbin remarked, "Many people from the disaster area actually work in developed cities like Binhai, using the money they've earned over many years to build a beautiful house back home."

"Because of this earthquake, although many houses didn't collapse, they developed cracks, and the foundation became unstable, so for safety, they have to be demolished and rebuilt."

"You could say that many people have wasted the hardships of over a decade due to this earthquake."

He added with feeling, "These houses, said to be prepared for their sons, are actually for the workers themselves, to return to when they're too old to work."

"The second and third generations of workers are already accustomed to city life."

"Their descendants aren't used to living back home, but in the big cities, they still feel somewhat out of place, and it's hard to truly settle with just the income from labor."

An Kemeng suddenly chimed in, "The foreign land doesn't accommodate their body, and the homeland doesn't accommodate their soul."

"A very fitting saying."

Fang Jianbin smiled and said, "Author An, I've read your online novel. The plot twists are really excellent; if made into a movie, it would be a disaster epic."

Somewhat smugly, An Kemeng responded, "To be honest, someone did contact me about purchasing the rights to make an online movie. I was worried they'd do a shoddy job and ruin my hard work, so I declined."

Lin Jie was somewhat surprised and asked, "Kemeng, why didn't I know about this?"

An Kemeng playfully replied, "I didn't tell you, that's why. I haven't even told my sister about it."

"I was thinking of waiting until a truly capable film company buys the rights to make the movie, and then surprise you all."

"However..."

She earnestly said, "Since I've decided to become a doctor, I need to focus. I let go of all these messy things to wholeheartedly study, and I absolutely cannot let a certain someone look down on me."

Seeing An Kemeng's sidelong glance, Lin Jie chuckled.

This little girl sure is proud.

Just then, Lin Jie's phone rang—it was a call from Qin Gang.

Lin Jie gave an apologetic smile to Fang Jianbin, picked up the phone, and stepped out of the private room to answer the call in the corridor.

"Have the analysis results come back?"

"They just came back. The doctor who did the test told me..."

Qin Gang spoke slowly over the phone, "Traces of cocaine and morphine, as well as poppy pollen, were detected in the tomatoes."

Lin Jie immediately understood that the cocaine and morphine in the tomatoes likely came from poppy contamination.

The drugs refined from poppy are rich in cocaine and morphine components.

Such drugs primarily affect a person's nervous system, altering the structure of certain chemicals in the brain, disrupting, disturbing normal higher nervous activity, and even poisoning and damaging nerve tissue.

They then affect a person's heart function.

It can stimulate tachycardia, cause ventricular premature beats, ventricular fibrillation, and myocardial contractility weakness, induce vascular spasms, coronary artery spasms, and even cause myocardial infarction and other cardiac diseases.

Lin Jie naturally understood that the impact mentioned would require a significant dose and long-term use to cause such harm.

However, for a heart transplant patient, even small amounts of these toxic substances over time could lead to qualitative changes from quantitative ones, resulting in a catastrophic deterioration and failure of heart function.

"Lin Jie, what do we do next?"

Lin Jie thought for a while and said, "Qin Gang, take this test data directly to the Fu Family and find Fu Hechang."

"The Fu Family has no reason to harm me. To clarify this matter, he should investigate thoroughly..."

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