Seeing Jiang Hai remaining so stubborn in the face of so many people, the tourists and family members outside couldn't take it anymore.
On the spot, several men walked over rubbing their fists, looking like they wanted to start a fight. Being pointed at and scolded by Jiang Hai in front of so many people was more than they could stomach. In China, there was always the concept that the law doesn't punish the masses; they knew that even if they beat Jiang Hai up, he would just have to suffer in silence. Did he really dare to retaliate against them?
Unfortunately for them, Jiang Hai had never been a kind-hearted person who prioritized others' well-being. If these people dared to strike first, Jiang Hai certainly wouldn't spare them. If they wanted him to suffer in silence, he'd have to ask: on what grounds?
The practice of sacrificing the interests of a few to preserve the many did not apply to Jiang Hai.
Basically, everyone who had tried to mess with him was dead. Although he wouldn't go as far as killing these tourists, fighting back was inevitable.
"Bang! Quiet!" Unfortunately, the police there didn't give Jiang Hai the chance to make a move. Seeing Jiang Hai being surrounded, the police dispatched to the scene immediately fired a warning shot. Hearing the gunshot, the crowd calmed down.
They knew this was America. Before coming, the tour guides had repeatedly warned them: never, never, never get into a direct confrontation with American police, because they have the right to shoot and kill, regardless of who the person is.
The way things were done in China didn't work here. In America, if a wealthy person or a government official like a congressman attacked a police officer while they were on duty, the police could shoot them dead on the spot. This was the power of the American police.
While no tourists had been killed yet, there were cases of drunkards causing trouble who were shot through the leg; they didn't get a penny in compensation, had to pay their own medical bills, and were immediately deported. Trying to stir up public opinion back home was useless because the footage was available for anyone to see at any time. Everyone understood what happened, so trying to fake sympathy didn't work in America.
Hearing the police fire the warning shot, these people suppressed their emotions, though many still glared at Jiang Hai. Jiang Hai ignored them and pushed past the people in front of him to enter the hospital. As soon as he walked in, he saw Mayor Wallis pacing back and forth.
"What's the situation?" Jiang Hai asked, looking at Mayor Wallis.
"Sigh, the situation isn't great. Although no one's life is in danger, it looks like this will be quite a blow to Winthrop," Mayor Wallis sighed and said helplessly upon hearing Jiang Hai's voice.
"What are the specifics..." Jiang Hai said seriously, looking at the old mayor who seemed to have aged significantly in an instant.
Mayor Wallis then briefed Jiang Hai on the situation. The poisoned individuals belonged to two tour groups. These two groups were specially organized by the travel agency Jiang Hai had partnered with previously to expand their business in the south.
Hardly anyone in these two groups had ever seen snow. They came just in time for Christmas in Winthrop to see the snow and experience the American 'Lunar New Year.' Consequently, these two groups were filled and arrived very quickly.
There were 97 people across the two groups, and this time, 63 had been hospitalized. Jiang Hai looked at the people in the hospital—elderly, children, and adults. He asked the doctors, but they couldn't say what the toxin was.
It was definitely poisoning, but they were a bit baffled as to what caused it. They had tested the food the patients vomited up, but the results showed nothing, leaving them confused.
Holding the test results, Jiang Hai stood in the hallway. To be honest, a thought flashed through his mind: was this a case of wide-scale intentional poisoning?
But he quickly dismissed it. Although Winthrop had been a white supremacist stronghold decades ago...
Decades had passed since then, and there were quite a few yellow race people here. One had to remember that the highest institution in the hearts of yellow race people, Harvard, was right nearby, so there were bound to be many visitors every year.
In all these years, he'd never heard of anyone targeting yellow race people with poisoning. How could it happen now, just when Jiang Hai was here?
So there must be something he hadn't noticed. Just then, he saw a young child in the distance whose condition wasn't very severe. He walked over and crouched beside the child. The child's mother was there, naturally heartbroken that her child was poisoned. She didn't recognize Jiang Hai, and seeing another yellow race person approach, she didn't pay much mind.
"Hey there, little one, can you tell me what you ate last night?" Seeing that no one was stopping him, Jiang Hai asked the little boy. The boy looked at Jiang Hai, thought for a moment, and was quite cooperative as he slowly began to speak.
"I didn't eat much, just the lobster from the landlady's house, some soda, turkey, some vegetables, and a burger..." Listening to the boy's list, it was exactly what a normal family would eat for Christmas. Since these people were eating at the same tables, why were only the Chinese people poisoned while the Americans were fine?
Hearing the boy's words, Jiang Hai became increasingly puzzled. Suddenly, he noticed the boy's voice sounded a bit nasally.
"Little one, do you have a cold?" At this thought, a signal flashed through Jiang Hai's mind. He remembered talking to Qi Ya about something while eating before, and it seemed to match this situation.
"Yeah, I took cold medicine and the vitamin tablets they sell here." Hearing Jiang Hai's question, the little boy nodded seriously. Jiang Hai stood up and patted his head; he now knew what was going on.
"Everyone, there's no need to be so tense. This is actually a misunderstanding," Jiang Hai said loudly to the crowd still at the door in a standoff. Hearing his words, the heavy atmosphere froze, and everyone turned to look at him.
"What did you say? A misunderstanding? These Americans clearly poisoned us," a woman stood up and shouted. Compared to a misunderstanding, she was more inclined to believe someone was out to get her.
People who could afford to travel to Winthrop were all wealthy, and what wealthy people feared most was someone plotting against them.
"Cough, I'm just telling you what happened. Whether it's a misunderstanding or intentional poisoning will naturally be decided by the judicial authorities. You can judge for yourselves..." Jiang Hai ignored the woman and continued speaking loudly.
Hearing Jiang Hai's explanation, everyone temporarily quieted down. More importantly, the police had also walked in, and these officers were quite a deterrent to the tourists.
"First, let me ask: are those who were poisoned basically all from the southern tour groups, and do you all have colds?" Hearing Jiang Hai's words, the poisoned tourists looked at each other. They hadn't thought about it before, but now that he mentioned it, it seemed to be true.
Could the poisoner be not just a racist, but also a regionalist hater?
"I am eighty percent certain that this incident is a misunderstanding. The main reason is because you have colds and what you ate," Jiang Hai said seriously to the crowd.
Jiang Hai then explained why these people were poisoned. It mainly involved four things: seafood, cola, Vitamin C, and cold medicine. There was a time when rumors spread very seriously that shrimp and Vitamin C couldn't be eaten together because they would create arsenic. Similarly, cola and cold medicine were said to be lethal together, with many chemical examples cited.
However, these were quickly debunked. Some of the chemical formulas mentioned couldn't even be written out. The rumor was that seafood contained something called pentavalent arsenic, which could react with Vitamin C to become trivalent arsenic—which is poison—and kill the person who ate it. In reality, the amount produced is almost zero; basically, it just creates another indigestible substance that gets expelled from the body.
So that was one point. Secondly, the point about cola and cold medicine isn't actually that harmful to the human body unless taken every day in massive quantities. Overall, that's what happened.
These southern tourists came to Winthrop not knowing how cold it would be, which is normal. This northern cold is a dry cold; it's not something you can withstand just by wearing many layers. In the north, the focus is on 'thin but warm,' so whether it's down jackets or mink, they aren't necessarily thick, but they are very dense. Plus, northerners are used to seeing snow, so they don't get too excited.
But southern tourists seeing snow for the first time will definitely play in it. They dress heavily, work up a sweat, get hit by a breeze, and go back with a cold. In America, you can't just buy cold medicine; it's a prescription drug that you can't find in a pharmacy.
So before coming here, the tour guides would have the tourists prepare their own cold medicine.
But they couldn't bring drugs containing pseudoephedrine, like Gan Kang or Contac.
Since those were prohibited, almost everyone brought things like Quake. This western medicine contains another ingredient that reacts poorly with cola. Americans love cola and drink it almost exclusively, while people in China are mostly unaware of this reaction. After arriving in Winthrop, they caught colds, but even after taking medicine, the cold didn't get better easily because they were still out playing during the day. How many days can cold medicine last? So basically, everyone with a cold went to the local pharmacy to buy more medicine, but they only sell vitamins there because Americans don't take cold medicine; they just take vitamins and tough it out.
This was the source of the cold medicine and vitamins. It just so happened to be Christmas, and every household in Winthrop was eating lobster and seafood, plus the cola. Eating one, two, or even three of these things mixed together would be fine.
But when all four are mixed, some issues are bound to occur. While not fatal, vomiting and diarrhea are unavoidable. (To be continued.)