"It really ate it." Grandma Feng was delighted. "It seems to really like chicken drumsticks."
She served Zhao Xun another drumstick and said, "Give all of that one to the little monkey. You can eat this one."
"Thank you, Grandma Feng." Zhao Xun smiled and thanked her without refusing.
Holding his chopsticks, he slowly pulled apart the meat on the first drumstick and fed the squirrel monkey another small piece.
Seeing that Grandma Feng was still watching him, he explained, "This kind of monkey is small, so it has trouble eating anything too big. I have to break it into smaller pieces."
"Oh, I see." Grandma Feng understood, then urged him, "But don't get so busy feeding it that you forget to eat yourself. The dishes won't taste good once they're cold."
"Mm, I'll eat in a moment." Zhao Xun smiled. "I eat very quickly. They won't get cold."
"Good, good." Grandma Feng said no more and turned to encourage the others to eat.
Zhao Xun waited two minutes. The squirrel monkey was perfectly fine and even gazed longingly at his bowl, seemingly hoping for a few more pieces of chicken.
Jiang Shuai beside him showed no unusual symptoms either. He had eaten not only the braised fish but also the shredded jellyfish salad and braised pork. His face looked rosy, and he showed no signs of discomfort.
Without drawing attention, Zhao Xun pulled a small piece of meat off the second drumstick Grandma Feng had given him and fed it to the squirrel monkey.
Drumsticks were different from the other dishes. Someone could have poisoned a single drumstick.
So the first drumstick being safe did not mean the second one necessarily was.
Zhao Xun ate the rest of the first drumstick himself while waiting to see what happened after