"Strange..." Fahai had spent a long time checking the woman's pulse. She showed no signs of illness; it seemed more like poisoning.
"May I ask you all something, benefactors?" Fahai asked the gathered townsfolk. "Are the sick people in your homes all suffering unbearable abdominal pain, just like this lady?"
"Yes, yes!" The townsfolk nodded one after another.
"How odd..." Fahai was puzzled. If one person showed signs of poisoning, an enemy might have poisoned them. But what could have caused so many people to be poisoned at once?
"Master, what's wrong with my wife?" the man asked anxiously.
Fahai nodded helplessly and said, "She's been poisoned... Benefactor, forgive this old monk for asking, but has your wife eaten anything unusual today?"
The man froze. "Poisoned?"
He and his wife had never made enemies. Who would poison them? Looking around at his neighbors, almost every household had someone with the same symptoms as his wife. Could someone have poisoned them all at once?
"Master, to tell you the truth, my wife recently caught a cold and has had a very poor appetite. All she's had today is some water. She hasn't eaten anything."
"Water?" Fahai frowned, sensing a lead. "Water from where?"
"From the well at our own home," the man replied.
"Benefactor, hurry and fetch a bowl of that water!"
Before long, the man drew a bowl of well water from his courtyard and brought it to Fahai. Fahai lifted the bowl and sniffed it. The smell was somewhat pungent, and he couldn't help exclaiming, "Could the water be poisoned?"
The gathered neighbors were startled. "Master, are you saying someone poisoned the wells?"
Fahai still wasn't quite certain. He took a drop of water from the bowl and rubbed it between his fingers.
A moment later, he turned his