nycdaug Chapter 183 Gutter Oil
Chapter 183 Gutter Oil
Li Mu briefly recounted what had happened. After listening, Zhao Dakai looked at Wang Dali with a serious expression: "Dali, I'm not trying to criticize you, but what you did was really unethical. You should have carefully inspected the vegetables when they were delivered. How could you let problematic vegetables be served?"
Wang Dali lowered his head and dared not utter a sound.
Health officials approached and took samples of the vegetables for testing. After a while, the test results came back, confirming that the vegetables were indeed infected with bacteria.
"However, the infection did not originate from the roots, but from the outside. In other words, these vegetables were likely infected by coming into contact with pathogens during harvesting, transportation, or storage."
Li Mu and the others were stunned when they heard this.
The vegetables were delivered by Li Jianjun, and nothing unexpected happened along the way, so how could they have been infected with germs?
Li Jianjun scratched his head, somewhat puzzled: "When I delivered them, they were all packed in clean bags and hadn't been opened. How could they have gotten infected with germs?"
Old Wang looked at Li Jianjun and asked, "Jianjun, did you stop the car on the road to relieve yourself?"
"No! There's only one road from Lijia Village to the town. I know it very well. There's not a soul in sight on the road. Why would I park my car?"
Li Mu looked at Wang Dali: "The problem only occurred after the vegetables were delivered to the restaurant."
"Someone didn't pay attention to hygiene when handling these vegetables, which caused them to become infected with germs."
Upon hearing this, Wang Dali immediately became anxious: "How can you say that? Our restaurant has always been very clean, how could the vegetables be infected with germs?"
"Then tell me, where did these germs on these vegetables come from? If it's not a problem with your restaurant, how could it be our problem?"
Li Jianjun doesn't want to take the blame. Let whoever wants to take the blame take it! He won't admit it!
"I haven't touched the vegetables since they arrived; they were all handled by your kitchen staff! You were careless and let the vegetables get infected with germs, and now you want to shift the blame onto me? No way!"
Young Master Zhao was still there; Wang Dali lost face. How could this be allowed to continue?
Just forget it?
He glared at Li Jianjun, wanting to retort, but couldn't find the right words.
The health bureau staff frowned as they watched them argue: "Alright, stop arguing. What's done is done. What we need to do now is find the root cause of the problem and prevent similar incidents from happening again."
He looked at Li Mu and said, "We will conduct a detailed inspection of the restaurant's hygiene. At the same time, we will also investigate the procurement, transportation, and storage of these vegetables to see where the problem lies."
Li Mu nodded: "Okay, we will definitely cooperate."
Old Wang also said, "Yes, our village committee will also assist in the investigation and we must find out the truth."
Since they were both friends, it wouldn't be appropriate for Zhao Dakai to side with either of them, so he could only stand in the middle and try to smooth things over: "Alright, let's just do what they say."
The three chefs exchanged glances, and the oldest muttered, "Is everything properly prepared?"
The other chef wiped his sweat and whispered, "Don't worry, I personally oversaw it. It will be handled perfectly and won't leave any trace."
The oldest chef nodded, but was still a little worried: "Okay, just don't get caught, or we're all doomed."
The third chef also came over and whispered, "Don't say a word! If anyone lets it slip, we're all in trouble! We'll keep this to ourselves!"
The three exchanged glances, all understanding each other without saying a word.
At this time, health bureau staff began inspecting the restaurant's hygiene conditions, while Li Mu, Wang Dali, and others waited on the side.
Wang Dali was filled with anxiety, fearing that the hygiene standards would be found to be substandard.
He glanced at Li Mu secretly and saw that Li Mu looked calm and did not seem worried.
Wang Dali muttered to himself, "Is this kid really not afraid at all? Is he trying to trick me?"
He reconsidered and thought it was unlikely. After all, if this matter were really investigated, Li Mu's cooperative would not be able to continue operating, and he had no reason to take himself down with him.
As Wang Dali was lost in thought, a staff member from the health bureau suddenly shouted from behind, "What is this thing?"
Wang Dali's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly turned his head to look. He saw that the health bureau staff were holding a plastic bag containing some unidentified black substance.
The three chefs' faces turned deathly pale instantly, and fine beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads. Wang Dali was also stunned. He didn't know what the black substance in the plastic bag was, but his intuition told him that it was definitely related to this matter!
He inwardly groaned, but had no choice but to bite the bullet and step forward: "What...what is this? I don't know either!"
"This thing was found through the back door of your kitchen; it was stuck in the door crack."
Old Wang and Old Zhang smelled this: "Why does this smell... like gutter oil?"
The health bureau staff frowned and handed the plastic bag to Wang Dali.
Wang Dali took the plastic bag, sniffed it carefully, and his face instantly turned ashen.
How could he not smell it? That's the smell of gutter oil!
When the three chefs saw that Wang Dali looked strange, they all came over. When they saw the black substance in the plastic bag, they were terrified.
"How...how did this end up here?"
The oldest chef stammered.
"how could I know?!"
Wang Dali's hands trembled with fear. He had always disposed of those gutter oils secretly, so how could they suddenly appear here?
He looked at the chefs and asked, "Who put this here? Why didn't you take care of it?"
All three chefs shook their heads in denial.
"I really didn't put it there!"
"It's not me either!"
"I didn't put it down!"
Seeing that none of them admitted it, Wang Dali became even more flustered and looked at Li Mu.
The sanitation workers shouted, "Don't you know that gutter oil is illegal? How dare you use it secretly!"
Zhao Dakai never expected him to pull this stunt. He knew his family ran a restaurant, but Wang Dali was incredibly audacious to expose this thing during a hygiene inspection.
He stepped forward to smooth things over: "Comrades, this may be a misunderstanding. Our restaurant has always abided by the law and would never use gutter oil. We don't know how this stuff ended up here."
The health bureau staff looked at him and said, "Whether it's a misunderstanding or not, we will investigate. Now, please come back to the bureau with us for further investigation."
Upon hearing this, Wang Dali's legs went weak. He quickly waved his hands, "No...no! I have things to do at the shop! I can't go with you!"