Chapter Forty-Six: The Exquisite Delicacy Earns Its Seal

Chen Huajiang had already made his intentions clear; if Zhou Guoan still couldn’t figure out his purpose, it would truly be inexcusable. On top of that, Zhou Guoan was already furious, and upon learning that Feng Weizhi was behind it all, the anger he had originally directed at Wu De shifted entirely onto Feng Weizhi.

“A grand restaurant like Wei Mei Xian, doing something like this? I’ll head over this afternoon and investigate them myself,” Zhou Guoan decided on the spot.

He now felt compelled to win Chen Huajiang’s favor. If Chen Huajiang could put in a good word for him with Zhang Donglai, his chances of promotion would be much better.

“A routine inspection will suffice. I just came to inform you about the process, nothing more. Since Chairman Zhang isn’t around, I’ll be on my way,” Chen Huajiang said.

“Take care, Mr. Chen. If anything comes up in the future, just reach out to me directly,” Zhou Guoan replied with great courtesy.

Whistling cheerfully, Chen Huajiang made his way back to his snack shop. His mood was evidently excellent; his next target was Old Duan. Though Old Duan was quite skilled, if he continued to follow Wu De and Gou Weidong, he’d be doomed.

Around two in the afternoon, Zhou Guoan suddenly arrived at Wei Mei Xian with his team. Without a word, he headed straight for the kitchen. In the restaurant business, the kitchen is everything; if there’s a problem, it’s bound to be there.

Manager Datang hurried into Feng Weizhi’s office. “Mr. Feng, there’s trouble! The Food Bureau is here. They’ve gone straight to the kitchen. You’d better get over there!”

Feng Weizhi rushed to the kitchen. Upon seeing Zhou Guoan, he greeted him with a smile. “Director Zhou, why didn’t you let us know you were coming?”

Zhou Guoan turned to him with a stern face. “Why would I give you notice? So you can hide what shouldn’t be used ahead of time?”

Seeing Zhou Guoan’s poor attitude, Feng Weizhi forced a smile. “Director Zhou, that’s not what I meant. How about coming to my office for some tea?”

“No need. We’ll be gone as soon as the inspection is done. No point giving people something to gossip about behind my back,” Zhou Guoan replied, his tone markedly different from their previous encounters. Before, they at least knew each other; whenever Zhou Guoan came, he’d have a cup of tea in Feng’s office and leave after a brief chat.

But today, Zhou Guoan was clearly here on a mission—and he was taking it seriously.

At that moment, a staff member brought over a packet of opened seasoning. “Director, we found expired product here. This seasoning was sitting right in the cooking area, already opened, and it’s been expired for about a week.”

Zhou Guoan had been looking for a reason to make trouble, and to his surprise, something had actually turned up.

Feng Weizhi was completely unprepared; he had never expected Zhou Guoan to show up so suddenly. “Director Zhou, please let me explain—we haven’t used the expired product. It may have been opened, but I swear, we never used it.”

“Then why open it if you weren’t going to use it? Do you take me for a fool, or think we’re all idiots here? Let me tell you: close the restaurant for rectification. It won’t reopen until everything is set right,” Zhou Guoan ordered his staff to seal the premises at once.

Feng Weizhi was at a loss. Why had Zhou Guoan suddenly shown up like this? Could someone have reported them? Other than their own staff, who else could have known? Even if there had been a report, they’d dealt with such situations before, and Zhou Guoan had always given him a heads up. But this time, he said nothing and just arrived with his team. Clearly, something had changed.

Zhou Guoan didn’t explain, leaving Feng Weizhi even more bewildered.

Chen Huajiang quickly caught wind of the situation and decided to escalate it. “So, they got Wu De and the others to report me to the Food Bureau? Let’s see who can outplay whom,” he muttered, leaving his snack shop and heading for the newspaper office.

In the 1980s, information didn’t travel quickly; most people learned about major events from the papers. If he tipped off the news desk, the public would certainly know by morning.

As soon as he entered the newspaper office, Chen Huajiang grabbed a reporter. “Hurry to Wei Mei Xian—something big just happened there.”

The reporter was immediately intrigued. This was exactly the kind of story they wanted, and the faster, the better. No one asked who Chen Huajiang was or how he had learned the news.

When they arrived at the scene, they saw Wei Mei Xian had been shut down by the Food Bureau. Several reporters snapped photos and began interviewing the staff. When Feng Weizhi emerged, they quickly surrounded him.

“Mr. Feng, may we ask why the Food Bureau shut down Wei Mei Xian?”

“Was it a problem with the ingredients? Were they not fresh, or were they expired?”

“Or was it an issue with your staff? Did a customer get sick?”

The barrage of questions was relentless, and understandably, Feng Weizhi avoided giving any direct answers. “Our restaurant is simply undergoing renovations and upgrades. It’s nothing like you imagine. Don’t worry, we’ll reopen in a few days.”

Of course, the reporters didn’t believe him. They went next to the Food Bureau to interview Zhou Guoan.

This time, Zhou Guoan was in high spirits, having caught a real violation. He told the reporters everything in detail. Back at the newspaper office, the journalists immediately began drafting their story.

Because Zhou Guoan had uncovered expired products at Wei Mei Xian, he received praise from Zhang Donglai. “Director Zhou, this is exactly the kind of place we need to inspect. Places like the snack shop, where everything is above board, don’t need scrutiny. Focus especially on these big restaurants—make sure nothing slips through.”

Zhang Donglai felt that Zhou Guoan had handled the matter brilliantly. After all, there were orders from above; if anything happened with expired products, the higher-ups would come after Zhang Donglai. “Understood, Chairman Zhang. I’ll be sure to conduct more thorough checks in the future,” Zhou Guoan replied, beaming with pride.

The next day, the newspaper hit the stands, and everyone’s eyes were drawn to the front-page headline: “Why Did Wei Mei Xian Use Expired Products? Who Will Guarantee Customer Safety?”

Chen Huajiang sat at the entrance of his snack shop, legs crossed, thinking, “So even in this era, there are sensational headlines. Just this one line is enough to ruin Wei Mei Xian.”

Sure enough, after reading the news, many customers criticized Wei Mei Xian. It seemed unlikely the restaurant would reopen anytime soon.

Feng Weizhi was beside himself with worry. Wu De and Gou Weidong, of course, had seen the news as well. Just days ago, Feng Weizhi had visited them, and now this had happened—it was quite a shock.

Most notably, the paper even included an interview with Zhou Guoan.