Chapter 30 Those who harm others will ultimately harm themselves.
"Uncle Wang, this pancake..." Nurse Li leaned closer to smell it, her brows furrowing involuntarily. "Something doesn't smell right. Yesterday's smelled so good with soy sauce, but this one has such a pungent odor?"
Grandpa Wang's smile froze for a moment, then wrinkles gathered again: "Oh dear, Nurse Li, you're so uninformed! I'm using premium dark soy sauce, much more fragrant than that young girl's regular soy sauce! Look at the color, so perfect!" He picked up a piece of bread and broke it open forcefully, "Smell it, the aroma of this soy sauce is so rich!"
Nurse Li took the pancake and hesitated before taking a small bite. The first bite was an explosion of cloying sweetness on her tongue—not the natural aroma of savory sauce, but an overly strong, almost pungent flavor. The crust was crispy, but the inside was dry and hard, like chewing sawdust, completely lacking the soft, layered texture she remembered from yesterday.
"Ugh..." Nurse Li immediately spat it out, her brow furrowed. "Uncle Wang, why does this taste so strange? It's sweet to the point of being bitter, and it has a weird aftertaste..."
Grandpa Wang's face immediately fell, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He forced a smile: "Oh dear, maybe I put in too much sugar. It's a new recipe! Try this one!" He handed over another piece, "Mine is specially made; it smells much better than the one at the hospital!"
Nurse Li took another bite, and her face turned even more pale. This time, she clearly tasted the "technology and ruthless work" flavor—the unnatural umami flavor unique to industrial sauces, cloyingly sweet and overpoweringly fragrant, as if ten seasonings had been haphazardly piled together, completely losing the original taste of the food.
“Uncle Wang, this won’t do,” Nurse Li shook her head, setting the pancake aside. “The taste is too fake. It’s completely different from the one the young girl made yesterday. That savory pancake was fragrant, but the fragrance was natural and pleasant to eat. This one…” she frowned, “It’s unpleasant to eat.”
Undeterred, Grandpa Wang grabbed Nurse Li, who was about to leave, and said, "Don't rush off! I still have some freshly cooked ones here, try them!" He mysteriously pulled a paper bag from under his stall, "This is the best batch I specially saved for you!"
Nurse Li initially wanted to refuse, but couldn't resist Mr. Wang's enthusiasm, so she took a piece. She had only taken one bite when she felt a little uncomfortable in her stomach, but since it was breakfast, she forced herself to eat a few more bites.
Back in the ward, Nurse Li shared the pancakes with several colleagues on duty and ate some herself. Not long after, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her stomach and broke out in a cold sweat.
"Ouch..." Nurse Li clutched her stomach, her face deathly pale. "What happened...?"
Wang Ailan, in the next bed, quickly asked, "Nurse Li, what's wrong?"
"I...I have a stomachache..." Nurse Li curled up in pain on the bed. "It might be...it might be the problem with that pancake..."
Wang Ailan was taken aback, then suddenly remembered something: "Wait! You ate Grandpa Wang's pancake? I smelled something off this morning too! The pancake smelled incredibly strong, completely different from the savory pancake Miss Su bought at the hospital cafeteria yesterday! I was wondering why the taste changed so much overnight!"
Nurse Li suddenly remembered: "Oh right! Wang Ailan, you also bought pancakes at the cafeteria this morning? How were they?"
Wang Ailan frowned: "I originally wanted to buy that girl's savory pancakes, but I found they were sold at a different stall by Grandpa Wang. The smell was off; it was pungent and cloyingly sweet, so I didn't buy any. But the smell was definitely not what Miss Su made! Grandpa Wang insisted that he was selling the girl's pancakes."
"Uncle Wang!" Nurse Li suddenly slammed her hand on the bed. "I'm going to find him! There's definitely something wrong with those pancakes!"
Nurse Li, struggling to stay afloat, limped over to Grandpa Wang's stall. Grandpa Wang was packing up his stall with a worried expression; there were still quite a few unsold savory pancakes left.
"Uncle Wang!" Nurse Li shouted angrily, "What kind of lousy pancakes are you selling! They gave me a stomachache!"
Grandpa Wang turned around and saw it was Nurse Li. He panicked for a moment, but quickly calmed down: "Oh dear, Nurse Li, what's wrong? Who said there was something wrong with my pancake? It smells delicious!"
"Smells good?" Nurse Li sneered. "That's not the savory pancake Su Yingxue made at all! I was wondering why it tasted different this morning, turns out it was you who sabotaged it! I ate your pancake, and now my stomach hurts terribly!"
Grandpa Wang's expression changed for a moment, then he plastered on a smile again: "Oh dear, Nurse Li, you can't say things like that! These are the savory pancakes Su Yingxue made! I... I was just selling them for her! Yes, selling them for her!"
"Bullshit!" Wang Ailan, who had appeared unnoticed, pointed at Old Man Wang's nose. "I smelled it this morning, and it's completely different from Miss Su's! Miss Su's pancakes have a natural fragrance, while yours is pungent and cloyingly sweet—it's not the same at all!"
Grandpa Wang's face flushed red, and he stammered, "You...you don't know anything! I...I used a special sauce! It's much more fragrant than Su Yingxue's!"
"Specially made my foot!" Wang Ailan stomped her feet angrily. "I could smell something was off about it. It's nowhere near as good as the ones Miss Su made yesterday! My son still has a stomachache after eating your pancakes. If you hadn't been causing trouble here today, I would definitely have bought Miss Su's again!"
Nurse Li, clutching her stomach and pale-faced, cried out, "Uncle Wang, I don't care if you're a reseller or not, I got a stomachache after eating your pancakes, you have to take responsibility!"
When Grandpa Wang realized he'd been caught, he panicked and hurriedly waved his hands, saying, "Oh dear, Nurse Li, don't worry, I... I'll go to the hospital with you..."
"Go to the hospital?" Wang Ailan sneered. "First, explain yourself about this fake savory pancake! Why did you impersonate Miss Su's pancake? What are you up to?"
The patients' families and passersby gathered around, chattering amongst themselves. Grandpa Wang's stall was instantly thrown into chaos.
Seeing the situation was turning bad, Grandpa Wang quickly packed up his things and sheepishly pushed his stall cart to run away. Nurse Li and Wang Ailan weren't about to give up, grabbing him tightly: "Trying to run? No way! You'd better explain yourself!"
Just then, Su Yingxue, carrying the freshly prepared lunch (she had even made a few savory pancakes for her grandmother to try), walked over. She had heard the commotion from afar, and upon getting closer, she immediately understood what was going on.
“Uncle Wang,” Su Yingxue said calmly, “why are you doing this? Doing business requires conscience. If you deceive everyone like this, you'll ruin your reputation sooner or later.”
When Grandpa Wang saw Su Yingxue, he was overjoyed, as if he'd seen a savior: "Oh, Miss Su, you've finally arrived! These two insist that the pancakes I sold weren't yours, and that I cheated them..."
Su Yingxue sneered, picked up a savory pancake from Grandpa Wang's stall, then picked up one she had made herself, and said, comparing them, "Look everyone, this is the real savory pancake. Grandpa Wang's pancake is too dark in color, has a pungent aroma, and is dry and hard; it doesn't taste like mine at all."
Everyone crowded around to compare them, and sure enough, they could see the difference. Grandpa Wang's pancake was dark in color and had a strange aroma, while Su Yingxue's pancake was golden and tempting, with a natural and mellow fragrance.
“Uncle Wang,” Su Yingxue said calmly, “I advise you to stick to your cooking business honestly. Honesty is essential in business; you can’t last by deceiving others.”
Grandpa Wang's face turned bright red, and he stammered, unable to speak. In the end, he sheepishly pushed a large pile of pancakes away from the hospital cafeteria and was never seen again.
Nurse Li looked at Su Yingxue gratefully: "Miss Su, thank you so much. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have known there was something wrong with the cake."
Su Yingxue smiled and shook her head: "It's alright, the most important thing is that everyone can eat safely. Just don't buy food from unknown sources in the future."
Wang Ailan nodded in agreement: "That's right, Miss Su, we trust your savory pancakes!"
Su Yingxue smiled. The system notification said she could draw a new snack!
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