Chapter 698
At lunchtime, at Su Ji Food Shop, the air was filled with the aroma of marinade. Several electric fans dispelled some of the heat, making the diners more enthusiastic about chatting.
"Do you know about the poisoning incident at the restaurant in the west of the city?"
"I know. Look at what's written in the newspaper. Isn't that what's being reported? 'Unscrupulous restaurant adds poppy shells, harming the health of hundreds of diners.'" said Mr. Zhang, who was wearing reading glasses, while patting the newspaper.
"Is this considered poisoning? They didn't eat dead bodies, did they?" someone asked.
Before she finished speaking, the woman with a permed hair sitting diagonally across from her put down her enamel cup with a thud:
"Of course not! That's opium! If you really get addicted, life would be worse than death!"
"It's been open for so long, there must be a lot of people who have eaten there. I wonder what it will be like."
"The newspaper said they didn't use purified ingredients, but only a very small amount, just for the marinade, and it was diluted. If you don't consume large quantities of it long-term, it's generally not a big problem; just stop eating it."
However, there are indeed more than a dozen customers who often ate at his restaurant and their health has deteriorated and they need to go to the hospital for treatment, and his family has to pay compensation.
Look, it says below that if anyone else becomes unwell after eating their food, they can go to the police station and report it.
After going to the hospital for examination and confirmation, the medical expenses will be paid by their family."
Aunt Wu said with lingering fear: "Luckily, we all eat Su Ji's braised food. It's very clean here. Otherwise, we would have suffered the same fate as those people."
"When doing business, you have to be like Boss Su and be conscientious! Those who take crooked paths will get their comeuppance sooner or later!" An old customer gave a thumbs up.
…
At this time, Su Miao was visiting Wei Siya who was hospitalized in the hospital.
Wei Siya was lying on the hospital bed, still receiving an IV. The IV tube extended from the needle on the back of her hand to the hanging glass bottle. The medicine was falling drop by drop, creating tiny ripples at the bottom of the bottle.
In just a few days, his complexion has improved a lot thanks to targeted treatment, but if he wants to fully recover, he has to take it slowly.
Siya's mother said, "Miaomiao, thanks to you and your father for discovering the problem with the food in time and calling the police to investigate, otherwise, who knows how long it would have taken for them to be discovered."
"Auntie, we just happened to meet by chance. Siya told us that the braised food there is delicious. We happen to make braised food at home, so we wanted to try it.
My dad and the store employees were all fine after eating it, but I was the only one who was allergic to this ingredient, so I found out about it.
I heard from Siya that you and your uncle had eaten their braised food before. Are you feeling unwell?"
"We're fine, because we've been on business trips all the time for the past six months and haven't eaten much. Sigh, it's just hard on Siya. When we're not around, she has to go to that restaurant every day for dinner."
Her body was broken and we thought it was due to too much stress. The doctor said that because of the opium, she had no appetite for a long time and irregular diet, which damaged her stomach. Now, in addition to overcoming the withdrawal reaction, she also needs to take care of her stomach and intestines.
Su Miao took Wei Siya's hand and asked, "Withdrawal reaction? Is it very uncomfortable?"
"It's quite uncomfortable, and I feel like there are countless ants crawling inside my heart, but I endured it and the reaction became weaker day by day. I feel much better after taking the medicine. I believe I will be better soon.
I received the admission letter from Xi'an University yesterday. I must get better before school starts, after all, I still have military training!"
Wei Siya said with a smile, her smile returning to its former ease, without the previous gloom.
"Really! Congratulations, Siya! Get well soon! So you can start your new college life!"
…
Two days later, Officer Wei went to Su Ji for dinner in plain clothes and talked to Su Miao about the results of the investigation.
He chose a table against the wall, his dark blue shirt stained with dark marks from sweat.
Su Yuanzheng brought the food over personally and also served a bowl of mung bean porridge from his own refrigerator.
He took a sip of mung bean porridge. The heat he had accumulated after running outside all day subsided a little.
“The owner of that shop said that the recipe for making braised food was indeed handed down from their ancestors, but they were missing a part and they had never been able to make it.
I had the chance to eat your braised food before, and it reminded me of the incomplete braised food recipe at home. Then I tried it slowly at home, and it took me almost two years to make delicious braised food.
They rented a shop and originally planned to do business properly, but unfortunately, when they were cleaning the shop, they found a small bag of poppy shells left by the previous tenant.
It was not used at the beginning, but as you can see from their environment, it is unhygienic and some customers got diarrhea after eating it.
They heard that adding poppy shells would enhance the aroma and cure diarrhea, so they put it in. Later, they found the effect was good, so they started looking for channels to buy it themselves.
Su Miao asked: "Cure diarrhea? Does it really have this effect?"
"Opium does have a certain effect in preventing and treating stomach upsets, but it's hard to say whether it can increase the olfactory aroma.
But according to their experiments, adding poppy shells to the brine not only did not improve the taste, but instead made it bitter, so they added more rock sugar.
Su Miao was very disgusted with their behavior: "Oh, no matter what the reason is, it is a crime. Even if they just wanted to cover up their own hygiene problems at the beginning.
But the continued use was definitely due to the addiction to opium and the desire to increase repeat customers. Whatever the motive, it is despicable.”
Officer Wei took a sip of tea and said seriously, "Yes, no matter what the purpose is, as long as it breaks the law, you have to pay the price."
"Then...what about those who supplied them with poppy shells?" Su Miao asked.
Officer Wei's eyes flashed with a sharpness as he said, "We've already traced the cause and found out it's a gang that specializes in smuggling poppy shells from the Yunnan border.
We have already sent colleagues there to work with local authorities to apprehend them. If we can catch them all this time, we will have eradicated a threat to the people."
After this incident, the health department quickly launched a special rectification campaign in the catering industry and conducted surprise inspections of key places such as braised food stores and hot pot restaurants throughout the city.
I am not afraid of inspection at Su Ji, but it may not be the same for other stores.
One after another, businesses have been found to have hygiene issues. Although no cases of adding banned items have been found, other non-compliances also need to be rectified.
At one time, many restaurants closed down for rectification, but Su Ji, which could not be traced, became more famous and its business was more prosperous.
Many regular customers who come here every day don't mind traveling across districts to buy braised food when they want to eat it. Su Ji relies on its own strength to turn other people's misfortunes into its own blessings.
Su Miao took the opportunity to market his business. In order to express condolences to the consumers who were victims of the "opium additive case", any customer who came to the store with a personal diagnosis test report and ID card could receive a bowl of mung bean porridge, which has the effect of relieving heat and detoxifying in traditional Chinese medicine.
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