The kitchen of Jiajia Fast Food Restaurant.
Chef Zhou has been feeling uneasy these past few days, but he doesn't know why, so he can only guess wildly in his mind.
At 3 p.m., the number of customers dwindled, and the work in the kitchen came to a temporary halt, giving us a little time to slack off.
Old Zhou took off his apron and hung it on the wall. The hook on the wall was a little loose, so he pressed it down hard and stuck it back on the wall firmly.
He took a pack of cigarettes out of the bag, put it in his pocket, and walked into the alleyway in the back street.
The walls on both sides of this alley are covered with all kinds of electrical wires, and bags of garbage waiting to be disposed of are piled up at many doorways.
Apart from Lao Zhou and other employees who work in the restaurant, no strangers come here.
Therefore, this is also a good place for Lao Zhou and his group of cooks to smoke and chat.
When Lao Zhou arrived at the large rock at the end of the alley, he found Lao Qian, the chef at Hao You Lai Fast Food Restaurant, already smoking.
Old Zhou lit a cigarette, sat down next to Old Qian, and they both puffed away happily.
After they finished their cigarettes, the two finally started chatting.
“Old Qian, have you noticed anything wrong lately? I keep feeling uneasy.”
Old Qian took out another cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled the smoke, saying, "Speaking of which, I have indeed noticed something amiss."
"Hmm? Is something wrong? Tell me quickly." Old Zhou urged him hurriedly upon hearing this.
"About six months ago, I felt that the quality of the meat I bought was a bit poor. And it was all sold in bulk, without packaging, so I didn't know where it came from or what the dates were," Old Qian said, taking another drag of his cigarette.
"The meat didn't seem to have any problems, so I didn't pay much attention. But these past few days I've noticed that there are occasionally one or two pieces of plastic packaging left in the meat. It's obvious that it's packaged food that has been opened and brought back, but there's no information on it so I can't tell anything."
Um?
Old Zhou fell into deep thought.
For the past week or so, the meat that the store has been buying seems to be sold in bulk.
However, bulk prices are cheaper, so there doesn't seem to be any problem in order to save costs.
Although he didn't find anything unusual, Lao Zhou took it to heart and spent the whole afternoon thinking about it.
At 8 p.m., there was only one customer left in the shop. Old Zhou took off his apron, packed up his things, and prepared to leave.
But the hook on the wall came loose again. As soon as I hung the apron up, the hook and the apron fell down together, and even fell into the bags of trash behind the door.
Old Zhou reached out to pick up the apron, but found that the hook seemed to be caught on something and was stuck there.
I'm afraid of tearing the bag if I use too much force, and then the trash will spill all over the ground and I'll have to clean it up.
Helpless, I reached into the garbage bag and pulled it out along with the thing hanging on the hook, only to find it was a packaging bag.
Just as Old Zhou was about to take a closer look, he heard footsteps and voices outside the door: "Old Zhou, what's wrong?"
For some reason, Lao Zhou subconsciously stuffed the packaging bag into his pocket, then raised his voice and replied, "It's nothing, just a hook on the wall fell off."
The person who came in was Xiao Gao. He seemed a little uneasy, so he peeked in to check and found that the hook had indeed fallen off before leaving.
Old Zhou breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the cloth bag, and left the shop.
Back in my rented apartment, I took the packaging bag out of my pocket.
Premium pork belly, weight: 5KG
Production date: February 7, 2009
Shelf life: 12 months.
Old Zhou trembled instantly, his scalp tingled, and a chill rose from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
This meat is two years past its expiration date?
They used meat that was two years past its expiration date to make dishes and even sold them!
Old Zhou recalled an experience he had shortly after starting his career.
Someone in the shop next door got food poisoning and was found to have used expired ingredients. The entire shop, from the owner to the waiters, ended up in jail.
Later, Lao Zhou quit his job, while the boss and the chef are still in jail.
This is illegal and criminal!
If you get caught, even if you don't know anything, you still can't escape responsibility!
What should we do? What should we do?
Old Zhou panicked; his hand holding the packaging bag trembled violently.
No, I can't do this job, I absolutely can't do it!
Run away, yes, run away, we have to run away!
I'm going to run away tomorrow.
No, I have to run away tonight, I have to run away tonight!
There was no contract signed back then; it was all verbal agreement. Now that I want to run away, there's no need to mention resigning; I can just leave. As for the pay for the days I worked this month, it's not worth it compared to going to jail.
Otherwise, once you're in jail, having a lot of money won't help.
So, Old Zhou rushed to a small hotel in the next town that very night. After checking into his room, his heart, which had been restless for several days, finally settled down.
The next morning at six o'clock, Xiao Gao arrived at the restaurant to open the door, but after waiting for a while, Lao Zhou still hadn't shown up. He made several phone calls, but no one answered, and eventually, the call was hung up on.
Does this mean they're quitting or what?
The proprietress is still lying in the hospital bed. What on earth did Old Zhou do?!
We waited and waited, but he didn't come. We can't just close for the day, can we? If the boss's wife finds out when she gets back, she'll skin us alive!
Xiao Gao is indeed quick-witted; he immediately thought of a fellow villager who had asked him a few days ago if he had any chef job offers.
Why don't we let him come and fill in for us?
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