Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Many restaurants in Ningchuan had heard about what happened over the past two days—some from word of mouth among peers, others from online posts—and they were all buzzing with discussion.

"Why are there so many people filing complaints?"

"Ugh, business is tough. That Zhou's Home-Style Kitchen place wasn't even that bad. The market supervision bureau is really busting their balls over this."

"Blame those influencers for putting these big shots on a pedestal. If they don't fine a few places, they'd look bad."

"How are they not crossing the line? They served spoiled ingredients to customers. Getting fined and shut down is exactly what they deserve." One vendor who couldn't stand the shameless crap some people were talking fired back.

Although some vendors were on the customers' and the bureau's side, quite a few shop owners felt they were being too strict—"a little dirt never killed nobody," so why make such a fuss?

Of course, more vendors stayed quiet, just watching to see if this inspection was a one-off or if more was coming, which would decide their next move.

These vendors had no clue that the food industry's strictest daddy was about to show up.

...

It all started with that phone call from Shen Dongqing. Xiao Ze quickly hooked him up with Jiang Chao.

When Jiang Chao heard Shen Dongqing's list of places to report, he couldn't help but ask how he'd found the problems.

"My sense of smell and taste are pretty sharp, so when I go to a place, even just standing at the door and catching a whiff can tip me off to problems." Shen Dongqing didn't hold back anymore and explained.

"You sniffed out all the problems on that night market street yesterday as well?" Jiang Chao asked.

"Yes." Shen Dongqing nodded.

Jiang Chao was quiet for a second, then told Shen Dongqing to hang tight—he'd get back to him soon.

Shen Dongqing hung up and didn't bother finding another place to eat. Instead, he headed to the produce market. Even though the produce there wasn't exactly fresh, he still picked out two decent-looking potatoes, went home, and whipped up a plate of spicy shredded potatoes to fill his belly.

With a full stomach, Shen Dongqing's frustration wasn't as heavy as before. Thinking Jiang Chao hadn't replied for so long, he wondered if the guy didn't agree with reporting so many places.

The stalls yesterday were one thing, but actually investigating this many restaurants might get him accused of wrecking the restaurant business environment.

Shen Dongqing thought this way because he hadn't been glued to his phone. If he'd seen the reports from local influencers and residents in Ningchuan, he'd realize that his complaints, though a lot, were nothing compared to what the public had filed.

Shen Dongqing was just thinking about whether to pick out the worst offenders to report again when Jiang Chao called and asked him to come to the bureau.

Shen Dongqing didn't overthink it. He grabbed a rideshare and headed straight to the bureau, getting there without a hitch.

As soon as he got out of the car, he saw Jiang Chao waiting for him out front.

"You're here." Jiang Chao said as he led Shen Dongqing inside, but instead of heading to the office area, he seemed to be going somewhere else.

Shen Dongqing was confused, then suddenly froze in his tracks, staring ahead with a look of dread. That smell...

Shen Dongqing held his breath, spun around, and bolted, only daring to breathe again after getting a few steps back.

"You can smell that?" Jiang Chao said, surprised.

"What the heck are you storing in there? That's just..." Shen Dongqing couldn't even find the right words for a moment, then after a pause said, "One breath in there and I'm afraid I'd get poisoned."

"That's where we keep confiscated ingredients. The smell is definitely something, but the fact that you caught it that fast—your sense of smell is seriously impressive." Jiang Chao remarked.

"Mr. Shen, could you take a look at what's wrong with these ingredients?" Jiang Chao said seriously, leading Shen Dongqing into a room where some ingredients looked fresh and normal, but Shen Dongqing could tell something was off.

Shen Dongqing noticed that Jiang Chao seemed to have high hopes for him, and though he was a bit confused, he still pointed out the problems one by one.

Watching Shen Dongqing spot issues with just his eyes and nose that they'd normally need machines to detect, Jiang Chao's eyes lit up. He told Shen Dongqing to take a seat in the lobby and that he'd be right back.

Once Jiang Chao left, Shen Dongqing finally got a chance to look around the bureau. It was his first time there, after all.

As he looked around, Shen Dongqing noticed the staff seemed crazy busy. Cars were coming and going out front, everyone was rushing around, and not a single person came over to ask why he was sitting in the lobby.

Even though Shen Dongqing had never been to the bureau before, he was pretty sure it wasn't usually this crazy.

The staff at the bureau were all slammed. The complaints had died down around four or five in the afternoon, but by morning, they started up again, and they had to drag their tired asses to deal with the problems.

They were short-staffed—really short-staffed. If they could, they'd want to bring in more help.

But where were they gonna find help?

The higher-ups were worried too, but luckily, Jiang Chao brought them a solution.

What the bureau urgently needed was pros who were good at spotting ingredient problems, and those weren't easy to find.

Sure, some people had sharp eyes, but they weren't suitable to come help at the bureau—what if they were in cahoots with certain shops?

The main issue was the time crunch. They could've thought of other options, like hiring more people, but they couldn't just rush recruitment now.

Shen Dongqing, however, could fill in for now.

"Man, there really are hidden gems among the people!" the leader remarked after reviewing Shen Dongqing's performance. "He's also the one who tipped us off about the night market street yesterday."

Jiang Chao nodded. "Right, without him, I wouldn't have been able to clear the entire night market street that fast."

The leader also watched the livestream replay, focusing on how fast Jiang Chao had swept the stalls. If you only looked at Jiang Chao's performance, checking food problems at the stalls seemed easy, but compared to his work at other shops, the difference was obvious.

The former was like solving a problem with the answer key—working backward from the issue to the process, which was easy. The latter was like picking through a messy, tangled problem, searching forever to find the issue—way less efficient.

When Jiang Chao came back and relayed the offer, Shen Dongqing said in surprise, "You want to hire me as a temp?"

"It's a food inspection consultant." Jiang Chao explained. "But technically, it's still temp. You in?"

Seeing Shen Dongqing deep in thought, Jiang Chao got a bit nervous, until Shen Dongqing asked, "How much does it pay?"

Jiang Chao quickly laid out the pay: base salary, plus a bunch of miscellaneous benefits, plus a professional skills allowance—roughly three hundred yuan a day.

"I can do at most four days. No more than that." Shen Dongqing counted his skill cards and said.

He needed to keep one card for cooking his own meals, and the other four he could use to contribute to society and give some shady restaurant owners a taste of reality.

"Alright, anything else you need?" Jiang Chao asked.

"Try to pack the schedule as tight as possible. I want to clear out as many problematic shops as I can." Shen Dongqing added.

Jiang Chao was taken aback. He'd expected Shen Dongqing to ask for something for himself, but instead, Shen Dongqing was adding to his own workload. This guy really cared about food safety!

"Don't worry, I'll set everything up right." Jiang Chao promised.

...

Once he confirmed Shen Dongqing didn't need any rest, Jiang Chao left to put together a team to go with him.

Since Shen Dongqing was an outside hire, his job was only to spot food problems at restaurants; dealing with the shops themselves would be left to others.

Right before they left, Shen Dongqing noticed a guy with a camera who got on the bus with them.

"They're shooting promo footage," Jiang Chao explained when he saw Shen Dongqing staring at the camera. "I've heard some places do regular livestreams, but Ningchuan doesn't do much of that."

Mostly because nobody watches it anyway—the Market Supervision Bureau tried it once or twice, figured it wasn't worth the effort, and dropped it.

"People never really cared much about food safety before, but after this, more people will," Shen Dongqing replied.

On the bus, it was just Jiang Chao and Shen Dongqing chatting; the others were either catching up on sleep or sneaking a curious look at Shen Dongqing before going back to staring into space. It wasn't that they didn't want to be more welcoming to the new guy—they were just wiped.

But it wouldn't take long for them to see how much this new guy could do for them.

The group quickly arrived at the reported restaurant. The person who filed the complaint was still going at it with the staff inside and, seeing the Market Supervision Bureau arrive, lit up with relief and shouted, "Now the bureau's here—let's see you hide your shady tricks now."

The staffer kept a cool face and smiled as the officers walked up.

The second he saw that look on the staffer's face, Jiang Chao knew this was going to be a problem. The guy was way too confident—either the place was spotless, or the problem was hidden really well.

A server came by with a dish, about to set it down in front of the customer who'd been arguing.

Shen Dongqing suddenly stepped in front of them, took a sniff, and frowned. "Do you guys cook with cigarette ash here?"

What?

Everyone whipped their heads around to stare at Shen Dongqing. The customer who'd been talking gave the dish a careful sniff and blew his top.

"Isn't this the dish I sent back and told you to remake? I told you there was a bug in it, and you said you'd cook me a new one—well, now instead of a bug, you've added cigarette ash."

Jiang Chao grabbed the dish and gave it a sniff. The dish was loaded with spices and had a strong smell; whoever did it knew cigarette ash has a very distinct smell, so they didn't dare use too much. If Shen Dongqing hadn't said anything, he never would've caught that smell.

But once Shen Dongqing mentioned it, a closer sniff made it obvious.

The others crowded in to smell it too, staring at Shen Dongqing in disbelief—that guy's nose was insane.

If it was only Shen Dongqing saying this, the other customers might not have bought it, but the looks on the officers' faces couldn't be faked—so yeah, there really was cigarette ash in that dish.

Most of the customers there, except the ones who came in later, already knew about the beef between this customer and the restaurant, so it was pretty obvious where the ash came from—the restaurant was getting back at the customer.

If finding a bug, even a cockroach, in your food was a hygiene problem, then adding cigarette ash was just plain nasty. Who knew if they might accidentally piss off someone at the restaurant and get the same treatment? That was scary as hell.

With everyone watching, Shen Dongqing led the way into the kitchen, Jiang Chao right on his heels. He flashed his badge, then told Shen Dongqing to start the inspection.

The kitchen looked totally normal, but Shen Dongqing started picking out problem after problem. The staff couldn't keep up their cool facade anymore and could only watch as Jiang Chao laid down the final punishment: kitchen shut down, some ingredients seized for testing.

Shen Dongqing stepped out of the restaurant and headed for the parking spot, then suddenly stopped and glanced at the place next door.

It was another restaurant, and it clearly didn't get along with this one—when the officers went in, someone came out to watch the show.

Shen Dongqing figured this was the owner. It wasn't peak hours, so a regular employee wouldn't dare come out and gawk like that.

But didn't he know his own place might have issues? Why risk coming out to watch this?

"This place has problems too—let's just handle it while we're at it," Shen Dongqing said.

The owner at the door locked eyes with Shen Dongqing, felt a chill run down his spine, and watched the whole group head his way.

The owner of the place next door rushed over just in time to see Shen Dongqing and the others walk into the neighboring restaurant. His frustration over his own shutdown instantly faded—if the neighbor got shut down too, he wouldn't feel so bad about it.

The owner waited by the door, and in less than ten minutes, Shen Dongqing came out by himself. The others were still inside handing down the punishment, while Shen Dongqing stepped out to give his brain and nose a breather.

Noticing someone staring, Shen Dongqing tilted his head and locked eyes with a stranger.

No threat.

Shen Dongqing sized him up in a second, gave him a quick look, and went back to clearing his head. He still had a lot more work to do.

Even outside, the smells were still strong. Shen Dongqing took a deep breath, moved off to the side, and a grin spread across his face—the look of a hunter who'd just caught his prey.

...

If some restaurants in Ningchuan had been cocky that morning, by that night, a ton of owners were scared shitless.

Word got around: a restaurant gets reported, the bureau shows up, finds the problem in five minutes, and on the way out, the inspector cleans out every restaurant nearby too.

Word got around: he doesn't even need to step inside or order—he can spot problems just by standing at the door.

Word got around: he's already shut down dozens of places!

Some people weren't scared because they figured they could handle their customers—as long as nobody filed a complaint, they could keep doing business as usual. But now, no report was even needed; the bureau could descend at any moment.

The owners of the shut-down restaurants and some fearful ones formed a group chat to huddle together and figure out what to do. But soon, those who felt they'd been dragged down started furiously cursing the ones who hadn't managed to appease their customers.

"If you'd been more generous, those customers wouldn't have reported. Now look—you're shut down, and you've dragged us down with you."

"What do you mean dragged down? Blame yourselves for being careless. If your place had no problems, would it have been caught?"

"Stop arguing—we're all in trouble. Let's think about what to do."

"What can we do? That guy's nose is better than a dog's, and he knows food handling better than we do. What trick could we pull that he wouldn't see through?"

"Then what?"

"What else? Either gamble that he won't come back to check, or play it straight—worst case, we raise prices a bit."

The speaker was also in despair. Before Shen Dongqing had inspected his place, he thought everyone was exaggerating—how terrifying could one person be?

But when Shen Dongqing walked in and dragged out every problem in the shop—some things even he didn't know about, things the chef had hidden from him—he was stunned. Shen Dongqing had found them all effortlessly.

After witnessing Shen Dongqing's abilities firsthand, he figured that unless the bureau fired him, as long as that man was on the job, he wouldn't dare make a move.

After all, if you know there's a camera above your head, who would dare cheat under it? That'd be suicidal.

Having said that, watching the group chat still bickering, the speaker grew impatient and almost left—they were all a bunch of rabble with no real solutions. He'd be better off playing it straight.

But seeing some people still talking tough, he hesitated and decided to stay in the group.

His ingredient costs had gone up, and his prices weren't low. If others kept cutting corners with cheap ingredients to undercut him, he could report them—that would be a way to eliminate some competitors.

...

Shen Dongqing's speed and precision in sweeping through restaurants created massive deterrence among food establishments, and within the Market Supervision Bureau, he became an awe-inspiring figure.

The leadership had agreed to let Shen Dongqing serve as a temporary consultant but had some lingering doubts—those doubts vanished after watching the footage sent back, replaced only by regret: why hadn't they discovered Shen Dongqing sooner?

"Xiao Jiang, is 'temporary worker' really the right title? Could Shen Dongqing join the bureau full-time?" the leader asked.

Jiang Chao's heart stirred at that. He genuinely felt Shen Dongqing was perfect for the bureau—with him on board, setting aside other issues, food safety would be rock solid.

But from what he knew, Shen Dongqing was a streamer with a decent following. He'd gained that fame in no time, and he'd only make more money going forward.

Sure, a government job is still sought after, but it's just stable; money-wise, it doesn't hold a candle to livestreaming. Even if they handed him a permanent spot, would he even take it?

Jiang Chao cautiously asked Shen Dongqing, and just as expected, Shen Dongqing turned it down.

Hearing that, the leader couldn't help but sigh. Someone with Shen Dongqing's skills was a rare find, but it was obvious he had no interest in joining, or he wouldn't have shot it down so fast.

"Is his stream really that big?" the leader asked curiously.

"He's got a lot of buzz; he's trended a few times," Jiang Chao said.

The leader checked and saw it was true—he'd trended a few times. It was his luck that left the leader speechless.

Call him lucky, and he kept bumping into criminals; call him unlucky, and the criminals had skyrocketed his stream's popularity. It was almost unreal.

But Shen Dongqing's streaming fame gave the leader another idea, but it had only been half a day—not enough data yet. He'd hold off.

Over the next two days, Shen Dongqing led the market supervision officers around Ningchuan, and he became the bane of many restaurant owners' existence.

No, even a ghost wasn't as scary as Shen Dongqing.

The second Shen Dongqing's face showed up at a restaurant door, it spelled big trouble.

Except for a few places that were out of the loop, most owners and staff in downtown Ningchuan had his face burned into their memory.

So much so that when Shen Dongqing finished checking a spot and didn't have time to order delivery, he and the other officers found a decent place to grab a bite.

But the second they walked in, the staff spotted Shen Dongqing, froze, then sprinted off to get the boss.

The boss's heart started racing—were today's ingredients bad, or was someone in the kitchen messing around?

The boss crept over nervously and saw Shen Dongqing ordering. After a careful ask, he found out Shen Dongqing and his crew were there to eat, not inspect.

Oh, that was it.

The boss let out a sigh of relief, wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, and once the food came out, couldn't help asking for a photo.

"A photo?" Shen Dongqing frowned. What was this guy after?

"I, I don't mean anything by it, I just want a keepsake. Your name, we all know it, just..." the boss stammered.

Shen Dongqing nodded, and the boss happily snapped a photo with him and the table of food, even making sure to get the restaurant's unique decor in the shot as a marker. He stared at the photo, thrilled.

This wasn't just a memento—it was like a medal, proof of how great their place was.

Other places might not have been checked because they were clean, or maybe Shen Dongqing just hadn't gotten to them yet, but for Shen Dongqing to actually eat at their place, how spotless did it have to be to earn his seal of approval?

The boss was so wrapped up in his joy that he missed the weird looks from the staff and other customers.

After soaking in the photo, the boss proudly posted it to the group chat.

The group had way more members now than when it first started. A bunch of people in the group were crying—they were the ones who didn't believe the hype and got shut down.

The photo immediately drew replies.

"Old Ding, we know your place is clean, but why you posting a photoshopped pic to flex? What's your deal?"

"What photoshop? I don't even know how to use that. It's really Shen Dongqing eating at my place."

"He actually eats out? Isn't he scared someone will slip something in his food?" someone exclaimed in shock. For every restaurant owner who feared Shen Dongqing, there was one who secretly hated him. If they knew who was eating, some might actually try to mess with his food.

"You'd dare try that? His nose is sharper than a bloodhound's—he can sniff out problems from outside your door. You think he wouldn't smell it in the food? Pulling that stunt is suicide."

Everyone could see Shen Dongqing treated all restaurants the same, no favorites, but if you tried to get back at him like that, weren't you scared he'd come for you?

"Don't forget why he's checking food safety in the first place—it all started with that damn hotpot joint. He's only helping the market supervision bureau temporarily, so he's not gonna target one specific place. But if you pull crap like that, you'd better be ready for him to hunt you down."

Someone warned, worried a hothead might do something stupid, get themselves wrecked, and drag everyone else down with them.

At that, the group went quiet, and nobody dared mention retaliation again.

...

That night, Shen Dongqing showed up on Ningchuan's local news and in the papers—not as the star, of course, but as part of the bureau's food safety crackdown.

Even so, Shen Dongqing's Fame Points received a massive boost, jumping straight to one hundred thousand and still climbing.

Shen Dongqing also got word that tomorrow's shop inspections wouldn't just involve filming material—they'd be livestreamed.

The mention of livestreaming reminded Shen Dongqing that he hadn't streamed in three or four days, and his fans were eagerly waiting.

After confirming the stream time, Shen Dongqing logged into his streaming account and posted a message, telling fans they could check out this official channel to see him.

"Grandma, the streamer you follow is finally broadcasting again! What were you up to, not streaming for so long?"

"Whatever, at least he's streaming now. But what's with this link? This looks like an official streaming account."

"My dear, you've made it big—you're collaborating with the authorities now!"

"But what's the collaboration about? I'm curious."

"This account seems to be Ningchuan Market Supervision Bureau's streaming channel. I remember they streamed before, but it wasn't popular, so they stopped."

"Looking at the preview, it seems to be about livestreaming food safety inspections. Probably because the streamer reported that hotpot place that they invited him to collaborate."

Shen Dongqing replied to a few messages briefly, checked the time—it was getting late, and he had a busy day ahead tomorrow, so he needed proper rest.

Shen Dongqing fell into a deep sleep, and the next morning, he woke up before the alarm even went off.

He looked at himself in the mirror, tidied up a bit, and headed to the market supervision bureau.

Although there was now a livestream, it wasn't much different from usual—at most, there was an extra person explaining things on the side.

Shen Dongqing found it oddly familiar, because that's how he did it when he streamed, though he didn't have to talk as much as this person did.

Just as Shen Dongqing thought that, the conversation quickly turned to him.

The other person asked detailed but rather dull questions. Shen Dongqing could tell the guy was thrown in at the deep end—probably a complete novice.

Shen Dongqing simply had the guy stand beside him, and he'd keep the conversation going, with the other person only needing to explain the why and how, playing off him. The guy realized Shen Dongqing seemed more professional than he was and focused on cooperating.

Shen Dongqing was busy educating the livestream viewers on how to judge ingredient quality and spot problems, which genuinely attracted a lot of people, since this knowledge was practical for daily life.

Many of Shen Dongqing's fans had come just to see him, but as they listened, they started taking notes. Shen Dongqing explained things clearly and thoroughly, far more concise than the pointless short videos from some science accounts.

Regular viewers and fans alike were focused on Shen Dongqing's explanations, not noticing how fast he inspected restaurants or how cooperatively the owners accepted their penalties—they just took it as normal.

In their eyes, if these people had done wrong and been caught by the authorities, of course they'd admit it honestly. How could they argue? But they had no idea how shocked enforcement officers from other cities were watching this.

No arguments, no stalling at all—were people in Ningchuan really this obedient?

Some viewers were not ordinary passersby; they were staff from food establishments in Ningchuan. As capable as Shen Dongqing was, three days had only allowed him to cover a fraction of the shops, and some had yet to be visited.

All the staff at these shops had heard of Shen Dongqing, but none knew how he conducted food safety inspections. When they learned that the Market Supervision Bureau was hosting a livestream this time, they were somewhat curious.

The owners had also ordered their staff to make time to watch, no matter what, and see how Shen Dongqing uncovered food safety issues, hoping to catch any tricks or loopholes.

But as they watched, these people went quiet. Even the bosses who had been shouting that it was just bad luck for other shops had nothing left to say.

Is this guy even human?

"Boss, what do we do now?" a cook asked the boss after watching one shop get inspected.

The boss wanted to say "keep doing what we're doing," but he didn't dare. After a moment's hesitation, he said, heartbroken, "Close the shop first, get rid of those things, and then reopen later."

It wasn't just one boss making this decision. Even some shops with less severe issues decided to thoroughly clean up their kitchens, determined not to cause any food safety problems. The Market Supervision Bureau's goal had been achieved.