Chapter 250 - 215: The Test Results Are Out

Chapter 250: Chapter 215: The Test Results Are Out

With something weighing on her mind, Tang Wen showed up at the office at 8:30 AM, ready for the ’important task only she could do’ that Xu An had mentioned the previous night. But she waited and waited. Wang Fulong arrived, then Lu Ziyue, then Gu Jiayi, until the entire office staff was present, yet there was still no sign of Xu An.

She waited until nearly ten o’clock, when the phone on her desk finally buzzed. A message from Xu An had arrived.

She snatched her phone and tapped the message, opening the chat. The instant she saw the details of the task, Tang Wen’s already large eyes widened to three times their normal size!

Yesterday, she thought the "100x compensation" plan was already a huge gamble, but now it seemed Xu An was about to raise the stakes even higher!

The "100x compensation" Xu An had announced yesterday required customers to bring in their receipts to qualify. But most people either refused receipts or tossed them out immediately after their meal; not even one in ten would actually save it. So, while the tactic sounded like it would involve a massive payout, it was, in reality, limited.

But the work task Xu An had just given her stated in no uncertain terms—no receipt needed. The Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant delivery platform had the order information for every single customer, detailed down to the number of orders placed and the amount spent each time. All of it was searchable! People could get compensation just by stating their name! And it would be based on their cumulative spending!

At that moment, no words could possibly describe what Tang Wen was feeling.

Her old employer, Qiansheng Group, had tried to cover things up after the incident at Victory Supermarket, which had left her deeply dissatisfied. Her new boss, on the other hand, was doing the exact opposite. After this crisis, he seemed determined to shout it from the rooftops and attract the whole world’s attention, which filled her with a sense of panic...

’I really want to storm over to Xu An’s house, grab him by the collar, and scream at him to calm down! The results aren’t even out yet! You have to leave yourself an escape route! Where there’s life, there’s hope!’

Rubbing her throbbing temples, Tang Wen let out a soft sigh. As Xu An had instructed, she pulled all the data from the ordering platform’s backend, from opening day to the present, and imported it into a spreadsheet to begin organizing.

Name: Zhang Zhenyi, Purchase Count: 57, Total Spent: 513 yuan;

Name: Han Wei, Purchase Count: 53, Total Spent: 482 yuan;

...

If despair could be summed up in a name, "Tang Wen" would be the most vivid and fitting description.

’One hundred times compensation based on the total amount spent... Forget selling the shop, even if they sold the boss, Xu An, by the pound, they wouldn’t be able to scrounge up that much money...’

Netizen Zhang San.

Ever since Yu Liang had come to his door to pick up the prize he’d won—vacuum-packed dishes from Xu’s Braised Shop—he had been relentlessly refreshing Yu Liang’s account page, hoping to see a new post with the test results.

He kept refreshing, but instead of a new post from Yu Liang, one appeared from the official "Xu’s Catering" account.

"Considering most consumers do not keep their receipts, Xu’s Catering has done everything in its power to compile the transaction records for the vast majority of our customers from the delivery platform’s backend and our cash register’s detailed logs into a spreadsheet..."

The attached image was a photo of a computer screen. Although it had been smudged and blurred in places, Zhang San could clearly see it was a spreadsheet, with every row and column packed with tiny text. The row for the grand total at the bottom of the sheet, however, was completely untouched. It was perfectly clear in the photo—386,523 yuan!

If Tang Wen was filled with despair, then Zhang San was filled with shock and excitement.

He didn’t even have time to leave a comment before he quickly forwarded the post to a friend, bombarding him with a stream of messages.

’Holy shit, look at this! Are they insane?! At 100x compensation, that’s a payout of over thirty-eight million yuan!’

’Over thirty-eight million! That’s more money than I’ll make in my entire life!’

’Is the boss of Xu’s Catering some young master from a big, powerful family?’

’...’

The "Hellish Braised Flavor" was the hook. The "10,000 Yuan First Prize" was the gimmick. The "100x Compensation" was the pyre Xu An had built himself. Yu Liang’s post about his personal test results was the gasoline poured over the wood. And now, this latest post from "Xu’s Catering" was the single lit match tossed onto the gasoline-drenched pile. The resulting inferno broke through all information barriers, soaring into the sky!

Seeing the raging inferno, countless major online influencers, bloggers, and other content creators didn’t hesitate to add more fuel to the fire, wanting it to burn even hotter and for even longer...

Aside from those just trying to ride the hype train, the "Xu’s Catering" account was also continuously posting all sorts of photos and videos.

There were photos taken by Xu Heping of Xu An in patched pants, standing by his tricycle at a construction site entrance as he handed a boxed meal to a worker. There were photos of a sweat-drenched Xu An brandishing a spatula over a wood-fired stove. There were photos of Xu An selecting ingredients in front of the freezers at Bald Chen’s shop. There were photos of Aunt Hong and her team delivering fresh produce to the door of Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant. There were clips from the TV program *A Look Inside Fast Food Restaurants* that featured their shop, and even photos of them supplying meals for the Hai City Machinery Equipment Exhibition...

As these videos and photos emerged, the volume of online debate didn’t diminish, but the level of pure hostility dropped significantly once more.

Netizens used these photos, along with firsthand accounts chimed in by many Hai City locals, to quickly piece together the "origin story" of Xu’s Catering. One user even created a dedicated entry for "Xu’s Fast Food" on an online encyclopedia, compiling all the photos and stories there...

Gradually, online public opinion, which had been a uniform torrent of insults, began to split. A portion of the online community started to feel a sense of compassion for Xu An.

A young man who had started with nothing, built a business from the ground up, sold boxed meals at construction sites, and wore patched-up clothes—no matter how you looked at it, he just didn’t seem like the kind of person who would do something so despicable.

Besides, the price of his boxed meals was absurdly low. Eight yuan for three dishes and a soup? He was clearly just earning his keep through hard work. His restaurant had even been featured on local television, earning praise and an official designation as an "outstanding fast food restaurant"...

If his food really failed to meet standards, yet he still received an official endorsement, it would mean he had an unfathomably powerful background. But what kind of young master with a deep background would ride a rickety old tricycle to a construction site to sell a paltry twenty or thirty boxed lunches when first starting a business?

No matter how you tried to spin it, the conclusions were illogical and contradictory!

With each new post, each netizen’s analysis, and each major blogger jumping in, the waters grew murkier and murkier. People’s opinions were no longer black and white. A growing number chose to remain neutral and wait and see, pending the release of the official test results.

At the same time, a number of "conspiracy theories" began running rampant across the web.

For instance, one theory claimed that the extremely low prices at Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant had drawn the ire of other shops in Hai City, who had joined forces to set him up. Another suggested someone had failed in a hostile takeover of the successful restaurant and was now resorting to underhanded tactics. Yet another proposed that the rapid rise of Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant had "cut into someone else’s cake," and that person was now trying to use this incident to get rid of him...

Of course, there were less favorable speculations too. A tiny fraction of netizens guessed that the entire incident was staged by Xu An himself, for the sole purpose of opening up the sales market for Xu’s Braised Shop...

All of these theories, many from netizens who had never even set foot in Hai City, were presented with such convincing detail, as if the speculators had seen and heard everything firsthand, that it was hard to find any flaw in them.

Many netizens were also making appeals online. "If the test results come back clean, please open a Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant branch in XX City! We need you!"

However, there was a minor, related incident. Yipin Xiang Fast Food Restaurant, which had appeared in the same documentary as Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant and received a ’failing’ grade, was now disgraced on a national level.

It was a classic case of being caught in the crossfire. The poor Yipin Xiang Fast Food Restaurant had become an innocent casualty.

「Outside the Food Supervision Department’s inspection lab.」

After collecting the samples yesterday, Lin Xu Yang and his supervisor had personally delivered them to the inspection department, signing their names on the submission form. Then, the long wait began.

While he waited, Lin Xu Yang stayed busy with other tasks, all while keeping one eye on the inspection lab for any sign of activity.

Just as he was engrossed in his work, he heard footsteps coming from down the hall—a quick, urgent PITTER-PATTER.

Lin Xu Yang looked up at the sound and saw a colleague from his department approaching. His face was a mixture of... excitement? Restraint? Surprise...?

In any case, he wore an indescribable expression as he walked over. He was clearly trying to keep his voice low, but it still came out sharp and high-pitched. "The test results are out!"

Huh?

Hearing that, Lin Xu Yang glanced toward the inspection lab. Through the glass, he could see the fully geared-up technicians still hard at work, and the results basket outside the lab was empty...

"Not our results!" the colleague said, excitement flashing in his eyes as he lowered his voice again. "A blogger took some products from Xu’s Braised Shop to a private lab for testing! That boss is a friend of yours, right? Come on, tell your big bro, is he really some rich young master just out having fun?"

"What ’rich young master’? Have you ever met a rich kid who went half a month without being able to afford a bite of meat?" Lin Xu Yang retorted, taking the phone his colleague held out to him.

A video was playing on the phone’s screen, paused on an image of a man holding a lab report up to the camera with both hands. Lin Xu Yang tapped his finger on the screen. The translucent pause button vanished, the video skipped ahead a second, and a voice emerged from the speaker.

"Friends, after a long five-hour wait, I finally have the test report in my hands! The moment of truth is here, and I’m super nervous. Can you see? My hands are shaking a little. Before I got this, I was so eager for the results to come out..."

After a whole lot of pointless rambling, the man flipped to the final results page of the report and quickly read its contents aloud.

"’...Standard Physicochemical Properties: Sensory, Moisture Content, pH Value... compliant with food safety standards! Nutritional Composition... compliant with food safety standards! Contaminant Limits... compliant with food safety standards!’"

The man showed the entire results page to the camera, from the first line of text to the very last.

"’Of course,’ he continued, ’the production date for these braised items I received was the day before yesterday, while the officials collected their samples yesterday. Therefore, this report I have can only prove that the food produced two days ago is safe. It’s no guarantee for the batch made yesterday.’"

The man lowered the report, and his face filled the frame again. His expression was visibly more relaxed.

"’But seeing this, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. At the very least, this proves that the braised food I ate on day six of my seven-day binge was safe! For now, let’s all patiently wait for the official government results! Alright, friends, that’s it for this video. If I hear any more news, I’ll update you all immediately. Thanks for tuning in!’"

The video’s progress bar reached the end, and the image froze on the man waving goodbye to the camera.

At that very moment, the indicator light above the sealed door of the inspection lab switched from red to green. A hand wearing a rubber glove extended from within and placed a thick report into the empty basket.