Chapter 83 - 82: An Important Matter

Chapter 83: Chapter 82: An Important Matter

Liu Hui Chun cleared his throat, put on his reading glasses, and began to speak slowly. "This elimination is based on a comprehensive evaluation of hygiene, ingredient utilization efficiency, customer feedback, and food quality across all stalls. We scored every stall comprehensively. According to the bottom-place elimination system, the bottom twenty percent of the stalls will be cut."

The atmosphere in the room instantly grew tense.

Chen Momo did a quick calculation. Twenty percent of a total of thirty stalls meant six would have to go.

She glanced at Zhang Wanwan, only to see her looking proud and utterly confident. Zhang Wanwan’s Japanese ramen was nothing short of stunning. Furthermore, her stall had only opened recently, so it probably wouldn’t be included in the elimination assessment.

Liu Hui Chun’s voice rang out as he began to read. "Number Twenty-Five, the Poached Sliced Pork stall."

Stall Twenty-Five was run by a married couple. Upon hearing their number called, the blood drained from both of their faces. To cut costs, the couple used inferior oil for their poached pork. There were only a few meager slices of meat in the dish, while the rest was padded out with tofu skin.

The couple stood up, their faces filled with desperation as they pleaded. "Base Commander, Accountant Liu, we didn’t know how to run a business before! We wouldn’t dare cut corners again. Please give us a chance to turn over a new leaf!"

But Liu Hui Chun remained entirely unmoved.

"The meat you used for your poached pork was injected with water. To save on meat, you added a massive amount of tofu skin to the dish. Many customers reported that your soup base tasted off, and you failed the random hygiene inspection. You didn’t wash your dirty pots and bowls promptly; instead, you let them pile up like a mountain, severely impacting the cafeteria’s image. Therefore, your stall is being revoked."

Upon hearing this, the couple burst into tears right then and there. They had spent all their savings to rent the stall. Now, just as they had finally broken even, their business was being forcibly shut down. After months of grueling hard work, they had lost everything overnight and were right back where they started.

Next, Liu Hui Chun called out the following number. "Stall Thirty-Eight, the Chicken Leg Rice stall."

The owner of the Chicken Leg Rice stall was a middle-aged man. Hearing his stall named, he clasped his hands together tightly, overcome with nerves. His face turned pale, and he looked completely lost and flustered.

Liu Hui Chun stared at him expressionlessly and asked, "What kind of chicken do you use for your chicken rice?"

"V-vegetarian chicken," the owner replied weakly.

"Are vegetarian chicken and real chicken the same thing?" Liu Hui Chun retorted. "You deep-fried soy products, coated them in heavy seasonings, and disguised them as chicken. But what you’re selling isn’t chicken at all; it’s fake. I’ve already received several complaints about your stall. Selling mock chicken under the name and price of real chicken is a strict violation of our base’s regulations. Therefore, your stall is revoked."

Crying foul, the chicken rice owner immediately tried to explain himself to Liu Hui Chun. "Accountant Liu, you’ve misunderstood! I always sold real chicken rice before! It’s just that I recently ran out of chicken and couldn’t find a new supplier in time, so I temporarily used vegetarian chicken as a substitute for a few days! I didn’t mean to deceive the customers! Give me a few more days, and once I find new chicken ingredients, I will definitely sell real chicken!"

However, Liu Hui Chun remained deadpan. "It’s too late. The cafeteria doesn’t care whether you sold real chicken before or not. Once you are caught selling fakes, we assume that everything you sold previously was fake as well."

The middle-aged man wanted to cry but had no tears left. He kept repeating, "It’s a misunderstanding. I sold real chicken before. I only used fake chicken temporarily for the past few days..."

He had used a type of vegetarian chicken that tasted remarkably like the real thing. He never expected that picky diners would still figure it out. Now, it was far too late for regrets.

Chen Momo held her breath and concentrated, listening as Liu Hui Chun continued to read the rest of the list. Her stall was Number Fifty-Two. She heard Liu Hui Chun read the next number: "Number Fifty-Eight."

Chen Momo and Xu Xiaoka both let out a sigh of relief. This meant that their Stall Fifty-Two had been skipped over.

The reason the cafeteria only had a little over thirty stalls while the numbers went up into the two hundreds was because there were three more floors above the first-floor cafeteria that had yet to be opened. Currently, only the thirty-plus stalls on the first floor were in use. As for the numbering system, it was arranged by the base. To this day, Chen Momo hadn’t figured out the rules behind their stall assignments. Regardless, the order was completely jumbled.

Once all six eliminated stalls had been announced, Liu Hui Chun continued calling numbers. "Number Fifty-Two and Number Sixty-Six—"

Chen Momo’s heart instinctively leaped into her throat.

From Number Sixty-Six, Zhang Wanwan gave a calm, faint reply, "Here." She looked perfectly composed, completely unfazed by either favor or disgrace.

Thinking her stall had committed some sort of offense, Chen Momo quickly spoke up. "Stall Fifty-Two is here."

Liu Hui Chun glanced at Zhang Wanwan, then looked at Chen Momo. The stern expression he had worn just moments before vanished, replaced by an amiable smile.

"Both of your stalls have performed exceptionally well. The base has high hopes for you. Comrade Zhang Wanwan was once the owner of a chain of a hundred Japanese restaurants and makes excellent Japanese cuisine. Comrade Chen Momo has years of experience as a housewife; she takes cooking very seriously and maintains top-notch hygiene. She has always been the gold standard for our cafeteria stalls."

After Liu Hui Chun finished his praises, everyone’s eyes turned toward Chen Momo and Zhang Wanwan. For a moment, the two women became the absolute center of attention.

Zhang Wanwan was clearly used to living in the spotlight. She offered a poised, subtle smile and said calmly, "Thank you for the praise, Accountant Liu. I will definitely keep working hard to make my Japanese ramen stall the absolute best—"

With that said, she gave Chen Momo an indifferent look and added, in a tone that wasn’t overtly hostile but carried an undeniable undercurrent of provocation, "I strive to surpass Comrade Chen Momo’s Pickled Fish stall and become the new gold standard for our cafeteria."

Xu Xiaoka curled his lips in dissatisfaction and muttered, "She just got here, and she’s already talking so big! Even if she really was the boss of a hundred Japanese restaurants, there’s no need for her to push people around so passive-aggressively!"

Faced with Zhang Wanwan’s provocation, Chen Momo naturally wasn’t going to show any weakness. She also smiled faintly, meeting Zhang Wanwan’s proud gaze, and said evenly, "Thank you for the recognition, Accountant Liu. I will definitely continue to perfect my pickled fish and strive to make Stall Fifty-Two the eternal gold standard of our base’s cafeteria."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Chen Momo felt a chilling, murderous aura radiating from Zhang Wanwan’s eyes across from her. Refusing to back down, Chen Momo met Zhang Wanwan’s gaze head-on. As their eyes locked, it was as if countless hidden blades were clashing between them, striking up a flurry of sparks.

Entirely oblivious to the secret war already waging between Chen Momo and Zhang Wanwan, Liu Hui Chun nodded in satisfaction and said, "Excellent. Regarding your two stalls, I’ve discussed it with the Base Commander, and we have one more announcement to make."