Crossing the Mountains

Chapter 76 The target of public criticism
After a while, Xu Guanbai and Shentu Ji's dishes were served. Tan Huaike was asking them if they wanted anything more, saying that if any dish was not to their taste, they could remove it and replace it with something else. Suddenly, there was a commotion in the hall.

Xu Guanbai leaned over to take a look and warned, "It sounds like they are up to no good."

Seeing the commotion growing more intense, Tan Huaike signaled them to eat in peace and then personally went to deal with the situation. Pushing aside two waiters who were trying to soothe the diners with gentle words, she had just reached the table when a wine cup clanged at her feet, splattering the crimson wine down her apricot skirt.

Judging from their appearance, two of the four diners were from Daxuan, and the other two were from the Western Territory. They were dressed decently and neatly, but their unreasonable attitude made them look like hooligans who came to cause trouble.

The man who smashed the wine cup had a Western appearance, chubby and round. He had already stood up. Seeing the owner of the restaurant come out, he shouted loudly, "Everyone says that Yanzhisi has unique flavors. We brothers came here to try it. I didn't expect you to use such rotten food to fool customers."

Tan Huaike was surprised: "Sour? I wonder which dish tasted sour?"

The fat Hu man picked up the dish, poked the spicy lamb trotter with his chopsticks and said, "Just smell the lamb trotters yourself. They're so smelly and stinky. I've been eating lamb for so many years, but this is the first time I've eaten such disgusting lamb trotters! If it's not rotten, what is it?"

Tan Huaike took the dish and saw that a lot of the sheep's trotters had been eaten. He sniffed it carefully and couldn't help frowning.

Even with a slightly stuffy nose, she was able to discern the flavors of the various seasonings and spices thanks to her familiarity with her own ingredients and Uncle Zari's cooking, and quickly identified the problem. But to be on the safe side, she still took a pair of chopsticks and tasted two bites herself in front of everyone.

The first bite was a relatively complete piece of lamb's trotter, dipped in the sauce and tasted it. The second bite was to use chopsticks to remove the surface skin and sauce, and only eat the lamb inside.

"How is it? Boss, tell me yourself, is it rotten or not?" the fat Hu man shouted.

"It's rotten." Tan Huaike replied.

"Okay, since you admit it, then I'll forgive you the money for this meal, and then..."

"Admit it? I just said that this dish of spicy lamb trotters is rotten, but I didn't admit that the problem lies with my food." Tan Huaike picked up another piece of lamb trotter dipped in sauce and held it high for the onlookers to see. "To be precise, it's the sauce on the lamb trotter that has a rotten smell, but the lamb trotter itself is fresh. If you don't believe me, just ask someone to try it."

"The problem is your sauce!" the fat Hu man cursed. "I don't know how long it's been simmering in rotten water. It stinks!"

Since he was running a restaurant business, Tan Huaike had long been on guard against this kind of nitpicking tactics and responded calmly.

She looked at the other three diners making trouble and argued, "All of our sauces at Yanzhisi are made according to corresponding recipes; the flavors simply vary in intensity. Other diners ordered the authentic spicy lamb trotters today, using the same sauce. How come only yours is sour? Furthermore, if our sauce really had such a strong, sour smell, how did you manage to eat most of this entire plate of lamb trotters? Shouldn't you have found it difficult to swallow the first bite?"

"I don't care how it tastes to others, my dish is rotten anyway!" The fat Hu man argued, "My brother has a dull tongue and can't tell whether it's good or bad. He was hungry, so he rushed to eat several bites of the sheep's trotters as soon as they were served. Only then did the rest of us taste it." As he said that, he winked at the diner from Daxuan next to him.

The man understood and suddenly held his stomach and wailed, "Ouch, ouch, my stomach hurts, it hurts so much! Everyone, please stop eating. If you eat Yan Zhisi's food, you'll have to run to the toilet until your legs give out!" After rolling on the spot a few times, he got up and was about to run to the toilet, "I can't hold it any longer, please make way!"

Tan Huaike also gave a wink, and immediately two men held the man.

"What are you doing! Let me go to the toilet!"

"Having an upset stomach is a big deal. How can we be sure that Si will be held responsible?" Tan Huaike clapped his hands lightly, "Agui, bring the anti-diarrhea pills prepared by the herbal medicine shop and give them to this customer first." The waiter named Agui immediately came over with the medicine bottle, and Tan Huaike poured out two pills and handed them over.

"I don't want to take any anti-diarrhea powder. I want to go to the toilet!" The man waved his hand to open the anti-diarrhea pill and struggled, "If you don't let me go, believe it or not, I will..."

"Sir, what are you hiding in your sleeve?" Tan Huaike had already smelled the sour smell on him, and he quickly fished out the small sheepskin bag that had slipped out of his sleeve.

"This is my wine bag, you, give it back to me!" The man was startled and had forgotten about going to the toilet. He reached out to grab the strange wine bag back.

"A wine bag? Such a small one?" Tan Huaike pretended to return it to him, but "accidentally" knocked off the seal of the bag.

A strong foul smell wafted out, making the waiter next to him and the man himself feel nauseous.

Tan Huaike deliberately let the others smell it, then covered his nose and frowned, saying, "Isn't this sac filled with wine? It smells like the same sauce on your plate of spicy lamb trotters... cough cough, it's really... cough cough, it's choking."

It smelled so bad that Tan Huaike, who had already caught a cold, couldn't stop coughing because of the odor.
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The matter is very clear. It is obvious that the four diners deliberately slandered the restaurant by pouring rotten sauce on the dishes, and then turned the blame around and shamelessly blackmailed the restaurant.

Seeing that their accusation failed, the four men grew anxious and gave up pretending to be victims. Instead, they revealed their true rascality and overturned the table in front of them, pouring soup all over the diners around them. They shouted, "How could you have known that you were bullying us so much? Today we are going to teach you a lesson!"

With the commotion getting to this point, the diners in the restaurant were afraid of being affected, so they screamed and fled without even paying for their meals. Only a few diners in the corners and private rooms were left watching the commotion.

Knowing that today's business was doomed, Tan Huaike's face darkened. He angrily shouted, "I didn't say it out loud just now because I wanted to save some face for your boss. Now it seems that you really want to break off relations with me, Yan Zhisi?"

The fat Hu man denied it, "Boss? What boss? I don't understand what you are saying!"

"Don't understand? Then I'll explain it more clearly!" Tan Huaike pointed at him and said, "Take you for example. Do you think I don't know you? You're not some stranger visiting for the first time. You're the brother-in-law of the owner of Hu Ji Restaurant! I saw you on the day our restaurant opened. You ordered more than a dozen dishes and ate them all by yourself. It's hard not to remember you!"

“…” The fat Hu man was speechless.

"And you! Third in command of the Luotian Restaurant, don't think I can't recognize you just because you've stuck a beard on. I went to your house and asked about the price of your Daxuan rice wine. Did you forget?" Tan Huaike pointed at the other two people. "You two look unfamiliar to me. My rough guess is that you're either from Xihe Restaurant or the newly opened Yuchun Restaurant."

“…” The three people’s eyes flickered.

"So, we didn't know that just because our business was booming, we would become the target of public criticism?" Tan Huaike snorted coldly, "You think your business has been affected, so you team up to disrupt my business?"

"We're going to smash your restaurant today!" the fat barbarian said. "We don't want to say anything else, but I'll just remind you that running a business isn't just about opening a shop. If you don't understand the ways of the world, you'll suffer sooner or later!"

Tan Huaike was furious and wanted to step forward to stop them, but was pushed aside and hit the table.

At this moment, a voice sounded leisurely: "I want to see who dares to touch Yan Zhisi."
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　Next chapter: Bold madman, let her go!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)