Chapter 2986: 2786 Mainly Earning Subsidies

The thin man saw Su Yun stride over, his face changing instantly; he was about to use his body to shield the cardboard box when he felt a sudden sensation of weightlessness.

"Don't move." Fan Tian Shu grabbed his collar and lifted him up effortlessly.

The collar tightened around his neck, and before the thin man could react, his body had already been shifted over a meter, after which Fan Tian Shu set him down steadily.

The thin man's face looked grim; what kind of background does this security‑uniformed person have, so fierce! Just now, when he lifted himself, his arm seemed straight, not bending at all.

"Brothers, we…" the thin man tried to explain, but in an instant he saw the box opened and an honest‑looking young man pull out a brass tray.

"It doesn't feel like it was just washed," Zheng Ren said, sliding his finger over the brass tray.

"Impossible, how could they give students something like this?" Su Yun said. "Students usually use stainless steel; this is for leaders."

Hearing this, the thin man burst into tears; this person who seemed unreasonable was actually perceptive.

"It's not about the utensils; what about the faucet?" Zheng Ren asked.

The thin man immediately replied, "Sir, we use high‑quality 304 stainless steel faucets……"

"That shouldn't be the case either," Su Yun said after looking around. "All pure copper faucets have plating on the outer layer to prevent the inner brass from corroding and rusting. Kitchen fumes are heavy, plus the grease and detergent on hands when washing dishes, so the faucet often needs cleaning."

"Yeah, yeah, if you don't clean it properly, you're likely to damage the plating, causing the faucet to corrode and rust." The thin man, regardless of whether anyone listened, immediately said, "Only cheap‑showy renovations use copper faucets; we all use stainless steel."

"Steel faucets need no plating, they hardly rust, and their hardness and toughness are more than double that of copper products, making cleaning very easy. I see the back kitchen uses only this type, with no copper exposed."

After Su Yun finished speaking, he walked to the side where rice was stored.

"Not bad, the rice is near expiration but not yet expired," Su Yun said, finding the label, "and the production date isn't fake."

Zheng Ren took all the brass trays out of the cardboard box and examined them closely, eyes narrowed, as if pondering something.

"The vegetables are a bit wilted, but not moldy," Su Yun said. "Let's wait for the disease control people to come and take samples."

"That's unrelated; which vegetables absorb more copper?" Zheng Ren muttered.

"There are plenty, but unless it's vegetables grown on copper veins, that amount wouldn't cause acute poisoning." Su Yun said, "Boss, you overestimate the school cafeteria; they certainly don't use only fresh ingredients for every meal—they likely bought a batch and used it for a week. Look at the vegetables; they're definitely not being eaten for the first time today."

"No, we use them for two days!" the thin man protested.

Su Yun didn't even glance at him, went to the freezer, opened it, and took out the meat inside to have a look.

"It's flash‑frozen, not exactly fresh, but still decent."

"Our meat comes from the big ranch……" the thin man defended.

No matter what he said, no one paid attention; Zheng Ren and Su Yun searched everywhere, while Fan Tian Shu kept the crowd under control, so nobody dared to move a bit.

Lin Ge watched Zheng Lao Ban and Su Yun, wearing sterile gloves, searching all the way, and inwardly smiled bitterly, wondering why they bothered.

Put nicely, it's a childlike heart; put harshly, it's meddling like a cat catching mice. In other words, they're capable; if their ability were even slightly less, handling things this way would have gotten them killed long ago.

After more than ten minutes, people from the branch bureau and the health bureau arrived one after another, but Zheng Ren and Su Yun found nothing.

The disease control personnel took samples back for inspection; Su Yun looked puzzled at the thin man and asked, "I don't see any major issue—why are you all so tense?"

The thin man stared for a moment, then said with a mournful face, "There's no such thing as a flawless back kitchen—we're not even talking about the school's; even at home, seeing a cockroach in the kitchen isn't normal."

"And then?" Su Yun pressed.

"Hey kid, don't interrupt me; I'll be frank—we don't make money from the students' meal fees." The thin man said, "The school has subsidies; we mainly earn from that subsidy. Making money now is tough, and who knows how many eyes are watching the contracted cafeteria—one slip and you get reported directly, my brother‑in‑law……"

As he spoke, he realized he had let something slip.

"Hehe, no problem," Su Yun said with a smile. "Not going to cause trouble for your brother‑in‑law, right?"

"Earning a bit less is fine, after all there are subsidies. I also have several hundred hectares of land outside that I've contracted. In a typical year, grain doesn't make money; the main profit comes from national subsidies." The thin man said.

"Buddy, you're not short of money, big landlord! Why are you still running the cafeteria?"

"……" The thin man closed his mouth.

"This money's easy to earn, you don't have to tell me—I know, and the school's subsidy is generous." Su Yun muttered to himself while searching around.

The back kitchen basically had no copper utensils; after searching for half a day, they found no clues.

Su Yun also couldn't be bothered to chat with the thin man; he and his boss searched again, saw the disease control staff taking samples, preparing to go back for testing, and he bumped Zheng Ren with his shoulder, saying, "Boss, want to step out for a smoke?"

Zheng Ren frowned and nodded.

"Director Lin, this is handed over to you." Su Yun said casually.

Lin Ge sighed, these two bosses are truly impossible to provoke. Following normal procedure… forget it, never mind the normal procedure, as long as they're happy.

No one got beaten up, Fan Tian Shu showed restraint, and Director Lin was quite satisfied.

Zheng Ren was also puzzled; the students' copper poisoning was certain, and the system panel of Big Pig Trotter and the lab test of the 912 inspection department proved it.

As he left, the students' system panels had already begun to show minor changes. The changes weren't big because the drug injected via gastric tube only alleviated symptoms; real treatment still required intravenous sodium dimercaptosuccinate.

Walking out slowly, Zheng Ren pondered all the way where the problem lay.

It's really strange; the collective copper poisoning incident that occurred after students finished their meals in the cafeteria had a clear target, and Zheng Ren thought that as soon as he arrived he could immediately find the problem and solve it.

Moreover, the performance of the principal of Er Zhong was too obvious; all of this pointed to a major problem in the school cafeteria.

But… the cafeteria isn't really problematic; it can't be called good, but it absolutely can't be called bad either. If it were bad, the standard would be too strict—even harsh.

So where exactly does the problem lie?