The village beauty and me!

Upon hearing Chen Huan's assessment of the severity of the situation, Qiao Lingling turned pale with fright.

Despite her usual bickering with the old man, she burst into tears at this crucial moment.

The staff members standing nearby, at a loss for what to do, were also pale-faced.

"There are security cameras in the kitchen."

"Was the old man arguing with them just now? He's in mortal danger now, and it might be too late to get him to the hospital," Chen Huan said very seriously while continuing to channel his inner energy.

"It's for surveillance purposes. If anything happens to my dad, none of us here today will survive!" Qiao Lingling clenched her fists, her eyes practically spitting fire.

"Young lady, please calm down."

"I think the old man probably had a heart condition to begin with?"

"We were just being responsible for our work, but he was just too hot-tempered," a staff member stammered as he tried to explain.

If she hadn't had to help support her father, Qiao Lingling probably would have already grabbed the kitchen knife.

At this moment, he cursed in a low voice, "You bastard, the surveillance cameras recorded it clearly. Did you touch him just now?"

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The man's face immediately turned even uglier, and he dared not reply.

Someone tried to call for emergency medical assistance, but Chen Huan did not stop them.

Next, he said to Qiao Lingling, "The old man absolutely cannot be disturbed right now. Please help me find a place to rest."

"If I'm lucky, I might be able to save my life."

When he spoke, Qiao Lingling was so frightened that she couldn't move.

It wasn't until Chen Huan turned around and secretly winked at the staff that they saw him.

Qiao Lingling suddenly realized that Chen Huan had said that just now to scare her.

Qiao Lingling actually knew her father's situation quite well.

The old man does have some heart problems, but it's not that serious.

I was probably a little angry and anxious today, which triggered my illness, but after Chen Huan's simple treatment, my heartbeat seems to have returned to normal.

For some reason, he has been in a coma.

Qiao Lingling felt that Chen Huan must have done something to this.

So, after a long and complicated conversation, she wiped away her tears and said, "Dad, you must hold on. I'll take you to rest."

Next, together with Chen Huan and Xia Xiaozhu, they helped the old man into a small private room next door.

The staff were eager to come in and check the situation, but several chefs immediately grabbed their cleavers and ladles to block them.

He shouted angrily, "You bastards! You've angered our old man to this state, he's almost dead, and you still want to make things worse?"

The staff members, who had previously been so assertive, now stood obediently outside the door, sighing and complaining.

The door to the private room closed, and Chen Huan patted the old man on the shoulder, who immediately opened his eyes.

"Dad, are you alright?"

"Why did you pretend to be unconscious if nothing was wrong? You scared me to death." Qiao Lingling lowered her voice, bursting into tears of joy.

Qiao Zhenshan looked strange. "Actually, the moment Chen Huan'an placed his hand on my chest, I completely recovered."

"But when he said it was serious, I had no choice but to go along with it."

"Otherwise, could we temporarily stabilize the situation outside?"

"I never thought that after living most of my life, I, Qiao, would have to resort to such means. It's truly a disgrace to my reputation in my later years."

Chen Huan raised an eyebrow and said, "This is called going with the flow. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Grandpa, you don't need to take it too seriously."

"What's going on with those people outside? Weren't they supposed to be here for an inspection?"

"Why restrict people's freedom when you can just test the fish directly?"

Qiao Lingling gritted her teeth. "I even doubted whether they were legitimate. However, I saw their credentials and asked around beforehand. This time, almost the entire department mobilized."

"This shows that the people who want to mess with us are quite capable."

Qiao Zhenshan sighed again, "Although their work process is too strict, it is not a violation of regulations overall."

"After all, they are government employees. In this day and age, no one dares to openly overstep their authority or engage in favoritism and corruption."

"The problem is that we shouldn't have gone against our previous principles and made the store too successful."

The saying "a tall tree catches the wind" is no exaggeration.

"Now that they're doing this testing, it's like they've shut the store down."

"I don't know how long we'll have to investigate."

He snorted. "I saw they brought all that equipment; why not just test it on the spot?"

"My ingredients are absolutely fine. If they actually find anything wrong with them, that would be a miracle."

Qiao Lingling chimed in, "That's right, true gold fears no fire. After what we just did, they're starting to have some reservations."

"I definitely won't dare to go too far next time; I just need to get through this period."

The old man shook his head repeatedly, "You are all still young."

"I only said they wouldn't break the rules, but I didn't say they would create problems."

"The reason I argued with him just now was because they wanted to get to the bottom of things and find out where these fish originated, right?"

"Chen Huan has always kept this matter very secret. Now, to prove that the ingredients are safe, are we really going to reveal the location of the farm?"

Chen Huan smiled and said, "Grandpa, you're worrying too much."

"I didn't want to reveal where I kept the fish before, purely because I was afraid of trouble. I wasn't worried at all about my secret of keeping fish being discovered."

"If they want to go, I'll take them."

"Anyway, don't worry about this. Just stay here and rest. If they ask you anything, just faint, understand?"

Qiao Zhenshan struggled to get up, but Chen Huan persuaded him to stay down.

"Chen Huan, how can I possibly thank you enough?"

"It was clearly because our competitors were jealous of us that we ended up causing you trouble. I shouldn't have been so greedy in the first place. I'm so sorry."

Chen Huan clicked his tongue. "There's something you don't know yet. Actually, the people from that restaurant in the next town have already found the place where I raise fish."

"What? They talked to you, or do they have some other purpose?" Qiao Lingling and her father were both a little nervous.

Chen Huan briefly recounted the story of the fish thief from the previous night.

"They steal fish in order to study their secrets, and may even try to replicate them. In today's society, there are many people who specialize in this," Qiao Zhenshan said, still worried.

Chen Huan said nonchalantly, "They can't copy it, not even if the sky falls."

"In short, this matter is no longer just a conflict between you two. I have already made enemies with them, so there is no question of being implicated or not."

"I'm going out to negotiate with them now. You two stay here and pretend to be sick while you watch the show."

Chen Huan offered a few words of comfort, then pushed open the door and walked out.

The chefs standing at the door immediately made way.

Now they all regard Chen Huan as their backbone.

A man who looked like a junior manager approached with a beaming smile, "Young man, what's your name?"

"My name is Chen Huan. What do you do?" Chen Huan replied irritably.

"This is Section Chief Liu from our unit. Watch your tone." A tall man with a burly face, not wearing a work uniform, glared at Chen Huan.

The middle-aged man immediately pushed him aside and said to Chen Huan with a smile, "Don't take it personally, he's our company's driver."

"If there's anything, let's talk it over."

Chen Huan came out deliberately to cause trouble. Ignoring the middle-aged man, she pointed at the driver and said, "You bastard, trying to pull this 'using someone else's power' trick on me?"

"You're not a full-time employee, so get out of here right now! The kitchen is a restricted area; do you think trash like you can just come here?"