Chapter 60 – Returning to Her Not-So-Poor Family

Filed To Story: Returning to Her Not-So-Poor Family

Mirabella walked into the office; the assistant Dean had already laid out the food he had brought back on a small table.

Thirteen dishes in total.

“Ms. Bennett, you’re here?” Dean lifted his head and respectfully said, “This is the food prepared for lunch

Mirabella looked at the food on the table, picked up the fish soup to smell it, then picked up a dish of corn kernels fried with small sausages to examine it, even separating the sausages with a fork.

The color and smell of it cooled her gaze a bit.

“Ms. Bennett, is the food still fresh?” Dean sensed Mirabella’s dissatisfaction.

“Let’s go to the cafeteria.”

Seeing Mirabella rushing towards the cafeteria, a few curious employees sneakily followed.

Mirabella arrived at the cafeteria, and a dishwasher was washing dishes. Two chefs were resting in the outdoor garden.

They saw Mirabella, not knowing who she was, but seeing Dean following behind, they guessed her identity.

It must be the new CEO who recently made the employees nervous – Ms. Bennett.

“Mr. Dean, is this Ms. Bennett?” One of the young chefs extinguished his cigarette on the sole of his shoe and asked.

Seeing Mirabella walk into the kitchen, Dean softly explained, “Ms. Bennett is just looking around. No need to be nervous.”

When Mirabella entered the kitchen, she saw it was dirty and messy. The young chef explained, “We haven’t had time to clean up after cooking lunch. Usually, it’s very clean. Last week, government staff came for inspection, and we got an A rating.”

“Call your manager.”

Hearing Mirabella’s icy voice, the young chef was stunned and quickly said, “Our manager is usually not here…”

“Then ask him to come over.” Mirabella coldly said, “Immediately.”

“Yes…” The young chef was intimidated by Mirabella’s aura and quickly called the manager.

Just a few minutes after the call was made, before the manager had even arrived, Oscar showed up.

“Ms. Bennett seems to have much free time, even coming to the kitchen.”

Oscar received the news and rushed over at top speed, seeing Mirabella looking at the frozen meat in the fridge.

“Ms. Bennett, did you forget? Our cafeteria has been outsourced to a catering company outside. Even if inspection’s needed, it shouldn’t be done by our company’s people.” Oscar said with a smile.

“From a legal standpoint, the company is responsible for the outsourced cafeteria. Mr. Oscar, you’re getting old, and if you don’t understand the law, it’s okay.”

Mirabella lifted her gaze, looking at the man before her with a blank expression and a small smile playing on her lips. “I heard the cafeteria manager is your relative?”

Oscar blinked, letting out a sarcastic laugh. “Does Ms. Bennett have a problem with me? Are you looking to pick a fight with my family?”

Mirabella chuckled softly, glancing up at the surveillance camera. Just as she suspected, the camera had already been switched off.

“Turn the camera on.” Mirabella instructed her assistant.

“Ms. Bennett, what are you trying to do?” Oscar was clearly unhappy with her actions: “If the cameras here need to be turned on, it’s not our company’s job to do it.” “Ms. Bennett, it’s on now.” The assistant Dean reported back after completing the task, speaking respectfully.

At this point, the cafeteria manager rushed over, mopping his sweaty forehead. He noticed the young girl beside Oscar and couldn’t help but ask, “Mr. Oscar, this is?” “Didn’t you get the memo? We’ve got a new big shot in the company, and she’s flexing her muscles right here.” Oscar clearly didn’t think much of the girl in front of him. Manager Dave caught Oscar’s drift but still responded with a smile: “Ms. Bennett, if you have something to say, spit it out.”

“There are some meat pies left over from lunch. I just warmed them up, along with some other dishes. Dean, please have Mr. Dave and Mr. Oscar taste them,” “Sure thing.” Dean immediately set about preparing the food.

Oscar and Dave exchanged glances, clueless about her intentions.

“Ms. Bennett, if you’re trying to get us to taste the food to improve it,”

Before Dave could finish, Mirabella cut him off with a terse, “Please.”

The food was promptly laid out before them.

Dave didn’t refuse, picking up a piece of the meat pie and taking a bite. “Tastes good.”

Oscar didn’t touch his cutlery; he looked impatiently at the girl before him and said, “If Ms. Bennett is inviting us to lunch, you really shouldn’t have; I’m full already.” “Is Mr. Oscar full, or are you too scared to eat?”

Mirabella’s words made everyone present tense, and the employees who were sneakily watching the showdown started to feel uneasy.

“What do you mean by that, Ms. Bennett?” Oscar asked irritably.

Dave hastily interjected, “This was freshly made by the chefs at lunchtime, right?”

The two chefs nodded vigorously, though their eyes betrayed their anxiety and fear.

“I didn’t say it wasn’t freshly made.” Mirabella smirked coldly. “I’m just curious about the filling. What’s it made of?”

“The filling.” Dave paused before laughing. “Ms. Bennett, you’re quite the joker! Of course, the filling is fresh pork bought from the market by our chefs, minced, and made into pies.”

“Are you referring to the minced ‘meat‘ made from soy protein chunks chopped up and mixed with tapioca starch, a series of food additives, and pork essence? And the spring onions inside, replaced by spring onion oil? Am I right?“”

Everyone was gobsmacked. What? The meat pies they had for lunch didn’t have any meat, and they were all food additives?.

They all felt like throwing up.

“Ms. Bennett, you can’t just make wild accusations because you–are young. Do you have any evidence for what you’re saying? If not, you’re slandering our cafeteria.” Though Dave said this, his eyes were clearly shifty, and even Oscar couldn’t hide his expression anymore..

“Whether the filling in this pie is fresh meat or not, wouldn’t a lab test tell us?

Mirabella looked at them, speaking with clear interest: “Mr. Dave, when you were eating that meat pie just now, you felt a bit uneasy and scared, didn’t you?”

Dave was feeling all kinds of jittery, like she had just read his mind. “I swear my chefs would never pull such a shady stunt!” Mirabella just laughed it off. “Stop passing the buck to your chefs. Even if they did do it, it would be under your orders.” Who would want to shoulder such a huge responsibility?

“Do you have any proof, Ms. Bennett?” Dave spat out through gritted teeth. “Without it, I can sue you for defamation!”

“Slow your roll. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. It’ll be a tough act to follow.”

“In the peas and beef stir–fry at lunch, was the beef actually beef?” Mirabella looked up at him with a gaze full of confidence. Dave was starting to feel the heat. “What are you implying?”

“I noticed you guys used dead chicken instead of beef.”

“Ms. Bennett, you’re just stirring the pot, right? You can’t just spout such nonsense without proof!”

“Fetch the kitchen’s trash can.” Mirabella ordered her assistant.

Dean hurriedly did as told.

The large trash can was set before everyone. With a swift kick, Mirabella sent the trash spilling out.

Oscar and Dave quickly backed away.

Among the kitchen waste were chicken heads, feet, tails, and the like.

“We didn’t have chicken for lunch, yet here are these.” Mirabella casually noted, “Normally, a chicken’s eyes would be open after slaughter. Only a dead chicken’s eyes would be shut.”

People around quickly examined the chicken heads on the floor and found their eyes were all closed!

“Most of you would know that chickens need to be bled out when slaughtered. But a dead chicken can’t bleed out properly, which turns the meat red. And the skin of a dead chicken would be sickly gray, shriveled, and lacking elasticity–not a normal death.”

The staff around them were feeling nauseous. They couldn’t believe they had been eating dead chicken instead of fresh beef for lunch!

Right now, they could only fight the urge to puke.

Dave didn’t expect that she, a young girl, would be so observant.

How would a girl her age know about chickens? Very few people would have seen chickens being slaughtered on a farm.

“Alright, even if our chefs did accidentally buy dead chickens, it’s not their fault. They were duped by the market’s chicken stall owner. Besides, if you’re saying dead chicken can be made into beef, then show me!”

Seeing Dave still putting up a fight, Mirabella couldn’t help but laugh.

“What’s so hard about that?” Mirabella calmly said, “Just cut the subpar chicken into strips, add some beef flavoring and roast meat seasoning; if the color’s off, add some caramel coloring; then pan–fry it in hot oil with various seasonings, and voila! Beef.”

Dave’s face was frozen in shock. He didn’t expect her to know the process in such detail, and she hadn’t missed a beat.

“This is proof: all these food additives I mentioned, you can find them all in your own kitchen!”

Hearing Mirabella’s resounding words, the staff around them could no longer describe their feelings with just “astonished“.

One of the staff members was patting his chest in relief, saying, “I dodged a bullet there; I didn’t touch those dishes at lunch.”

He had survived this ordeal!

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