Zhang Kai and Zhang Qing were suddenly dumbfounded.
What did a stomach ache have to do with watching security footage?
The staff at Delicious were a bit baffled too. Why watch the footage? Would the video really give them the answer?
As the boss, Su Chen couldn’t be as overbearing as Ling Shuyu. He spoke to Zhang Kai and Zhang Qing in a calm, even tone. "First of all, I’m certain this isn’t a food safety issue on our end. I suspect your brother either ate something else he shouldn’t have, like his own snacks, or he has an allergy that his guardians didn’t inform us about. In any case, why don’t we start by reviewing the security footage?"
Before accepting any children, Zhang Li and He Shuting had confirmed every child’s dietary allergies with their parents. Any food a child was allergic to was absolutely on the Delicious after-school care’s blacklist!
Zhang Kai nodded. He felt the boss’s words made sense.
He led everyone to the second-floor office. This was normally where Ling Shuyu worked. On one side of the room, a monitor was dedicated to displaying the security camera feed.
Ling Shuyu had been the one to strongly insist on installing them. She’d said it would prevent a lot of trouble, and unexpectedly, they were already proving their worth.
Su Chen wasn’t very good with the equipment, so he nodded at Ling Shuyu. "Let’s start from when they began eating."
Ling Shuyu switched the feed to the children’s dining area. "Where is your brother?"
Zhang Qing had seen him in the dining hall earlier and quickly pointed to a chubby little boy on the screen. "Right there!"
Ling Shuyu immediately zoomed in on the video.
They watched as... the chubby little boy was wolfing down his food, his face dotted with grains of rice. He was eating much faster than the other children.
In less than five minutes, while the other kids were still eating slowly, the chubby boy’s plate was already empty.
The next scene shocked everyone!
The chubby boy said something to the little girl next to him, then pointed toward the window. As the girl turned to look...
...his hand shot out and snatched the two Wanzi from her plate!!!
"That’s him! The little girl was crying to me about it this afternoon, so I gave her three more Wanzi!" Zhang Li accused, pointing at the screen. "That little fatty, I gave him two extra helpings, a total of eight Wanzi. He asked for even more after that, but I really didn’t dare give him any more!"
Zhang Qing was mortified. "He’s... he’s just a kid."
Su Chen ignored him and just said, "Fast-forward."
There wasn’t much else to see; it was just a typical lunch.
They fast-forwarded until all the children had finished eating and gone to nap. Su Chen then said, "Switch to your brother’s nap room."
With a few clicks of the mouse, Ling Shuyu switched the camera to the nap room where Zhang Dali was sleeping.
"Keep fast-forwarding."
Playing at five times the speed, it only took a few seconds before Zhang Dali, who was supposed to be asleep, suddenly sat up, and then...
"Switch."
The view returned to the children’s dining hall. Dali was seen hunched over, sneaking around furtively before his figure vanished at the kitchen entrance.
"Switch."
When the feed switched to the kitchen, the top-down view showed that the supposedly empty room now contained a husky, broad-backed child.
He was standing on a cardboard box, a Wanzi in his left hand and a Wanzi in his right. He’d finish one and immediately start on the other, his movements incredibly fast!
It looked like he was barely even chewing.
They continued to fast-forward. After devouring an entire bowl of Wanzi, Zhang Dali returned to his nap room to sleep.
Su Chen straightened up and sighed in relief. "So, is it possible..."
Everyone turned to look at him. "...that your brother’s stomach hurts simply because he overate?"
Zhang Qing: ???
Zhang Kai was dumbfounded too.
"To be honest, these Wanzi are made from fatty meat and flour, then deep-fried and coated in powdered sugar. They may look small, but they’re actually quite hard to digest if you eat too many."
Plus, a child’s digestive system isn’t as strong as an adult’s. Overeating can easily make them feel sick.
Zhang Kai was mortified. Looking at it this way, that was a real possibility!
If that was the case... a light sweat broke out on his forehead. He had made a huge fool of himself today!
He glanced at Ling Shuyu out of the corner of his eye. That woman looked like she wasn’t to be trifled with. ’I hope she doesn’t call the police later,’ he thought.
Su Chen spoke again. "In any case, since the child is in the hospital, it’s best we wait for a diagnosis. If it really is a food safety issue, our company will take full responsibility. If it’s not, I hope..."
"Oh no!" Zhang Li suddenly interrupted Boss Su. "Something terrible has happened!"
She placed her phone on the table and played a video. "The little fatty’s parents are posting in the group chat!"
It was a short video. In the clip, the chubby boy was lying on a hospital bed while a doctor performed a simple examination.
The voice of a middle-aged woman could be heard in the background.
"It was his first day at the after-school care, WAAAH! On his very first day, my son got sick from the food, and now he’s in the hospital! Delicious after-school care must give us parents an explanation!"
The short, ten-second video made Su Chen’s brows furrow tightly.
Having been a streamer before, he understood the power of public opinion all too well.
In a situation like this, before the narrative could spread beyond the parent group chat, the only and best option was to clarify things immediately.
Once the story got out, even if they could still clear their name, the difficulty would increase exponentially.