Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

The shopkeeper took a couple of deep breaths, preparing his words.

Seeing that His Highness the Crown Prince seemed very satisfied with the work of the Sanitation Squad, he didn't dare to complain.

However, since His Highness the Crown Prince's attitude was so good, and Lord Fang was also present, he might as well vent all the dissatisfaction in his heart today.

That bunch of bastards in the Sanitation Squad, flaunting the Prince's banner and swindling everywhere, he had long been unwilling to tolerate it!

The shopkeeper first bowed respectfully, and then said aggrievedly: "Your Highness! You see, the renovation of this kitchen is indeed good, right?"

"But we paid too much for the kitchen."

"Not to mention the ingredients, in order to look fresh and meet the requirements of the Sanitation Squad, not counting the ingredients they took away, we discard nearly 20% of our ingredients every day! Although those discarded things don't look good, they are all good things that can be eaten!"

"Those discarded vegetables will be collected by the Sanitation Squad at night. As for whether they really threw them away or took them home, I don't know!"

This shopkeeper was quite shrewd. Fang Zheng gave him a thumbs up secretly.

Li Yuanzhao showed a thoughtful expression.

The shopkeeper continued: "Also, the kitchen used to be one whole room, which was very convenient for doing anything. Now it has been forcibly divided into so many rooms. It takes several openings and closings of doors to cook a dish, wasting a lot of time for nothing."

Fang Zheng asked: "Then why don't you just open all the doors?"

The shopkeeper immediately wailed: "No, sir! We can't open them. The people from the Sanitation Squad said that opening these doors will cause cross-contamination. We must not let us open the doors. We have to close the doors every time we enter and exit, otherwise we will be fined on the spot if we are discovered! They said that this was an order from His Highness the Crown Prince, and we dare not disobey!"

Li Yuanzhao's face gradually turned red.

Seeing this, Fang Zheng continued to ask: "Keep talking, is there anything else? Tell me everything!"

The shopkeeper observed the expressions of the two people, sorted out his thoughts, and said after a while: "Yes!"

"Sir, you should understand that no matter how well we do, they can always find fault. No matter what we do, we can't meet the standards that satisfy the Sanitation Squad, or rather, there has never been a standard for what we have to do! So at first, we were fined every now and then."

"Later, the people from the Sanitation Squad took the initiative to propose that they could help us sort things out, find problems and avoid fines, but they don't work for nothing, they need to pay a sum of money! My small shop is five taels of silver every month!"

"If they don't need their help, then the Sanitation Squad will come to inspect frequently."

"Your Highness! They are not the original Sanitation Squad! They are now a bunch of hooligans! Even the Beacon Fire Gang helps me take out the trash! They can't do anything else except get money from me! Now there is no business to do at all! You must teach them a lesson!" As he spoke, the shopkeeper's emotions suddenly rose, and he became excited.

At this moment, Li Yuanzhao's face was completely red.

Seeing the shopkeeper crying on the ground, he didn't know what to say.

After holding back for a long time, he squeezed out a sentence: "This matter, I know, Lao Fang, let's go!"

Fang Zheng nodded, paid the shopkeeper for the meal, and accompanied Li Yuanzhao out of the restaurant.

When the shopkeeper heard that the two were leaving, he didn't dare to say more. He had no choice but to see them off, and at the door, he stared at the backs of the two with tears in his eyes......

Once on the street, Li Yuanzhao let out a long sigh and said dejectedly: "Impossible?! How could it become like this!"

"Didn't Your Highness say that you do everything yourself? How could you not know?" Fang Zheng asked.

Li Yuanzhao stammered: "Yes... I didn't let them do so much at first, I just asked them to check whether the kitchens of the restaurants were using rotten ingredients."

"Later, the people below put forward suggestions one by one, and I thought there was no problem, so I let them do it."

"But that's not what the Sanitation Squad told me!"

"What did they say?" Fang Zheng asked again.

"The people below said that the renovation effect was very good, and it didn't have much impact on the people. They even found that many restaurants and vendors used rotten meat and spoiled vegetables to cook and sell, and these were all stopped. Could it be that I did something wrong?"

"Perhaps... maybe... that shopkeeper just had a feud with the Sanitation Squad?! I can't just listen to one person's complaints. Wasn't the kitchen just now well organized? Everything was clean!"

"Maybe." Fang Zheng smiled: "Why doesn't Your Highness suspect that there is a problem with the Sanitation Squad?"

"I understand the people of the Sanitation Squad! I drink and eat meat with them. How could they repay kindness with hatred and lie to me? That's impossible!"

Looking at Li Yuanzhao's confident look, Fang Zheng fell silent.

"Your Highness, since you think so, why don't we ask a few more to see what the situation is."

"The so-called listening to both sides will make you clear. If everyone says the same thing, then it can be determined that there is a problem with the Sanitation Squad."

Li Yuanzhao said helplessly: "Yes... you are right, let's take a look again. How could my Sanitation Squad extort the people?!"

The two then found several restaurants and asked them one after another, and the results were all similar.

Every time he asked a question, Li Yuanzhao's face became darker.

At the entrance of Lao Liu's Restaurant, Zhang Laoliu immediately came out to greet him enthusiastically when he saw Fang Zheng's arrival.

Fang Zheng went straight to the point and said: "The things I asked you to collect, have you collected them all?"

Zhang Laoliu quickly reacted, ran back to the restaurant and took out two pieces of paper and handed them to Fang Zheng: "Sir, the things you want are all here!"

"This is the news I collected. They were all told to me by nearby restaurants, as well as the list of Sanitation Squad members who committed crimes."

Fang Zheng handed the paper to Li Yuanzhao, and then asked: "Why are you still asking other restaurants? Are you okay?"

Li Yuanzhao looked down at the information, Zhang Laoliu glanced at him and then whispered: "Sir, no one dares to mess with me here! Since you came last time, I have been flaunting your banner! How dare that bunch of bastards mess with me!"

"I recently heard that several restaurants in the neighborhood have closed down, so I took the opportunity to buy them at a low price, all thanks to you, sir... hehe..."

Those who can come out of the county are all shrewd people!

Fang Zheng smiled dumbly: "Good you, Lao Liu! Okay, you go and get busy."

Zhang Laoliu saluted and turned to leave.

At this time, Li Yuanzhao looked at the contents of the paper with a miserable expression.

He murmured: "This... this is all true, how is it possible? Why did they lie to me..."

"Your Highness, what is the problem? Why don't we go back to the newspaper office and talk slowly." Fang Zheng said.

Li Yuanzhao felt mixed feelings in his heart. He was in a good mood when he came out in the morning, but by noon he had fallen to the bottom.

Failed decisions, the people's complaints, and the deceit of the Sanitation Squad, all kinds of negative emotions flooded into his heart.

He even heard Fang Zheng's words in his ears a little vaguely, and replied in a daze: "Go... go back to the newspaper office..."