As soon as the tavern shopkeeper heard the commotion, he quickly left the counter and walked towards the source of the disturbance, bowed and said to the bearded strong man with courtesy, "Esteemed guest, there must be some misunderstanding here, as our tavern’s dishes would absolutely not contain rat droppings."
"Look, look," the bearded strong man angrily prodded the stew with his chopsticks, his voice particularly loud, "Where’s the misunderstanding? There are clearly rat droppings! Everyone, come and see, we came here to eat, not to eat shit!"
With the bearded strong man making such a scene, many people indeed crowded over to look, and upon seeing the rat droppings in the stew, they felt even more disgusted, some even felt like vomiting.
"Shopkeeper, what kind of business are you running!" someone rebuked, "We pay for a meal, and you serve us this?"
"There are so many rat droppings in this stew, your tavern must be swarming with rats!" another person exclaimed in disgust and extreme anger.
"To find rat droppings in the dish suggests that the other dishes might not be clean either, and what if we get sick from this? Shopkeeper, if you do not give us an explanation today, we will have to take this to the County Government and accuse you!"
Others joined in the condemnation.
The shopkeeper was terribly anxious, "Honored guests, this is a grave injustice. Our tavern doesn’t even have a single mouse, so how could there be rat droppings in the food? There must be a misunderstanding! We’re running a business here, we would never intentionally ruin our own reputation!"
"Are you saying that I’m falsely accusing you?" the bearded strong man sneered coldly, "Then how do you explain the rat droppings in this dish? Even if you didn’t intentionally put them there, there must be mice in your establishment!"
The shopkeeper immediately reiterated, "There are truly no mice in our tavern, not even one!" The last thing a tavern wants is to have mice and other disgusting things; once people discover there are mice, no one would ever come to the tavern to eat again.
The bearded strong man sneered again, "Then explain where the rat droppings in here came from?"
Shopkeeper: "We also don’t know..."
"Don’t know?" the bearded strong man sneered yet again, then turned to the onlookers, "Everyone, this establishment has mice and isn’t even aware of it, which speaks volumes about the cleanliness of their food. Whatever you all think, I for one will never dine here again; it’s just too disgusting!"
Just at that moment, a waiter from the Qian Wei Tavern went to fetch the owner, Wang Youbao.
Wang Youbao had been at the Qian Wei Tavern today, drinking tea in a private room on the second floor. The waiter, quick to act, rushed upstairs to ask Wang Youbao to come down upon realizing that something was amiss.
As soon as Wang Youbao came downstairs, he respectfully raised his voice, "Honored guests, the Qian Wei Tavern is mine, and indeed it has not a single mouse. If you don’t believe me, I am willing to have someone go to the County Government and request a government officer to inspect my tavern. If a single mouse is found, I will shut down the tavern on the spot."
Hearing Wang Youbao say this, everyone immediately relaxed, yet seeing the rat droppings in the stew, they still had some doubts.
Someone asked, "Then how do you explain the rat droppings in this stew?"
"That question should be directed at this guest. Why is it that only his dish contains rat droppings when no other guest has found any in theirs?" When Wang Youbao said this, he also looked towards the bearded strong man.
Knowing that staying any longer would be to his disadvantage, the bearded strong man planned to leave, but before he did, he said with a defiant tone—