The Truth About Synthetic Meat

Lao Zhang’s workstation was always piled high with delivery boxes. He was an operations assistant at a live-streaming e-commerce company, and his daily work consisted of unpacking, sorting, and taking photos to send to his colleagues in the live-streaming room. Recently, the company had been heavily promoting a product called “Original Cut Beef Rolls,” which had been selling like hotcakes. The beef roll deliveries he unpacked each day were enough to fill half the office.

Lao Zhang found it a bit strange. The company’s warehouse wasn’t that big, so where did all these beef rolls come from? Curious, he picked up a box. The packaging was exquisite, with the red characters "Original Cut" particularly eye-catching. When he opened it, a rich, meaty aroma wafted out, and the texture looked real. But he felt that something was off, maybe he was just desensitized to the smell of beef after unpacking so many boxes recently.

That day, the live-stream room was again enthusiastically hawking the product: "Our Original Cut Beef Rolls are absolutely made with carefully selected high-quality beef, using an original cut process, and they’re tender and juicy!" Lao Zhang looked at the live-stream, then at the beef roll in his hand, and a strange sense of unease washed over him. He picked up his phone, scanned the barcode on the packaging, and the information that popped up stunned him: the ingredients list, besides various additives, clearly stated "plant protein."

Lao Zhang felt like he had discovered an incredible secret. He secretly took photos of the packaging and sent them to a few of his close colleagues. At first, they didn’t believe him. Some said Lao Zhang must be too tired and seeing things. Others said that’s how businesses were these days, you can't believe everything written on packaging. Finally, Lao Wang, the most honest and reliable person in the office, leaned over and whispered: “Xiao Zhang, don’t get involved in things you shouldn't. Haven't you seen that the boss hasn't been in a good mood lately? Just focus on unpacking boxes."

But Lao Zhang didn't plan on giving up. He went to the warehouse, opened several unopened boxes of beef rolls, and scanned each one. The results were the same; they all listed “plant protein” on the ingredients list. He took out his phone, recorded the process, and prepared to post it on the company’s anonymous forum to expose the truth.

That night, Lao Zhang posted a thread on the company forum titled "The Shocking Secret About the 'Original Cut Beef Rolls'", along with the video he recorded and the scan results. He thought this would cause a major uproar within the company and let all the colleagues who had been kept in the dark see the truth.

After posting, Lao Zhang kept refreshing the page, waiting for his colleagues' responses. However, after half an hour, there were only a few comments below the thread. One was: "Oh, so that’s how it is, thanks for the info, poster." Another was: "What's good for lunch today?" There was even a more absurd one: "Hey, poster, can you get me a beef roll?"

Lao Zhang was completely stunned. He began to doubt himself. Was he the only one who thought something was wrong with this? Or did everyone already know, but chose to remain silent?

The next day, Lao Zhang was called into the boss's office. The boss sat behind his large desk with a kind smile. "Xiao Zhang, your work performance has been good lately. But some things are best kept to yourself, no need to blab about them everywhere.” After speaking, the boss handed Lao Zhang a piece of paper. “This is your bonus for this month. Look, isn’t it very generous?”

Lao Zhang took the paper, on which was a shocking number, twice his regular salary. He looked up at the boss's smiling face, his heart filled with mixed feelings. He wanted to say something, but ultimately swallowed it back.

Lao Zhang returned to his workstation, silently unpacking boxes. The words "Original Cut" on the packaging now seemed particularly ironic. He picked up a box of beef rolls, held it up to the sunlight, and the "beef" inside seemed to glimmer.

That evening, Lao Zhang went home from work, and his wife asked him: “The beef rolls the company gave out today are quite good, pretty tasty. But they feel a little bit like bean products?"

Lao Zhang paused for a moment. He thought about his colleagues’ lack of reaction on the forum, and then looked at the beef roll in his wife’s hand. Suddenly, everything seemed to make perfect sense. He smiled faintly and said: “Is that so? Glad you liked it.” He turned away, switched on the TV, and on the screen, a social media influencer was frantically promoting the so-called “Original Cut Beef Rolls,” spitting with enthusiasm and passion. Lao Zhang turned off the TV, pulled out his phone, and opened a shopping app. He needed to buy some things, after all, he had to go back to work tomorrow.