Palin was not the sort of person who deceived others and stole his subordinates' research results. His character was noble, bright and aboveboard—one could tell as much from the fact that after his soul fell into the Underworld, he ultimately became a judge in Hell.
So he truthfully reported Fela's achievement to Sui Xiong, repeatedly stressing Fela's importance to the entire research project.
In fact, the key to discovering the "powder-washing" technique had been one of Fela's accidental experiments.
In that experiment, Fela dissolved an excessive amount of coarse salt in water and used water-powered machinery to stir and agitate it over and over. Then... because noon was approaching and he had promised the cooks he would go show off his skills, he forgot all about it. After returning from lunch and separating the salt from the water, he used a cook's palate to discover that the brine tasted somewhat different from usual.
He therefore conducted several more experiments and ultimately determined that after coarse salt was repeatedly washed in brine, the brine became more bitter and astringent than usual—more bitter, even, than concentrated brine capable of precipitating coarse salt.
Fela also studied the coarse salt after it had been washed and found that its flavor had clearly become milder—not that it was less salty, but that the distinctive bitter taste of coarse salt had faded.
He told Palin about this result, and after analyzing and researching it, Palin finally invented this set of Powder-Washed Salt techniques.
Therefore, it was no exaggeration to say that Fela was a key contributor to the discovery of Powder-Washed Salt.
Once Sui Xiong learned everything, he decided to speak with Fela and ask what he intended to do.
"Your achievement is remarkable," Sui Xiong said. "If you are willing, I am prepared to elevate