Business Plummets

"I refuse to believe that Alex would tolerate a witch who eats babies." At dawn, a shadowy figure darted into the small courtyard, entered the room, and threw off a sack-like cloak, revealing Bella Su's face underneath.

Bella Su hadn't slept at night these days and looked a bit tired, but her expression was full of energy—she was even quite pleased.

"Those idiots now truly believe that the monster Princess Lily Hayes snatched their children to eat." Bella Su poured herself some water, sipping slowly, her delight growing. "No wonder Gregory Gu Jr. came up with such a scheme! Even though Alex's people have forbidden rumors in the capital, this baby-eating gossip is impossible to stop. Even if folks don't discuss it openly, they'll whisper in private—there's no way to block it. Let's see how Lily handles this!"

That morning, Lily was thinking she hadn't visited the Eight Treasures Bistro in ages, and wondered how things were going there.

Bella Su had married Leonard Li and become the current Empress, so Eight Treasures Bistro had lost its capable head manager. Lily wondered if the staff could keep up without her.

So Lily decided to inspect the place herself.

Like usual, Lily took a carriage to the Eight Treasures Bistro.

But when she arrived, she found the place eerily quiet. Normally, this was the busiest time of day, but now there wasn't a single guest in sight.

"Your humble servant greets Your Highness, Princess Consort." The new manager of Eight Treasures Bistro hurried over to welcome the big boss.

"What's going on with business? Why aren't there any customers this early in the morning?" Lily's face grew serious. "I've only been away for a little over a month, and this is how you run things?"

The new manager was sweating nervously and quickly replied, "R-Reporting to Your Highness, Princess Consort, it's only in the past couple of days that business has suddenly gone cold. I can't figure out why! The dishes, service, and atmosphere are all exactly the same—nothing has changed. But for some reason, the guests just stopped coming!"

Lily's first reaction was that something was definitely off here.

If poor management or a drop in food and service quality were to blame, guests wouldn't disappear overnight—the business would only gradually decline.

This sudden loss of business was truly bizarre!

Lily walked around the Eight Treasures Bistro, finding the environment and service unchanged. She checked the kitchen—everything the master chefs cooked was just as delicious as ever.

This was puzzling. How could there suddenly be no customers?

Despite inspecting the Eight Treasures Bistro, Lily still couldn't figure out what was affecting business.

Since she was already at the Eight Treasures Bistro, Lily decided to check out the hotpot restaurant across the street to see how her fourth uncle's business was doing.

Normally, at this hour, the hotpot place should be packed.

But when Lily reached the entrance, she found the hotpot restaurant oddly empty—not a single customer inside!

Yuan Jie was sitting at the door, looking both frustrated and puzzled. When he saw Lily, he hurried over to welcome her inside.

"Fourth Uncle, has your hotpot restaurant also suddenly lost all its customers in the past couple of days?" Lily asked bluntly.

Yuan Jie nodded. "That's right, Lily—how did you know?"

Lily's expression grew serious. "Fourth Uncle, I just visited Eight Treasures Bistro, and they're having the same problem. So I guessed maybe the hotpot place and Eight Treasures Bistro both suddenly lost all their business."