After some lighthearted banter with the guests, everyone became much more relaxed, except for a few who were particularly awkward.

In addition to Pei Yuezhi's assurance just now, and her diligent work over the past month, it hasn't had much of an impact on today's events.

Not long after, Pei Yunzhi returned with Fan Mu. He was unaware of what had just happened, but he could vaguely sense that Pei Yuezhi and Liu Yuanyuan were in low spirits.

So after ordering the firewood, I didn't ask anything else and went to the kitchen to wash the dishes I had cleaned up.

Once the mealtime was over and the guests had all left, the group sat down to eat after tidying everything up.

"I'm so angry today! Yueyue, who's causing trouble here?!" Liu Yuanyuan said angrily as soon as she sat down.

Pei Yuezhi shook her head: "There are many small restaurants on this street, and I have no clue where to start."

"Sister, Lady Liu, what happened? You both look worried," Pei Yunzhi asked anxiously.

"It's like this..." Liu Yuanyuan recounted what had just happened.

Then, he angrily added, "It must be a competitor causing trouble!"

After learning the details of what happened, Pei Yunzhi's handsome face showed a hint of anger.

"These troublemakers must be envious of Sister's good business. It's a pity that the enemy is in the dark while we are in the light. But luckily, Sister and Lady Liu are clever, otherwise, once this mudslinging is done, it will be hard to wash it off."

“I remember an older brother saying that the troublemaker was a deliveryman on the street. I suppose the instigator was also from that area,” Pei Yuezhi said after thinking for a moment.

Liu Yuanyuan suddenly realized, "I know, it must be that newly opened boxed lunch store. They didn't have these problems before they opened the new store."

"That's true, but we can't rule out the possibility of other stores. We still need to be careful. Yunzhi can't be by her side all the time, but I will try to come over as often as possible."

"Although I believe that you, Sister and Lady Liu, are capable and wise and do not need to rely on others, it is still very difficult for women in this world. Yunzhi comes here often so that others know that you are not an orphan and a widow."

"I feel very guilty that Yunzhi is not here today."

Hearing Pei Yunzhi, who was usually taciturn, say so much today, Pei Yuezhi was a little unsure how to respond, so she could only nod repeatedly: "Yunzhi, you went to buy firewood for me today, so it's not your fault. Besides, it's all the fault of those with ulterior motives."

“We will be more careful in the future. We were lucky this time. The troublemaker was stupid, otherwise it might not have been resolved so easily. As for doing business, especially small businesses, we must treat people with sincerity and win with integrity in order to last.”

Seeing that Pei Yuezhi seemed a little unsure of what to say, Liu Yuanyuan quickly changed the subject: "Oh dear, let's eat quickly. You two aren't hungry, but Mu'er is."

Fan Mu, who was called upon, said, "Mu'er can wait a bit."

"No, no, let's eat!" Liu, who was genuinely hungry, said to Yuanyuan.

After dinner, Pei Yuezhi saw her younger brother Pei Yunzhi off, and the three of them went home to rest.

It's impossible not to worry about what happened today. I originally thought that even if there were imitators, they wouldn't cause any big waves.

Now it seems they're starting to smear themselves. If this happens once, it will happen again. Just being cautious and on guard is not enough; they're too easy to bully.

However, I really can't think of a solution for the time being.

In my previous life, my restaurant was delicious and did good business, but it wasn't enough to make it difficult for the surrounding shops to do business. Plus, my restaurant was quite large, so it wasn't easy to bully me.

So I've never experienced this kind of shady business warfare before.

As she spoke, she even reminisced about the money tree belonging to the restaurant owner across the street, the one that Pei Yuezhi had watered with boiling water...

Then came the daily routine of resting and preparing food.

Pei Yuezhi was just preoccupied with this business battle all day and couldn't sleep.

When she thinks about things, her thoughts wander, and Pei Yuezhi suddenly thought of Granny Liu.

The mothers-in-law of this era are not very old, so she can't be considered an old lady, but she is not as physically robust as a young person.

This involves traveling back and forth by oxcart, and previously the family's daughter-in-law and grandson were together, but now they are "empty nesters."

With the business now earning a couple of dollars a day, it's a stable and high income. I've just started living in this house and I think it's pretty good.

But since it's only a temporary rental, it's better to choose a better place and rent a nicer one when the month ends or when we have more money, so that Grandma Liu can move in with us. It's really not good to keep moving back and forth like this.

It's okay if she doesn't want to come; having multiple rooms won't hurt.

With new goals for this stage, Pei Yuezhi was even more motivated.

We also need to find out who instigated the troublemakers.

As the saying goes, pressure is the source of motivation, and Pei Yuezhi felt full of energy right now.

After resting for a while, I got up and went to the store.

Not long after I arrived at the shop, the firewood deliveryman came over. After I paid the balance, a group of customers came in. They didn't seem to be workers from the neighborhood. They came in and asked what kind of food they had, preferably something to go with their drinks.

This was the first table of customers to order food. Pei Yuezhi wasn't ready to operate on an à la carte basis, so she didn't prepare a menu. However, she could cook most of the dishes.

However, without a menu, it was difficult for people to order. Pei Yuezhi said apologetically, "I'm really sorry, we haven't started making a menu yet. We only serve à la carte dishes for lunch, and we don't have any wine. But if you guys would like something, just tell me the ingredients, and I'll make it for you based on what you think."

None of them minded. One of them replied, "Boss lady, we've only heard that your food is especially delicious. We came twice for lunch, but we didn't get to eat there. We thought we'd try our luck this afternoon, and we didn't expect you to actually be able to cook it."

After discussing it for a while, the group decided they wanted to eat some meat, preferably lamb, and then order another meat dish, along with a couple of vegetable dishes.

Pei Yuezhi asked about their dietary restrictions and mentioned the approximate price. Since none of them had any dietary restrictions, the price wasn't an issue.

"Alright, then I'll do whatever I can for you."

Back in the kitchen, Pei Yuezhi was very happy. Now that her reputation had spread, more customers were coming, and there were more opportunities to make money.

If you want to eat mutton and also have some alcohol, it's simple: just make the stir-fried mutton with scallions that I made a couple of days ago. As for the other vegetable dish, I'll just stir-fry some pork liver.

It just so happens that Pei Yuezhi is planning to make stir-fried pork liver for tomorrow's meal, so she'll prepare it together in a bit.

Upon opening the store, I noticed the special offers section had been refreshed, but unsurprisingly, it was still the same old stuff.