"Young master, this woman is no ordinary person."

The man smiled mysteriously: "Of course she's extraordinary. Manager Luo, you're overestimating yourself by trying to test her with a few thugs."

"But her restaurant is definitely affecting our business, and this will be very detrimental to us in the long run..."

"What's the rush?"

The man interrupted his subordinate, saying, "I have my own way of dealing with her. Take your time, there's no rush."

The man gently tapped his palm with his folding fan.

...

After the matter was settled, Chengfeng returned from the government office in the evening.

"Your Highness, the matter has been properly handled."

Zhong Muyu asked, "Have you found out who's behind them?"

"No, those guys were just street thugs. Someone paid them to do this, but they didn't know the person who paid them. The authorities had no choice but to detain them first and investigate the rest later."

"If we investigate this slowly, it'll probably be gone in the end. Don't count on it. Chengfeng, who do you think did it?"

Chengfeng thought for a moment and said, "I think Xihe Restaurant is the most suspicious."

“Early Spring said the same thing, and I actually think so too, but we have no evidence at all. They have ulterior motives, and we’ll be in big trouble later.”

Zhong Muyu rested her chin on her hand; she really disliked dealing with this kind of treacherous person.

Chengfeng said, "Your Highness, no one in business is absolutely without problems. If you want to find it, you can definitely find it."

Zhong Muyu said thoughtfully, "That makes sense."

However, they couldn't openly go to their shop to investigate. With all these incidents, the other party already knew who was working there. If they dared to enter that door, they were guaranteed not to find anything.

But being tormented like this is not a solution.

At this moment, Zhong Muyu came up with a solution.

"Then let's secretly investigate. If we can find it, great; if not, we'll think of another way."

"Then I'll leave it to you..."

"No, I want to go too."

Zhong Muyu interrupted him. Of course he knew about Chengfeng's abilities, but she was also very interested in this kind of thing.

Zhong Muyu told Chengfeng about her plan, and Chengfeng gave her a strange look: "Your Highness, it doesn't have to be so complicated."

"But even if you're safe that way, it's still very dangerous, isn't it? If someone sees you, you'll be arrested as a thief."

Chengfeng thought Zhong Muyu was questioning his professional abilities, but Zhong Muyu did not give him a chance to explain.

The next morning, Chengfeng and Zhong Muyu, fully armed, arrived at the market.

Chengfeng couldn't help but exclaim, "Your Highness, where did you learn this disguise technique? You look just like the Wumi people."

"Keep your voice down, don't give yourself away. We're merchants from Wumi right now, so don't speak too formally."

Zhong Muyu smoothed her brown curly hair and reminded Chengfeng in a strange tone.

I heard that the people of Wumi Kingdom, the westernmost part of Yuanqi, are all tall and big, with three-dimensional features and curly hair. So Zhong Muyu found these things in her space, did her makeup, and even gave Chengfeng a full beard.

The two pretended to be relatives of a merchant who had come from afar and strolled around the market.

The morning is the busiest time in the market, with merchants from all over coming and going. Since there are quite a few foreign merchants as well, the two did not attract any attention.

After circling around, Chengfeng nudged Zhong Muyu's arm and whispered, "That's the Xihe Restaurant's truck."

Zhong Muyu nodded, and the two followed them discreetly, always keeping their distance.

The truck, loaded with groceries, headed out of the market. The two men followed at a distance, watching as the truck sped up and the number of pedestrians around them dwindled.

"Your Highness, something's wrong. This road doesn't lead to Xihe Restaurant."

Riding the wind, I spoke up to remind you.

Zhong Muyu glanced around: "Indeed, they took a detour. What are they going to do?"

Confused, the two suppressed their doubts until the truck stopped in front of a shop.

Zhong Muyu looked at the shop's sign: "Xiang Manyuan, is it a spice shop?"

Zhong Muyu guessed this because she saw some spices drying in the sun at their door.

"It seems so, but it's really suspicious that a spice shop is located on such a deserted street."

The coachman was still dozing off in front, so the two men didn't dare to go forward rashly. After a while, several people came out carrying sacks and boxes. After they put everything on the carriage, the carriage drove off again.

"Chase!"

The two followed again, but Zhong Muyu had a question in his mind. There were almost as many spices as ingredients. Did Xihe Restaurant put so many seasonings in its food?

Zhong Muyu said to Chengfeng, "Chengfeng, could you sneak into the car and take some things down? Remember to take a little of everything."

"Can."

"Then I'll have to trouble you."

Zhong Muyu produced a small cloth bag from somewhere and stuffed it into his hand.

Chengfeng tiptoed closer, barely making a sound, and climbed into the carriage.

Zhong Muyu had never seen light-body skills before, and she never expected Chengfeng's light-body skills to be so amazing, light and agile.

Before long, Chengfeng returned with the things.

Zhong Muyu said with delight, "Well done, you didn't let anyone find out, did you?"

"Of course not. When I was following Your Highness, I would occasionally venture deep into enemy territory. I did this kind of thing often."

"Then I'm relieved. I'll talk about it when I get back."

The two quickly returned to the restaurant. As soon as they entered, Zaochun greeted them: "Your Highness, Chengfeng, you're finally back. Did you find anything?"

In fact, Zao Chun did not agree with Zhong Muyu doing this, but Zhong Muyu was very enthusiastic, so she couldn't say anything.

"I got some things, but I'm not sure if there are any problems."

Zhong Muyu took the cloth bag and took out everything inside.

Vegetables, shrimp, crab, meat... Chengfeng indeed took a little of everything.

In early spring, she picked up a green vegetable and said doubtfully, "These all look fine. They were very careful in choosing the vegetables; there's not even any mud on them."

Chengfeng said, "It's hard to say; the more perfect it is, the stranger it is."

After taking out all the ingredients, Zhong Muyu looked at the seasonings. Because of the rush, Chengfeng only grabbed a little of each, and since he couldn't open the wooden boxes, he didn't know what was inside.

Zhong Muyu picked up a bit of seasoning, examined it carefully, and then smelled it.

Upon seeing and smelling it, Zhong Muyu's expression turned sour.

Chengfeng asked, "Your Highness, have you discovered something?"

Zhong Muyu picked out a few black granules: "Chengfeng, are these packaged separately, or mixed with other seasonings?"

Chengfeng examined it carefully: "These black particles were in a separate bag, pressed at the bottom. It took me a lot of effort to get some out."

Do you know what this is?

Chengfeng shook his head.

Have you ever heard of poppies?

Chengfeng shook his head again, but Zaochun remembered: "I know this. It has flowers in the palace garden. They bloom very brightly. It is said to be a tribute sent from foreign countries decades ago. It was used exclusively by the Imperial Medical Academy. It is rarely seen in the palace."