Chapter 309: I’ll Treat

Chapter 309: Chapter 309: I’ll Treat

In the middle of her meal, Lily Hart glanced at her Light Brain. She had several missed calls and unread messages, all asking her to come back for dinner or wondering where she was.

Just as she was about to reply, Seth’s voice came from the entrance.

"Excuse me, is Lily Hart here?" His voice wasn’t loud, but it was clear enough to be heard, and carried an inquisitive tone.

The partition blocked the view, so Lily Hart stood up and waved at him. "Seth, over here!"

Seth stood on his tiptoes slightly to peer inside. Seeing it was Boss Hart, he walked in, relieved. As he approached, he scanned his surroundings, guessing this was another prize someone had won from a scratch-off.

He stopped beside Boss Hart and noticed a girl next to her. She was staring at him with big, round eyes, but she quickly looked down and went back to eating.

Lily Hart cut straight to the point. "Tell them not to bother cooking. They can just come here for hot pot."

Cynthia Whittaker added readily, "That’s right, it’s my treat." Her true nature was gradually revealing itself; her initial caution was just a protective shell.

Seth blinked, then plopped down across from the two of them and pulled out his Light Brain to send a message to the group chat.

Lily Hart also blinked. ’Oh, right. I completely forgot we could just send a message,’ she thought. ’My brain goes fuzzy the moment I see food.’

As Seth sent the message, a set of bowls and chopsticks materialized out of thin air in front of him.

He got up to get some dipping sauce. After he returned and sat down, Roman Rowe came barging in boisterously.

"Whoa, Boss Hart, you’re going all out!" Roman Rowe exclaimed.

He plopped down next to Seth, his eyes fixed on the pot of shrimp paste bubbling away. He couldn’t help but swallow his saliva before taking a few great strides and sprinting to the sauce station.

He grabbed a bowl and chopsticks, sprinted back, and expertly started adding ingredients to the pot.

Only then did he notice there was another girl across from him, besides Boss Hart.

Lily Hart took a moment to look up at him and made the introductions. "This is Cynthia Whittaker, the owner of this hot pot restaurant. Across from you is Roman Rowe, the convenience store’s... partner."

She had to make it sound nice; in reality, he had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Cynthia Whittaker also spared a glance for Roman Rowe, hesitating for a moment. ’Should I shake his hand? Say hello?’

"Hello, hello." Roman Rowe’s hand was already extended toward her. His other hand was holding his bowl and chopsticks, and his eyes were still glued to the shrimp paste in the pot.

Cynthia Whittaker also freed one of her hands and gave his a light shake. The contact lasted a second before they both quickly withdrew their hands and went back to eating.

Lily Hart nonchalantly looked away as well. And just like that, the four of them began to eat hot pot in a harmonious atmosphere.

They had only been eating for a few minutes when more people arrived—a whole group this time.

Except for Diana Sharp, Tina Jacobs, Frost Shaw, and Owen Warren, who were watching the store, everyone else had come.

One table wasn’t nearly enough, so Leo Colby started another one nearby.

After some guidance from Lily Hart, they all successfully learned how to use it.

And after Cynthia Whittaker herself confirmed it was her treat, they ordered a whole table full of food without hesitation. It was so much more convenient than preparing it themselves!

After ordering, the group descended upon the sauce station in a flurry, grabbing several plates of fruit and helping themselves to bowls of white fungus soup, congee, or braised rice.

By the time they returned from the sauce station, all the dishes had been served, and the soup base was beginning to boil.

Everyone was a little amazed. Wow, it was so magical! The dishes had practically appeared out of thin air.

Lily Hart then introduced Cynthia Whittaker to Leo Colby and the others. After a quick exchange of greetings, both groups went back to eating. Everyone was very busy; there was simply no time for small talk.

Cynthia Whittaker ate with gusto, letting out little hisses and gasps from the spice. She hadn’t eaten anything this satisfying since the apocalypse began.

She didn’t even want to think about what eating so much spicy food all at once might do to her stomach.

’This is no time for that kind of thinking! We’re people who don’t know where our next meal is coming from. Why worry about that now? Let’s just eat our fill first!’

While she was eating, her mind was completely focused on the food. Only when she was finished did she dazedly realize, ’Wow, there are people all around me, and I don’t even know them.’

Cynthia Whittaker looked at them one by one. They were mostly guys, and all of them were very handsome. It seemed the rumors were true.

’Boss Hart likes handsome men.’

After they finished eating, Cynthia Whittaker used her manager’s privilege to settle the bill. The bowls, chopsticks, plates, napkins, and even the oil splatters on the table were all swept away in an instant.

The tabletop was spotless again. Even the pot was gone, as if no one had ever been there.

Cynthia Whittaker’s jaw dropped in amazement once more. ’This is so magical!’ She scurried over to the sauce station to have a look.

The fruit, which had been about half-eaten, was completely refilled, not to mention the white fungus soup, congee, and braised rice.

’It was all replenished by an invisible hand! Wow, that means I don’t have to do anything at all!’

’All I have to do is sit behind the cash register every day, watch the customers come in, and watch them leave.’

’And in my free time, I can even go hang out with Boss Hart! WAHHH, this is literally a dream job!’

After Leo Colby’s group finished eating, they said goodbye to Lily Hart and left. Seth and Roman Rowe exchanged a look and departed as well.

Only Lily Hart and Cynthia Whittaker remained.

Lily Hart burped and pointed upstairs. "Wanna go check it out?"

Cynthia Whittaker nodded without hesitation. Lily Hart suspected she hadn’t even heard what she’d just said.

The staircase was next to the cash register. The two of them went up. The second floor’s layout was similar to the first.

The only difference was the addition of five private rooms, which offered more privacy and even had televisions inside.

One wall on the second floor was a floor-to-ceiling window with a view of the outside. The two of them stood before it.

Cynthia Whittaker still felt a sense of unreality, as if this stroke of good fortune had come too suddenly.

For the past ten years, she had to fight with all her might for food, water, and medicine. But now, this blessing had just fallen from the sky.

She was so stunned by it that all she could do was dazedly accept it. But it still didn’t feel real, as if she were floating in the clouds.

Lily Hart pointed in the direction of the lottery shop. "Cynthia, come hang out with me whenever you’re free. Do you want to live here in the restaurant, or get a room at the convenience store? Or even at the hotel, that works too."

Hearing her voice and her question, Cynthia Whittaker’s feeling of unreality suddenly diminished. She felt grounded again.

She considered for a moment before asking, "Where does everyone else live?"

By "everyone," she meant the group of people who had just been eating in the restaurant.

Lily Hart counted on her fingers. "Most of them live at the convenience store, but Owen Warren and Leo Colby both live in their own shops."

Even Stan Sterling moved over there; he’s living next to Seth now.

The convenience store had basically become a giant shelter, stuffing anyone and everyone inside anyway.

"Then I’ll live at the convenience store too, so I can be closer to you," Cynthia Whittaker said with a little laugh, unconsciously leaning a bit nearer to her.

’Her faint, pleasant scent always makes me feel so safe!’

"Okay, I’ll take you there now," Lily Hart agreed. They turned and went back downstairs.

Cynthia Whittaker closed the main door of the hot pot restaurant and walked alongside Lily Hart. "Boss Hart, what do you think about me opening for business tomorrow?"

"Sure! You don’t have to prep any ingredients anyway. You could even open this afternoon," Lily Hart said with certainty.

That gave Cynthia Whittaker more confidence, but she still decided to open at noon tomorrow for her first official day!

They soon arrived at the convenience store. Frost Shaw had just heard from Roman Rowe that a girl had won the hot pot restaurant in the scratch-off.

Just as her curiosity was piqued, Lily Hart walked in with the girl in tow. She was shorter than Frost Shaw by half a head and looked quite delicate and sweet standing next to Lily Hart.