Chapter 192: At Least Sixteen Coins

Ding: Congratulations! Your inn experience points have reached full capacity. You’ve received an upgrade task: “Help the guest who spends the least on accommodation and meals today.”
The clear system notification made Lin Dong jump up. Checking the inn system, he saw that his experience points had indeed reached full capacity. After confirming the upgrade task, he immediately went to the lobby.
It was just past noon, and the busiest part of the day had not yet passed. The lobby was bustling with activity. Lin Dong glanced at the counter and, seeing that Ma Chun was not there, turned and headed upstairs.
Facing him, Ma Chun, with a smile, was leading a group of guests downstairs.
“Manager Lin?” The lead guest, with his bald head standing out sharply, was one of the inn’s regulars—Niu Jinshui.
“Boss Niu, you look so healthy. I guess your leather goods business is doing well, right?” Lin Dong said cheerfully as he went downstairs.
“Oh, not really. Thanks to Manager Lin, things are just okay,” Niu Jinshui replied with a wide smile. His leather goods business was mostly active in winter, and since spring had already arrived, business wasn’t very good. But last winter, he had made a fortune.
“Manager, is there something you need from me?” Ma Chun rarely saw Lin Dong go upstairs, so he assumed Lin Dong needed something from him.
Lin Dong nodded. “Yes, there is something.”
Ma Chun, now at level 6, had excellent observation skills. Although Lin Dong seemed anxious, it didn’t seem like it was an urgent matter. He immediately said, “Manager, wait a moment. I’ll help Boss Niu exchange his card first.”
“Exchange the card?” Lin Dong was slightly surprised.
Ma Chun grinned and said cheerfully, “Boss Niu has accumulated enough points for 100 taels worth of meals and drinks. He’s now the owner of the sixth silver card at our inn.”
“Congratulations!” Lin Dong quickly bowed. The owner of the sixth silver card was undoubtedly a key customer for Lin’s Inn.
“It’s Manager Lin who deserves congratulations!” Niu Jinshui replied with a smile, jokingly saying, “Lin’s Inn really knows how to do business. With just one VIP card, it makes me want to come to the inn every time I want to treat someone. And every time I sit down, I think about accumulating more points. I’m even thinking of having some VIP cards made for my leather goods store too. Who knows? Maybe customers will come to buy leather goods even in the middle of summer.”
“That’s a good idea!” Lin Dong nodded seriously, and everyone laughed.
Back at the counter, Lin Dong chatted politely with Niu Jinshui while Ma Chun handled the registration. Soon, the silver card was handed to Niu Jinshui.

After seeing Niu Jinshui off to the inn, Ma Chun returned to the counter and asked, “Does the owner need me to handle something?”
Lin Dong nodded and said, “Help me check today’s account books—both those from the lodging building and the lobby. See which guest spent the least. If they’re in a group, calculate the average cost.”
“Well…” Ma Chun hesitated for a moment before saying helplessly, “It’s easy for the lodging building. For the guests in the lobby, we do keep records of the price per dish, but it’s hard to identify which guest it was.”
“No problem. Just check first.”
Lin Dong had thought of this as well but hadn’t taken it too seriously. To be a good employee, one’s memory definitely couldn’t be too poor. Otherwise, it would be impolite to forget a guest who came today by tomorrow. The staff at Lin’s Inn were all of high quality. If there really was a guest who spent only a few coins on their meal, they would surely remember and be able to describe their appearance.
“Mm!”
Ma Chun took out the lobby’s account book and began flipping through the pages.
“The lowest cost for a meal in the lobby today was sixteen coins.”
“Just one person?” Lin Dong asked.
Ma Chun nodded.
“Sixteen coins… What’s the second lowest?” Lin Dong frowned slightly. This wasn’t exactly a low expense. With sixteen coins, one could order two vegetarian dishes and one meat dish. In Xilan City, it was common to see meals costing less than ten coins.
“Twenty coins,” Ma Chun replied quickly.
“Check the lodging building!” Lin Dong was almost certain that if there were no guests with even lower meal costs at night, the candidate must be in the lodging building.
Although the cheapest room in the lodging building, a Class C room, cost twenty coins per day, most guests still ate at the inn. But it wasn’t unheard of for two or three people to share a room and eat outside. In that case, it was common for expenses to be below sixteen coins.
Ma Chun nodded, took out the lodging building’s account book. There was only one page for today’s records. After a quick glance, he gave an answer: “The lowest cost was thirty coins. They’re regulars at our inn—Old Liu and his son from Liu’s Village. Every time they bring mountain goods to the city, they stay at our inn. They arrived not long ago. They shared one room, and because there were too many people in the lobby, they ordered four bowls of rice and two side dishes to take to their room. That works out to fifteen coins per person.”
Lin Dong felt helpless. Those father and son would undoubtedly eat at the inn at night, so their expense should be over sixteen coins. His last hope was to find a guest who stayed in a Class C room and had already eaten dinner that night.

Otherwise, a price of sixteen coins isn’t too low, and the staff might not remember the customer very well. Plus, since it’s a diner, it’s not easy to find them.
Lin Dong sat down at the counter and said, “Go ask the staff if anyone remembers a customer who only paid sixteen coins today.”
Ma Chun immediately asked each staff member, from the first floor to the second, and even went to the lodging building, but the results weren’t very promising. As Lin Dong had expected, sixteen coins per person wasn’t a small amount, so there was little memory of such a customer; they could only hope to recognize them if they came back.
Stroking the counter for a moment, Lin Dong stood up, looked at Ma Chun, and decided, “Today, you should handle fewer guests. Stay at the counter and inform me immediately if any customer pays less than sixteen coins.”
Ma Chun still couldn’t resist his curiosity and asked, “Boss, why are you looking for the customer who paid the least?”
“I want to ask him for a big favor,” Lin Dong smiled and turned to go back to the backyard.
Ma Chun was completely confused and couldn’t understand what Lin Dong meant.
Back in the backyard, he prepared lunch and ate while chatting with Yun Lan. After practicing his aerial skills for a while, Lin Dong returned to his room to cultivate while waiting for news. By evening, there was still no sign of activity at the door.
With no choice, after dinner, Lin Dong went back to the lobby.
Outside, it had already darkened, and fewer than 60% of the customers on the first floor remained; few people came in.
“Is there no one who paid less than sixteen coins?”
Ma Chun shook his head. The Liu father and son had paid twelve coins for their meal this afternoon—sixteen was already the lowest amount.
There was nothing else to do but wait. Lin Dong didn’t bother going back to the backyard either. He sat at the counter and waited directly.
As night fell completely, the tables in the lobby gradually emptied. The staff, who had been busy all day, gathered in small groups, chatting idly while waiting for closing time.
After checking the inn once more, Ma Chun returned to the lobby and said, “Boss, it’s time to close.”
“Are there any vacant Room C rooms left?” Lin Dong asked.
“Five more.”
After checking the other rooms as well, Lin Dong said helplessly, “Don’t assign anyone to stay overnight today. I’ll watch from the lobby.”
“I’ll do it!” Ma Chun rushed to say, “If any guest pays less than sixteen coins, I’ll immediately inform the boss.”

Lin Dong shook his head. If any guests came to stay, and if the circumstances were right, he would need to guide them to keep their accommodation and meals under sixteen coins. That way, it would be much simpler than waiting patiently for that customer who paid sixteen coins per meal to return.

If Ma Chun or the staff were in charge without clear instructions, they might use persuasive tactics to get the guests to pay more than sixteen coins. If given instructions, they might not handle it properly. In that case, even if there were guests willing to pay less than sixteen coins, the inn’s system might still default to treating that sixteen-coin customer as part of an upgrade task. As a result, the upgrade task might have to be done incorrectly once.

Seeing Lin Dong’s firm attitude, Ma Chun could only hurry up and ask the staff to clean the lobby. Soon after hanging two lanterns outside, they announced that the inn was closing for the night.

Once all the staff had left, Lin Dong spread out a straw mat and sat down, practicing cultivation while waiting for guests to arrive. The candlelight flickered, and spiritual energy flowed rapidly through his meridians. Spiritual energy from the surroundings kept surging toward him, centered around his body. From a distance, it seemed as though a faint glow surrounded Lin Dong.

Knock, knock…

A clear knocking sound came. Lin Dong’s body trembled as he stood up abruptly, and the glow vanished instantly.

After quickly calculating the number of days he had been cultivating, he realized it was still before midnight.

“They’re here!”

Answering the door, Lin Dong quickly got up and moved the wooden board aside. An old man in a blue robe, holding the hand of an eight- or nine-year-old boy, stood outside.

After stepping aside to let them in, Lin Dong quickly asked, “What’s your surname, sir? Are you here to stay overnight or just for a short stay?”

“My surname is Feng,” the old man replied politely. After hesitating for a moment, he added, “I’m considering both options.”

Lin Dong felt slightly disappointed. The two clearly appeared to be grandfather and grandson. Although his judgment wasn’t as sharp as that of the staff, he could tell from their clothing that they weren’t wealthy, but they also didn’t seem poor. As for staying overnight, given the boy’s age, it was very likely they would share a Yi-shaped room costing fifty coins per room. That would mean each person would have to pay twenty-five coins.

Of course, there was still a chance they could stay in a Bing-shaped room. But unfortunately, they would also need to eat.

After leading them to a table, Lin Dong asked, “What would Old Man Feng and the young boy like to eat? It’s deep at night, and the chef isn’t here, so we can only prepare something simple. Please forgive us.”

The old man nodded, glancing at Lin Dong’s clothes with a hint of confusion.

Lin Dong smiled and said, “The staff member on night duty is sick, and the inn doesn’t have many people available. I had to take over the duty myself.”

The old man stood up in surprise and asked, “Are you Manager Lin?”

Lin Dong was also slightly surprised. Judging from the tone, it was clearly not a guest from out of town who arrived too late to stay at the inn. Seeing Lin Dong nod, the old man said with a wry smile, “If Lin’s Inn is considered a small inn, then not only in Autumn Wind City but probably throughout the entire Lingnan Prefecture, there are no larger inns.” Lin Dong quickly offered a few polite remarks. Just as he was about to ask what the old man needed to eat, the old man spoke first, “Innkeeper Lin, I was wondering how many rooms are available at Lin’s Inn?” “There are seven rooms of type A, twelve of type B, and five left of type C. Our Lin’s Inn’s type A rooms are spacious, nicely decorated, and even scented with precious herbs, ensuring you wake up refreshed after a good night’s sleep…” Lin Dong hesitated for a moment but still described all the types of rooms in the lodging building.