Chapter 208: Return to Its Owner

“Shopkeeper Lin, I’d like to thank you here for what you did regarding Wang Bin and Yi Yi.”
Taking advantage of the quiet moment when no one was around, Wang Shuangxi stepped forward quickly and bowed to Lin Dong.
Lin Dong quickly stood up and said, “Boss Wang, please don’t blame me for acting on my own.”
“Not at all,” Wang Shuangxi waved his hands repeatedly, expressing his gratitude. “If it weren’t for your quick help, I, Wang Shuangxi, might have missed out on having Yi Yi as my daughter-in-law.”
“It was just a small favor,” Lin Dong said with a smile.
Wang Shuangxi shook his head. “For you, Shopkeeper Lin, it might have been a small favor, but for my Wang family, it’s a tremendous kindness. It’s Wang Bin’s good fortune to have such a kind friend like you.”
“Boss Wang, that’s too kind of you. Wang Bin is a warm and honest person, and it’s my fortune to be his friend.”
Lin Dong exchanged a few polite words with a smile. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed two figures approaching. When he looked up, he was stunned.
Next to Wang Bin was a woman wearing coarse clothes, a greasy apron, with dark skin and a cloth tied around her head.
When the woman stepped forward, Lin Dong was even more astonished—by her appearance, it was Yi Yi.
After several months apart, her changes were quite extreme.
Seeing Lin Dong’s surprise, Yi Yi froze for a moment before realizing what was happening. She said gently, “Shopkeeper Lin, I applied black ash to my face so that no villains would notice me. I’m sorry for the embarrassment.”
Lin Dong understood. It only took a month or two to tan that much—almost as bad as the mistreatment Tian Hao suffered when he first went to Gu Huanzong.
Wang Bin, glancing at the wooden box on the table and recalling Lin Dong’s actions earlier, asked, “Brother Lin, what’s this…”
Lin Dong smiled and said, “I remember you saying you could build another Kelaibai Restaurant for Boss Wang in three to five years. Why does the restaurant seem so quiet these days?”
“Don’t even mention it!” Wang Bin said with a pained expression. “My father has an illness and can’t cook. Yi Yi isn’t suitable to be in public either, so she has to work as a cook. Originally, her skills were quite good, and the restaurant’s business was getting better day by day. But then, that wretched official took a liking to her.”
“He wants to extort money?” Lin Dong asked.
“More than just money!” Wang Bin said angrily. “He wants to join the business for free and demands 70% of the profits right away.”
Lin Dong was speechless. There were many officials who used their positions to demand shares, but most asked for only 10% or 20%. Someone who dared to demand 70% at once must be a ruthless figure even in the entire Qiufeng Mansion.

“The more people fear such a person, the more arrogant and brazen he becomes,” Wang Bin said resentfully. “And that’s how things turned out—just because of that wretched clerk, no one dares to eat at the restaurant anymore.”
Lin Dong smiled and nodded slightly toward the wooden box. “Take a look!”
Wang Bin moved the box in front of him and opened it. Inside was a folded piece of yellowed paper. When he picked it up and unfolded it, he exclaimed in shock, “Yiyi’s contract of sale?”
“Mm!” Lin Dong nodded. “Below that are the household registration documents.”
The family of three was overjoyed. With this contract of sale and the household registration documents, it meant Yiyi had fully regained her freedom.
Wang Bin suddenly stood up and bowed to Lin Dong. “Brother Lin, I can never express enough thanks for your kindness. I’ll never forget it.”
Wang Shuangxi and Yiyi also quickly stood up to express their gratitude.
“There’s more!” Lin Dong said with a smile.
“More?”
Only then did Wang Bin realize the box contained a thick layer of documents. He picked up one and found it to be a household registration document. When he opened another one, he was stunned speechless.
“What’s wrong?”
Wang Shuangxi and Yiyi, seeing Wang Bin’s strange reaction, checked it out together. They were just as stunned as he was.
“The deed to Kelaile Restaurant?” Wang Shuangxi, struggling to recover, exclaimed in amazement, “Shopkeeper Lin, how did it end up in your hands?”
“I’m the one who bought Kelaile Restaurant,” Lin Dong said with a smile. “Now it’s back to its rightful owner.”
Tears streamed down Wang Shuangxi’s face as he took the deed from Wang Bin’s hands, too shaken to speak.
“Brother Lin, I will definitely repay you this money someday,” Wang Bin said slowly.
“That’s right, Shopkeeper Lin…” Wang Shuangxi also realized what was happening and quickly added, “We will definitely repay you double the amount.”
Lin Dong shook his head smiling. “Kelaile Restaurant originally belonged to Boss Wang. It’s just returning to its rightful owner. Besides, Kelaile Restaurant has been losing money every day. It would be strange if Boss Wang agreed to reimburse me for the losses.”
“What are you saying, Shopkeeper Lin?” Wang Shuangxi clutched the deed tightly, not knowing quite how to express his gratitude to Lin Dong.
“A silver note?”
Wang Bin exclaimed again. Only then did they notice that below the deed was a silver note worth ten thousand taels.
“Count it. In total, it’s one hundred twenty thousand taels of silver,” Lin Dong explained. “I spent forty thousand taels to buy Kelaile Restaurant. Yiyi’s contract of sale plus the losses from this inn over the past month are about forty thousand taels. The remaining one hundred twenty thousand taels are right here.”
“How come only forty thousand taels were spent?” Yiyi was surprised. “Given Yingchunhua’s personality, even if we asked Lord Li to intervene, it would probably cost at least one hundred thousand taels.”

“The thing is, some time ago, Yingfeng Tower also introduced a VIP card, similar to what the inn did. According to the staff, Yingchunhua intended to use it to promote their new star performer…”
Lin Dong had no choice but to recount how he obtained the contract of servitude. Their amazement grew at the ingenious method he used.
Putting the silver bills back into the wooden box, Wang Bin looked at Wang Shuangxi.
Wang Shuangxi smiled and nodded gently.
Wang Bin immediately handed the box back to Lin Dong. “Brother Lin, no matter how much silver was spent on Yi Yi’s contract of servitude, I said before that any extra amount would be given to you as compensation. As long as you’re not dissatisfied with it, I’ll be very satisfied. Please take these silver bills back.”
“It was just a small favor to help a friend. I, Lin Dong, am not used to accepting payment. If you really insist that I take these back, it means you don’t consider me a friend anymore. Besides, the KeLai Restaurant needs money to revive itself.”
Lin Dong pushed the box back. The Vitality Beef Balls were already the greatest reward. As for whether the KeLai Restaurant could recover, it would depend on Wang Shuangxi’s ability to withstand the pressure from Fenglin Restaurant and compete for business from Lin’s Inn and Yingfeng Tower.
After some back-and-forth, and at Lin Dong’s insistence, the three accepted the box.
After trying Yi Yi’s cooking in the small restaurant and having lunch, Lin Dong immediately took his leave. This time, he would come to Jiuhu County in person, ignoring his cultivation advantages. Ma Chun couldn’t leave the inn, and trusted people like Wang Liuzhi were not around. One reason why it was inconvenient to have the staff deliver over a hundred thousand taels of silver was just that.
Another reason was that there wasn’t much Fire Ox meat available in the market, let alone Fire Ox legs. And these Fire Oxen could only be found on Taifeng Mountain, 19 li south of Jiuhu City.
Riding his horse at full speed, Lin Dong finally arrived at Taifeng Mountain before dusk.
Taifeng Mountain wasn’t large, covering only about ten li in circumference. The mountain was either covered with strange rocks or lush vegetation. Although there were twenty or thirty kinds of spiritual beasts, the highest-ranked ones were only at the fourth level.
With Lin Dong’s strength, facing a fourth-level spiritual beast would surely result in defeat, but with the Misty Steps and the Soul-Returning Elixir, escaping wouldn’t be difficult.
After searching around, Lin Dong finally found his target on a slightly sloping grassy area on the mountain’s middle slope. He also understood why there was so little Fire Ox meat in the market.
The reason was that Fire Oxen were strong and robust, the grassland was slightly sloping downward, and they often came in groups of twenty or thirty. If they charged downhill, their momentum was so great that even those at the Spiritual Phase couldn’t withstand it.

Above the grassland was a cliff over ten zhang high, smooth as if carved by knives and axes. Attacking from above was definitely not an option. After a quick thought, Lin Dong took a bench from the mobile counter and strode forward.

Moo…

Seeing strangers approaching, a group of fire bulls directly opposite Lin Dong raised their sharp horns, their fiery red fur bristling as a warning.

Lin Dong ignored them and continued to march forward.

With less than twenty meters left, the twenty-five fire bulls simultaneously dug their iron hooves into the ground. Their massive bodies, as huge as small mountains, sank slightly before charging downward.

Grass flew into the air, and the ground shook violently. Lin Dong looked up and saw the herd of fire bulls turning into a wall of flames, rushing down with overwhelming force.

His gaze sharpened. Swallowing hard, Lin Dong didn’t retreat but stepped forward to meet them head-on.

With less than five meters between them, the only sound was the roar of thunder. As the herd of fire bulls descended like a blaze from the sky, Lin Dong darted quickly to the side to avoid them.

Boom… Boom… Boom…

The fire bulls charged past him, their gusts of wind causing his face to hurt as if cut by knives.

Narrowing his eyes, as the last row of fire bulls came close, a surge of spiritual energy flowed through Lin Dong’s body, forming a faint glow on the bench. He swung it fiercely at the head of the nearest fire bull.

Bang!

The fire bull’s charge paused slightly, its hooves suspended in mid-air as it stumbled to the side.

Wood fragments flew everywhere. Despite the spiritual energy infused into it, the bench in Lin Dong’s hands couldn’t withstand such immense force and shattered.

His right arm also went numb from the impact.

Seeing the fire bull struggling to get up, Lin Dong was amazed at its resistance to damage but didn’t hesitate. He channeled spiritual energy into his right arm. Once his palm regained some strength, he took another bench and thrust it at the fire bull’s forehead.

Sssh…

The oval end of the bench, in Lin Dong’s hands, was as sharp as a sword. When it pierced the fire bull’s forehead, hot blood sprayed out.

Moo…

The fire bull continued to convulse and roar. The distant rumbling sound suddenly stopped, then came back closer.

Lin Dong turned to see that the herd of fire bulls had halted their charge and were rushing forward angrily.

With another surge of spiritual energy, Lin Dong thrust the bench again. The struggling fire bull finally calmed down. Its limbs, as thick as an adult’s thighs, shook a few more times before it died quietly.

“Good thing these fire bulls are second-tier spiritual beasts. If they were one or two tiers higher, even warriors wouldn’t dare approach.”

Putting the dead fire bull into the mobile counter, Lin Dong exhaled heavily. Before he could even wipe the sweat from his face, the herd of fire bulls was already less than ten meters away.

Helpless, Lin Dong had no choice but to calm himself down. When the herd of fire bulls rose to less than four meters high, like magma from beneath the ground, he used his Swift Step to dodge, then used a bench to knock down one of the fire bulls in the last row. With repeated strikes from the bench, he finally managed to take care of this fire bull. Above, the remaining twenty-three fire bulls rushed forward like walls of flame. Lin Dong focused his mind, calculated the distance between the two sides, and once again managed to avoid the charge of the fire bull herd…