Chapter 217: Things Have Changed

For six or seven days in a row, the Vital Beef Balls and Vital Balls were fully prepared, but there was still no decisive news regarding the guild affairs.
In the backyard, Lin Dong was trying to lift the veil from Yun Lan’s face using his Air Control skill. After countless failed attempts and feeling discouraged, Ma Chun rushed over from afar.
“Boss, something serious has happened.”
Panting heavily, with sweat dripping from his forehead, Ma Chun looked as if he had been doused in hot water, completely soaked and steaming.
Lin Dong stopped and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“The guild has been canceled,” Ma Chun said, his chest heaving rapidly.
“The guild canceled? That’s good news,” Lin Dong replied, surprised before laughing. First, the guild matter was settled, and the wealthy patrons who used to frequent Maple Forest Tavern would start returning. Second, Lin Dong had no interest in using the guild to suppress competitors, nor did he want the inn’s development hindered by it.
Ma Chun smiled bitterly, still panting, and said helplessly, “Boss, I haven’t finished speaking. The guild was canceled, but a merchant association was established instead.”
“A merchant association?” Lin Dong frowned. “What exactly is going on?”
“It seems that yesterday morning, Censor Wang suddenly proposed in court that merchants from various counties could form their own associations, but there are three drawbacks. First, merchants from different counties often take one or two months to travel, so they can’t participate in meetings regularly, which is unfair to them and means the entire guild is controlled by merchants from the county towns. Second, due to differences in transportation costs, unified pricing for goods sent to other counties can lead to disputes. If prices are too high, sales will suffer; if too low, those with high transportation costs will lose money or earn little profit, and they won’t agree either.
After a pause, Ma Chun continued, “Third, prices vary from place to place. In county towns, a log might cost hundreds of coins, while in smaller towns it only costs dozens, and near mountains, it can even be bought for just a dozen coins. If prices for goods across the entire county are unified, the variation will be too small, making it hard for merchants in smaller towns to sell their goods, while those in county and city towns will suffer losses. If the variation is too large, then there’s no need for such an association at all, as it won’t be able to effectively prevent large merchants from deliberately lowering or inflating prices.”
Lin Dong was stunned. “So what about the merchant association?”
“Who knows,” Ma Chun said helplessly. “It seems it was the result of discussions among all the court officials. They decided to abolish guilds organized by counties and replace them with merchant associations organized by cities.”

“Taking the city as a whole?” Lin Dong was surprised. “Do you mean combining all industries—in one county, all merchants forming a guild?”
Ma Chun was stunned for a moment before shaking his head. “The information is vague. I’m not sure if that’s what it means. It’s said this guild could address these three problems.”
Lin Dong pondered for a while before asking, “Has the guild been finalized?”
Ma Chun shook his head. “I heard there’s debate over whether the guild should charge merchants a fee. If not, it won’t be able to handle external business, and its members won’t have wages. But if it does charge, how much would be appropriate per year? It seems the Ministry of Finance has already sent someone to calculate it.”
Lin Dong felt overwhelmed. It had been over twenty days already. If things dragged on any longer, given Maple Forest Restaurant’s strength, they might come up with more tactics, likely making most customers habitually frequent Maple Forest Restaurant.
Twenty days—two months! Lin Dong grew anxious and asked, “Is there any movement at Maple Forest Restaurant?”
Ma Chun shook his head. “No. Everyone there is extremely busy. If there’s any activity, it’s just hiring staff—twenty at once.”
Lin Dong suddenly felt that Maple Forest Restaurant saw this guild as a major plot to suppress all restaurants in the Great Han Kingdom.
Otherwise, why would something that was almost settled suddenly become chaotic again? With such a good opportunity, even if he couldn’t come up with any tricks, he should at least increase the discount to some extent. That way, a few large restaurants might fear that the guild issue would drag on and choose to close down.
Maple Forest Restaurant was too quiet—there must be other plans.
Though no matter how wealthy Maple Forest Restaurant was, it couldn’t control the direction of the court. But gathering relevant information and analyzing the likely outcomes shouldn’t be difficult.
This guild not only affected merchants’ interests but also those of high-ranking officials in the court. If these officials fought over more profits, it could drag on for a long time.
If that were the case, it would be normal for Maple Forest Restaurant to show no activity.
First, let other restaurants think the matter would be resolved soon. As time passed, most customers would flock to Maple Forest Restaurant. To bring them back, they’d have to invest heavily or even cut prices at a loss. By then, Maple Forest Restaurant would only need to keep forcing other restaurants to compete, with the longer the guild issue dragged on, the more restaurants would eventually collapse.

“Fenglin Restaurant is really ruthless!” Lin Dong gritted his teeth. If this situation dragged on for two months and Lin’s Inn didn’t respond, all its customers would surely leave. If they tried to counter with price cuts, it would only fall into Fenglin Restaurant’s scheme as well. Once matters with the guild were settled, even if Lin’s Inn introduced Vital Beef Balls and Vital Balls, and Fenglin Restaurant came up with some gimmicks, the wealthy families would soon forget about the inn, which would still offset most of its appeal.

“Owner, what’s wrong?” Ma Chun asked.

Lin Dong replied without hesitation, “How many tables do we have upstairs right now?”

“Over fifty tables a day,” Ma Chun said helplessly.

“We can’t wait!” Lin Dong thought for a moment before deciding quickly, “Prepare a carriage. I’m going to Li’s Mansion. You’re in charge of organizing people to write invitations and send them to all the wealthy families in the north of the city. Also, inform Qiao Tianhao to bring his men to wait for me at the east city gate.”

“Write invitations?” Ma Chun was stunned. “Weren’t we supposed to distribute flyers to all the wealthy families in the city?”

Lin Dong declared firmly, “The flyers can wait a day or two. Let’s deal with the north of the city first. Make sure the invitation times are staggered. Anyone who brings an invitation will get free food and drinks worth one or two taels of silver per table, plus two plates of Vital Beef Balls and one portion each of turtle stewed with maple leaves. Everything’s free!”

“Everything free?” Ma Chun repeated in shock. “Everything free?”

Lin Dong nodded emphatically. “And it’s free for three days.”

“Good heavens! How much silver will this cost?” Ma Chun panicked. If calculated based on the inn’s usual prices, that meant each table would cost over ten taels of silver. Over three days, it could easily exceed ten thousand taels.

“Around a thousand taels. The cost of Vital Beef Balls and turtle stewed with maple leaves isn’t high,” Lin Dong shook his head.

Ma Chun breathed a sigh of relief. A thousand taels wasn’t small, but it wasn’t terrifying either. Still…

“Owner, if we offer everything free, other restaurants might get restless. I’m afraid they’ll start cutting prices too.”

“Let them cut prices! That’s exactly what I want.” Lin Dong’s gaze turned fierce. Normally, any price cut by one restaurant would trigger a price war among others, leaving no one a winner. But now was different. The more chaos there was, the easier it would be to disrupt Fenglin Restaurant’s plans. Otherwise, just Vital Beef Balls and Vital Balls wouldn’t stay fresh for two months. By then, with the guild’s influence, people would still flock to Fenglin Restaurant.

It might be better to stir up chaos—restaurants that should close should close, and those that need to fight back should do so. This way, it might at least dilute the impact of the guild’s news. Lin Dong wasn’t sure if other restaurants could hold on for two months, but as long as Maple Forest Restaurant’s plans were disrupted and the wealthy patrons, confused by the constant price cuts, flocked from one place to another without fully adapting to Maple Forest Restaurant’s atmosphere, Lin’s Inn still had a chance to attract customers through other means by the time the guild’s decision was known.

“Owner, really do we have to do this?” Ma Chun said with a grim face. “If we do, the inn will probably make little profit for a long time, or even lose money.”

Lin Dong shook his head. “It shouldn’t take too long. Once Maple Forest Restaurant can’t resist joining the price-cut race, most of the big restaurants in Autumn Wind City will have to close within a month or two. By then, with more customers and fewer restaurants, it won’t be too hard to attract them.”

Ma Chun hesitated, but Lin Dong waved his hand decisively. “Do as I say!”

“Should I arrange it now?” Ma Chun gritted his teeth. After Lin Dong nodded, he turned and ran off.

Lin Dong looked at Yun Lan, who was sitting quietly at the stone table, and smiled bitterly. “It seems we can’t practice any moves today.”

Yun Lan shook her head gently and said calmly, “If you can maintain the same momentum you had when negotiating with Ma Chun when facing opponents, it will be extremely advantageous against those of similar strength.”

“I had that much momentum just now?” Lin Dong was surprised.

“Mm!” Yun Lan explained. “Especially when you made your decision.”

“I’ll think about it when I get back.”

Lin Dong smacked his lips and walked toward the front yard with a smile.

When he reached the entrance hall, a carriage was already waiting. Taking the whip from the servant, Lin Dong jumped onto the carriage and spurred it toward the city.

By the time they arrived at Li’s residence, it was nearly noon. Fortunately, Li Jiancheng had already returned from the government office. Without wasting much time, Lin Dong explained the situation, and the two set off immediately for the east side of the city.

Outside the city gate, Qiao Tianhao was already waiting with nine assistants and two carriages.

Seeing Lin Dong stop his horse, Qiao Tianhao hurried over, ignoring Li Jiancheng completely, and said obsequiously, “Owner, wasn’t it said it would be some time before we set off? Why are we leaving today? Thankfully, I was worried about emergencies and kept a tight schedule these past few days. Otherwise, those guys definitely wouldn’t meet your standards.”

“Enough. Take the people and set off right away,” Lin Dong said sternly.

Qiao Tianhao nodded quickly, ordered his assistants to get on the carriages, and then followed Lin Dong’s carriage toward the Junling Academy, several miles away.

Upon arriving at the academy, Li Jiancheng revealed his identity. With such a high-ranking official from the Qiufeng Mansion in attendance, the guards dared not neglect their duties. They immediately split into two groups: one to inform the dean, and the other to lead everyone inside the academy.
As they moved further inward, students fighting each other could be seen everywhere in the training ground; clearly, they were all martial arts students.
When they reached the innermost courtyard of the academy, everyone stopped. Outside the courtyard gate, an old man in his sixties walked slowly toward them.