Chapter 263: Prepare More Vitality Beef Balls

In the early morning, birds flew across the sky. Looking up, they appeared as little black dots drifting freely in the air.
At Lin’s Inn, not long after the door panels were removed, a middle-aged wealthy man with a potbelly and fancy clothes got off his carriage and strode in.
“Boss Yang…” Ma Chun immediately recognized him as Yang Furén, the owner of the largest pawnshop in Autumn Wind City. He greeted him with a smile and invited him in personally, saying, “Please come in!”
The middle-aged man nodded slightly, glanced around the lobby, and saw Lin Dong sitting at the counter. After Lin Dong stood up and bowed, he nodded. Guided by Ma Chun, he went up the stairs.
Lin Dong sat back down. Whenever guests arrived—whether they were wealthy patrons or ordinary diners—he would always stand up, bow, and greet them with a smile. If they were polite, he would even exchange a few words with them.
By morning, Lin Dong’s face had become somewhat stiff. The real peak was yet to come…
Lin’s Inn announced that there would be no seating fee for the private rooms on the third floor and the fifteen tables on the second floor. Sixteen well-known signature dishes from Autumn Wind City were added, along with twenty-three types of spiritual beasts and materials from tiers three and four. While the first and second floors still offered vitality beef balls at 40% or 50% off, all other tables and private rooms on those floors would now have them at 20% or 30% off—without the free beef balls—and this offer was valid only for three days.
Lin’s Inn once again fell into losses.
These astonishing moves made almost all the wealthy families in the city eager to rush to Lin’s Inn. They also shocked Ling Zhengyang so much that he jumped up from his lounge chair, his astonished gaze remaining unchanged for a long time.
“Green Pear Lion’s Head, Iron Plate Roasted Sheep, Braised Duck Tongue… How could these dishes end up at Lin’s Inn? Where did Lin’s Inn find chefs who know how to handle spiritual beasts and materials from tiers three and four?” Ling Zhengyang felt like he was going crazy. It was already annoying that none of the major restaurants showed any signs of backing down, and now Lin’s Inn had suddenly brought such a huge shock.
A few days earlier, Ling Zhengyang had a hunch that Lin Dong must have some hidden cards up his sleeve, some other tactics. But he never imagined that these tactics would be so drastic.
This was competing with Maple Forest Restaurant for customers who spent over ten taels per meal! It was trying to take over Autumn Wind City’s number one restaurant spot!
This manager Lin’s ambition was beyond imagination.
Just over ten days ago, he had been forced to lower prices to attract customers. Now, he was trying to snatch even bigger business.
“Can he even handle it?” Before Jiang Youcai could answer, Ling Zhengyang roared in anger.

Jiang Youcai forced a wry smile. “Third Young Master, calm down! Although I don’t know where Lin’s Inn got chefs who can work with third- and fourth-tier spiritual ingredients, those signature dishes of theirs are actually from various restaurants. If I’m not mistaken, it must be chefs from those restaurants who came to Lin’s Inn to join forces and counterattack our Fenglin Restaurant.”

Seeing Ling Zhengyang about to explode again, Jiang Youcai had to remind him once more, “Third Young Master, stay calm. No matter what skills Lin Dong has, you are the third young master of Fenglin Restaurant. Not to mention a small city like Qiufeng City, even in the cunning and treacherous capital, you can handle things with ease.”

Ling Zhengyang took a deep breath. The cunning people in the capital were indeed troublesome, but they would never go this far—just a few days in, and they already launched two massive counterattacks. Fabricating fake guild news, introducing all the signature dishes from various restaurants, and even targeting the regular customers that Fenglin Restaurant had long dominated…

Compared to those insidious tactics that left no trace, this Manager Lin was too aggressive and too overt. Normally, such opponents would be the easiest to deal with. But with these two powerful counterattacks, Lin’s Inn seemed invincible.

Calm down! Otherwise, if we lose miserably in a provincial city, we might truly lose face for life!

After taking a few more breaths, though his mind was still a bit chaotic, Ling Zhengyang’s ability to think had recovered somewhat. “If Lin’s Inn has the signature dishes of various restaurants, then undoubtedly, those restaurants will lose their signature dishes!” Ling Zhengyang paced rapidly in the courtyard before suddenly stopping. “Send someone to find out if the prices of dishes in those restaurants have changed. Also, try to find out if any chefs besides those who make the signature dishes are missing.”

“Third Young Master, are you suspecting that the chefs at Lin’s Inn who can work with third- and fourth-tier spiritual ingredients are also from those restaurants?” Jiang Youcai asked in confusion.

“It’s not just a suspicion—it’s almost certain!” Ling Zhengyang regained some confidence.

Jiang Youcai was surprised. “How is that possible? Chefs who make signature dishes and those who can work with third- and fourth-tier spiritual ingredients represent the best chefs in those restaurants. How could Lin’s Inn afford to borrow people from them? Without those chefs, those restaurants would lose a lot of their strength.”

“We misjudged!” Ling Zhengyang said grimly. “Lin’s Inn isn’t selling guild news to those restaurants; instead, it’s exchanging chefs with them.”

Jiang Youcai was shocked and exclaimed, “Lin Dong, how can you have such courage? This is hundreds of thousands of taels of silver—just to borrow a few chefs? And only for a few months?”
Ling Zhengyang sighed without answering. With courage and determination beyond expectations, there was nothing to be surprised about.
Seeing Ling Zhengyang’s expression, Jiang Youcai had no choice but to retreat to the back yard.
He walked slowly to the lounge chair. Ling Zhengyang sat down, leaned back, and closed his eyes slightly.
Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver borrowed just to hire a few chefs, all to suppress competitors and steal their customers. Ling Zhengyang asked himself—if his own family’s wealth were less than a million, he probably wouldn’t have such courage.
This trip to Qiufeng City had indeed not been in vain.
In the afternoon, while having lunch, Jiang Youcai rushed back to the courtyard.
“Third young master, I’ve found out what you suspected. The prices of dishes in various restaurants have been adjusted, with huge differences in discounts. Those ordinary restaurants with standard dishes offer discounts ranging from 30% to 40%, while those relying on their signature dishes offer discounts below 20%, with one even offering them for free. It seems they must have made an agreement. Also, besides the lack of chefs for signature dishes, there are indeed other chefs missing from these restaurants.”
Ling Zhengyang gently stirred the white rice in his bowl with his chopsticks, appearing relaxed. In truth, after three or four hours of intense thinking, his head was already throbbing, making it hard for him to concentrate.
“Third young master, what should we do?” Jiang Youcai pressed.
“How’s business at the restaurants?” Ling Zhengyang asked.
Jiang Youcai smiled bitterly. “For high-end customers, there were only about eighty tables in the morning and a hundred or so in the afternoon. For those spending over ten taels, there were about forty tables in the morning and just over twenty in the afternoon.”
“Just over twenty?” Ling Zhengyang frowned slightly. Usually, restaurant business was better in the afternoon than in the morning. The fact that high-end customers were more frequent in the morning suggested that Lin’s Inn’s popularity was still rising.
Jiang Youcai nodded helplessly. “We’ve already reduced our prices to 10%, yet someone is still stealing our customers, and in such large numbers. If we lower them further, we might even have to offer them for free.”
“Being able to taste all the signature dishes from major restaurants in one place is quite attractive. Fortunately, this trend will fade in a few days. With Lin’s Inn’s popularity at its peak, offering them for free…” Ling Zhengyang raised his head. “How much cash do the restaurants have left?”
“A little over nine hundred thousand taels,” Jiang Youcai replied without hesitation.
Ling Zhengyang hesitated for a moment.

Jiang Youcai said cautiously, “What if I send a message to Lingnan Commandery and ask Manager Li to send some silver over?”
Ling Zhengyang shook his head without speaking. In terms of both strength and resources, Fenglin Restaurant had always bullied smaller establishments. Even 900,000 taels of silver wouldn’t be enough to defeat Linji Inn; perhaps only by bringing a mountain of gold and silver could they force Linji Inn to collapse, even then it might take a year or two of free service.
Slowly fiddling with the white rice in his bowl, Ling Zhengyang saw only white spots before his eyes. His distracted gaze gradually focused on a single grain of rice.
“Is Linji Inn’s announcement that copper cards get a 30% discount and silver cards a 20% discount within three days?” Ling Zhengyang suddenly asked.
Jiang Youcai nodded.
“Three days—by then, the appeal of trying all the restaurants’ signature dishes in one place will have faded. Let’s wait a bit longer! Let Linji Inn suffer for a few more days,” Ling Zhengyang said slowly.
“If we don’t target Linji Inn for now, what about ordinary wealthy families…”
“Still no discount,” Ling Zhengyang said firmly.
“But…” Jiang Youcai hesitated. Since they were setting aside high-spending customers for now, it might be better to abandon them altogether as well, so that other restaurants could suffer more financial losses.
“They can’t afford to,” Ling Zhengyang shook his head. “If we raise prices, they’ll raise theirs too. If I’m not mistaken, they’ve already reached an agreement with Lin Dong—so long as their restaurants have a certain number of customers every day, they won’t compete with us.”
Jiang Youcai was astonished. “Does the third young master mean that not only are we worried about Linji Inn’s savings, but Linji Inn is also worried about ours?”
“That’s right!”
Ling Zhengyang picked up a piece of green vegetable, chewed it carefully for a moment, then swallowed it.
“Lin Dong’s ambitions seem a bit too great, don’t you think?”
Jiang Youcai’s mouth twitched. All he could think of was “a snake trying to swallow an elephant”!
The ultimate goal of Linji Inn—to snatch away Fenglin Restaurant’s high-spending customers worth 10 taels each—was already astonishing. To think their ambitions went even further, aiming to shut down Fenglin Restaurant altogether.
Ling Zhengyang retorted, “If his ambitions weren’t great, how could he be Lin Dong?”
Jiang Youcai said cautiously, “Since other restaurants will raise prices as well, maybe we should temporarily stop pressuring them and focus instead on competing with Linji Inn for high-spending customers who spend over 10 taels per table.”
Ling Zhengyang pondered for a long time, his head growing increasingly painful. “It’s useless. Lin Dong has already trapped us in a dead end. Raising prices would give those restaurants a chance to catch their breath. Continuing to keep prices at 10% discount means competing with those united restaurants in terms of money.”

Jiang Youcai couldn’t help but sigh. Starting with the fake merchant association news fabricated by Lin’s Inn, Fenglin Restaurant seemed to have shifted from pressing down on other restaurants to being pressured by them instead.
“We can only wait three more days and see Lin’s Inn’s plans before deciding,” Ling Zhengyang said, waving his hand. “You may go now.”
Jiang Youcai felt helpless—Fenglin Restaurant even had to consider others’ reactions before deciding how to respond.
“Wait!” A few steps after Jiang Youcai left, Ling Zhengyang tapped his chopsticks against his rice bowl and said calmly, “Is there any more vibrant beef balls in the kitchen? If so, heat up a plate. And prepare more…”
Jiang Youcai was stunned for a moment before silently nodding.