Chapter 330: Hong Wannan’s Ingenious Calculation
Once Fenglin Restaurant and Hongfu Restaurant engage in a direct confrontation, it won’t just be a matter of suppressing the opponent, but with the intention of crushing them. At that time, regardless of whether it’s Fenglin Restaurant or Hongfu Restaurant, they will inevitably be too preoccupied to care for Linji Inn.
In the back-and-forth struggle, driving prices down to the minimum profit mandated by the Chamber of Commerce is an indispensable foundation. With just this one condition, if the two leading restaurants in Lingnan City were to stir up trouble, it would indirectly amount to suppressing other major restaurants in Lingnan City, and Linji Inn, naturally, would be included in that.
However, this suppression would be limited to prices only. Fenglin Restaurant would not specifically target Linji Inn’s various distinctive features.
Linji Inn has numerous features that are difficult to suppress even if they were free. The most attractive ones include the VIP cards and Ling Stone Fans. If Xiao Pei’s independently created minor cuisine system, which transcends the two major culinary systems, meets expectations, it would also be a feature that Fenglin Restaurant and Hongfu Restaurant could not completely suppress even if offered for free.
Let alone the distinctive dishes like Active Beef Balls, Fengtong Braised Knife Fish, and Active Balls, as well as the pastry and noodle dishes like Yu Linglong. Under the free suppression from Fenglin Restaurant and Hongfu Restaurant, these dishes are by no means powerless in retaliation. Moreover, under the Chamber of Commerce’s price constraints, various dishes and wines must have a certain minimum profit margin.
This pricing constraint hinders the expansion speed of Linji Inn while simultaneously lowering the risks associated with its expansion.
It can be said that as long as the two major restaurants don’t specifically target Linji Inn relying on their advantages of familiar customers, geographical location, and overall hard power, plus some special tactics, and instead go head-to-head with Linji Inn’s features, the business might suffer some impact, but in the early stages, there’s no need to worry that customer numbers will be suppressed to an unacceptable level.
Before Linji Sports Hall can attract crowds like clouds, Linji Inn can first win people’s hearts and cultivate a batch of regular customers. Once Linji Sports Hall becomes popular, with no geographical disadvantages and combined with the hard power improvements during this period, even if Fenglin Restaurant and Hongfu Restaurant join forces to suppress it, Linji Inn will be able to cope with it calmly.
Even, if at that time Fenglin Restaurant and Hongfu Restaurantsplit the victory and defeat (split the victory and defeat), and Linji Inn then moves against the victorious side, perhaps one can rest while the other toils exhaustedly, who knows if they couldn’t one stroke establish Linji Inn as the absolute giant of Lingnan City’s restaurant industry.
Of course, this is the best outcome. Fenglin Restaurant and Hongfu Restaurant are certainly not fools; they will surely think of this point. But anyway, no matter what, if these two fight it out, it will definitely be more beneficial than harmful for Linji Inn.
“Before even opening their doors, they encountered such a great joy, Boss. Coming to Lingnan City really couldn’t be more timely.” Ma Chun smiled broadly. “Whether it’s early by a month or late by a month, if the two families fight, it might not be good news for Lin’s Inn. Only when the fight happens right after Lin’s Inn opens is it truly a huge piece of good fortune.”
“As for the proprietor of Fenglin Restaurant, what is he like?” Lin Dong asked.
“The proprietor of Fenglin Restaurant is Liang Gufeng, aged fifty-six. Thirteen years ago, he was promoted from a county-level official in Chencheng to the proprietor of Fenglin Restaurant in Lingnan County.” Ma Chun slowly recalled the information in his mind and spoke slowly: “He is cautious and wise, and should be the opposite of Hong Wufu. Looking at Fenglin Restaurant’s reward and punishment rules, the fact that he has firmly held the position of county-level proprietor for thirteen years proves his ability. After all, one step further and he would be the proprietor of Fenglin Restaurant in the capital. His capabilities are beyond doubt.”
Lin Dong slightly frowned. He hoped to hear that Liang Gufeng was bold and aggressive.
If Lin’s Inn hadn’t appeared, perhaps Liang Gufeng would have hesitated no more and would have seized the opportunity to strike a heavy blow against Hong Fu Gambling Hall. But with the appearance of Lin’s Inn, if Liang Gufeng were truly a cautious and steady person, he might not necessarily do so. After all, in the over ten years prior, Fenglin Restaurant and Hongfu Restaurant were evenly matched, neither able to do anything to the other. Even if this opportunity were missed, let alone Hong Wufu falling into crisis, even without any gambling hall crisis, Hongfu Restaurant would still maintain its current status quo.
However, Lin’s Inn is different. Step by step, they came from Southwest County and Autumn Prefecture, treading on the corpses of Fenglin Restaurant. Now, marching into Lingnan City, in Lin’s Inn’s eyes, Hongfu Restaurant is the biggest threat; while in Fenglin Restaurant’s eyes, Lin’s Inn is the biggest threat. During this steady period, Liang Gufeng abandoning the opportunity to crush Hongfu Restaurant and instead focusing on suppressing and dealing with Lin’s Inn is not impossible.
Seeing Lin Dong’s tightly furrowed brows, Ma Chun couldn’t help but ask: “Boss, are you worried that Liang Gufeng will miss this opportunity to deal with Hongfu Restaurant?”
Lin Dong nodded helplessly, saying, “I even suspect that Liang Guifeng might have joined forces with Hong Wanfu. Compared to that, in Liang Guifeng’s heart, the biggest thing is making the Lin Family Inn disappear from Lingnan City. Plus, although Hong Wanfu is a wolf who stops at nothing, he wouldn’t dare to use any underhanded tactics against the Fenglin Restaurant. Taking advantage of Hong Wanfu’s misfortune to join forces and crush the Lin Family Inn should be the best outcome in Liang Guifeng’s mind. Of course, Hong Wanfu has already decided to abandon the gambling den and focus on running the restaurant. With his appetite, he might not agree to join Liang Guifeng. But Liang Guifeng isn’t an ordinary person either; the possibility of this happening isn’t nonexistent.”
Ma Chun’s expression turned serious. If that were the case, the Lin Family Inn would be in big trouble.
Lin Dong knocked on his slightly throbbing head. What a great piece of news; he hadn’t expected there to be such a hidden danger.
Inside the room, the atmosphere gradually quieted down. The spring breeze blew gently, causing the paper window to sway slightly. The soft sunlight filtering through the raised white paper made the closed-off room feel anything but dim. The two men furrowed their brows in thought; one lightly tapped the table with his index finger, while the other kept his eyes tightly shut, his brows knitted together.
Suddenly, Ma Chun opened his eyes. A sharp glint flashed across them.
“Any ideas?” Lin Dong asked.
“We can make Liang Guifeng have no choice but to fight Hong Wanfu,” Ma Chun sneered.
“Tell me!” Lin Dong gestured.
Thanks to the owner of Tianlai Gambling House leveraging his relationship with the new County Magistrate, he has a way to bring Hong Fu Gambling House down—though it shouldn’t be a simple task. After all, with the emergence of the Merchant Guild, the influence of the local officials on business has diminished. Although the gambling houses are still significantly affected by the officials, the Merchant Guild has a rule where members can petition for justice. It’s no longer to the point where a single word from an official can bankrupt them.
Ma Chun spoke with a bright red face: “So, the owner of Tianlai Gambling House should know that while the County Magistrate can protect him for now, he can’t protect him forever. Once the County Magistrate is transferred thousands of miles away, and the successor is from a different party, a new Tianlai Gambling House might appear.”
After a pause, Ma Chun continued, “For the boss of Tiantai Gambling House, the county magistrate’s transfer is something he can’t control. The only thing he can do is try to eliminate all potential threats. Once the new county magistrate takes office, Hong Wanfu, who once occupied seven or eight percent of the gambling business in Lingnan City, would be the biggest threat. There’s no guarantee Hong Wanfu won’t rise again with his wealth and influence. It can be said that the safest approach is to make Hong Wanfu lose everything. At the very least, he must be driven out to another county.”
“This guess is indeed highly probable. The new county magistrate has been in office for several months, and Tiantai Gambling House hasn’t made any big moves. It’s likely because they don’t want Hong Wanfu to retire with his accumulated wealth of over a decade.”
Lin Dong nodded in affirmation of Ma Chun’s idea.
“Since that’s the case, we can help him,” Ma Chun smiled.
“How can we help?” Lin Dong asked further.
Ma Chun spoke with confidence, “The best way to force Hong Wanfu to keep gambling at the gambling house is to cut off all his retreat paths.”
Lin Dong was stunned, then suddenly realized. That’s right. As long as someone discreetly reminds the boss of Tiantai Gambling House that Hong Wanfu’s plan is to develop into the restaurant business, the boss of Tiantai Gambling House will definitely try to form an alliance with Feng Lin Restaurant to suppress Hong Wanfu.
As long as Hong Wanfu’s idea of developing into the restaurant business is cut off, he will definitely try to preserve his Hong Fu Gambling House. At the very least, he must keep one or two shares to wait for a comeback.
In other industries, forcing an enemy back into their own industry to fight desperately is already stupid enough, but gambling is different. Although the gambling house is also constrained by the Chamber of Commerce, there are no price restrictions. The only restrictions are the high-interest loans within the gambling house and the prohibition of cheating.
The competition in the gambling house pits high-level gamblers against each other—high-level gambling experts. Sending high-level gamblers to the opponent’s casino to win money is one of the ways the major gambling houses frantically fight each other. This method is second only to sending people to smash the opponent’s gambling house.
For Tiantai Gambling House, if the goal is to make Hong Wanfu lose everything, sending gambling experts to Hong Fu Gambling House to win money is undoubtedly the best way to suppress the opponent and strengthen oneself. Although Hong Fu Gambling House has dominated Lingnan City’s gambling scene for over a decade or two, whether it’s gambling experts or specialized personnel hired to eliminate opposing gambling experts, they should far exceed Tiantai Gambling House. However, Tiantai Gambling House has one advantage that Hong Fu Gambling House absolutely cannot compare with, and that is the county magistrate.
If the county magistrate were to target the Hong Fu Gambling House, the Hong Fu Gambling House could seek help from the Chamber of Commerce, but the county magistrate would have his constables disguise themselves as thugs coming to the gambling house. Unless they could catch irrefutable evidence, the Chamber of Commerce wouldn’t be able to intervene.
The constables from the county office might only brandish their batons, but the constables from the magistrate’s office were mostly martial artists. Perhaps one of them could match Hong Wufu, but if several or even a dozen joined forces, they would definitely be able to hold him back. The advantage of the Tian Lai Gambling House lay in having more people; they could openly send gambling experts to the Hong Fu Gambling House to make money. Whereas the Hong Fu Gambling House might not dare to send a large number of gambling experts to the Tian Lai Gambling House to make money.
As for how the boss of the Tian Lai Gambling House would persuade Liang Gufeng to cooperate and dispel Hong Wufu’s desire to develop the restaurant business, and how to make Hong Wufu have to engage in a hard battle with the Tian Lai Gambling House, Lin Dong believed that the boss of the Tian Lai Gambling House would think of a good idea himself.
“Boss, we could even lend a helping hand to the Tian Lai Gambling House.” Ma Chun hesitated but finally voiced the thoughts in his heart: “With our strength, sending a few guards over would be enough for the Tian Lai Gambling House boss to secure a sure win. Competition between gambling houses, in the end, is really about who has a better relationship with the officials and who has the harder fist. If the Tian Lai Gambling House has both advantages, they would definitely spare no effort to persuade Liang Gufeng to cooperate.”
“This matter, you’d better not think about it. Try to make the boss of the Tian Lai Gambling House know Hong Wufu’s intentions!” Lin Dong shook his head. Competition between gambling houses was full of bloodshed; indirect involvement had already made him somewhat unwilling, and direct involvement, he would absolutely not agree to.
Ma Chun nodded helplessly. Fortunately, even if the Lin Family Inn didn’t send guards to help, the boss of the Tian Lai Gambling House’s confidence might be somewhat affected, but it wasn’t enough to make him give up this opportunity.
After a moment of calculation, Ma Chun asked: “Try to investigate people closely related to the Tian Lai Gambling House, then buy or lure them into inadvertently letting the Tian Lai Gambling House boss himself realize Hong Wufu’s plans?”
Lin Dong pondered slightly and nodded heavily: “It’s possible, think it over carefully and ensure there’s no failure.”
“Alright, I’ll go do it?” Ma Chun asked.
“Go! The sooner it’s done, the better.” Lin Dong waved his hand.
Ma Chun immediately stood up, opened the door, and left.
Inside the room, after carefully considering if there was anything missing for a while, Lin Dong sat in meditation and entered a state of deep concentration…
The surging spiritual power rushed out of the dantian…，racing rapidly through the meridians……
Two days later, also the day before the official opening of Lin’s Inn to test the promotional effect, Lin Dong was in his room listening to Ma Chun’s report on the day’s promotional results. Just as he was talking about the hawkers stationed on various streets who had successfully attracted followers from various antique shops when purchasing Ling Shi Fans and VIP cards, a pair of hurried footsteps caused Lin Dong to wave his hand to stop Ma Chun.
Leaning in to listen for a moment, Lin Dong couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise: “Why has Liu An come over?”
Although Ma Chun was not a member of the escort team, he had occasionally practiced martial arts for self-defense. Therefore, he immediately understood what Lin Dong meant.
“Did something happen with the promotion?”
Ma Chun immediately stood up and walked quickly toward the door. Although Liu An was the second-in-command cultivated by the inn, due to his loyalty still being tested and trained, he was not qualified to enter the rear courtyard at will unless there was an urgent matter.
Such an urgent dash over undoubtedly meant something important.
Taking a deep breath, Ma Chun suddenly pulled the door open. With only one more day until the opening, let’s hope there are no major accidents in the promotion.
At the moment the door was opened, the afterglow of the setting sun slowly entered, and Ma Chun looked up to see Liu An, who was covered in sweat, had already stepped onto the corridor with one quick foot.
“Ma, Ma Ge, something has happened!” Liu An panted as he stopped beside Ma Ma, leaning against the doorframe, drenched in sweat. The two hundred plus meters from the inn’s lobby to the rear courtyard, he had obviously run there in a panic.
“Don’t be anxious, speak slowly,” Ma Chun made way for him and said: “The boss is in the room, please come in first.”
Liu An wiped the sweat from his head with his sleeve, nodded, and entered the room.
“Please sit down,” Lin Dong opened a tea cup, picked up the teapot, and poured a cup of tea for Liu An.
After taking a sip of the tea, Liu An’s breathing slowly calmed down. After organizing the news he had heard, he spoke under the gaze of Lin Dong and Ma Chun: “Just now I received news that Hong Fu Lou posted a notice this morning, announcing that they have joined forces with our Lin’s Inn. The VIP cards of Lin’s Inn, the cumulative price of wine and dishes, and various specialty dishes can all be tried at Hong Fu Lou.”
“What?” Ma Chun exclaimed.
Lin Dong’s face darkened. Hong Wan Fu, what does this mean?
Liu An worriedly said: “It’s already getting late now. Even if we post a notice to clarify, it might not reach the ears of those super-rich in the city in time. Unless… we use Eagle Beasts to directly fly to the city, then go door-to-door to clarify. But if we do that, it seems our Lin’s Inn will give people the impression of making a big deal out of a small matter…”
Lin Dong waved his hand to stop Liu An’s words, shaking his head and saying, “Now, figuring out why Hong Wanfu did what he did is the most important thing.”
“Reason?” Liu An was stunned. The reason was that Hong Wanfu spread false news, and the inn was intimidated by Hong Wanfu’s might and submitted. Or, even if Linjia Inn came forward to clarify, it would take at least a day. This was equivalent to testing whether the super big shots and big shots of Linjia Inn’s various specialties would go to the nearby Hong Fuxiu.
Wrong… If these super big shots and big shots went to Hong Fuxiu and found it wasn’t as advertised, wouldn’t they dislike going to Hong Fuxiu?
Hong Wanfu definitely wouldn’t do this self-destructive thing.
Liu An suddenly realized that he had been confused by this news.
“Shopkeeper!” Ma Chun suddenly looked up at Lin Dong.
“Hong Wanfu is really ruthless. His momentum is much stronger than last time we met.” Lin Dong obviously also figured out Hong Wanfu’s intention.
“Probably because he is easily convinced. He must have told the shopkeeper he wouldn’t use force, and the shopkeeper believed it!” Ma Chun sneered, “Or maybe he already has a plan to hide in a secret place. If he can’t be found, no matter how strong his strength is, he probably can’t do anything to him.”
Announcing a partnership with Linjia Inn on the first day of Linjia Inn’s opening, except for the eastern city and some nearby big shots, the big shots and super big shots in the south, north, and west cities, as well as the super big shots in the city, would undoubtedly choose Hong Fuxiu as the address to try something new.
If other big restaurants did this, it would undoubtedly make the big shots and super big shots feel like they were being played.
But Hong Fuxiu is different. Hong Wanfu’s dominance and the fact that no one dares to provoke him in Lingnan City are well-known. The next day, Hong Wanfu only needed to put on a show outside the inn, saying that Linjia Inn suddenly changed its mind and interrupted cooperation with Hong Fuxiu, which was already prepared.
With Hong Wanfu’s dominance, in everyone’s eyes, there was naturally no reason to deliberately publish false announcements to humiliate himself. With this idle time, personally running to Linjia Inn to demand a partnership, Linjia Inn wouldn’t dare not agree?
The only reason, undoubtedly, is that Linjia Inn has just arrived and doesn’t know Hong Wanfu’s strength in Lingnan City. They deliberately show weakness and take the opportunity to let Hong Wanfu lose face.
Then, Hong Wanfu only needs to get angry during the play, making everyone believe he is forced by the Chamber of Commerce and dare not openly retaliate against Linjia Inn, but sooner or later he will make Linjia Inn pay the price.
Let Hong Wanfu fly into a rage and lose face. Who would go to Linji Inn to set up a banquet and host a feast? Undoubtedly, it would be disrespectful to Hong Wanfu.
With Hong Wanfu’s deeply rooted status in Lingnan City, although super-rich and wealthy families hold an equally extraordinary position in Lingnan City, they would absolutely not dare to risk offending Hong Wanfu for a VIP card, a spirit stone fan, and a good meal.
The business of Linji Inn would surely be bleak. To turn the situation around, one would undoubtedly have to think of every means to stir up strife and grab customers.
Hong Wanfu wants exactly a big brawl. The possible partnership between Fenglin Restaurant and Tiantai Gambling House is already a sharp sword hanging over his head. Add to that the strong appearance of Linji Inn; over time, wanting to monopolize the restaurant business in Lingnan City is simply a pipe dream.
Only by forcing Linji Inn to stir up trouble, with a brawl breaking out across Lingnan City’s restaurant industry, would he have a glimmer of hope to emerge victorious from the chaos.