Chapter 477: Face vs. Pride

“Is there something, Manager Lin?”
Lou Wanshan looked at Lin Dong with confusion and interrupted him—this was certainly not polite. King Qingliu, on the other hand, gazed at Lin Dong meaningfully. He could tell that Lin Dong seemed to be trying to buy time, but he couldn’t see why. Surely he wasn’t waiting for some experts to show up and start a fight?
“It’s already evening. The prince and Sister Xian haven’t had dinner yet, have they?” Lin Dong said with a smile.
“We’ve already eaten!” Lou Wanshan replied indifferently. This was actually true. Before coming to Lin’s Inn, they had already eaten and didn’t expect the inn to provide dinner.
“Then let’s have some late-night snacks!” Lin Dong said with a smile as he snapped his fingers.
“I’ll arrange it right away,” Ma Chun replied before turning and walking away—not toward the kitchen, but toward the main hall.
Having powerful backers didn’t guarantee decades of success in business. Lou Wanshan wasn’t stupid. The kitchen was in the courtyard, yet Ma Chun headed to the main hall. Her brows immediately furrowed as she turned to look at King Qingliu. She began to suspect that Lin Dong’s strange gesture might be an attempt to signal Ma Chun to gather people to kill them and silence them.
“I can’t refuse such kindness. Let’s have another round of late-night snacks! More of those vitality beef balls,” King Qingliu said, waving his hand at Lin Dong.
“Sure, I’ll arrange it right away.”
When facing Xiao Tianchi, Lin Dong had Tianhao as his trump card—using a fixed strategy to deal with any situation. No matter how shrewd and cunning Xiao Tianchi was, Lin Dong could just insist on the exorbitant price. But King Qingliu was different—he was someone whose mere breath could influence the course of the Great Han Nation. Over the years, Lin Dong’s composure had improved greatly compared to when he first met Xiao Tianchi. But when facing King Qingliu, who was already in a dominant position, he could only hold his ground for a while. He didn’t even have a 10% chance of dealing with King Qingliu effectively.
At King Qingliu’s gesture, Lin Dong stood up and went to the kitchen to arrange the food and drinks himself.
“Prince…” Lou Wanshan hesitated.
“Don’t worry. If he wants to act, he’ll do it now. This man is a true strongman—and even stronger than me,” King Qingliu said calmly.
“Could he have some other tricks up his sleeve?” Lou Wanshan wondered. “I just can’t understand why he refuses to cooperate with Wanshan Tower. Not to mention cooperating with Wanshan Tower would mean forming some kind of relationship with the prince. Even for mutual benefit, there’s no reason to refuse. The terms I offered aren’t bad.”

“Your second move seems to have guessed somewhat correctly,” said King Qingliu nonchalantly. “As for refusing to cooperate with Wanxian Tower, it’s probably because they think brothels could harm the reputation of Lin’s Inn. And with the terms you proposed, Lin’s Inn would suffer heavy losses. Your original offer was based on the fact that ordinary people could also use the VIP card to store items. Now, however, the VIP card is tied to Lin’s Inn’s newly introduced Spirit Stone Fans and some drinks. If you demand 30,000 taels of silver, Lin’s Inn will lose its unique business opportunity, resulting in huge losses. Even if there are other products tied to the VIP card as well, the losses will be even greater.”
“What price should I offer then?” asked Lou Wanxian.
“How can you ask this king such a thing?” King Qingliu laughed. “Even if you don’t pay a single coin, I’ll still help you get it.”
Lou Wanxian smiled seductively. “As you know, I never really think much when I’m with you.”
King Qingliu smiled and glanced toward the kitchen. A young powerhouse and the owner of an inn—these two should have no connection at all. After all, no matter how talented such a young powerhouse is, hard work is still essential. Practicing all day long is necessary; where would there be time to run an inn? Besides, would a powerhouse lack silver?
If it were because of an obsession with running an inn, that doesn’t make sense either—otherwise, they wouldn’t be so concerned about profits and losses.
King Qingliu thought he had a keen eye, but Lin Dong still puzzled him.
About fifteen minutes later, Lin Dong returned, bringing along a plate of green pastries as delicate as jade.
“Your Highness, Sister Xian, I’m sorry for making you wait,” Lin Dong said politely before sitting down on a stone bench.
“It’s fine. Manager Lin’s strength should be at the sixth level of the Heart Reversal stage, right?” asked King Qingliu.
“I reached the seventh level just the day before yesterday!” Lin Dong replied with a smile.
“What a pity for such talent!” King Qingliu shook his head slowly.
“It’s not a pity. Silver is far more useful than spiritual energy,” Lin Dong said with a smile.
“That’s a well-argued point.” King Qingliu picked up a pastry, took a gentle bite, and nodded in approval. “It tastes good—sweet but not cloying. Quite a bit of effort went into it.”
“Indeed, a lot of effort was put in. There are sixteen steps in making these pastries,” Lin Dong said with a smile.
“I’d like to hear more!” King Qingliu nodded, urging Lin Dong to continue.

Lin Dong remembered exactly the portions of the pastries and dishes at Lin’s Inn. When explaining them, he could talk about each dish—from its ingredients and preparation process to its background—for half an hour. Seeing that King Qingliu wasn’t pushing further but was instead letting him waste time, Lin Dong was only too happy. He began by talking about the ingredients of the pastries, then moved on to the preparation process…

Just as he was explaining the origin of the pastries, two servants came over with a tray—two dishes, one soup, and a pot of fine wine.

Lin Dong set the wine glasses down, poured one for King Qingliu and another for Lou Wanshen, then intended to propose a drink to continue discussing the origin of the pastries. Suddenly, faint rustling sounds reached his ears.

It was about to come to a fight!

Lin Dong exhaled softly and glanced at King Qingliu, only to find that his gaze had shifted toward the passage. He was slightly surprised—since the rustling sounds were far away at the stairway, King Qingliu’s hearing must be extraordinary; it certainly wasn’t something an ordinary person, let alone a martial artist at the Mind Reversal stage, could possess.

With his mind extended outward, King Qingliu actually had the strength of the second level of Mind Reversal. While relieved, Lin Dong was also secretly amazed. Unless in times of war, when young members of the royal family trained in martial arts as part of their assessments, most would give up after reaching adulthood—whether they passed the assessments and became officials or failed repeatedly. The reason was, of course, the hardship involved. Those who practiced martial arts had to suppress their desires, which was extremely difficult for members of the royal family, who either wanted to have descendants or enjoy life. Moreover, King Qingliu already had a queen, concubines, and many daughters.

Even if King Qingliu could make his spiritual energy circulate as quickly as his willpower, as Lin Dong could, that would only happen after reaching the realm of a strong Mind Reversal practitioner. In the early stages, he would have to rely entirely on willpower to train.

Reaching the second level of Mind Reversal required remarkable talent, even if one could obtain many high-grade spiritual materials from the Heavenly Might Pavilion. And King Qingliu had achieved this level despite having many wives and concubines—his talent was evident.

While Lin Dong was distracted, three figures emerged from the passage.

The first one was Emperor Qianwei.

“Younger brother, since when have you taken to business?” Emperor Qianwei laughed loudly and spoke first.

“Your Majesty, your humble servant pays respects!” Lou Wanshen stood up in shock and knelt down. She had never seen Emperor Qianwei before, but the only one who could make King Qingliu speak like that was Emperor Qianwei himself.

Several guards followed closely behind, all kneeling down.

“You wretched troublemaker, daring not kneel before the emperor—come on…” Once again, Yang Shun saw Lin Dong furious on Emperor Qianwei’s face. The emperor waved his hand, yet not a single guard moved. Only then did Yang Shun remember that it was the Prince of Qingliu who had come, and Emperor Qianwei hadn’t brought guards so as not to give the Prince an advantage in numbers.

The Prince of Qingliu slowly stood up, ignoring Emperor Qianwei’s words. Pointing at the remaining stone bench, he said with a smile, “Your Majesty, please sit.”

Emperor Qianwei nodded and walked over.

Although Yang Shun was arrogant, he still showed respect in front of the Prince of Qingliu. He fell to his knees with a thud, his head hitting the stone slab.

Amid the clanging sounds, Yang Shun screamed, “Your servant greets the Prince of Qingliu!”

“Get up!” The Prince waved his hand, and a stack of silver bills flew in front of Yang Shun. “This is for you as a reward.”

“Your servant, Xiao Shunzi, thanks the Prince for his generosity!” Yang Shun quickly kowtowed again to express his gratitude.

Lin Dong watched in astonishment. This prince was truly extraordinary. It might be understandable to ignore Emperor Qianwei’s questions out of arrogance or age pride, but even Yang Shun, the eunuch supervisor who had been promoted to Duke of Dahan, had to bow low—this was truly remarkable.

“Stand up!” Emperor Qianwei also waved his hand, but not as generously as the Prince. He didn’t give even a single silver coin to Lou Wanshan or the guards.

Lou Wanshan and the guards quickly thanked him and stepped aside.

“Shopkeeper Lin, sit!” Emperor Qianwei waved at Lin Dong.

Lin Dong nodded and sat down on the stone bench.

The Prince of Qingliu smiled and waved at Lou Wanshan as well. “Xian’er, come and sit.”

Lou Wanshan gritted her teeth, bowed deeply to Emperor Qianwei, and slowly sat down beside the bench. She already regretted it. She could tell that Emperor Qianwei and the Prince of Qingliu were competing with each other—one constantly showing respect to Lin Dong, the other to himself, both trying to convey that if the other wouldn’t yield, it meant they weren’t showing respect.

It wasn’t worth upsetting Emperor Qianwei just for some business, let alone risking her own life and wealth. But she also knew the Prince of Qingliu’s temper well—only one woman in the entire Dahan Kingdom could change his mind. Not even she, Lou Wanshan, nor Emperor Qianwei or those pampered princesses could do it.

“The food and drinks at Lin’s Inn are quite good. Has your brother tried them?” Emperor Qianwei asked.

“I have. It’s just so-so. I can barely stand to eat it,” the Prince replied, his furrowed brows relaxing slightly.

“Your words imply that my taste is poor,” Emperor Qianwei said with a laugh.
“It’s probably my own taste that’s peculiar; I’m not used to the food and drinks at Linji Inn,” replied Prince Qingliu indifferently.
Emperor Qianwei felt his head throbbing—it was clear they had no intention of showing him any respect.