Chapter 527: Cutting Off Supplies

The next evening, after opening a hundred branches alone, Lin Dong returned to the Lin’s Inn in the capital through the transport portal. He had intended to head straight to Tianfeng Street for another deal involving the Water Spirit Beast, but unexpectedly, Ma Chun was waiting in the backyard.
“Owner, there’s new news from Maple Forest Restaurant,” Ma Chun said immediately, standing up as soon as he heard movement from the storage room. He had been dozing off at the stone table with his head bowed.
“New news?” Lin Dong asked. “Are the top restaurants planning to team up again?”
“Your wisdom is unmatched, owner!” Ma Chun praised, nodding. “If the news from Maple Forest Restaurant is true, the top restaurants are discussing how to unite their networks to control all the supplies and labor at Lin’s Inn.”
“What do you mean, control the supplies at Lin’s Inn?” Lin Dong was confused.
“It’s not just that!” Ma Chun shook his head. “The top restaurants have extensive networks. Combined, they’re connected to almost every industry. They plan to take control of our ingredients, replace our tables and chairs, even basic necessities like food and oil. They’re even considering whether to control our staff.”
“They want to bribe our staff?” Lin Dong was astonished.
Ma Chun shook his head. “They probably plan to put pressure on the staff’s families, forcing them to leave Lin’s Inn. If we hire new staff, it will be inconvenient, and they won’t be as skilled as the old ones. Once we train them, they’ll use the same method to drive them away.”
“Aren’t they afraid of pushing Lin’s Inn too far?” Lin Dong laughed. He knew none of the restaurant owners were easy to deal with. Even if they united their networks, it would take time to gradually weaken Lin’s Inn. By then, Lin’s Inn would have nowhere to vent its frustration.

Using such brutal tactics is essentially forcing Lin Ji Inn to rely on Qingliu Wang’s connections. Even if Lin Dong died, he wouldn’t believe that the owners of these top-tier restaurants knew about Lin Ji Inn’s supply routes and weren’t afraid of cutting off those supplies. For larger businesses to suppress smaller ones, cutting off supplies is a very effective tactic—but only if the smaller businesses lack official backing. The top restaurants can use their connections to prevent businesses associated with Lin Ji Inn from supplying them, and if Lin Ji Inn turns to Qingliu Wang, which business would dare to resist further? The pressure from the top restaurants only affects their business, but Qingliu Wang’s pressure directly threatens their lives and wealth.

Moreover, by using such underhanded methods, if Lin Ji Inn gets angry, it’s possible they might ask Qingliu Wang to retaliate with even more ruthless tactics.

“In my opinion, it’s still a test,” Ma Chunda said early in the morning after receiving news from Fenglin Restaurant. His thinking was undoubtedly more thorough than Lin Dong’s.

“A test?” Lin Dong scratched his itchy face and began to understand.

The owners of the top restaurants were likely trying to find out Lin Ji Inn’s bottom line. Although cutting off supplies is an underhanded method, it’s also a common competitive tactic and not entirely despicable.

Though harsh, it doesn’t necessarily lead to mortal enmity. The owners of the top restaurants must have assessed Lin Dong’s personality based on Lin Ji Inn’s approach and realized he wouldn’t be so impulsive as to resort to Qingliu Wang to fight back over such pressure.

Since Lin Ji Inn needs to rely on Qingliu Wang’s connections to resolve the issue of supply cuts, it’s certain they’ll also retaliate. In this way, the owners of the top restaurants can suffer some losses and use Qingliu Wang’s retaliation to determine Lin Ji Inn’s bottom line and the extent of their relationship with him.

Knowing these two things will provide them with valuable references when suppressing Lin Ji Inn in the future, allowing them to plan more effectively without hesitation and achieve twice the result with half the effort.

“Sharpening the axe doesn’t delay chopping wood”—that’s exactly what this is about.

This plan, the strategy of the top restaurant owners, is simply to sharpen their axes.

“It seems they’re getting better at this!” Lin Dong said with a smile. Since they’re all planning to sharpen their axes, the owners of the top restaurants must have already tasted the benefits of exchanging signature dishes earlier on, while Lin Ji Inn had no countermeasures for nearly a month before finally responding with grilled meat.

The grilled meat at Lin Ji Inn truly played a crucial role in turning things around. As soon as it was introduced, it caused a huge stir. Although it didn’t bring in a group of the most loyal regular customers like the Seven Spicy Dishes did, its appeal was widespread, surpassing even the appeal of a few extra signature dishes offered by top restaurants. In truth, these top restaurants were at a disadvantage.

But in the eyes of their owners, they weren’t at a disadvantage at all—they actually had the upper hand. After all, this was only the first collaboration, just a trial run.

Just this trial run forced Lin Ji Inn to watch its business decline helplessly. If things escalated, Lin Ji Inn would be even less able to resist. Although Lin Ji Inn eventually succeeded in turning things around with its grilled meat, for the owners of those top restaurants, it was merely luck on Lin Ji Inn’s side—having access to such a top-notch chef—rather than proof that Lin Dong himself had the ability to turn things around.

Though this luck made the owners of those top restaurants jealous, they didn’t take it seriously. And that’s precisely why they eagerly started discussing a second collaboration just over a month later.

Since the owners of those top restaurants were willing to bear some cost to prepare for the second collaboration, their level of coordination was undoubtedly much higher than during the first attempt.

“No matter how things improve, it’s still under the owner’s control,” Ma Chun said nonchalantly. “For the first collaboration, we deliberately gave in to them. For the second one, we got the information even before the owners of those top restaurants reached an agreement. By the time they start taking action, we’ll already have a plan—whether to let them try again or give them a hard knock. It’s still up to us.”

Lin Dong couldn’t help but laugh. “It seems our manager Ma already has a plan.”

Ma Chun chuckled. “If the owner doesn’t mind, shall I share it?”

“Go ahead!” Lin Dong gestured.

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Ma Chun’s strengths lie in his eloquence, sharpness of judgment, and cleverness in dealing with people, but he isn’t skilled at dealing with the twists and turns and schemes in competition. It was a rare chance to show off these skills in front of Lin Dong, so he naturally approached it carefully. After thinking it through and organizing his thoughts, he cleared his throat. Just as Lin Dong grew impatient and about to urge him, he spoke up: “We want to strengthen the alliance among those top restaurants, so they’ll look down on our Lin’s Inn even more. It doesn’t hurt to do this again. In my opinion, we can go along with their plans—have the King of Clear Streams intercede to smooth things over, then teach them a lesson. For example, we could visit each of their restaurants and criticize their food, forcing them to apologize. Or we could put pressure on the imperial authorities to create minor obstacles as a form of punishment. Anyway, Lin’s Inn won’t suffer any losses. Being able to make the owners of those top restaurants underestimate my management skills is already a huge gain.”

Lin Dong nodded slowly and asked, “What about the first blow?”

“The first blow, of course, is to use Lin’s Inn’s transportation network,” Ma Chun said confidently. “If we run out of firewood, rice, oil, or salt, we’ll transport them from elsewhere. If we lack spiritual materials or beasts, we’ll get them from other places. If we need more staff, we’ll bring them in too… In short, whatever we lack, we’ll transport it in. After three to five months of this, the owners of those top restaurants will be completely confused. After winter, we can introduce the spirit stone heaters and pipeline floral scents—those will knock them out cold in one strike.”

Lin Dong couldn’t help but laugh. “What’s the use of knocking them out? The spirit stone heaters and pipeline floral scents already have that effect. They’ve only tried a small move, and we’re already using our ultimate trump card. What will we use to deal with those top restaurants’ united forces in the future? Although those heaters and scents will be more effective once the supply of materials is cut off, it still won’t make much of a difference. The owners of those top restaurants will just be stunned, which won’t significantly weaken them. In short, this first blow isn’t powerful enough.”

“Well… then let them suffer again? Should we continue to pretend to be weak?” Ma Chun asked.

Lin Dong still shook his head. “Have the King of Clear Streams step in and teach them a lesson according to the plans of those restaurant owners. We’ll pretend to be weak, but it will be similar to the first time—just reinforcing the idea that my management skills at Lin’s Inn are inadequate. Just like the first blow, this act of pretending to be weak isn’t powerful enough either.”

Ma Chun was somewhat stunned. He already found these two methods to be quite impressive. He had hoped to impress Lin Dong, but it seemed neither of them would be very useful after all.
“Boss, what should we do if those top restaurants team up and use this tactic?”
“Let me think. Anyway, the two methods you mentioned are probably not useful. If I can’t think of anything else, just use your strategy of feigning weakness to lure the enemy out,” Lin Dong said with a wave of his hand.
Ma Chun was speechless. Whether his methods were used or not, those words were tantamount to saying his ideas weren’t good enough.
“Alright, if there’s nothing else, I’ll go deal at Wanbaozhai.”
Lin Dong didn’t take the tactics being discussed by those top restaurants seriously. It was just a trial run by them, and with all the advantages on his side, he was confident he could come up with better solutions. Besides, Ma Chun’s analysis wasn’t entirely useless; it had given him a rough idea, though time was short and he hadn’t had time to consider its feasibility yet.