Chapter 528: Conspiration

Flying all the way to Wanbaozhai, they didn’t have to wait long before King Zhong Hong and five other elders arrived on time. Along with them was a pair of adult Water Spirit Beasts.
The second transaction went smoothly, just like the first.
After King Zhong Hong and the five elders left, Lin Dong returned to Lin’s Inn. He put the Water Spirit Beasts in the enclosure and set off once again on his solitary journey to open more branches. Of course, during this journey, he also had to think of ways to deal with the issue of supply shortages.
Five days later, Lin Dong’s solitary journey finally came to an end. Yun Cangqiong had finally finished talking about father-daughter relationships and had had enough wine with Old Ding. He returned to Tianjian Sect with Menghui Tree, the necessary soil, and a copy of the spiritual pill formula reprinted by Yun Lan.
The pavilion on the head of the Yunpeng Bird once again saw Yun Lan’s presence, and Lin Dong’s life returned to its comfortable and leisurely state. Along the way, no unexpected incidents occurred, and each branch opened successfully.
It took about three and a half months in total to bring all 10,989 branches—99 prefectures, 990 counties, and 9,900 towns—under the inn’s system. Adding the 111 branches in Lingnan Prefecture, 1 in the capital city, 1 in the canyon, and 1 in the Imperial Heaven Sect, Lin’s Inn now covered every county and town in the Great Han Kingdom, with a total of an astonishing 11,103 branches.
There had been many wealthy people in the history of the Great Han Kingdom, but a business of Lin’s Inn’s scale was absolutely unprecedented.
After officially integrating the last branch into the inn’s system, Lin Dong finally breathed a sigh of relief. Once enough managers and chefs were trained, with Lin’s Inn’s strength and no external interference, it wouldn’t be difficult to ensure thriving business in every branch. If that happened, even with an average annual net profit of 10,000 taels of silver per branch, over 10,000 branches would generate more than 100 million taels in revenue.
This profit figure was based on the average income of a Lin’s Inn in a county town. If bold estimates were used, it might even double or triple.
Of course, this was only possible if Lin’s Inn had enough managers and chefs. As for managers, the guards assigned to various regions were now free to focus on evaluating the troublemakers in their respective counties, towns, and prefectures. Lin Dong believed that in another half year, new guards could be continuously recruited.

As for head chefs, it’s a bit more challenging. Opening so many branches at once—even if each branch has only one top chef, and as long as the chef is a disciple trained by top chefs like Jiang Kui—means it’s not possible to meet the needs of all branches in a short time. Over the past few years, Jiang Kui and others have been training disciples, and with the help of culinary enhancements, they can train a batch every two years. These disciples then go on to train more, bringing the total to just over three hundred. To meet the needs of all branches, even without any mistakes, it would still take another four or five years to find enough apprentices with culinary talent who are loyal enough not to leak recipes for specialty dishes. Therefore, the only option is to open branches first, relying on chefs hired from various places to cover them temporarily, sending out new top chefs as soon as they’re available, while phasing out various specialty dishes. Fortunately, Lin Ji Inn has culinary enhancements, so as long as the chefs hired are skilled from different regions, even without famous dishes like spicy food, grilled meat, or pastries, their cooking skills are comparable to those of any restaurant, ensuring they can establish themselves in various places. When Lin Dong returned to Lin Ji Inn in the capital after regaining his breath, the owners of the top restaurants also breathed a sigh of relief. Because Lin Ji Inn had finally come up with a countermeasure to their strategy of cutting off supplies, and this countermeasure exceeded everyone’s expectations. Lin Ji Inn was purchasing materials from nearby counties and transporting them to the capital. “So, Lin Ji Inn’s relationship with Prince Qingliu isn’t as close as we thought,” said Li Yiliang, the owner of Renheng Restaurant, after inviting his guests to sit down in his mansion. This remark immediately resonated with most of those present, who all felt relieved. They were all owners of top restaurants in the capital, and Prince Qingliu was like a sword hanging over their heads. The fact that Lin Ji Inn’s relationship with Prince Qingliu wasn’t close enough to ask him for help meant that this sword couldn’t be easily wielded by Lin Ji Inn. The main goal of the top restaurants joining forces was to integrate their networks into a massive shield to protect themselves from Prince Qingliu’s threat.

Although if Lin’s Inn really swung this sharp sword, the shield they had formed together might not be able to stop it, the cost would still be high. It wasn’t easy for them either to make use of this giant shield. Without piles of gold and silver, this shield could not function effectively. If Lin’s Inn couldn’t wield King Qingliu’s sword, it meant they didn’t need to use the shield, and the savings—even if shared among the fifteen top restaurants—wouldn’t equal three to five months’ worth of profits.

“Everyone!” As the host of this gathering, Li Yiliang naturally took on the role of leader, following the convention established from previous meetings. After taking a sip of tea and ensuring all eyes were on him, Li Yiliang spoke loudly, “Since Lin’s Inn’s relationship with King Qingliu isn’t as close as we thought, it will naturally be easier to suppress them. But before that, we must reach a consensus: without King Qingliu’s backing, is it still worth us uniting to pressure them? If we can’t agree, our alliance will fall apart on its own.”

“Of course we should continue to work together. Our Yanxun Restaurant’s goal remains unchanged—Lin’s Inn’s Spicy Beef Balls,” said Yang Cheng’an, the owner of Yanxun Restaurant, first.

“I agree with Boss Yang. Our Qinghui Restaurant’s goal is also unchanged—Lin’s Inn’s Maple Leaf Stewed Turtle,” replied Zhang Qinglin, the owner of Qinghui Restaurant.

“Our Fenglin Restaurant still wants the Spirit Stone Fans,” said Ling Weifeng, the owner of Fenglin Restaurant, calmly.

The owners of the other restaurants spoke one after another, with no differences in their answers—all confirmed they would continue to unite to pressure Lin’s Inn, though their demands for shares varied. Some wanted VIP cards, some wanted more perfume, some wanted Lin’s Inn’s gymnasium… If the owners of these fifteen top restaurants got their way, they could almost divide up all of Lin’s Inn’s valuable specialties and businesses. Of course, these specialties and businesses weren’t of equal value, but the owners had already reached a consensus from their first collaboration: those who got more benefits would contribute more silver as compensation, while those who got less would receive additional silver as compensation—so there were no obstacles in this regard.

Their main purpose in uniting was indeed to resist King Qingliu, but the desire to divide up Lin’s Inn also played a significant role.

All the unique features of Lin Ji Inn were, in their eyes, truly highly sought-after. Lin Dong, the owner of Lin Ji Inn, had average abilities, and his relationship with King Qingliu wasn’t close enough to the point where he could be relied on for anything. Indeed, Lin Ji Inn suddenly became less impressive and less intimidating overnight. The owners of these top-tier restaurants also suddenly realized that Lin Ji Inn didn’t pose as serious a threat to their interests as they had thought.

But letting Lin Ji Inn go would be a huge mistake. With everyone united and sharing the same goal, if Lin Ji Inn wasn’t a concern, it seemed like an excellent opportunity to plunder and divide the spoils. Exploiting the weak and using numbers to overwhelm the few—such actions were almost never refused by ordinary people when faced with significant gains, let alone these owners of top restaurants.

If they weren’t ruthless enough, in a place like the capital, they would have been devoured completely long ago.

“Since everyone agrees, it’s time to discuss our next steps,” Li Yiliang said after confirming that everyone’s determination remained firm.

“Since Lin Ji Inn has only a mediocre relationship with King Qingliu, why be polite? I think our next step should be to list all of Lin Ji Inn’s famous dishes, then work together with the guild to reduce their costs. In other words, we should drastically lower the prices of Lin Ji Inn’s famous dishes,” said Liu Ciyue, the owner of Haoye Restaurant, with a cold glint in his eyes.

“That’s a good idea. Lin Ji Inn is new here and likely doesn’t have much financial strength. Whether they agree or not, this is a powerful strategy to drag them into trouble,” Dong Weilang, the owner of Chenguang Restaurant, praised loudly.

“I disagree. Have we forgotten about Lin Ji Inn’s VIP cards and Spirit Stone Fans? Moreover, as far as I know, they’ve opened quite a few branches in various places recently,” Yang Cheng’an, the owner of Yansun Restaurant, reminded them by shaking his head.

Everyone was stunned and then fell silent. Indeed, Lin Ji Inn’s VIP cards and Spirit Stone Fans were both invaluable assets. If they were the owners of Lin Ji Inn, they would surely use one of these to sell wildly without restraint, amass a large amount of money, and then use that wealth to suppress the other restaurants.

With experience from previous discussions, everyone was already used to plans being rejected, so they immediately began racking their brains for new solutions. The brief silence soon passed.

“Since having more than silver won’t do, how about competing with Lin’s Inn to see who has more regular customers?” laughed Li Yiliang, the owner of Renheng Restaurant.
All of them were no ordinary people; they immediately grasped the idea from Li Yiliang’s words. Jiang Fang, the owner of Yangfan Restaurant, couldn’t wait to ask, “What does Boss Li mean…”