Chapter 2: Hiring Employees

It was March—not cold, but if drenched in a bucket of cold water, it would definitely feel freezing.
The five men woke up shivering, letting out a few groans. They stared at Lin Dong in confusion. After a moment, they all shuddered, finally realizing why they were here.
“Damn it! You even dare hit me, Wang Liuzhi? How dare you—”
Wang Liuzhi rubbed his forehead and stood up angrily. Though his face was filled with murderous intent, his legs felt as if weighted with hundreds of pounds of iron, preventing him from moving.
Lin Dong smirked disdainfully. That mocking smile was like pouring oil on fire, igniting even greater anger in Wang Liuzhi and the others. Unfortunately, none of them dared take a step forward.
One against five, and yet he fought so easily—this man must be someone who could dominate the streets.
Seeing their expressions, Lin Dong’s smirk grew even more scornful.
“I took over this inn five years and nine months ago. The monthly protection fee is one tael of silver. Last month, you suddenly changed it to collecting the fee every three days, still one tael each time—adding up to 82 taels in total. As for interest, if calculated at usury rates, you’d definitely never be able to pay it off. So, I’ll double the interest and waive the extra amount—160 taels in total.”
“The previous protection fee was collected by Liu Dabai.”
The man with triangular eyes couldn’t help but retort, immediately drawing Wang Liuzhi’s angry glare. By saying that, wasn’t he indirectly admitting defeat and agreeing to pay the previous fee?
“Liu Dabai was driven away by you. Since you’ve taken over this street, his debts naturally fall on you.”
Lin Dong stood up. Judging by Wang Liuzhi’s expression, he knew the kid didn’t want to admit responsibility.
He strode forward, grabbed Wang Liuzhi by force, and despite his struggles, dragged him to a stool with iron-clad hands.
“Will you pay this money or not?” Lin Dong’s voice was surprisingly polite.
“You bastard!” Wang Liuzhi stiffened his neck. Lin Dong, who usually seemed honest, suddenly acting like this puzzled him. But no matter how he acted, he wouldn’t dare kill someone.
Lin Dong smiled, bent one of Wang Liuzhi’s fingers, lifted the stool leg abruptly, and smashed it down hard.
Bang!
A heart-rending scream erupted. Wang Liuzhi’s finger was flattened into a thin layer—there was no need to check; the bone must be broken.
Leaving Wang Liuzhi rolling and crying on the ground, Lin Dong glanced at the other four men. A polite smile appeared on his lips, terrifying them to the point where they wished they could faint on the spot.

After howling for half an incense stick’s time, Wang Liuze finally regained his composure. Holding his finger, he sat on the ground, trembling violently—whether from the cold or fear, it was hard to tell.
In the eyes of the five men, Lin Dong at this moment was nothing short of a nightmare. The smile on his lips was so sinister it made people’s blood run cold.
“Well, will you pay back the money or not?” Lin Dong asked with a grin.
“You… you…” Wang Liuze swallowed hard. Though he resented it, he didn’t dare act tough anymore.
Lin Dong’s smile turned evil. “Find it strange that my personality has changed so much today?”
The five men remained silent, but their trembling bodies straightened slightly. They indeed found it strange—who was Lin Dong? A well-known coward on Shi Bei Street, timid and easy to bully. Even the old woman who made clay figurines dared to argue or complain when collecting protection money, but Lin Dong was always submissive. As soon as protection money was due, he would prepare it right away. In the afternoons and evenings, he would sit in the hall, eat delicious food and drink, wipe his mouth, and leave without a single complaint.
Otherwise, Wang Liuze wouldn’t have dared to ask Lin Dong for protection money every three days when he was short of cash. Even a dog will bite when cornered—this was a truth he understood. Larger shops had to pay one or two taels of silver per month, smaller shops five qian, residents two qian, while street vendors were charged one wen per day. It was a slow drain, but if pushed too hard, forcing people to the brink, no one would come out unscathed. If they angered everyone, they wouldn’t survive at all.
What was strange was how the seemingly honest Lin Dong had changed so drastically—and acted so ruthlessly. According to Wang Liuze’s original thinking, this gentle guy should have knelt and begged for mercy once pushed to the point of desperation.
Lin Dong pointed to the marks on his neck and said darkly, “See this? Left from trying to hang myself.”
The five men were stunned, and Wang Liuze was filled with remorse. No matter how much he had planned, he never expected Lin Dong to be driven to attempt suicide. Now, since he hadn’t died from hanging, he had resolved to face death fearlessly—so what was there to fear from a few hooligans?
Lin Dong could see through their thoughts. Clapping his hands, he said coldly, “I’ll give you half an incense stick’s time to think. Pay back the money, or… end up as corpses in the mass grave.”
These words were like a gust of icy wind, plunging the five men into despair as their bodies turned purple from the cold.
“We don’t have any silver,” Wang Liuze said with a mournful face. “If we weren’t in such debt to the gambling house, we wouldn’t be pressuring you like this.”
Lin Dong had anticipated this. When he saw Wang Liuze and the others, he had already planned how to deal with them. He crossed his legs and tapped the stool.

“Then let’s settle the debt with labor! All five of you will work as servants in my inn—free food and lodging, one or two taels of silver per month. If you have any objections, feel free to say them.”
The five of them exchanged glances. Work as servants? And that too in their own territory? If word got out, how could they face people again?
Wang Liuzhi glanced at Lin Dong secretly, only to meet a fierce gaze.
Swallowing his saliva, he kept back his refusal. Wang Liuzhi nodded firmly, “Okay!”
Lin Dong’s gaze was sharp and menacing. “Remember this—if you’re not convinced, or if you want to cause trouble or scheme against me, go ahead and try. You’ll bear the consequences!”
Wang Liuzhi’s expression froze. His selfish plans vanished instantly, and he no longer dared harbor any doubts. All he thought about was repaying the silver and regaining his freedom. Revenge could wait until things settled down.
All five of them had only minor injuries. Even Wang Liuzhi could move his other hand after getting his wounds bandaged. Lin Dong waved his hand. “The second house in the back yard is mine; there are bandages inside. The fourth house is a storage room, with short shirts for the servants in the boxes. You have half an hour.”
The five of them supported each other and headed straight to the back yard.
By the time they returned, they were wearing short shirts, and the scars on their foreheads were covered by caps. They now looked somewhat like proper servants. When Lin Dong asked, they admitted they only knew how to eat and drink at others’ places and didn’t know how to cook.
Fortunately, Lin Dong had started cooking independently at the age of fourteen. Later, to please the fourth young lady of the Yang family, he cooked every day himself. His skills weren’t top-notch, but they were still better than those of the chefs he had hired before.
Being both the owner and chef, he could barely keep up with everything.
He opened the inn system, and the number of servants had gone from 0 to 5.
Lin Dong immediately checked their attributes.
Wang Liuzhi: Level 1, 0%—Eloquence 52, Agility 75, Reaction 85, Strength 48, Endurance 56.
Skinny Bamboo Pole: Level 1, 0%—Eloquence 41, Agility 62, Reaction 61, Strength 46, Endurance 41.
…
None of the five had very good attributes, especially in terms of eloquence—none of them even passed the minimum standard. There was no choice; with a lack of silver, they had to make do.
Lin Dong handed Wang Liuzhi two taels of silver and the vase he had taken from the fourth young lady of the Yang family, instructing, “Divide up and work separately. Sell the vase at a pawnshop to buy ten sets of tables and chairs, and then get ingredients. Remember, choose the best ones.”
Although they were surprised that Lin Dong could come up with two taels of silver and hand it over to them without any suspicion, they didn’t dare say much and quickly nodded.

In less than an hour, the ingredients arrived first. Those in charge were the tall and thin man nicknamed “Thin Bamboo” and Liu Hao. The two were quite clever; they somehow managed to get a small cart filled to the brim. Although Lin Dong hadn’t specified exactly what ingredients to buy, the cart was stocked with a variety of vegetables and fish, along with more than a dozen apples and green pears.

“Lin… boss, the boss gave us two taels of silver. This is the extra money—totaling 420 wen,” said Thin Bamboo with a beaming smile as he handed a money bag to Lin Dong.

Lin Dong nodded, glancing at the cart. Though the vegetables looked a bit wilted, it was clear they had been carefully selected.

“Push it to the kitchen in the back yard. Wash what needs washing and cut what needs cutting.”

The two felt as if they’d been pardoned and hurriedly took the cart around the inn to the back yard.

Before long, Wang Liuzhi, with his slanted eyes, and Liu Hao returned, followed by two carts loaded with brand-new tables and chairs.

After unloading the goods and arranging the tables and chairs in the main hall, they used the broken ones from before as firewood in the kitchen. Wang Liuzhi carefully took out a money bag and a pawn ticket, watching Lin Dong’s expression stealthily.

“We visited six pawnshops—only one agreed to give two taels of silver. After deducting the cost of the tables and chairs, we’re left with 673 wen.”

Lin Dong was amused. From his past experiences, pawnshops were known to be ruthless. Getting two taels in exchange for ten taels of silver required quite some skill.

Doing the math, the cost of reopening the inn was three taels of silver, which was roughly as expected.

As the sun began to set, Lin Dong sat behind the counter while Wang Liuzhi and the other four diligently wiped down the tables and chairs. The small inn was slowly taking shape.

Just half an hour later, three carriages stopped outside. Wang Liuzhi’s face lit up. Imitating the waiters he often saw, he hurriedly stepped forward. “Sir, would you like to stay at the inn or have dinner?”

A middle-aged fat man dressed in fine clothes got off the carriage and chuckled, “Boss Lin, that fat guy Bai is here again, asking for water.”

Without even needing to recall, Lin Dong immediately recognized the voice. Overjoyed, he rushed out from behind the counter to greet him.

Outside, the middle-aged fat man stepped into the main hall first, followed by a woman around sixteen or seventeen years old. She wore a white long dress, had an elegant face, and a graceful figure—rarely seen beauty in Xilan City.

Behind her came six burly men, each wearing a sword or dagger at their waist, clearly trained fighters.

“Dad, I want to change inns!” The woman in white frowned slightly after glancing around the main hall.

Upon hearing this, Lin Dong’s expression remained unchanged, leaving the middle-aged fat man somewhat embarrassed. He smiled apologetically at Lin Dong and said helplessly, “My daughter, Bai Qi, is usually spoiled. Please forgive her, Manager Lin.”
Lin Dong shook his head. There were plenty of such arrogant girls, so there was no need to get angry. Besides, this girl was Bai Jingtai’s daughter. Out of respect, considering Bai Jingtai was friends with his predecessor…
More importantly, Bai Jingtai was a spirit stone merchant. The academies, families, and antique shops in Xilan City relied on him for the spirit stones they used every year.
As the inn’s level increased, its daily consumption of spirit stones also doubled, making the help of this friend indispensable.