Chapter 106: Half a Month for Free

The bait to deal a fatal blow to Fenglin Restaurant had been found. Next, the task was undoubtedly to persuade Huang Wanren.
After asking a servant, it turned out it was still early, and Huang Wanren hadn’t left yet. Lin Dong immediately went upstairs. After knocking for a while, the door creaked open. Huang Wanren was holding a piece of scallion, still chewing something in his mouth.
“Manager Lin, what brings you here?” Huang Wanren was quite surprised, his voice a bit slurred.
“I have something to discuss with Master Huang,” Lin Dong said with a smile.
“Please come in!” Huang Wanren quickly stepped aside. After swallowing the food in his mouth, his voice became clearer.
The guest room was spacious and bright. Though there weren’t many furnishings, it was clean and tidy. Sitting down at the desk and glancing at the porridge, steamed buns, and scallions on the table, Lin Dong said with a laugh, “Master Huang, I’m sorry to interrupt your breakfast.”
“It’s fine.” Huang Wanren didn’t think Lin Dong had come just to chat. He immediately called over a servant from next door.
After the servant cleared the steamed buns and porridge onto a tray and left the room, Huang Wanren sat down across from Lin Dong and asked, “Manager Lin, is there something you need from me?”
Lin Dong nodded and said, “Master Huang, have you ever thought about buying a restaurant and opening it yourself?”
“Buying a restaurant and opening it?” Huang Wanren frowned slightly before shaking his head. “Apart from Fenglin Restaurant, the other restaurants in Xilan City aren’t very large, which isn’t conducive to future development.”
Lin Dong smiled and said, “First, buy one of them, then find a way to push Fenglin Restaurant out of business as soon as possible. I think if Fenglin Restaurant becomes deserted and plans to leave Xilan City, it surely won’t just be left there to be damaged by insects, right?”
Huang Wanren nodded. “Of course! No matter how wealthy Fenglin Restaurant is, it makes no sense to let a building deteriorate like this for nothing. If we assign a servant to manage it, it would be a waste if we don’t plan to reopen it in three to five years.”
“What do you think of Fenglin Restaurant’s scale?” Lin Dong asked meaningfully.
“The location is good, the lobby is spacious, and the decoration is nice…” Huang Wanren’s eyes lit up as he exclaimed, “Do you mean, after pushing Fenglin Restaurant out of business, we buy it?”
“Yes. Fenglin Restaurant is the largest restaurant in Xilan City. If Master Huang wants to build the largest restaurant here, it must surpass it. But Fenglin Restaurant is already at the limit of what restaurants in Xilan City can achieve. Building something bigger would be a waste. It’s better to buy it directly.” Lin Dong nodded.

“It would be great if that were possible, but knocking down Fenglin Restaurant isn’t that easy.” Huang Wanren hesitated. “If we buy a smaller restaurant first, we’ll already be at a disadvantage in terms of prestige. Customers aren’t fools—when choosing a restaurant, with the same price for dishes, a bigger space is naturally better. Moreover, its capacity won’t be enough. To really compete with Fenglin Restaurant, we need to come up with similar poetry, calligraphy, and painting displays, maybe even bigger ones. A smaller restaurant simply doesn’t have enough space for that.”

“Add to that disadvantages in terms of ingredients and financial resources, and it’s likely that Changlin Restaurant will be the first to fall.”

“In terms of decoration and capacity, smaller restaurants indeed can’t compare to Fenglin Restaurant, but we can make up for it in other ways,” Lin Dong said confidently. “Although Fenglin Restaurant’s chefs are world-famous, this is in Xilan City. And for some reason, their head chef hasn’t been cooking in recent months. The chefs under Master Huang should be no worse, right?”

“Of course!” Huang Wanren replied without hesitation. “Our chefs at Changlin Restaurant are among the best even in Lingnan Commandery. In Xilan City, aside from the chefs at your Lin’s Inn, I believe no other restaurant can compare.”

“Also, the prices at Fenglin Restaurant aren’t cheap. Even ordinary home-cooked dishes cost three to four times more than at other restaurants,” Lin Dong continued slowly. “If our cooking is better than theirs and our prices are only one-third of theirs, and though our scale isn’t as large and our atmosphere isn’t as good, we can still attract many scholars.”

“What if Fenglin Restaurant cuts prices?” Huang Wanren asked with a wry smile. “To compete with your Lin’s Inn, they’d even sell spirit beast meat at low prices. As for ordinary ingredients, they’ll do whatever it takes.”

Lin Dong gritted his teeth. “Then let’s go all out and catch Fenglin Restaurant off guard—offer everything free for the first half month after opening!”

Huang Wanren was stunned. No wonder Lin’s Inn could compete with Fenglin Restaurant. Manager Lin truly had an extraordinary boldness.

But the problem was, it was Changlin Restaurant offering free services! If it were Lin’s Inn doing it, Huang Wanren believed he could afford to do so for ten or eight years as well.

Huang Wanren’s reaction was exactly what Lin Dong had expected. He smiled calmly and said, “Knocking down Fenglin Restaurant will benefit our Lin’s Inn the most. So… I’m willing to cover all the costs myself.”

“Huh?”

Huang Wanren widened his eyes in disbelief. It was true what was said—using one’s own silver to boost another restaurant’s influence, especially for a significant amount, seemed like something no one would want to do. After all, Maple Forest Restaurant was clearly at a disadvantage now, and there was no need to rush for quick gains.

“Lord Huang doesn’t understand my difficulties!” Lin Dong said helplessly. “The reputation of Maple Forest Restaurant is simply too great. As long as it remains in Xilan City, I’ll live in constant worry. Only by bringing it down can I stop worrying about what they might do next.”

Huang Wanren suddenly understood. No wonder Manager Lin was so generous—he was worried that Maple Forest Restaurant might launch a desperate counterattack.

It made sense. If it were him, even just the name Maple Forest Restaurant would make him cautious. Not to mention the incident a while back when the county magistrate suddenly summoned all the wealthy families to Maple Forest Restaurant for a banquet. Others couldn’t see the deeper meaning, but Huang Wanren knew it must have been a trick by Maple Forest Restaurant. If not for Lin’s Inn’s good luck and the magistrate’s attack, eight or nine of the ten private rooms on the second floor would likely be empty by now.

Realizing this, Huang Wanren felt a surge of thought. He looked up at Lin Dong with a troubled expression and said, “Even if we can take over Maple Forest Restaurant’s business, who knows how long it will take them to shut down? If they drag it on for a year or two, I’ll end up losing more than I gain. Besides, if we really buy Maple Forest Restaurant, the small restaurant we acquire would either have to cater to ordinary customers or be closed and sold. The former is just a burden, and the latter would surely cost a lot of silver…”

“If Lord Huang isn’t willing to take risks…” Lin Dong muttered under his breath that he was too greedy before saying helplessly, “It seems I’ll have to look around for an experienced manager with a good reputation.”

Huang Wanren was shocked. He quickly asked anxiously, “Why look for an experienced manager?”

“Of course, to take matters into my own hands,” Lin Dong said with a grim face. “If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have spent all the silver in the account on buying land. It will probably take another month or two to bring Maple Forest Restaurant down.”

Huang Wanren shuddered and stood up hurriedly, waving his hands repeatedly. “This can’t wait a month or two. It’s urgent!”

“I know, but where can I get that much silver?” Lin Dong lamented.

Huang Wanren secretly rejoiced. It was good that Manager Lin lacked funds; otherwise, for some petty profit, he would have given up a much larger opportunity.

After several days of investigation, he was confident that focusing on serving scholars would indeed bring in plenty of money. Buying a small restaurant, pushing out the Maple Forest Restaurant, and then selling it off would only result in a loss of a hundred or eighty taels of silver. To give up a monthly income of four or five hundred taels of silver over this would be unbearable. Gritting his teeth, Huang Wanren didn’t hesitate: “Owner Lin, since you can’t come up with that much silver, let me take care of it!” “Really?” Lin Dong was overjoyed. “Yes! There’s no time to lose. I’ll go look for a suitable small restaurant right now,” Huang Wanren nodded firmly. “Then I owe you one, Lord Huang.” Lin Dong breathed a sigh of relief. All the silver saved by the inn had been used to build a new one, leaving at most enough to cover half a month’s expenses for free. If Huang Wanren lacked the courage, this task would indeed be difficult to handle.