Chapter 114: Establishing an Information Network

Early in the morning, Lin Dong left the inn early, enjoying the fresh air as he headed east toward the city.
Outside a house on Taili Street, Lin Dong stopped.
The house was quite ordinary—just a courtyard and a two-story wooden building. At first glance, it seemed like a typical family home. But the nearby residents knew that many people lived there, most of them elders and children.
After knocking on the wooden door for a while, it creaked open, and a half-grown boy with a runny nose poked his head out.
Lin Dong smiled kindly and reached out to pat the boy’s head, but the boy quickly pulled away, staring at him warily.
“Who are you? What are you here for?”
“Uh… I’m here to drink with Grandpa Zhang,” Lin Dong replied, a bit frustrated. Since they didn’t even know him, he must be new here—no wonder he seemed unfamiliar.
“Looking for Grandpa Zhang?” Though only eight or nine years old, the boy, having lived alone for years, was much more mature than other children. Hearing this, he became even more cautious. “You still haven’t told me who you are or why you’re looking for Grandpa Zhang.”
Lin Dong flipped his palm, revealing a small wine jar, which he waved in front of the boy. “My name is Lin Dong. I already said—I’m here to drink with your Grandpa Zhang.”
The boy doubted him. “Really?”
“Of course!” Lin Dong nodded with a smile.
“Hey, Uncle Lin! Why did you come?” A small head suddenly appeared from under the boy’s arm, the delicate face filled with surprise.
“Xiao… Xiao…” Seeing the girl appear suddenly, Lin Dong tapped his head, unable to recall her name for a moment.
“I’m Xiao Jidan,” the girl said, slightly disappointed. “It’s only been over a month, and Uncle Lin already forgot.”
Lin Dong felt embarrassed. He remembered now—he even remembered that Xiao Jidan’s name came from her love for eggs. As a child, she would fight other beggars just to get a cooked egg.
“You fool! This is Uncle Lin,” Xiao Jidan said, glancing at the boy before pulling Lin Dong into the courtyard and starting to shout loudly.
A group of boys and girls rushed out of the house, surrounding Lin Dong in no time, creating a chaotic buzz.
Fortunately, Lin Dong was prepared. He kept handing out candies and snacks while greeting the elders who came out as well. It took some time before he managed to break free and enter the main hall.
“Lin Dong, how did you get here?” Zhang Daqian, who entered through the side door, was surprised.
“To drink and discuss things!” Lin Dong raised the wine jar in his hand.

Zhang Daqian couldn’t help but lick his lips and swallow hard; the alcohol in his stomach began to stir.
“Wait a moment!”
Zhang Daqian turned and ran out of the hall. Moments later, he returned with a plate of red-skinned peanuts in one hand and two pairs of chopsticks along with two small wine cups in the other. Following Zhang Daqian into a side room, Lin Dong removed the seal from the wine jar, poured a cup for himself, and smiled without saying a word. Zhang Daqian was the same old beggar who had always worried about getting rations and helped him escape Fu Zizhou’s schemes. Having known him for so long, Lin Dong naturally knew that he had developed a taste for alcohol after being drunk by Wang Liuzhi once.
Sure enough, before Lin Dong could speak, Zhang Daqian already grabbed the wine cup and drained it in one gulp. Smacking his lips, he savored it for a moment before pushing the empty cup toward Lin Dong and saying with emotion, “It would be great if you could come ten or eight times a month.”
Lin Dong filled the cup again and watched as Zhang Daqian drank it up in one gulp, then laughed and said, “If I could come ten or eight times a month, the high-quality wine in the inn wouldn’t last long.”
Zhang Daqian laughed heartily, grabbed a peanut and put it in his mouth, then handed over the empty cup again.
In terms of taste for fine wine, Zhang Daqian was slightly inferior to Old Ding. As for his drinking capacity, having learned to drink only at an advanced age, he was far behind. After five or six cups, Zhang Daqian’s face turned red, and Lin Dong guessed his alcohol craving should have subsided. He said, “Uncle Zhang, I came to see you today because I have something to discuss with you.”
“Go ahead and talk,” Zhang Daqian said, holding out his cup to Lin Dong, his eyes seemingly begging him to pour more.
“I plan to buy houses in Autumn Wind City and the nine other counties under its jurisdiction to take in orphans and the elderly,” Lin Dong said slowly. “This requires someone trustworthy. As you know, those kids like Xiao Liu come from rough backgrounds. They can drink and chat with you because they admire your loyalty, but they definitely can’t handle dealing with a group of beggars. So… I can only ask you to take on this task.”
“That’s a good thing, but just for the over a hundred people in those houses—covering their food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, plus hiring someone to teach those kids to read and write—it will cost a hundred or two hundred taels of silver per month. If we include Autumn Wind City and the other nine counties, it will cost at least two thousand taels a month… Don’t let the inn go bankrupt in just one or two months.”
A hint of hesitation appeared in Zhang Daqian’s slightly red eyes. Why didn’t the beggars in Xilan City come to Lin’s Inn until they were almost starving? It was because they were afraid of bankrupting the inn, losing a place to rely on, and feeling guilty toward Manager Lin’s kindness.

“This can’t be done right away. Winter is approaching, and this is the toughest time. For now, we’ll just give them some money to get through winter and see if there are anyone with good character worth nurturing. Once we open branches of the inn elsewhere and start making a profit, we can buy houses to settle them there,” Lin Dong explained.

Although they had received a sudden windfall of 100,000 taels of silver, and even now the inn could cover those expenses, developing the inn and training a guard team required a large amount of money. He wouldn’t do something that would deplete all resources.

“That’s easy. When shall we set off?” Zhang Daqian felt much more at ease. Thumping his chest, he said, “Don’t think I’m just an old skeleton—even with this old body, I’m still stronger than those young guys.”

“It’s just a matter of one or two days. I’ll have Xiao Liu arrange a few reliable people for you,” Lin Dong said after organizing his thoughts. “Besides helping them get through winter, our next goal is to find one or two trustworthy people with good character in each place. In the future, when we buy houses, we can have them manage them. Also, within these one or two days, it’s best to find someone to take over here as well, so that you can focus on overall management.”

“What about Old Xia? How about having him take charge?” Zhang Daqian asked.

Lin Dong nodded. “It’s up to you to decide. Also, when the elders go out for walks or the kids go out to play, if they hear any news, they should find someone who can read to organize and record it. This information will be useful for the inn in the future, and the same goes for houses we buy elsewhere.”

“Mm!” Zhang Daqian nodded.

“Then I’ll leave it to you!”

Lin Dong smiled, raised his wine cup, and toasted Zhang Daqian.

After that, Lin Dong didn’t go into further details. Qiufeng City was six or seven times larger than Xilan City, with a population nearly twenty times greater. Naturally, there weren’t just one or two large restaurants like in Xilan City, but dozens, each with its own specialties, and various ways to retain regular customers. Coupled with its geographical disadvantages, it wasn’t hard for Lin’s Inn to gain a foothold in Qiufeng City by relying on its comfort advantages and signature dish of turtle stewed with maple leaves. But achieving great success there was nearly impossible.

The reason was that for every doubling of comfort level, the amount of spirit stones consumed also doubled. In other words, once the comfort level reached five times, each table would consume eight spirit stones per day, which basically meant no profit. At most, a comfort level of two or three times could be used as a major feature of the inn, with one or two tables offering higher comfort levels to attract wealthy customers.

Stewing turtle with maple leaves might be good enough to match any signature dish, but it only increases one percent of physical strength per day. Over a year or so, although the increase in strength remains the same, the perceived effect diminishes. It’s not enough to make the wealthy merchants of Autumn Wind City abandon their familiar restaurants and travel for an hour or two by carriage just to choose this inn for banquets.

The cultivation bonus also doubles with each increase in level, meaning the cost of spirit stones doubles as well. Not to mention the guard team, if one practices alone and reaches the tenth level with a ten-fold bonus, they would need thousands of spirit stones per day. Even with Bai Jingtai providing cheaper spirit stones, it would still cost eight or nine hundred silver pieces per day.

After entering Autumn Wind City, Lin Dong’s goal is to control at least half of the city. If things proceed as planned, not only will he have done a good deed, but Lin’s Inn’s information board will also include details from various parts of Autumn Wind Prefecture, enhancing its competitiveness against wealthy merchants. Even if faced with giants like Maple Forest Restaurant, which use the latest government policies and trends to suppress others, he will have the ability to resist.

Of course, this is still just a concept. Not only is there no plan for security and management, but the process of buying a house hasn’t even begun. Talking about it with Zhang Daqian is just empty talk.