Chapter 127: Preparations Before Opening

Accompanied by Yang Huailiang, Lin Dong and the others left Yang’s residence. After some polite exchanges, they got into the carriage.
Compared to Xilan City, Qiufeng City was much more bustling. Even in the evening, the streets were still crowded with people, and there were still quite a few stalls along the roads. It wasn’t extremely lively, but it was certainly far better than Xilan City, where the streets became deserted as soon as dusk fell.
They headed north, asking around as they went. By the time they reached Jinglong Street in the northern part of the city, night had fallen.
The new inn was located right in the middle of the street, taking up twenty meters of space, so it wasn’t difficult to find.
The inn’s doors were tightly closed. The brand-new wooden doors emitted a faint pine scent even from several meters away.
Tianhao jumped down from the carriage and went to knock on the door. Soon, a slit was opened, and Liu Hao, rubbing his sleepy eyes, poked his head out.
“Tianhao, the owner… Ma Chun said you wouldn’t be coming back tonight. Why are you here?” Liu Hao looked surprised as he saw Lin Dong and Tianhao outside. It took him a while before he remembered to step aside to let them in.
“We still need to practice in the evening,” Lin Dong said with a smile.
“Right, right. Look at my dull mind—I couldn’t figure that out.” Liu Hao struck his head hard.
Entering the lobby, an oil lamp flickered. Under its light, the lobby was empty except for a mat laid out near the counter. Lin Dong couldn’t help but ask, “How’s the construction of the inn coming along?”
“It’s almost done. We just haven’t started on the decorations yet. It should be ready for business in about a month,” Liu Hao replied quickly.
“You’ve worked hard during this time. You’ll get half a month off after it opens,” Lin Dong nodded.
“There’s no need to say that I’ve worked hard,” Liu Hao waved his hands repeatedly. He then asked, “Owner, have you guys had dinner? Ma Chun is already asleep. Should I wake him up?”
“Let him sleep. We’ve already eaten,” Lin Dong briefly explained the situation with the Yang family before waving his hand. “Prepare two rooms for us first. We’ll discuss the rest later! Tianhao, go help too.”
“I’ll go prepare it right away,” Liu Hao said, leading Tianhao into the backyard at full speed.
Lin Dong walked over to the counter, sat down, and opened the inn system to check the branch details.
Ding: Please select whether to add this location as an inn branch?
A system prompt appeared immediately. Lin Dong didn’t hesitate and clicked confirm.
Looking at the number of branches, it had changed from 0 to 1.
Taking out the wooden box that Tianhao had given him along the way, Lin Dong opened one of them. Inside lay two fruits emitting a faint green glow. Each was about the size of an egg and slightly oval in shape. A gentle fragrance rose slowly, and soon the air was filled with a strong scent that invigorated his spirit.

No need to ask—these two green fruits are definitely not ordinary. Spiritual fruits are even more effective when used to make medicinal pills. Since Yang Huailiang didn’t mention it, he obviously didn’t know the name of these spiritual fruits either. After some thought, Lin Dong closed the wooden box again. Whether for safety or to maximize their effects, it was undoubtedly the best choice to show them to the experienced Xiao Tianchi first. Putting the wooden box back on the mobile counter, Lin Dong opened another one, revealing a stack of silver bills. The top bill was worth ten thousand taels. “What a generous amount!” Lin Dong clicked his tongue, took out all the bills, and flipped through them one by one—each one was worth ten thousand taels, a total of twenty bills. At the inn, Yang Qingting had once given twenty thousand taels in silver and a divorce letter. Since Lin Dong had refused to marry into her family, he hadn’t paid much attention at the time. He never expected the Yang family to give away twenty thousand taels all at once. With this additional amount, once the new inn in Qiufeng City started operating and had a steady source of income, the construction of the guard team and information network could be accelerated. Putting the wooden box back on the mobile counter, Lin Dong closed his eyes slightly and carefully considered everything needed for the opening of the new inn. Before long, Liu Hao and Tian Hao returned to the lobby: “Owner, the rooms are ready.” Lin Dong nodded and said, “Liu Hao, find time to prepare two gifts tomorrow. I plan to visit the ‘Tiger Mother’ and her family in a few days. Decide what to buy. Also, find out what needs to be done to grease the right palms for the inn’s opening, and tell Ma Chun to handle it once you’ve found out.” Liu Hao nodded—Ma Chun was an expert at treating guests, giving gifts, and networking. Lin Dong continued, “Also, list all the large restaurants in the north of the city, noting their locations and specialties. If you have time, I’ll visit each one.” “Sure!” “And there are the flyers.” Lin Dong took out a piece of rice paper cut to the size of a palm from the mobile counter and handed it to Liu Hao. “Go to the largest antique shop in Qiufeng City and ask where their ancient books are printed. If they print them themselves, ask them to print ten thousand copies based on those designs.” “So many?” Liu Hao was astonished. He glanced at the paper, which was filled with dense text introducing the features of Lin’s Inn and the prices of its dishes. “It can’t hurt to print more. Since it’s the inn’s opening and we’re not familiar with the place, we need these flyers to let people in the north and even across the whole city know about Lin’s Inn as quickly as possible,” Lin Dong said with a smile. “Don’t worry, owner. I’ll take care of it.” “Alright, then go back to sleep! Tian Hao, just take me to the back yard.”

Lin Dong patted Liu Hao on the shoulder and followed Tian Hao into the backyard. As per the plan given to Liu Hao earlier, the backyard was divided into two sections—front and back. The front yard was similar to the backyard of Xilan City, while the back yard was seven or eight times larger, completely empty and seemingly endless at first glance. Walking to the end, under Tian Hao’s guidance, Lin Dong entered the first room on the left, while Tian Hao went to the third room. The furnishings inside were similar to those in Xilan City. Once the door was closed, Lin Dong immediately activated the inn system. The settings for branches were the same as those for the main inn, with no reduction in functions. Even task rewards such as the Wine King formula, once equipped in the inn, had the same effects whether in the main inn or a branch. The only difference was that branches could not grant experience points for accommodation and meals—only the main inn could. Setting his own room and Tian Hao’s room as guest rooms and activating a 4x cultivation bonus, Lin Dong sat cross-legged on the bed and entered a meditative state. Inside his dantian, spiritual energy slowly flowed out and circulated through his meridians, much faster than with a 3x cultivation bonus. Of course, the amount of spiritual stones consumed daily doubled, requiring 4 first-class spiritual stones. When the spiritual energy returned to the dantian, the previously empty dantian was instantly occupied by 30% of its space. Based on the progress, if he could continue cultivating with a 4x cultivation bonus, it wouldn’t be difficult to reach 60% of the Lingdong stage in another ten days or so… The next morning, worried about Yun Cangqiong, Lin Dong stopped cultivating early. He asked Liu Hao, who told him that the secret room he had asked to build was in the first room on the right. Following Liu Hao into the room, they found it filled with various clutter, looking no different from an ordinary storage room. Liu Hao went to the left, removed a shovel leaning against the wall, and beneath the corner, there were two iron blocks the size of a baby’s fist, protruding unevenly. “Boss, this is the mechanism to open the secret room. Just step on the protruding part, and it will open. To close it, you need to step on the other one,” Liu Hao explained while moving aside several large-looking sacks that actually contained only some fluffy straw. Then, he stepped on the inner iron block with a slight force, causing the tip of his foot to sink slightly. With a soft creak, a wooden board about one square meter in size descended from beneath the sacks. Below it, a wooden ladder stretched downward, dark as if leading straight to the netherworld. “Can this secret room be opened from below?” Lin Dong asked. “Yes. You can lower the wooden board directly from below.”

“Not bad, let’s go down and take a look.” Lin Dong nodded. The inn probably didn’t need to transport any large-sized goods; an entrance and exit of about one square meter should be sufficient.
Liu Hao took out a piece of candle, lit it, and went into the passage first.
The passage wasn’t very long—just thirty or forty steps—and at the bottom was a room half the size of the storage room.
The room was built of stones, with a few small holes in the ceiling, clearly ventilation holes left from the storage room.
The stone chamber was empty, except for a wooden door on the east side. To an ordinary person, it would seem like it led to another secret room at first glance. But Liu Hao knew that behind the wooden door was still a stone wall.