Chapter 137: The Promotion Campaign

It wasn’t until the dead of night that Xiao Tianchi finally returned to his room after a satisfying chat. At the end of the street, upon hearing the news, Lin Dong also got up from the cold ground and hurried back to the backyard to make a final push toward the sixth level of the Lingdong phase.
After two days, he finally reached the sixth level of the Lingdong phase successfully. Lin Dong took the time to return to the Martial Assessment Institute in Xilan City. Compared to breaking through earlier last time and within the expected time last time, this time, despite the inn system having upgraded to level 4 and the cultivation bonus multiplying from 3 times to 4 times—after more than half a month—it was still a few days later than expected. The reason, naturally, was the delays on the way to Qiufeng City and visiting the Yang family.
He had already done enough to uphold Yang Ling’s face. Upon returning to Qiufeng City, Lin Dong gradually reduced his visits to the Yang family. Most of his time was spent in his room, aside from spending one or two hours each day practicing the Real Control Realm and the Mysterious Step with Yin Tu.
Finally, Wang Liuzhi led a large group into Qiufeng City. Hundreds of rowdy youths and horses almost caused a commotion among the city gate guards when they entered.
With the space in the inn’s backyard and rooms, it was easy to accommodate about a hundred people. After arranging their accommodations, Lin Dong asked Liu Hao about the progress of the inn, which would definitely be ready to open in six days.
These hundred hooligans arrived at just the right time.
Lin Dong immediately summoned Wang Liuzhi and the others into his room to discuss matters. Twenty thousand flyers were quickly distributed—six thousand per person—and glue brushes were taken out from the storage room.
The next morning, Lin Dong mounted his horse and led 106 hooligans from the inn, arriving in an orderly formation at Hutou Street at the north gate of the city.
With over a hundred people on large horses, the scene should have been terrifying and likely caused quite a stir in the streets. Fortunately, huge banners reading “Lin’s Inn Guard Team” were hung on all four sides, which not only prevented chaos and panic but also attracted the attention of many passersby. Some even followed closely behind, wanting to see what these guards were up to.
With a large crowd following, they arrived at Hutou Street. Lin Dong waved his hand. Wang Liuzhi and the four leaders in charge of each direction gave the order, and the four connected banners formed a rectangular shape, each opening a passage. Twenty-one hooligans emerged from each side. With large buckets of glue, soft brushes about ten centimeters wide, and flyers the size of an adult’s palm, each group of three handled one of these tools. Those holding the flyers also wore hourglasses around their waists and quickly disappeared into the various alleys.

In about twenty minutes, the thugs who had disappeared seemingly by some unspoken agreement returned to the group in threes. The difference was that upon returning, the one responsible for distributing flyers approached the onlookers with a smile and handed them a flyer.

After checking the map of Autumn Wind City to confirm the location of the second street, Lin Dong raised his right hand and pointed in the desired direction. Wang Liuze and the others gave the order again: the team set off!

On Hu Tou Street, in every corner and alley, in every residential house—everywhere, Lin Ji Inn’s black-and-white flyers were everywhere, leaving no blind spot. Even someone who wanted to hang themselves would be tempted to take a look out of curiosity.

With their orderly movements and the flyers always visible unless one looked up at the sky, as the team passed each street, people there would talk nothing but about Lin Ji Inn. Even those still at home, unaware of what was going on outside, couldn’t avoid having their doors knocked on by familiar neighbors holding flyers, filled with gossip and eager to share their stories.

With a guard force of over a hundred people, such an unusual marketing strategy, specialty dishes made from spiritual beasts and materials said to enhance physical strength, a fee of half a silver coin to ensure a pleasant experience—even the fact that the opening date was five days later, on February 29th, rather than choosing an auspicious day like the first day of the month, all these elements sparked endless anticipation and speculation.

Within a day, they covered the entire north side of the city. As night fell, after having a big meal, the thugs returned to the backyard to rest and prepare for the next day. Meanwhile, across the entire north side of Autumn Wind City, countless people suffered from insomnia. From east to west, every dozen households had at least one family discussing and speculating about Lin Ji Inn all night long. Even outside the north side of the city, the name “Lin Ji Inn” spread like wings, reaching the ears of thousands of households.

In Lin Dong’s world, it might seem simple, but in this world, with its unparalleled marketing campaign, this day in Autumn Wind City was destined to belong to Lin Ji Inn.

The sudden emergence of such a powerful inn, one that also dealt in spiritual beasts and materials—and whose flyers seemed even better than those of most large restaurants—made the owners of the restaurants in Autumn Wind City uneasy, especially those of Feng Lin Restaurant and the other two major restaurants in the north.

Although Maple Forest Restaurant had already put up informational signs and was in the early stages of implementing its price war, which it had planned for nearly half a year, its position in Autumn Wind City was almost unshakable. Yet this news still dealt a huge blow to Maple Forest Restaurant’s manager, Jiang Youcai. The impact was even greater than that caused by Ke Lai Restaurant, as well as Wang Shuangxi and Ying Chunhua from Ying Feng Lou.

Among the owners of various restaurants in Autumn Wind City, Jiang Youcai was undoubtedly the one with the most knowledge about Lin Ji Inn. Only he understood that Lin Ji Inn’s competitiveness went beyond what was described in their brochures.

In Jiang Youcai’s view, Lin Ji Inn’s greatest strength lay in its manager—Manager Lin! With official backing, family influence, and substantial financial resources… Lin Ji Inn was able to force Maple Forest Restaurant to retreat from Xilan City within just half a year. It was this very Manager Lin who had set the record for the fastest and most complete defeat of a Maple Forest Restaurant branch at the county level.

What’s more, this Manager Lin had caught the attention of the third young master, who even wrote to instruct him to keep a close eye on Lin Ji Inn’s activities. If they encountered problems beyond business matters, he was even required to step in and help. This clearly meant the third young master wanted to take the time to compete directly with Lin Ji Inn.

At Maple Forest Restaurant, although the second young master was the head of the family, he was mainly responsible for setting the overall direction and managing relations with government officials. Any problems that arose at the branches were handled by the third young master, so one can imagine how busy he was. The fact that he paid attention to a small county’s affairs and even planned to meet its representatives showed just how remarkable this Manager Lin must be.

Unexpectantly, Lin Ji Inn had opened in Autumn Wind City and even gone to such lengths. Manager Lin’s ambition and ability were likely underestimated even by the third young master.

The more Jiang Youcai thought about it, the more uneasy he became. After much deliberation, he decided to go see Qiao Tianhao to learn more about the details of the competition in Xilan City.

In Maple Forest Restaurant’s kitchen, Qiao Tianhao was also uneasy, feeling as though bad news was waiting for him.

On the other side, Wang Shuangxi and Ying Chunhua were much calmer than Jiang Youcai. Though they were shocked by Lin Ji Inn’s bold moves, their sense of crisis was much less than Jiang Youcai’s. After all, it was just an inn.

An inn! Operating with spiritual beasts and materials—just the name sounded inadequate. Unless Lin Ji Inn’s cooking and decoration could match those of Maple Forest Restaurant, who would choose an inn for a banquet? It sounded strange just to hear about it, especially since it was newly opened.

While the gimmicks might be impressive, real quality was still necessary.

Therefore, in addition to sending people to investigate the origins of Lin’s Inn, the two also instructed the chef to be more careful when cooking and the staff to treat guests with greater caution. As for Peng Tianan, the manager of another large restaurant in the north of the city, Wanbin Tower… Thanks to Wang Bin’s near-miss of having his arm severed, Lin Dong only caused him minor external injuries and some internal injuries, and he had almost recovered by then. Upon learning about Lin’s Inn, he didn’t take it seriously at all. The business of Wanbin Tower couldn’t be taken away by Fenglin Restaurant!