Chapter 103: The Larger the Backyard, the Better

Taking the master and his servant into the inn, Lin Dong asked, “Lord Huang, do you prefer the first floor or the second? If it’s the second floor, there’s an additional charge of one or two silver taels every half hour for seating.”
“A private room on the second floor!” Huang Wanren replied without hesitation, smiling. “Since we’re here to gather intelligence about the enemy, we should definitely choose the best.”
Lin Dong couldn’t help but laugh. He asked Ma Chun, who happened to have an empty private room on the second floor available.
“Xiao Liu, come here and take Lord Huang to the private room on the second floor,” Ma Chun called over a staff member before Lin Dong could speak.
Lin Dong glanced at Ma Chun again, thinking for a moment before realizing that Ma Chun probably had something to tell him. Glancing at the bustling lobby, he then walked over to the backyard.
Sure enough, not long after, Ma Chun rushed in.
“Boss, Liu Hao is back.”
“Liu Hao is back?” Lin Dong’s face lit up as he asked eagerly, “Have you bought the land for building the inn?”
“Yes, it’s already purchased. It’s located on Jinglong Street, north of Qiufeng City. It’s one mu and seven fen in size, costing 2,100 silver taels.”
Lin Dong frowned slightly. This time, with more time available, there was no need to inflate the land price as much as when building the new inn last time. So, even though the land price in Qiufeng City was much higher than that in Xilan City, the cost per unit area was actually much lower.
According to Lin Dong’s original plan, if the new inn had three floors, it would be sufficient to elevate Lin’s Inn to level nine, ensuring there wouldn’t be a shortage of rooms or dining tables.
Given the number of merchants traveling to and from Qiufeng City, and since Qiufeng City was much larger than Xilan City, merchants wouldn’t necessarily take extra detours just to save a little money. The number of rooms in a level-nine inn would already be at its limit.
However, after receiving an unexpected 10,000 silver taels from Liu Chuanxiang, Lin Dong’s thoughts changed.
For an inn, the larger the lobby, the better, as it could accommodate more guests. But Lin’s Inn was different. If Wang Liuzhi managed to recruit a group of loyal subordinates, they would undoubtedly need to be brought to the main inn. Plus, with the additional functions that came with upgrading, if everything were crammed into a small backyard, it would easily arouse suspicion.
While an inn of level nine was sufficient, the backyard should be as large as possible.
After thinking it over for a while, Lin Dong asked, “Where is Liu Hao now?”
Ma Chun explained, “Liu Hao rushed here overnight. Since he saw the boss wasn’t here, he briefed me on the situation before going back to his room to sleep.”
“Hmm. When he wakes up, tell him to come see me.”
After giving those instructions, Lin Dong returned to his room to practice.

It was not until the sun set that Liu Hao knocked on the door.
“Owner, Ma Chun said you’re looking for me?”
After letting Liu Hao in and closing the door, Lin Dong took out 90% of the inn’s savings and placed it on the table. “This is 11,000 taels of silver. Go to Qiufeng City again tomorrow.”
“11,000 taels of silver?” Liu Hao’s eyes widened as he stared at the thick stack of silver bills, incredulous. “In just over a month, the inn has made more than 10,000 taels? Owner… does our inn have a new signature dish?”
“No!” Lin Dong smiled. “These silver bills weren’t earned through business; 10,000 of them are windfall money.”
“Oh!” Liu Hao seemed to understand, but then became puzzled again. “To build an inn, unless it’s built to the standards of the two largest restaurants in Qiufeng Mansion, it shouldn’t cost this much.”
“It’s not all for building a new inn,” Lin Dong shook his head. “The scale of the inn will still be based on the details we discussed last time. Hire carpenters accordingly. But the backyard needs to be expanded by buying more land, separated in the middle with a doorway to create two courtyards. The bigger the backyard, the better.”
Liu Hao had an idea and asked, “Owner, are you planning to use the backyard as a place for us to practice?”
“Half right,” Lin Dong nodded. “More houses can be built in the backyard, but most of it must remain open space. Also, it would be best to create one or two secret rooms.”
Liu Hao nodded firmly.
“Next is the cellar. It should be built under the rooms, with entrances and exits inside the rooms. And also…”
As Lin Dong was explaining the layout of the backyard, Ma Chun’s voice came from outside the door: “Owner, a guest wearing a bamboo hat and surnamed Chen wants to see you.”
It was inconvenient for Zhou Zhengye to leave the county office, and since he was injured in the morning, it could only be Fu Chunjian. Lin Dong immediately said, “Let him in.”
Lin Dong patted Liu Hao’s shoulder. “Go back first. I’ll write down everything that needs attention and give it to you tomorrow morning.”
Not long after Liu Hao left, Fu Chunjian entered through the unclosed door, removed his bamboo hat, and his white beard curled slightly. With a smile on his face, it was clear he was in a good mood.
“Owner Lin, guess how much silver we made this time!” Fu Chunjian said with a smile.
Given Fu Chunjian’s age and calm nature, the fact that he was in such a good mood as to joke meant the amount must be substantial. After a brief thought, Lin Dong slowly replied, “10,000 taels!”
“More than that—15,000 taels of silver!” Fu Chunjian clicked his tongue. “Zhou Zhengye’s broken leg was well worth it!”
Lin Dong was speechless. It seemed Zhou Zhengye’s appetite had indeed been spoiled by Liu Chuanxiang.

No matter how wealthy Maple Forest Restaurant was, if Zhou Zhengye didn’t squeeze them hard, not even a county-level manager would spend 15,000 taels of silver just to cover up mistakes.
“Dean Fu, aren’t we being a bit too harsh? Back then, we thought 5,000 taels would be enough, but we forced them to pay 15,000. If negotiations fail and we try to back out, it might arouse Liu Chuanxiang’s suspicion.”
“Manager Lin, don’t worry. Zhengye has already figured out some tactics when dealing with the wealthy elites—he knows his limits,” said Fu Chunjian, stroking his long beard gently. “At that time, we thought that if Zhengye went to involve the city defense troops, Liu Chuanxiang would fear Jiang Zhen’s reluctance to kill an official due to the taboos of the Great Han Kingdom, and instead take his anger out on him. But Liu Chuanxiang’s reaction was extremely intense. Though I didn’t see it with my own eyes, Zhengye said that Liu was carried there by his assistants, and every time the topic of the city defense troops came up, his face turned paler. If not for fear of exceeding his limits, Zhengye claimed he could have extracted even more silver.”
Lin Dong felt a little reassured but frowned. “Why would he fear the city defense troops? Logically, he should be afraid of Jiang Zhen.”
“If I’m not mistaken, the real boss behind Maple Forest Restaurant has countless political enemies. In fact…” Fu Chunjian said calmly, “he’s even more cautious than Fu Tongshan.”
“How is that possible?” Lin Dong was even more puzzled. Fu Tongshan, a grand grand tutor, was already forced to the point where he couldn’t even control his own mansion—who could need to be more careful than him?
“Why not?” Fu Chunjian said meaningfully. “I served as an advisor to Emperor Qianwei for over a decade. Although I was mainly in charge of administrative affairs, few people in the Great Han Kingdom know better than I do just how cautious the struggle for the throne truly is.”
Lin Dong asked blankly, “Are you saying the real boss behind Maple Forest Restaurant is a prince?”
“In the struggle for the throne, it’s naturally the princes who are competing. The few princes with the greatest chances of succeeding are undoubtedly the targets of everyone’s hostility…”
Realizing Lin Dong didn’t understand the complexities of the court, Fu Chunjian had to explain slowly. It took him over half an hour before Lin Dong fully understood.
After reflecting on it, it made sense. Given that Maple Forest Restaurant was so large, with branches across the Great Han Kingdom, its backing and real boss must hold an extraordinary status in the country. If it were one of these princes, it could indeed explain why Liu Chuanxiang was so afraid of the city defense troops.

It was not uncommon in the Great Han Kingdom for city defense troops, who were not to enter the city during rebellions or foreign invasions, to be misused for personal gain. However, this only happened with some impartial county magistrates who had no ambition for high positions; few prefects dared to do such things, and high-ranking officials at or above the prefect level would never do it, even forbidding their trusted subordinates from doing so. The reason was that this matter could have serious consequences—using such leverage against a county magistrate would earn the resentment of all county magistrates who had experienced it. Worse still, city defense troops were not under the county magistrate’s jurisdiction; they could be mobilized only if benefits could be obtained from the magistrate. Doing so would also cut off all sources of income for those troops. But if this leverage could be used to eliminate or undermine a prefect or a high-ranking official… the higher up the hierarchy, the greater the stakes. Such a strategy of sacrificing three thousand to defeat ten thousand was not beyond possibility. “It seems we’re still fortunate to have the princes on our side,” Lin Dong suddenly laughed.