Chapter 174: Worry First, Joy Later

After hesitating for a moment, Lin Dong still entered the kitchen. In this world, the stomach comes first—after all, no one would run away. With guests present, it wasn’t appropriate to treat them casually, so he fried some meat and side dishes, prepared a pot of wine, placed everything on a tray, and carried it back to the yard.
“There aren’t many good dishes at this hour—please don’t mind,” Lin Dong said with a smile as he set down the bowls and chopsticks. “Try my cooking.”
Unable to refuse such kindness, Yi Yi picked up the wine pot and filled a cup for each of them. After drinking it all at once, Lin Dong first filled his stomach half-full with food before raising his cup again to toast with the two of them. He then asked, “For such an important matter as eloping, don’t you have any plan at all?”
Wang Bin shook his head with a bitter smile. “What plan could there be? Not only would my father object, but Yi Yi’s indenture is still in Ying Chunhua’s hands. Even if my father agreed, given Ying Chunhua’s greed, he’d never be able to come up with enough silver to free her.”
Lin Dong pondered for a while before asking, “What outcome do you hope for?”
“Of course, it’s for my father to accept Yi Yi and for Ying Chunhua to return her indenture,” Wang Bin replied helplessly. “Either of those is absolutely impossible, so we can only hide.”
“Young Master Lin…” Yi Yi suddenly asked, “Are you a warrior loyal to the Great Han Kingdom?”
Lin Dong shook his head. “I’m not even at the level of a warrior yet. Moreover, I’m not a disciple of any sect, nor do I intend to be fully loyal to the Great Han Kingdom.”
“Not a warrior?” The two exchanged glances. Their earlier assumption that Lin Dong wouldn’t betray them was based on the idea that he was a warrior. But if he really had malicious intentions, why would he reveal this matter in the first place?
Wang Bin opened his mouth as if to confirm, but Yi Yi gently kicked him and shook her head. Wang Bin realized his mistake. By speaking up, he might have felt relieved, but doubting someone twice in a row was simply unacceptable.
Lin Dong noticed their reactions and smiled before asking, “Is Li Jiancheng useful?”
“Li Jiancheng?” Wang Bin slapped his palm in surprise. “That’s right! Brother Lin knows Lord Li, the deputy governor. With Lord Li’s intervention, Yi Yi’s indenture could easily be retrieved.”
“Lord Li… I’m afraid that won’t work either,” Yi Yi suddenly said, shaking her head. “If it were just tens of thousands of taels of silver, it might be possible, but this is hundreds of thousands. It would hurt her even more than killing her. Maybe if it were over a hundred thousand taels, there’s a chance, but otherwise, not even Lord Li can get her indenture from her without reason.”

After a pause, Yi Yi explained softly, “After all, no matter who goes to ask, Yingchun Hua will think I’m in that person’s hands. Plus, since she has a close relationship with the Liu family, if things get desperate, she might ask them to help stop Lord Li. Starting Yingfeng Tower elsewhere is the same—there’s no need to bear such frustration.”
“Over a hundred thousand taels of silver?” Wang Bin’s expression darkened. That amount was equivalent to a huge sum for him. Even for Ke Lai Restaurant, it wasn’t a small figure.
Lin Dong also felt overwhelmed. He had over a hundred thousand taels of silver, but if Wang Shuangxi refused to repay it for Wang Bin, exchanging that amount for a hidden task reward would likely result in a loss.
On top of that, Wang Shuangxi was a troublemaker himself.
“Wang Bin, is there really no way to persuade your father?” Lin Dong couldn’t help asking. If Wang Shuangxi could cover the cost, the task would be worthwhile; otherwise, the risk was too high.
If the reward for the hidden task was just like that of the Colorful Bed—merely furniture for a guest room—no matter how good it was, it couldn’t be upgraded equipment. Even if it helped attract guests, it was still just one guest room. No matter how good its attributes were, it might only earn an extra three or four taels of silver per day, taking 180 years to recoup the cost.
Even if it were other rewards, unless they were recipes for medicinal dishes or decorations with extremely wide attribute coverage, it would still be a huge loss.
Helping out a little wasn’t a problem; since they were acquaintances, a thousand or eight hundred taels wasn’t an issue. But over a hundred thousand taels already exceeded Lin Dong’s threshold for being generous.
Wang Bin smiled bitterly, “For him to change his mind? That’s like expecting the sun to rise in the west.”
“Don’t be so sure. Nothing is absolute,” Lin Dong said, shaking his head slightly dissatisfied with Wang Bin’s attitude.
“You’re right, Young Master Lin,” Yi Yi suddenly said. “As long as one is willing to try, anything is possible. Your father only dislikes my background, not me as a person. If given time, I’m sure I can make him gradually accept me.”
“I believe that after spending time with you, he’ll realize you’re a good daughter-in-law, not the kind of brothel woman he imagines… But he won’t give you that time at all.” Wang Bin still seemed disheartened.
Yi Yi fell silent.
Over by the side, Lin Dong’s furrowed brows relaxed slightly. “By the way, I seem to recall you mentioning that Boss Wang has some kind of dust disease. What’s that about?”
“Dust disease is a strange illness. One can’t breathe in any dust under normal circumstances, or it can cause severe coughing. My father hasn’t cooked in these years precisely because he’s afraid of the smell of cooking fumes.”
“Is wearing a mask useless?”

Wang Bin shook his head. “Even a slight obstruction in breathing can trigger this lung disease. Moreover, my father consulted countless doctors for this illness and even had the fortune to meet alchemists, but all he got were prescriptions to relieve coughing.”
Lin Dong remained silent. The idea of having Yi Yi bring a gift to win over Wang Shuangxi was essentially dead, unless Yun Cangqiong suddenly returned.
Wang Bin let out a deep sigh. “Forget it. Let’s drink. We’ll think of a solution later.”
Seeing the two in low spirits, Lin Dong raised his cup to change the subject. There must be a solution; worrying too much now was pointless.
“We’ll just have to think it through slowly,” the two nodded.
After eating and drinking their fill, leaving Wang Bin and Yi Yi to enjoy the outdoor air, Lin Dong returned to his room with a troublesome problem.
After thinking for a while with no results, Lin Dong calmed himself down, dismissed his distractions, and entered a meditative state.
The next day, Lin Dong called Ma Chun over.
The Rainbow Bed’s properties had been fully confirmed, so it needed to be introduced.
“Post a notice saying the inn is adding a ‘Heaven Room’ with a daily rental of fifteen taels of silver. And also…”
“Fifteen taels of silver?” Ma Chun exclaimed before Lin Dong could finish.
“Is there a problem?” Lin Dong asked.
“Boss…” Ma Chun said helplessly, “The ‘A-Class Room’ in our lodging building hasn’t had a single guest since it opened, and its daily rate is only eight taels of silver. Adding another room that costs fifteen taels a day is just throwing money away, isn’t it?”
“The Heaven Room has an extra feature that helps people fall asleep quickly. Maybe we’ll find someone willing to spend the money.”
Lin Dong felt helpless. In this world, there were countless prescriptions for soothing the mind and many miracle medicines. Unless someone suffered from severe insomnia, few would value this feature.
But there was no choice—the Heaven Room had to be introduced, otherwise, the Rainbow Bed wouldn’t gain experience points to level up.
With a four-fold comfort boost, it required four spirit stones per day, while the Rainbow Bed consumed twelve spirit stones daily. That meant the Heaven Room needed sixteen spirit stones just to maintain itself, day after day. At the current market price of spirit stones, the cost alone was sixteen taels of silver, not including other miscellaneous expenses. Even if cheap spirit stones could be found, the cost would still be well over fifteen taels of silver.
In short, Lin Dong had no intention of making money from the Rainbow Bed in the early stages; what he wanted was experience points. If it weren’t for deliberately losing money to attract guests who wouldn’t gain experience points, Lin Dong would even be willing to pay a few taels per day to have people stay there.
So, he could only rely on luck.

Ma Chun wanted to argue further, but Lin Dong waved his hand to stop him: “Just do as I say! Remember to include this feature in the announcement. Also, it’s unlikely that any guests will come to the ‘Heavenly Room’ in the short term. Find a way to buy some paintings to hang there and have someone redecorate the room to make it as luxurious as possible.”
Ma Chun had no choice but to nod. Within half an hour, an announcement about the new Heavenly Room was posted outside the inn.
As soon as the announcement appeared, crowds of onlookers gathered. In the short term, its popularity rivaled that of the government’s announcements. But as Lin Dong had predicted, no one wanted the room at all.
In the first few days, although Ma Chun didn’t believe anyone would want it, he was still worried about unexpected visitors—some wealthy family might come just to give it a try. So when redecorating the room, he didn’t dare make too many changes, fearing he wouldn’t have a room ready if someone showed up.
It turned out his worries were unnecessary. For four or five days straight, not a single person inquired about it. Ma Chun then went all out and, in just over half a month, created a dazzlingly decorated room. Though everything was fake, combined with the soft multicolored glow emanating from the rainbow bed, stepping into the room was indeed a striking visual experience. In Ma Chun’s opinion, just for the room’s decoration alone, someone would surely pay four or five silver coins per day to stay there.
Knocking at the door interrupted Lin Dong’s meditation. The person standing outside surprised him—it was Xu Chunfen.
“Shopkeeper Lin, the VIP card is ready,” Xu Chunfen said, handing over a VIP card made to resemble a copper card. “Take a look and see if it works.”
“So fast?” Lin Dong was overjoyed. He had been troubled by the issues related to Wang Bin, Yiyi, and the rainbow bed’s experience points for over twenty days, and finally heard good news. Moreover, it was significant news.
Xu Chunfen nodded. “I thought setting up the blacksmith shop and recruiting blacksmiths would take over half a month. To my surprise, Manager Ma handled it in just one or two days. Xiaoqiao was also much more obedient than I expected, so we were able to finish ahead of schedule.”
“Not just a little ahead—half a month ahead!” Lin Dong exclaimed. “Madam, you really know how to leave room for flexibility… Setting up a blacksmith shop took you half a month longer than expected.”
Xu Chunfen smiled without explaining. In her view, finishing ahead of schedule by giving oneself more time was better than rushing and causing problems later. She didn’t realize that if Lin Dong had known it could be done in a month, he would have started preparing for promotion efforts half a month earlier.

Of course, just as Xu Chunfen believed it was better to worry first and then rejoice. Regarding the ability to resolve the storage function of the VIP card a month in advance, despite the marketing efforts falling behind, Lin Dong was completely satisfied. After all, even after accounting for the marketing time, the VIP card could still be launched half a month earlier than expected.