Chapter 253: Extreme Chaos

The idea was already formed; all that remained was to refine it.
To ensure the inn received the full amount of experience points daily, all 25 tables on the first floor had to be included in the inn’s system. As a result, only 10 tables on the second and third floors could be incorporated into the system’s planning.
This meant that only 10 tables on the entire second and third floors could have comfort enhancements activated.
Of course, if the guests on the second floor could ensure that 11 or more tables had a steady stream of customers, it wouldn’t matter to remove one or more tables from the first floor’s system.
Giving a plate of vitality beef balls worth two taels of silver for just one tael was almost equivalent to a 70% discount. Combined with a 40% discount for copper cards, a 50% discount for silver cards, and the free thyme, the overall price was equivalent to just over 10% of the original cost.
Based on Lin Dong’s experience, this discount should make it easy to attract around a hundred groups of customers, but it would be impossible to attract more—this was already the limit for maintaining a steady stream of customers at 10 tables. Even if more tables could be added, he would find ways to keep costs down, as otherwise, it would lead to Fenglin Restaurant lowering prices again or other restaurants competing fiercely, resulting in losses. Having around a hundred groups of customers per day on the second floor was sufficient as a foundation to compete for customers after the guild news ended. According to Lin Dong’s original plan, 80 groups per day would have been enough.
Since only 10 tables on the second floor could have comfort enhancements, their competitiveness was naturally lower. Fortunately, the private rooms on the third floor weren’t very busy anyway. Before the guild news ended, Lin Dong didn’t think he could steal those large clients who were already accustomed to holding banquets at Fenglin Restaurant, so a lower competitiveness wasn’t a problem.
Next was the impact on KeLai Restaurant. This was easier to handle—just discuss it with Wang Shuangxi and ask him to lower the conditions for giving away vitality beef balls as well.
After careful consideration, Lin Dong raised his head and ordered, “Ma Chun, tally up the 10 tables that customers frequently use after they go up to the second floor later. All the staff in charge of the second floor, listen carefully: starting tomorrow, when customers go up there, try to direct them to those 10 tables. Besides the free vitality beef balls at those tables, tell them that due to poor management, Lin’s Inn only keeps 10 tables with spirit arrays that require a seating fee; the rest have had their spirit arrays temporarily removed.”
The staff nodded eagerly. Seeing Lin Dong’s satisfied expression, they all smiled broadly.

“Alright, it’s getting late. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to approach Ma Chun at any time. That’s it for today—everyone has contributed many useful ideas for the inn.” Lin Dong concluded with a smile, “I hope to hear more suggestions from you in the future. As long as they benefit the inn, you’ll definitely receive generous rewards. Also, we’ve been talking for over two hours, and the inn only closed half an hour earlier than usual. This not only took away over an hour of your rest time but also left you hungry. So, let’s have a dinner party tonight! Jiang Kui and Qiao Tianhao, you two arrange for the cooks to prepare everything using the magical beasts and materials we have, and bring it all to the main hall.”
After a pause, seeing everyone about to get excited, Lin Dong raised his hand to stop them. “Also, the inn must open tomorrow as scheduled, so I can only prepare a plate of Energy Beef Balls for each of you in the morning to ensure you’re energetic enough. As for the time we’ve spent discussing these ideas—although it was just over an hour, it’s brought many benefits to the inn. As a reward, you’ll get an extra month’s salary at the end of the month.”
Everyone stared at Lin Dong in shock—there would be quite a lot of bonuses this night. And to top it off, there was even a bigger reward yet.
“What, if you think you’ve made too much money tonight?” Lin Dong said with a smile, “You can refuse to accept your salary when it’s time to pay.”
The staff and cooks scattered immediately to prepare dinner in the back yard. Seriously, who would refuse an extra month’s salary?
The issue that had troubled them for days was finally resolved. Although it was a temporary fix, once the news from the guild arrived, the heavy burden on their hearts would also lift. Lin Dong was in high spirits. Though he didn’t want to waste time on cultivation and had already eaten dinner, he still ordered Ma Chun to bring over two jars of good wine. He drank by himself in the main hall while waiting for the food to be served.
The meal took over half an hour to finish…
Working from sunrise to sunset, the staff went to bed in the middle of the night and got up early in the morning. But thanks to the Energy Beef Balls, they were still full of energy and smiling when the inn reopened the next day. With such great rewards, they were even more enthusiastic than usual.
The inn’s business also went as smoothly as expected. Once the busiest time of the day passed at noon, Lin Dong immediately changed the inn’s name from Xilan City Inn to Lin’s Inn in Autumn Wind City.
In the afternoon, news of Lin’s Inn’s new business methods reached the ears of the owners of various large restaurants.

The owners of the major restaurants didn’t pay much attention to this. Although Lin Ji Inn saw a 20% increase in customers due to this, the fact that they had to shut down the seating-fee-based spirit arrays indicated that Lin Ji Inn was already under strain, relying now on cheap spirit materials that fell from the sky to sustain them. Once these spirit materials ran out, if the heads of the supervision bureaus in various counties still hadn’t shown up, it wouldn’t be long before Lin Ji Inn had to close its doors. Of course, the closure of Lin Ji Inn was good news for the major restaurants, but they didn’t want to see that happen. If the heads of the supervision bureaus delayed appearing, their own businesses would also suffer heavy losses—each day delayed meant a loss of two to three thousand taels of silver. Back in the courtyard of Fenglin Restaurant, Ling Zhengyang lay reclined in a chair with his eyes closed, deep in thought. Beside him, Jiang Youcai stood quietly, his gaze toward Ling Zhengyang filled with confusion. The third young master, upon hearing this news, had spent an entire hour or two pondering it, even skipping dinner. Was it really worth such effort to overthink something as simple as Lin Ji Inn suddenly changing its business strategy, with little effect at that, and clearly showing it could no longer hold on? As night fell, Ling Zhengyang suddenly opened his eyes and said slowly, “It’s extremely chaotic!” Jiang Youcai was speechless. After nearly two hours of thought, the conclusion was just three words—why go to such lengths? “I really can’t figure out Lin Dong’s intentions,” Ling Zhengyang said, frowning. “Third young master, in my opinion, that manager Lin doesn’t have any real plan. If he did have one, it’s probably because he’s already on the verge of collapse and luckily came across cheap spirit materials. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have reduced the use of the seating-fee-based spirit arrays, nor would he have sent people around distributing flyers, asking others to recommend Lin Ji Inn to merchants traveling into the city. With Lin Ji Inn’s accommodation fees and the profits from guests’ meals, it probably makes only a dozen or so coins a day. Even for the top-tier rooms, I think the daily profit is only one or two taels at most.” Jiang Youcai felt helpless. Third young master, you’re being too cautious. It’s just an inn in the prefectural city—why treat it like those shrewd major restaurants in the capital? “Distributing flyers to recommend guests to Lin Ji Inn? What’s going on?” Ling Zhengyang frowned. “Why didn’t you mention this before?” “It’s just today’s matter. I thought it had nothing to do with our business,” Jiang Youcai said softly, seeing Ling Zhengyang’s displeased expression. “That’s why I forgot to mention it for a while.”

“It doesn’t matter?” Ling Zhengyang said irritably, “Any move by our competitors could affect our business; we can’t overlook any detail.”
Jiang Youcai hurriedly nodded, “The third young master is right. I’ll definitely remember this next time.”
Ling Zhengyang nodded, his brows furrowing even more. As Jiang Youcai said, referring customers who came to the city for directions to Linji Inn wouldn’t earn much extra profit given the inn’s high accommodation costs. It would be better to think of ways to attract more customers.
“Shopkeeper Jiang, do you think Linji Inn is doing this really because they suddenly have a batch of spiritual materials whose medicinal effects are about to expire?”
Jiang Youcai hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding, “Otherwise, why would Lin Dong make such arrangements suddenly? This is all to use the Vitality Beef Balls to sell off this batch of spiritual materials as quickly as possible.”
Ling Zhengyang hesitated and said, “To be honest, I even suspect that the cost of Linji Inn’s Vitality Beef Balls is extremely low. Those so-called spiritual materials whose effects are about to expire are just a cover to hide the fact that they’re not actually losing money despite the price increase.”
Jiang Youcai thought for a while before shaking his head, “Vitality Beef Balls contain 100% spiritual materials. Even if they’re first-tier materials, their cost isn’t that low.”
Ling Zhengyang had no reply. After thinking for a while, he asked further, “Then how do we explain removing the spiritual arrays from the other tables? If they want to sell off this batch of spiritual materials quickly, more customers would be better. Since they’ve raised the prices of food and drinks and the spiritual materials are disposed of by the sect, no matter what the cost of the Vitality Beef Balls is, they shouldn’t be losing money. Also, Lin Dong must have realized that the matter with the merchant guild won’t be resolved in the short term. If they wanted to use the Vitality Beef Balls to retain customers, these spiritual materials could be stored for months or even longer. Why rush to sell them? Selling them in the usual way would yield much higher profits.”
After a pause, Ling Zhengyang continued, “Besides, the Precious Vitality Balls and Vitality Beef Balls are actually the same thing, just more refined—covered with a layer of the spiritual tree sap that the Liu family considers a secret weapon. Using the same method, the Vitality Beef Balls can be preserved for months. Lin Dong’s sudden move doesn’t make sense either way.”
“Well…” Jiang Youcai was also at a loss for words.

Ling Zhengyang gently tapped his slightly swollen head. “Also, why not use the second floor of Lin’s Inn instead of searching for other ways? Why go around trying to attract customers just for a few hundred coins? Others may not know, but you surely haven’t forgotten—Lin Dong still owns Lin’s Inn in Xilan City, which generates decent profits. Over the past year or so, he must have saved quite a bit of silver. He surely wouldn’t care about a few hundred coins in such a situation. Even if Lin Dong is penny-pinching, it’s a bit too coincidental that he starts attracting customers and suddenly changes his business strategy on the same day.”

“Heaven only knows what he’s thinking…” Jiang Youcai smiled bitterly. It was possible that Lin Dong had already gone mad from the pressure of Fenglin Restaurant. Over the past two months, various restaurants had also made foolish mistakes.

“That’s why I say it’s extremely chaotic. So chaotic that I can’t figure out his intentions at all,” Ling Zhengyang said calmly. “The more I can’t figure out his motives, the more likely Lin’s Inn is to launch a desperate counterattack.”

“How is that possible?” Jiang Youcai asked in disbelief.

“Back in Xilan City, Lin Dong’s small inn wasn’t only able to stand out but also caused Fenglin Restaurant to suffer huge losses of over a hundred thousand taels of silver and force them to retreat. Others might not be able to do that, but what’s impossible in front of Lin Dong?”

Ling Zhengyang’s gaze was intense, almost eager. “The Lin Dong we have now is the one I’ve traveled all this way to see in Qiufeng City.”

“Third Young Master, then what should we do?” Jiang Youcai asked. “Just wait and see?”

“Wait and see? Wouldn’t that exactly suit Manager Lin’s plans? Whatever his intentions, since he’s causing chaos, why not help sort things out step by step?” Ling Zhengyang smiled lightly. “Coincidentally, it seems the time has come for the guild’s decision. Lower the prices of dishes and drinks by half tomorrow. By dealing with Lin’s Inn, we can also put pressure on other restaurants—kill two birds with one stone.”

Jiang Youcai hesitated. “With all these changes, I’m afraid the customers will be dissatisfied…”

“It doesn’t matter. We can make it up later,” Ling Zhengyang waved his hand. “Also, find the owners of all inns in Qiufeng City and ask them to try to attract customers from the north side of the city. For each one they bring and confirm is genuine, I’ll give them one tael of silver each.”

Jiang Youcai nodded. It was just a small amount of money, not much of a deal.

“By dealing with Lin’s Inn, if we force Lin Dong to take further action, the more he does, the clearer his intentions will become.”

Ling Zhengyang sighed and said slowly, “Send someone to Jiale Restaurant to order some turtle stewed with phoenix tree leaves. Lin’s Inn doesn’t deliver dishes, and I find that strange. Try more of it; maybe we can find the reason.”

Jiang Youcai nodded and stepped out of the courtyard.