Chapter 409: Not Significant Results

Sensing something, Lin Dong raised his eyes. Though separated by hundreds of meters, he could clearly see that it was Wang Liuze.
It wasn’t gold ingots falling from the sky or antiques emerging from the ground—was Wang Liuze here to bring good news?
He rushed to Lin Dong’s side, greeted Yun Lan, and then said with a joyful expression, “Boss, the trial has been completed.”
Lin Dong looked at Wang Liuze with great anticipation.
“B- Boss…” Wang Liuze felt a bit uneasy under Lin Dong’s gaze, unsure where he might have gone wrong.
“Is that all?” Lin Dong asked.
“Y- Yes, that’s all!” Wang Liuze hesitated for a moment before cautiously asking, “Boss, is there anything else?”
Lin Dong was speechless.
According to expectations, the trial should end this month. Today was the 19th, meaning it was more than ten days ahead of the earliest estimate. This could have been considered good news—after all, completing the trial meant the branch had joined the inn system, and they could open officially on a suitable nearby day.
But this was still within the expected timeframe.
“Boss, did I do something wrong?” Wang Liuze was confused by Lin Dong’s attitude. He couldn’t think of anything he might have done wrong.
“It’s fine. I just thought of something,” Lin Dong said casually. “How many in total?”
Wang Liuze immediately perked up, his voice rising slightly. “A total of 639 passed the trial.”
“Hmm, bring them here tonight…” Lin Dong paused, then exclaimed in surprise, “639?”
Wang Liuze nodded eagerly.
“That many?” Lin Dong was astonished. In the entire Qiufeng Mansion, there were over a thousand thugs, but only about fifty had passed the trial. He estimated that the other nine districts under Lingnan Commandery had between 450 and 500.
To his surprise, they reached 639 at once.
Wang Liuze grinned confidently and said, “All of them can be guaranteed to be completely loyal to our Lin’s Inn.”
Lin Dong couldn’t help but smile too. It was like finding a new path after a dark forest—the completion time of the trial wasn’t much off, but the number was definitely a pleasant surprise.
“Bring them to the backyard tonight, then…” Lin Dong hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. “Let’s bring them tomorrow night instead! Give each of them 180 taels of silver and a day off.”
“As for the branch…” Wang Liuze didn’t agree right away but seemed hesitant.

“There’s no rush in just one or two days,” Lin Dong shook his head. The sooner they selected a manager for each branch, the earlier those branches could be prepared for opening. But increasing the guard team from over fifty to more than six hundred at once was simply unacceptable without proper justification.
“Okay, if there’s nothing else the manager wants to say, shall I go now?” Wang Liuzhi asked.
“Go ahead!” Lin Dong waved his hand.
After Wang Liuzhi left in high spirits, Lin Dong turned to Yun Lan and said cheerfully, “With luck increased by eight times, it should have some effect. These over a thousand spirit stones were well spent.”
“It’s good then. At least you won’t be restless,” Yun Lan smiled.
Lin Dong gave a sheepish smile and suddenly stood up. “How about going outside the city? My luck has come; yours doesn’t seem particularly special.”
Although uninterested in boosting her luck, Yun Lan still nodded and got up.
Lin Dong went to the breeding pen, got an eagle beast bird, and then flew into the air with Yun Lan, heading toward a banyan forest outside the city.
The banyan forest wasn’t large, covering only about thirty hectares—less even than some fields owned by ultra-wealthy landlords.
After stepping off the eagle beast bird’s back outside the forest and having it circle above in standby, Lin Dong and Yun Lan entered the banyan forest, which was regarded as a sacred place by couples in love in Lingnan City and as a cursed land by parents whose children had reached marriage age.
Morning dew covered the dead leaves everywhere. On the towering banyan trees, bare branches bore yellow-brown spots. Occasionally, a few clear bird calls couldn’t change the desolation of the forest in winter.
Just like the restaurant business, this season was also off-season for the banyan forest. The two walked and chatted. Along the way, they saw not a single spirit beast, spirit material, human, insect, or bird.
After walking for a while longer, Yun Lan suddenly stopped.
“Let’s change direction.”
“Change direction?” Lin Dong was surprised, not understanding why Yun Lan suddenly said that.
Yun Lan nodded without giving any explanation and turned to walk in another direction.
Lin Dong had no choice but to follow. Glancing back at the direction they had been going, he had a sudden idea.
As they walked and talked, Lin Dong kept his mind divided, constantly reaching out in the direction they had been in.
After over a hundred meters, his extended mind stopped, and a barely noticeable smile appeared on Lin Dong’s lips.
About a hundred meters away, beneath a large banyan tree, a tree hole was mostly covered by dry grass. Inside the hole, a young couple, both in their twenties, were huddled together, feeding each other buns affectionately.

Lin Dong had seen this situation countless times in his previous world, but it was his first time encountering it in this one. Before getting married, aside from other things, secretly holding hands could already be considered reckless behavior for men and bold for women in the Great Han Country. Even in the somewhat more open martial world, it was limited to holding hands and chatting—still much more conservative compared to the couples in the tree-hole community.
“During the day… it’s immoral!”
Lin Dong muttered, his tone filled with envy and jealousy.
Yun Lan paused for a moment before quickening her pace slightly, as if she hadn’t heard his words at all.
Lin Dong rubbed his nose and chased after her.
Whether it was luck or bad luck, after wandering around all morning without finding any spiritual beasts or materials, he encountered six pairs of young men and women entering the forest. In the dead of winter, during the off-peak season, it was already rare to see seven pairs in the banyan forest; on normal days, it would be even rarer.
Back at the inn, after waiting until evening when the eight-fold luck period ended, Lin Dong was convinced that the base for the bonus indeed came from his own luck that day. This meant that the “Lucky Firewood Room” couldn’t bring such extraordinary benefits to the inn’s business.
With no other choice, Lin Dong began to research and organize information such as how much dry wood could be stored per square meter and which dishes used the least wood. It wasn’t until the next evening that all the data was compiled.
In the five compartments of the “Lucky Firewood Room,” the wood could be stacked up to one meter high. Among ordinary woods, the most burn-resistant were the branches of a tree called the Strong Sound Tree. This tree was uncommon in Lingnan City but not entirely absent; its price was only three times that of ordinary wood, making its cost almost negligible. In terms of quantity, as long as not all branches in each branch store were used up, there would be more than enough to support the needs of the “Lucky Kitchen.”
Originally, based on Lin Dong’s thoughts from the previous day, this lucky wood should ideally be used for dishes that required the least fire. But after careful consideration, he abandoned this idea.
Due to limitations in luck-based bonuses and costs, the “Lucky Firewood Room” couldn’t be widely applied to all dishes. To maximize its effect, it clearly couldn’t be used as an expensive seasoning for guests to choose to add to their dishes.

First, if nothing good happens on that day, customers who have spent a lot of money with no return may feel it was not worth it. In the short term, until its effectiveness is proven, they might even think Lin’s Inn is cheating them out of their money. This not only does little to boost the inn’s business but also makes it difficult to restore its reputation even if its effectiveness is later confirmed. Second, this approach carries too much risk; if word gets to the sect, it could cause serious trouble. The ability to increase luck is also a great temptation in the eyes of warriors. If tangible results can be seen, it’s worth taking the risk of attracting the sect’s attention, but if the effects are not significant, it’s not worth it.

After careful consideration, Lin Dong decided to adopt a gradual approach, setting the targets for increased luck on Lin’s Inn’s two signature dishes: Turtle Stewed with Maple Leaves and Vitality Beef Balls. The cost of these two dishes is around 100 wen and over a dozen wen respectively, yet they are sold for two taels of silver each. One cubic meter of dry firewood can be used to prepare about forty bowls of Turtle Stewed with Maple Leaves and over 500 bowls of Vitality Beef Balls. If the prices of these two signature dishes remain unchanged and a double luck bonus of ten spirit stones per day is applied, the costs will increase to around 350 wen and over 30 wen respectively. If a triple luck bonus is applied, the costs will be around 600 wen and 50 wen respectively. The profits remain comparable to those of other dishes.

The greatest advantage of this approach is that it avoids attracting the sect’s attention. It also prevents damage to the inn’s reputation. Over time, the appeal of these two signature dishes will increase significantly, thereby boosting the inn’s business. Of course, this approach has its drawbacks. The main one is the slow onset of effects—hundreds of orders may be needed before one can subconsciously sense the increase in luck. Compared to the advantages, Lin Dong found this drawback acceptable.

Ultimately, Lin Dong decided to set a triple luck bonus for all dishes prepared in the Luck Wood Furnace, focusing only on the two signature dishes. If new signature dishes are introduced, he would find ways to raise their prices to dozens or hundreds of taels of silver, using the high profit margins to further increase the luck bonus multiplier.

In the middle of the night, Wang Liu Zi led over 600 thugs who had passed various rigorous tests to sneak into the back yard of Lin’s Inn. After ensuring they all agreed to join Lin’s Inn, Lin Dong checked their attributes one by one.

Not bad. There are over 200 of them, meeting the minimum standards in Lin Dong’s eyes for someone to be a shop owner, enough to manage the 99 newly opened branches. After carefully selecting 99 with the best attributes to be assigned as shop owners at each branch, Lin Dong simply ordered the rest to become part of Lin’s Inn’s new batch of guards. With these guards added, the amount of spirit stones required for cultivation enhancements will increase significantly. Likewise, Lin’s Inn’s strength will have a stronger foundation for further development.