Chapter 475: Junda Restaurant

The beverage was made by mixing perfume with several colorless, sweet-tasting low-grade spiritual materials, resulting in a sweet and fragrant drink. Drunkards were disappointed because they expected fine wine. However, for those who didn’t desperately want fine wine in their cups, it was quite different.
This beverage was sweeter and cooler than the sugar water made by ordinary households. Everyone holding a paper cup was amazed upon taking a sip. The requests for more drinks quickly attracted many onlookers.
Gradually, the crowd around the drink station grew larger. Although it wasn’t as dense as the crowd around the Spiritual Stone Fan’s carriage, it was still quite substantial.
In the backyard of Lin’s Inn, dozens of owl beasts took to the air, flying over the rooftops. The dense group instantly split into three groups, with white flyers drifting down in large numbers, seemingly trying to cover the rising sun.
Such a massive flyer campaign required reporting to the newly established Sky Patrol according to the new regulations. Naturally, there was no problem—since the captain of the Sky Patrol was Zhou Zhengye.
Behind the convoy, Lin Dong followed along. The heat from the rising sun couldn’t overshadow the heat generated by the Spiritual Stone Fan and the perfume-enhanced beverage. By evening, Lin Dong returned to the inn after leaving the convoy where he had rested overnight.
The next day, the convoy continued its journey. The Spiritual Stone Fan and the perfume-enhanced beverage were scheduled to be released in five days. The main reason was undoubtedly to build up anticipation and keep everyone curious. Once the promotion reached the entire city, they would launch them all at once. The combined impact would ensure Lin’s Inn was so crowded that people would have to wait in line. Long queues would undoubtedly increase blind loyalty and boost Lin’s Inn’s reputation.
Although the Spiritual Stone Fan and the perfume-enhanced beverage hadn’t been officially released yet, Lin’s Inn’s business continued to soar thanks to this wave of interest. Clearly, many people intended to accumulate purchases now so they could exchange them as soon as the products were available.
By the day before the official release, the inn’s daily business had reached a new peak: 30 private rooms serving 70 groups of guests, plus 150 tables on the second to fourth floors, accommodating nearly 900 groups of guests.
On the first day of the official release, Lin’s Inn announced that it would require waiting in line. This was an unprecedented occurrence in the capital city, filled with top-tier restaurants.

Spending a total of 20 taels of silver can earn one small Spirit Stone Fan, 40 taels for a medium-sized one, and 100 taels for a large-sized one. Spending 1 tael of silver can get one bucket of Scented Beverage, with the corresponding amount deducted from the total spent each time. Compared to cities at the county, prefecture, or provincial levels, these exchange rates are twice as high. But since this is the capital city, 20 taels of silver is considered even less valuable in the eyes of ordinary people than 10 taels would be in those cities. Although it still takes a year or even two to three years to get one, being able to enjoy good meals from time to time is entirely acceptable. For the wealthy, 20 taels of silver is even less significant. As for the Scented Beverage, in Lin Dong’s view, its price is a bit high. Originally, he had planned for it to cost two or three hundred wen per bucket, with the price raised only when a better-tasting beverage could be produced. However, this was a necessary measure. The cost of adding fragrance is almost negligible, but several low-grade spiritual materials, when combined in one bucket, cost at least seven or eight hundred wen. Adding various other costs, there’s little profit left—it’s purely to make the inn more attractive. To be honest, these low-grade spiritual materials don’t significantly enhance the flavor of the Scented Beverage, but they still have to be included. The real value of the Scented Beverage lies in its ability to make food fresher and more fragrant during freezing periods. Although there are many limitations to using it during freezing, it’s not impossible. If one really wanted to sell it, a bucket would have to cost at least several thousand taels of silver. Lin Dong sells it as a beverage because the spiritual materials used, after countless experiments, can suppress its original function. Just the Spirit Stone Fans alone, in this scorching heat, are enough to drive both nobles and commoners crazy. Coupled with the food at Lin’s Inn becoming suddenly fresher and more fragrant due to the Scented Beverage, along with the delicious and heat-relieving beverage itself, these three factors meant queues lasted for over ten days before starting to ease. On Hanwu Street in the north of the city, outside Junda Restaurant, traffic was constant. The popularity of Lin’s Inn finally began to subside, allowing Xin Taqi, the owner of Junda Restaurant, to breathe a sigh of relief. Although Junda Restaurant was located in the north of the city, it was still within the inner city. Initially, Xin Taqi hadn’t paid much attention to the sudden emergence of Lin’s Inn. In his opinion, no matter how eye-catching Lin’s Inn’s pre-opening promotions were, they had little to do with Junda Restaurant—thanks, naturally, to Lin’s Inn’s location.

Lin Ji Inn was located on the northern edge of the city. With such a location, no matter how good the food and drinks were, it was difficult to compete with top-tier restaurants. After all, the wealthy and nobles preferred to gather in the central areas of the cities. In the capital, the high-ranking officials and nobles all lived inside the inner city. Given the size of the capital, it would take more than half a day for those living inside the inner city to travel by carriage to the city gates.

Unless one was extremely idle or the food was truly delicious, hardly anyone would go to the city gates just for a meal. Logically, Lin Ji Inn could at most pick up the scraps left over from the top restaurants.

Yet the results far exceeded Xin Taqi’s expectations. First, the business at Lin Ji Gymnasium improved significantly. With his keen eye, he could see the benefits that a wildly unconventional business like Lin Ji Gymnasium could bring to Lin Ji Inn if it became successful.

Then, Lin Ji Inn suddenly introduced things like Spirit Stone Fans and scented beverages. Their popularity was unmatched by any other store, except perhaps rice shops during famine years or banks on the verge of collapse.

Although this popularity was temporary, it still mattered how long it lasted. If it lasted a month or two, although it wouldn’t be enough to cultivate many regular customers for Lin Ji Inn, it could greatly boost the business of Lin Ji Gymnasium. Since Lin Ji Gymnasium had a monopoly on its business with no competitors, once its reputation grew, more and more people would be attracted to it. Moreover, since its major events took place at noon and in the evening, this would greatly benefit Lin Ji Inn’s business as well.

When it came to competitiveness, Xin Taqi had also visited Lin Ji Inn for a few Spirit Stone Fans and to gather intelligence. As for the food and drinks, although their quality had improved slightly due to the addition of scented beverages, they still fell short compared to top-tier restaurants.

But Lin Ji Inn was in the northern part of the city, with no competitors around except Wan Xian Lou, one of the two major brothels in the capital. And Wan Xian Lou’s business didn’t really conflict with that of the restaurants. Few people would go to Wan Xian Lou while eating or staying overnight, nor would they go to Lin Ji Inn if they wanted to drink flavored wine or hire prostitutes.

If Lin Ji Gymnasium could attract wealthy nobles or high-ranking officials, it was equivalent to Lin Ji Inn also attracting them.

Fortunately, the temporary boom brought about by the Spirit Stone Fans only lasted for a little over ten days. Although Lin’s Inn was still quite busy, it was mainly large clients who came there; those living in the inner city and its vicinity could exchange a single meal for enough Spirit Stone Fans to meet their needs. The business of Junda Restaurant was hardly affected by Lin’s Inn, as its regular customers had already returned.

More importantly, ten days wasn’t enough time for Lin’s Gymnasium to attract many top-tier clients.

In the evening, Xin Taqi was fanning himself under the shade of a tree in the courtyard when a servant rushed in.

“Boss, King Ruiqing has arrived.”

“I’ll be there right away.”

Xin Taqi stood up from the rocking chair. King Ruiqing was one of the few remaining old princes and held considerable influence in the presence of Emperor Qianwei. More importantly, he was not only Junda Restaurant’s biggest regular customer but also many of the restaurant’s other regulars had become so through frequent visits with King Ruiqing.

With the restaurant’s top patron visiting, as the owner, Xin Taqi would definitely go personally to greet him, even if he were enjoying time with his wives and concubines.

In the private room on the third floor of Junda Restaurant, King Ruiqing sipped the plain water in his cup slowly. The water was sweet and fragrant—surely delicious to ordinary people. But he didn’t really like it. In his opinion, these so-called flavored drinks were far inferior to soups made from various spiritual ingredients.

Yet, he had to drink it now.

“He’s here!” a guard whispered behind him.

“Lord Yang, Lord Jiang, it’s a pity you came a bit late. Otherwise, I would have taken you to Lin’s Inn,” King Ruiqing said loudly with a smile.

A middle-aged man in luxurious clothes at the same table asked curiously, “What’s so special about an inn?”

Outside, Xin Taqi’s outstretched right hand stopped mid-air.

“Lord Liu, you may not know, but although the food and drinks at Lin’s Inn are slightly inferior to those at Junda Restaurant, their private rooms are said to be equipped with spiritual arrays, making them very comfortable. Moreover, dining at Lin’s Inn grants you a VIP card, whose main function is to store items just like a storage spiritual ring. The difference is that ordinary people can also use it.”

“Is there such a great thing?”

“Not only that, but when cumulative spending reaches a certain amount, one can exchange it for a spirit stone fan. Although it’s not as cool as ice, having one in the carriage on a hot day is extremely pleasant,” said Prince Ruiqing with a smile. “With your build, Lord Yang, if the journey is a bit longer, you definitely won’t be able to cope without a small spirit stone fan. And as for Lord Wang, I remember when I was in Tianheng County last time, I happened to see you hosting a competition at an academy. There’s a specialized competition venue right next to the Lin’s Inn—there are competitions there every day. I really enjoy fighting competitions, but it’s just a bit too far, making it troublesome to go there.”
“With your words, Your Highness, I can’t wait to go.”
“Anyway, you’re not in a hurry to return. I’ll take you to see it tomorrow,” said Prince Ruiqing with a smile.
Outside, a cold glint appeared in Xin Taqi’s eyes. Lin’s Inn—this was aiming to steal the fortune-bringer’s role from Junda Restaurant.