Chapter 56: Rivals

The top winemaking masters could be sought slowly; the top priority was to obtain the Imperial Sky Realm first.
You can’t catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb. With the addition of the Wine King’s formula, the Hundred-Year Jade Dew should not be inferior to the Thousand-Year Jade Dew. Gritting his teeth, Lin Dong said resolutely, “Elder, do you want to drink the Thousand-Year Jade Dew?”
“I do, I dream of it every night. If anyone lets me drink it again, I’d even call them grandfather,” the old man Ding nodded eagerly. He already lacked the demeanor of a peak warrior, and upon hearing this, he became even more eager than a child who’s just seen candy.
Lin Dong said with determination, “Don’t ask how I’ll get it. Just give me the Thousand-Year Jade Dew in exchange for the secrets of the Imperial Sky Realm and the cultivation diagrams. Is that okay?”
“No problem, no problem!” The old man Ding jumped up.
“Is it okay if there’s only one or two taels of Thousand-Year Jade Dew for now?” Lin Dong asked.
“No problem!” The old man Ding nodded firmly. Not to mention one or two taels, even just being able to smell it would be fine.
“Deal!” Lin Dong smiled. “How about also covering food, lodging, and service until we meet Yun Lan’s father?”
The old man Ding was stunned. “Do you know why I’ve been staying at the inn?”
“Obviously. It’s been over a month—even a fool could figure that out,” Lin Dong replied irritably.
“Well…” The old man Ding looked embarrassed. He had already agreed, and it was awkward to back out now.
Seeing his reaction, Lin Dong felt relieved. He had two guesses as to why the old man Ding refused to give him the secrets of the Imperial Sky Realm and the cultivation diagrams. One was that the old man wanted to stay at the inn, hoping to meet Yun Lan’s father and use the Imperial Sky Realm as a trump card to force Lin Dong to treat him well. The other guess was that the old man hadn’t mastered the Imperial Sky Realm himself and had forgotten the secrets over time.
Judging by his behavior, it was clearly the first guess.
“Let’s talk about food, lodging, and service later once the Thousand-Year Jade Dew arrives. If nothing else, shall I go arrange to find it now?”
Although the old man Ding sensed some hidden trap in “talk later,” he didn’t overthink it and kept urging Lin Dong to hurry.
Buying the Hundred-Year Jade Dew was crucial, so someone clever needed to handle it. After leaving the room, Lin Dong returned to the lobby, found Wang Liuzhi, and asked him to arrange for Ma Chun to take some people and all the inn’s savings to the capital to buy the Hundred-Year Jade Dew. Only then did he return to his room.

If they rushed, it would only take two months to travel from Xilan City to the capital, which meant they could reach the Imperial Sky Realm in two months. Struggling to suppress the excitement in his mind, Lin Dong sat in lotus position as spiritual energy flowed into his meridians.

Before even a hundred cycles passed, urgent knocking sounded at the door of his imprisonment. When Lin Dong opened it, Wang Liuzhi appeared anxious.

“Boss, everyone has gone to Maple Forest Restaurant.”

“Maple Forest Restaurant?” Lin Dong’s mind immediately brought to mind Qiao Tianhao, whom he had met at the Military Assessment Institute. That kid seemed to claim to be the head chef there—so it seemed true.

“Mm!” Wang Liuzhi nodded, worriedly saying, “Maple Forest Restaurant is the largest restaurant in the Great Han Nation. They usually develop branches only in provincial and county capitals. Who would have thought they’d open a branch in Xilan City? With our capabilities, it’s likely we won’t be able to compete with them.”

Lin Dong smiled. “Whoever opens a restaurant in Xilan City, are you afraid it’ll steal all our guests?”

Wang Liuzhi retorted angrily, “You don’t understand, boss. Maple Forest Restaurant is clearly trying to compete with us.”

“How so?” Lin Dong asked, puzzled.

“Maple Forest Restaurant simply bought an existing restaurant and opened it up—right where the old Fuli Restaurant used to be. A month ago, we heard that Kuang Tianwei sold Fuli Restaurant, yet Maple Forest Restaurant only opened today. What else could this mean but a deliberate attempt to compete with our inn?” Wang Liuzhi snapped, “Why open on this day instead of any other?”

“Maybe it’s just coincidence!” Lin Dong dismissed it. His small inn, though already having more wealthy customers than all the big restaurants in Xilan City, shouldn’t be a significant threat to Maple Forest Restaurant.

“If it’s just coincidence, why would Maple Forest Restaurant invest so much money?” Wang Liuzhi said helplessly. “You surely can’t imagine why no wealthy clients have come to our inn today.”

“Why?” Lin Dong grew curious. He couldn’t understand it. Even if Maple Forest Restaurant was famous and attractive, with his inn offering twice the comfort, there shouldn’t be no customers at all.

“Because Maple Forest Restaurant invested heavily,” Wang Liuzhi explained. “They hired a lion dance troupe to perform outside the restaurant, invited the county magistrate and his wife to celebrate, and brought Fang Zicong—the youngest scholar to qualify for the literary competition in Qiufeng City in ten years—to discuss poetry and painting. Besides that, they reportedly sent invitations to every wealthy family in Xilan City, along with some rather valuable gifts. If they weren’t trying to compete with us, why would they go to such lengths?”

Lin Dong nodded silently. If that were indeed the case, it was clearly a deliberate attempt to antagonize the inn. Otherwise, with just the reputation of Fenglin Restaurant, all the wealthy people in Xilan City would surely visit within a few days, making such a fuss unnecessary.

Lin Dong didn’t know how much silver it would cost to invite the youngest famous scholar from Qiufeng City to Xilan City for poetry and painting sessions and as gifts for the wealthy, but he knew that the “tiger mother” wasn’t as naive as Cheng Wencai—180 taels of silver wouldn’t be enough to persuade her.

It would be hard to get the “tiger mother” to give up enjoying the comfort perks of the inn without 1,000 taels of silver.

“Owner, Fenglin Restaurant is trying to crush our Lin’s Inn with one strike, so that all the larger inns in Xilan City will close down too!” Wang Liuzhi said angrily. “Should I take some people over?”

Lin Dong shook his head. “If you resort to causing trouble and destroying the shop at the slightest issue, Lin’s Inn will never be able to grow.”

“What then? We can’t just watch the inn fail to make any sales!”

Wang Liuzhi grew anxious. The inn only made a few hundred coins a day from guest rooms, and the twenty dining tables on the first floor had extremely low prices. Offering half prices these days meant even greater losses. The entire inn relied on tables with seating fees for income—without customers, how could it continue operating?

“Don’t worry. Fenglin Restaurant can’t keep doing this every day. Once the hype fades, people will come back.” Lin Dong still shook his head. With the comfort perks of the dining tables, plus Jiang Kui’s cooking skills and various kitchen enhancements, he believed fair competition could overcome Fenglin Restaurant.

With twenty dining tables on the first floor, the inn’s experience points wouldn’t be affected. After all, it wouldn’t earn any silver for a few days—there was no need for vicious competition with Fenglin Restaurant. Besides, all the silver in the counter had been taken by Ma Chun to buy Bai Nian Yu Lu. They didn’t have the funds for such competition.

Wang Liuzhi was reluctant but had no choice but to nod.

“Don’t worry. Since Fenglin Restaurant dares to use our Lin’s Inn as a stepping stone, I guarantee it will lose everything and be forced to leave Xilan City within a year.” Lin Dong patted Wang Liuzhi’s shoulder and smiled. “Go get busy! Just send someone to keep an eye on Fenglin Restaurant.”

Wang Liuzhi’s worries turned into joy. He now fully believed in what Lin Dong said.