Chapter 571: Testing

The celebrations marking Lin Dong’s rise to the ranks of a peak powerhouse went on without end—shopping, traveling around in luxurious sky birds, or using the storage ring’s capabilities to create a vast space for strength contests. It wasn’t until six days later, when fifteen top-tier restaurants officially started offering stock as rewards, that the celebrations came to an end. That afternoon, Yun Lan returned to her room to practice, while Lin Dong went to see Old Ding to learn his disguise skills. After half an hour of practice and gaining some basic skills, he transformed himself into a plump middle-aged merchant. Then, at lightning speed, he caught up with the carriage that had set off upon hearing the news.

After greeting the inn’s guard who also served as the coach, Lin Dong took out an ancient book from his storage ring and began reading. Since reaching the ranks of a peak powerhouse, not only had his strength improved significantly, and he had gained new insights in the Sky Commanding Realm, but there was also a crucial advantage: the speed at which he could cultivate his spiritual energy independently had surpassed that of controlling it with his mind. In fact, it was twice as fast.

When the two methods were roughly on par, Lin Dong, having nothing much to do and still needing time to build endurance before fully reaching peak strength, preferred using his mind to control his spiritual energy. But now that he was already a peak powerhouse, with his independent cultivation speed being twice that of mental control, he suddenly had nothing to do. Reading and sleeping, waiting for his spiritual energy to grow, became his two main ways to pass the time. If not for Lin Dong’s extremely poor cultivation talent—such that even the Reverse Meridian Pill, which could reverse meridians and remove impurities, would be ineffective no matter how much he took after reaching peak strength—his cultivation speed through reading and sleeping might even have surpassed Yun Lan’s.

Now, Lin Dong’s only reliance for cultivation was the enhancement provided by the guest room’s attributes. Any auxiliary cultivation materials, pills, or inner cores from spiritual beasts were useless to him.

Overnight, Lin Dong became somewhat indifferent to worldly desires. Of course, this indifference applied only to various spiritual materials and beasts.

Sigh…

The carriage stopped outside the Renheng Restaurant.
“Sir, please come in!” A waiter immediately stepped forward to greet him.

Lin Dong got off the carriage, head held high, and walked with a staggered gait. Guided by the waiter, he entered the main hall.

The hall was bustling. Though not overcrowded, it was certainly lively. Customers kept coming in and out.

Fifteen top-tier restaurants are simultaneously offering stock as a bonus. As long as business improves noticeably, it proves that the effect of this bonus meets expectations. If each of them thrives, then the impact of the bonus can be considered exceeding expectations. “Sir, please come upstairs!” The waiter glanced quickly at Lin Dong’s attire before guiding him upstairs. The customers on the second floor were just as busy as those on the first. Lin Dong took in the scene and realized his prediction about the effectiveness of the bonus was accurate. Further up were private rooms, but with only a retainer, few people would choose to use them. The waiter led Lin Dong and the guard disguised as a retainer to an empty table and asked, “Sir, what would you like to eat? Without boasting, whether steamed, boiled, roasted, oily, salty, or spicy, our Renheng Restaurant may not surpass any other top-tier restaurant, but we certainly have several standout dishes in each category.” “Bring out the signature dishes and a pot of wine,” Lin Dong said. Now quite plump, he deliberately raised his voice, drawing the attention of many nearby customers with his loud tone. “Sure, sir. Please wait a moment; the food will be here soon.” With that, the waiter rushed downstairs. As a top-tier restaurant in the capital, Renheng Restaurant was fast in serving food. Soon, the waiter returned with a tray. “Steamed Field Feather Fish, one of our signature dishes. It’s delicious with tender meat. Just one bite, and your mouth will be filled with its fragrance…” The waiter quickly introduced the dishes on the tray at high speed. By the time he finished, the last dish was also placed on the table. “Sir, please enjoy your meal. Just call if you need anything.” The waiter then took his leave. “I heard you’re offering some kind of stock bonus. What’s going on?” Lin Dong’s loud voice rang out again. The waiter was slightly surprised. He found Lin Dong unfamiliar, so he thought he must have been attracted by the stock bonus. But it turned out he only heard a little and didn’t really understand it.

“It’s like this, sir. If you accumulate a total spending of 100 taels of silver on our Renheng Restaurant’s VIP card, and that amount is removed, you can receive a share certificate for our restaurant. For convenience, the share certificate is issued in the name of the VIP card holder. Every month, our restaurant distributes a certain amount of dividends based on the number of share certificates. You can withdraw these dividends at any time or use them to host banquets at our restaurant. Using share certificate dividends for banquets is even more advantageous than using cash. Additionally, the VIP card from our restaurant can be exchanged for share certificates from other top-tier restaurants, and the value of share certificates from our 15 top restaurants is roughly the same.”
After a pause and taking a breath, the clerk smiled and said, “If sir owns a share certificate for our Renheng Restaurant, then you’re essentially the owner of the restaurant.”
“How much is the monthly dividend for one share certificate?” Lin Dong asked.
“That’s not fixed; it depends on our restaurant’s profits for that month. In other words, if business is booming this month, the dividends will be higher, and vice versa—if business is slow, the dividends will be lower. Of course, that’s unlikely, as our restaurant is among the best in the capital in terms of both food and decor, so business is usually good,” the clerk explained.
Lin Dong’s loud voice rang out again, “How many share certificates is our restaurant worth in total?”
“Well…” The clerk was eloquent, but Lin Dong’s question left him speechless.
How could a mere clerk know how many share certificates the entire Renheng Restaurant was worth? Even if he did, there was no reason to reveal such a secret to others.
Smiling apologetically, the clerk said, “Sir, this is a confidential matter related to Renheng Restaurant, and it’s not appropriate to disclose it.”
But Lin Dong persisted, “If I had a share certificate for your Renheng Restaurant, shouldn’t I know this secret?”
“Well… probably not,” the clerk shook his head. “Only our boss knows such secrets.”
“If I have a share certificate for Renheng Restaurant, shouldn’t I be considered the owner too? What kind of owner isn’t even aware of their own restaurant’s secrets?” Lin Dong protested.

“This…” The clerk hesitated for a moment before smiling and saying, “It’s also for the sake of the restaurant’s business. Secrets, after all, are better kept to as few people as possible. Sir, you can guarantee you won’t reveal it, but who can say others won’t? With so many people talking, there’s always someone who might leak the secret. If competing restaurants find out, it will surely have a significant impact on our business. In fact, this is also for your own benefit. Since you own shares in our Renheng Restaurant, you surely hope our business will thrive, right?”
“But I don’t even know how many shares there are. If you deliberately print millions of them and more people get shares, won’t my monthly dividends get smaller and smaller?” Lin Dong shook his head.
“That’s right! This brother is correct. If you don’t reveal the total number of shares, aren’t you just digging a pit for us to fall into?” Lin Dong’s loud voice, along with his question, resonated with many people. Immediately, a customer at the next table chimed in, “By then, if you print millions of them, it might be okay if customers need to save up a hundred taels of silver. But if you sell them for one tael per share, or even a few hundred wen per share, then our shares won’t be worth much at all.”
“Well…” The clerk was now troubled. If not for his training, he might have even turned around and left. This question was too difficult.
“Also, I think there’s a problem with your dividends too,” Lin Dong said suddenly. “If we don’t know how much silver Renheng Restaurant makes each month, then deciding how much to distribute each month becomes up to you. One month you might give one tael per share out of kindness, and the next month, if you’re in a bad mood, you might demand each of us pay one tael. Then, all you’d have to do is claim the restaurant is losing money, and that’s that.”
“This…” The clerk was completely speechless.
“That’s right. I had planned to exchange a few shares today, but now… I think it’s not worth it. Your Renheng Restaurant must reveal the total number of shares and ensure there won’t be any more added. The restaurant’s monthly accounts and expenses must also be made public in detail for these shares to have any value. Otherwise, a share we exchanged for a hundred taels of silver would be completely unprotected. Once your Renheng Restaurant makes enough silver, you could claim it’s worthless, and then it really would be worthless.”
Instantly, discussions began to spread. After speaking up, Lin Dong didn’t say anything more. He had already completed his mission at Renheng Restaurant.

This task is simply to test whether it’s possible to make diners doubt the value of the share certificates. It’s clear now that it’s possible to do so. At that time, by creating public opinion everywhere and hyping up how to maintain the value of the share certificates, the fifteen top restaurants will surely not give up on distributing shares, and they will undoubtedly make their accounts and total number of shares public.

Whether it’s the accounts or shares of these top restaurants, as long as what’s made public is fair and reliable, it’s equivalent to the fifteen top restaurants completely opening themselves up for Lin Ji Inn to observe and study. More importantly, only in this way can they be driven into huge losses. Otherwise, if these top restaurants realize the situation is unfavorable and stop distributing shares, they won’t just avoid losses but may even make some money.

While sipping fine wine and listening to the hustle and bustle, at the top of the stairs, guided by a servant, a diner dressed in a loose robe with a hood covering their face tightly slowly climbed the stairs and continued straight up to the third floor.

A moment later, Lin Dong suddenly sensed that someone with powerful abilities was using their mental strength to investigate the strength of all the servants and diners in the restaurant from a private room on the third floor. This mental energy gave Lin Dong a strong sense of familiarity.