Chapter 8: Mobile Counter

You Lao San clearly preferred to eat alone. After devoring the entire plate of chicken pieces, bone and all, he then signaled his men to start eating.
Though the hooligans were somewhat disappointed, there was plenty of meat on the table, so they ate heartily. By the time those two over there hadn’t even finished their tea, these guys had already cleared the whole table.
Uh…
After burping, You Lao San stood up, walked over to the counter, and patted Lin Dong’s shoulder. “Forget the protection fee for this month. Let me know if there’s anything good next time. If anyone on the streets dares to mess with you, just call me, and I’ll take care of them.”
Lin Dong smiled without saying a word. As You Lao San turned away, he nodded at Wang Liu Zi. “Calculate the bill for these guests. Besides the Rainbow Bird and bear paws, what else is there?”
“Sure!”
Wang Liu Zi was momentarily stunned but quickly understood Lin Dong’s intention. He replied excitedly, “Besides one Rainbow Bird and two bear paws, there’s also one Tian Kui Fish, one plate of snow fox meat, and six pairs of Golden Phoenix Claws… In total, that’s 1,638 taels of silver.”
In one go, Wang Liu Zi listed all the magical beasts and birds he remembered. His fluent speech amazed Lin Dong. With just a slightly above-average eloquence score, achieving this was truly outstanding!
You Lao San was stunned. It took him a while to snap out of it before he slammed his hand on the counter. “How dare you try to scam even Third Master?”
“That’s not true. It’s only natural to pay for food,” Lin Dong said calmly.
“Well…” Wang Liu Zi recalled being scammed by Lin Dong before and waved his hand generously. “I’ll waive the change. It’ll be 1,600 taels.”
“Damn it! Guys, smash this inn!”
You Lao San flew into a rage, but then saw Lin Dong suddenly pull out a stool from behind him and smash it hard against his head.
Bang!
With a crisp sound, the stool shattered. You Lao San gasped for air, his eyes wide open, until blood from his forehead flowed down his neck before he collapsed weakly.
“Don’t think I’m an easy target just because I don’t pay for food!”
Lin Dong threw away the stool leg, stepped out from behind the counter, and kicked You Lao San hard in the thigh. Hearing a crack as the bone broke, he grabbed another stool and shouted at Wang Liu Zi and the others, “What are you standing around for? My Lin’s Inn doesn’t tolerate free meals!”
The five imitated him, grabbing stools and charging forward excitedly.
One strike per stool—Lin Dong knocked down three of them in a row. It was only then that Wang Liu Zi and the others, driven by momentum, managed to take down the remaining three.

Glancing at the bunch of hooligans on the ground, Lin Dong waved his hand and said, “Liu Hao and Zhang Ye, stay behind to take care of the guests. Xiao Liu, do you know what to do about the rest?”
“I know, I know!” Wang Liuzhi nodded repeatedly. Of course he knew—after all, he had experienced it himself.
“Sanjiaoyan, go get some hemp ropes and thin bamboo poles. Help me carry them to the back yard.”
After more than ten days, Wang Liuzhi finally felt like a real hooligan.
Once You Lao San and his gang were dragged away and the lobby was cleaned up by Liu Hao and the others, Lin Dong glanced at the two women in white. Seeing that they ignored him, he turned and went back to the back yard.
Back in his room, he sat down on the bed and immediately began to cultivate.
In the lobby, the woman in white stood up, followed by the man with the folding fan.
Liu Hao hurried over and said, “Two coins for tea, one coin for the table. In total, one coin and two coins.”
The woman in white picked up the silver on the table and handed it to Liu Hao.
“Miss Yunlan, how can I let you pay?” The page quickly took out an ounce of silver and threw it at Liu Hao. “Keep the change. Here’s some extra as a tip.”
“Have a good journey, gentlemen!” Liu Hao kicked the silver into his sleeve and saw them off with a smile.
Suddenly, the woman in white asked, “Do you have any guest rooms?”
“Yes, yes!” Liu Hao replied eagerly. “A few merchants checked out this morning, so there are still four rooms available.”
“Yunlan, shall we stay here?” The man with the folding fan frowned slightly.
The woman in white named Yunlan nodded. “It’s up to Young Master Fu.”
The man with the folding fan smiled. “Since Yunlan wants to stay here, Zizhou will naturally accompany her. By the way, the owner of this inn is quite interesting—Liu Shun!”
The page quickly took out another five-ounce silver ingot and threw it at Liu Hao. “Book three premium rooms. Replace all the bedding with new stuff. If not available, go buy some. Remember, go to the biggest silk shop.”
“Sure!” Liu Hao was in high spirits at the thought of being able to strut around town again. He didn’t bother to care about the page’s attitude.
In the middle of the night, Lin Dong woke up from his meditation. When he opened the door, he saw Wang Liuzhi standing there.
“Owner!”
Wang Liuzhi grinned and handed over a heavy cloth bag. “I’ve driven You Lao San away. I found 190 taels as his savings, plus the protection money we received today. As you instructed, I returned the extra amount he had collected from various shops. In total, it’s 62 taels of silver.”
Lin Dong was surprised. Hooligans usually didn’t save money. He never expected that You Lao San actually had 190 taels in savings—that wasn’t a small amount at all.

Taking the cloth bag, he pondered for a moment before Lin Dong said, “Forget the debt—this is your payment for today’s work. I’ll post a notice later to hire helpers. Those who are articulate and quick-witted will be hired, with a one-month trial period and a salary of two taels of silver per month. Starting today, you five are no longer the inn’s employees but are here to assist.”

Wang Liuzhi’s face lit up with joy as he nodded eagerly. This meant that starting today, he would become the leader of the gang in those two streets.

Ding: Congratulations! You have completed the task “Depressed Employees.” Based on the task difficulty, you have received a Mobile Counter.

The sudden sound made Lin Dong feel as if he’d won the lottery. After giving Wang Liuzhi a few instructions, Lin Dong immediately closed the door and returned to his room.

Opening the inn system, Lin Dong promptly chose to claim his reward. The next second, a small wooden box, ten centimeters long and five centimeters wide, divided into two sections, appeared before him.

With a thought, the attributes of the small wooden box appeared.

Mobile Counter: Can store silver and load/unload items anytime, anywhere.

With his gaming experience, Lin Dong naturally knew how to use the Mobile Counter. Items rewarded by the inn system could be claimed privately or assigned to the inn. After some thought, Lin Dong bit his finger, and a drop of blood fell onto the small wooden box.

Ding: Congratulations! You have successfully claimed ownership.

A burst of white light suddenly emerged from the small wooden box. When the light faded, the box remained the same, but it now had a faint connection to Lin Dong.

“Equipment!”

A system prompt followed: Congratulations! You have successfully equipped it.

With another thought, the small wooden box disappeared. Lin Dong glanced at the cloth bag in his hand. The next second, the bag was empty, with all the silver inside vanishing.

Mentally calling for the small wooden box, two pages flashed before his eyes.

Storage Cabinet: Empty
Silver Storage Cabinet: 252 taels of silver

“It’s a shame it’s not a medicinal recipe…”

Honestly, this Mobile Counter was truly excellent. The storage cabinet could hold up to a hundred items with no limit. The silver storage cabinet not only had no limit but could also be converted into gold and copper coins—meaning that one tael of silver could be exchanged for one qian of gold or a thousand copper coins.

What disappointed Lin Dong was that he didn’t have much to store, nor much silver to keep. If the Mobile Counter had limitations, such as a fixed volume capacity, it could have been sold as a spiritual ring for storing items in this world. But since its attributes were so outstanding—even a spiritual ring with one cubic space cost over a hundred taels—the unlimited capacity of the Mobile Counter was simply astonishing.

What Lin Dong lacked most now was silver. If he could get a recipe for medicinal cuisine, even one for treating colds, and equip it in the inn along with some advertising, he would surely earn a lot of silver. Fortunately, the hidden task of setting up a mobile counter was beyond Lin Dong’s expectations. Though it was a bit disappointing, he came to terms with it after thinking about it. He went to the kitchen to get something to eat and then returned to his room to practice. Thirty-six days later, it was already the afternoon of the next day. A poster posted in the morning attracted an eighteen or nineteen-year-old boy who came to apply. Wang Liuzhi thought the boy was quite smart, and since Lin Dong wasn’t around, he decided to accept him. After getting confirmation from the boy himself, the number of staff in the inn’s system increased to six. Lin Dong checked their attributes and found that they were better than Wang Liuzhi’s five people, but still inferior to those of top-tier staff. Disappointed that the boy didn’t meet the standards, Lin Dong went out for a walk in the streets. On his way back to practice, he stopped by the lobby. The reason was that when he went to the back yard, he checked the inn’s experience level and found it had already reached 58% of level 1. According to Lin Dong’s estimate, it shouldn’t have reached this level by evening. After asking Wang Liuzhi, Lin Dong understood. The Qiufeng Prefecture had ten counties, each with its own academy. By rule, each prefecture had ten spots for distinguished scholars. Qiufeng Prefecture’s rule was that the ten academies held a martial and literary competition every year, and these ten spots were allocated based on the competition results. Of course, students not from the same academy but with the same county’s registration could also join their academy and earn the title of distinguished scholar if they performed well. In the Great Han Nation, distinguished scholars not only received a monthly salary but also enjoyed many perks such as exemption from bowing to officials, exemption from punishment, release from prison, and reduced sentences. In short, as long as they didn’t commit treason, they never had to worry about being sentenced to death. With such favorable conditions, the competition for distinguished scholar status was fierce and highly attractive. This year, the martial and literary competition was held at Qiushui Academy. Qiushui Academy was only ten miles away from Xilan City, so such an event would undoubtedly draw a large crowd to Xilan City. Although Lin’s Inn’s guest rooms were full, the number of customers in the lobby also increased significantly. With three meals a day, each dining table could gain up to ten experience points per day. Normally, each table only gained three experience points… After careful calculation, including the afternoon meal, each table could now gain four experience points. Lin Dong was delighted and immediately asked Wang Liuzhi to send a few people out to attract customers. Making money was secondary; if they could achieve ten experience points per day, it meant they could level up in five or six more days, at least three or four days earlier.

“By the way, boss, didn’t you tell me to pay close attention to whether guests are facing unsolvable problems?” Wang Liuzhi stepped forward.
Lin Dong was pleased and quickly asked, “Which guest is facing an unsolvable problem?”
“It’s Boss Bai, the first person to come here since the inn reopened,” Wang Liuzhi explained. “He was smiling as he left this morning, but when I saw him enter at noon, his face was pale and he seemed deeply troubled—probably he encountered some problem. I wanted to ask him, but the lobby was already full, and Boss Bai turned around and left, so I didn’t dare stop him.”
As early as five or six days ago, all the spirit stones brought by Bai Jingtai had been given away, so the problem must lie with the Tongjing Dan. Lin Dong clapped his hands and immediately abandoned the idea of going back to his room to practice. He turned and went behind the counter.