Chapter 82: Lowering Prices

At a loss, that was Liu Chuanxiang’s current state. On the verge of becoming the first county-level shopkeeper to collapse under pressure, he instead received promotion and wealth. Liu Chuanxiang had always believed he was blessed and would have an easy path ahead, but after just a few days of good fortune, misfortune once again loomed over him.

Upon hearing the news of his promotion and wealth, he rushed to the county government office that very day to serve one last shift at Fenglin Restaurant in Xilan City. The county magistrate met with him, but upon learning that he was asked to sabotage Linji Inn, he immediately returned the thousand taels of silver.

Only after investigating did Liu Chuanxiang discover that it wasn’t Cheng Wencai who held power in Xilan City—it was the fierce Li Yunfeng. For some reason, she had an unusual fondness for Linji Inn. Since he couldn’t rely on the official forces in Xilan City, Liu Chuanxiang wasn’t too worried. The next day, he began to investigate the family connections of the Liu family, the only influential family in the city. Within just two or three days, he managed to become friends with the eldest son and the younger cousin of the Liu family.

However, things took a dramatic turn because of Qiao Tianhao. Fenglin Restaurant strictly prohibited deceiving superiors or subordinates. When Liu Chuanxiang learned that Liu Qingling and Zhou Jinchi not only failed to destroy Linji Inn but that Zhou Jinchi had even broken his leg, he was forced to send another letter of apology to the provincial-level restaurant, following up on the good news he had sent earlier.

Fortunately, as a candidate for managing a provincial-level restaurant, the reply wasn’t too harsh. Relieved, Liu Chuanxiang then rushed to the Liu family’s residence. There, he faced yet another puzzling situation: several bodyguards chased him two blocks with sticks, leaving behind the message that the eldest son didn’t want to see him anymore, and the younger cousin had gone back to his hometown to recover from his injury.

With no use left for the official forces in Xilan City, the only option left was money. When facing competitors with no progress in terms of power, competing on price was a common tactic for Fenglin Restaurant, and it had always worked. The problem was that this method was time-consuming. Since Linji Inn had been making huge profits recently, it would take at least a few months to overwhelm them.

This was exactly what troubled Liu Chuanxiang. In a few months, he assumed he would have been transferred, meaning the problem would still remain unresolved.

Besides this, there was another issue that troubled him greatly. Although Qiao Tianhao’s injury hadn’t fully healed, he was fully capable of cooking. Yet no matter how much Liu Chuanxiang persuaded him, this troublemaker refused to become the chef. The reason he gave was even more absurd—he was afraid of retaliation from the owner of Linji Inn.

When he was bold enough to storm Lin Ji Inn with a kitchen knife, why was he so timid at a critical moment? Besides, was it even necessary? If it weren’t for the Liu family going crazy all of a sudden, Lin Ji Inn would have already been destroyed. Even so, at this point, Lin Ji Inn should be worried about Fenglin Restaurant hiring bandits or outlaws to attack them—not causing trouble because Fenglin Restaurant’s chef has started working again. This Jiao Wenshen only knows how to use Chef Jiang Yi’s name to pressure others. He never thinks that with Fenglin Restaurant’s name, who would dare to use dirty tactics? Unfortunately, no amount of persuasion works, and since this Wenshen is also Chef Jiang Yi’s disciple, even the managers of county-level restaurants can’t do anything about him. Without a chef, the effect of lowering prices will surely be greatly reduced. Liu Chuanxiang originally expected to crush Lin Ji Inn in three months, but now it will take at least twice as long. Crushing Lin Ji Inn is a certainty, and Liu Chuanxiang’s only wish now is that there be no vacancy for the manager of a prefecture-level restaurant within half a year. Otherwise, no matter what achievements he makes in the future, he’ll never be able to wash away this stain. When he heard about Fenglin Restaurant’s significant price cut, Lin Dong was in the backyard tasting turtle stewed with Fengtong leaves. Seeing Jiang Kui’s hopeful expression, Lin Dong put down his spoon, smacked his lips, and said, “The soup is rich and flavorful, and the meat is tender and soft. But… adding half a coin’s worth of ginger removes the fishy taste of the Fengtong leaves, but it introduces bitterness.” “It’s just a little bitter,” Jiang Kui said weakly. “That still won’t do; we need to keep trying,” Lin Dong shook his head. Jiang Kui’s face turned sour. Over the past ten-odd days, he had used thirty pounds of Fengtong leaves and five to six hundred turtles, costing over fifty taels of silver. Still not meeting the standard, he was growing anxious. Lin Dong smiled and said, “It’s okay. I can afford this loss. Since Fenglin Restaurant is lowering prices… although their signature dish still has some flaws, it’s fine to launch it first. Use the same stewing method for now.” Jiang Kui was overjoyed and nodded eagerly. As long as they started selling it, it would be like using spirit beast meat to practice cooking—although they’d still suffer losses here, it could at least make up some of it. “Manager, what should we set the price at?” Ma Chun asked from the side. One meal could increase physical strength by one percent, and eating it the next day would increase it by another one percent. That meant it would take only seventy meals to double physical strength. Pricing each at dozens of taels would definitely be worth it in the eyes of the wealthy.

However, this stewed turtle with maple leaf was the inn’s first signature dish, and it had to compete with Maple Forest Restaurant for customers, so the price naturally couldn’t be too high. Fortunately, with the cost of spirit stones, the total cost was less than two hundred coins. After a brief pause, Lin Dong said, “Two taels of silver per dish!”
“Two taels of silver per dish?” Ma Chun was stunned, as was Jiang Kui. From the tone, it seemed the innkeeper thought that even that was too low?
With a cost of less than a hundred coins, selling it for two taels of silver—who would be such a fool?
“If any customers order this dish, tell them that it can strengthen the body, but only one can be eaten per day; eating more is not good.”
Both of them twitched their lips.
“Don’t worry, it really can strengthen the body,” Lin Dong said with a smile.
“Innkeeper, even if it can strengthen the body, it’s not worth that much!” Ma Chun argued. “Sure, some people might want to try it, but at two taels of silver per dish, not only will no one order it in the future, it might also harm the inn’s business.”
Ma Chun and Jiang Kui had been at the inn for only a short time, and their loyalty still needed to be proven. Naturally, Lin Dong couldn’t tell them about the recipe for the medicinal dish. Unable to explain, he had to assert his authority as the innkeeper: “I know what I’m doing. Do as I say!”
Ma Chun hesitated for a moment before still asking, “Innkeeper, how should we respond to Maple Forest Restaurant cutting prices?”
“Didn’t I just say? We introduced this signature dish, stewed turtle with maple leaf, before it was fully prepared precisely to deal with that.”
Ma Chun was confused. The other restaurant had cut its prices to half, yet the inn’s response was to introduce a signature dish costing two taels of silver—there was no connection at all!
Seeing Ma Chun’s expression, Lin Dong felt helpless. A too-clever subordinate could sometimes be quite troublesome.
If it were Wang Liu Zi, he would likely be excitedly promoting the signature dish by now, without even thinking about whether it could compete with Maple Forest Restaurant’s price cut. If the innkeeper said it could work, then it surely could.
“Go and get to work! You’ll know whether we can keep the inn’s business by then.”
“Mm!” Ma Chun nodded helplessly. With the innkeeper’s attitude, it was clear he wouldn’t listen to advice. He could only go back and think carefully about possible remedies if the inn’s business was taken away.

After the medicinal cuisine recipe system was installed in the inn, the enhancements could be applied to the entire inn, or to a specific person or location where the medicinal cuisine was prepared. Since it was time to start serving it to outsiders, it was necessary to enable the health enhancement effects of the Maple Leaf Turtle Stew. After some thought, Lin Dong turned to Jiang Kui and said, “From now on, all Maple Leaf Turtle Stew prepared for outside customers will be cooked on your stove, while those used for adjusting flavors will be prepared on the other two stoves.”
“Mm!” Jiang Kui nodded.
Once Jiang Kui returned to the kitchen, Lin Dong brought up the medicinal cuisine recipe and set the stove under Jiang Kui’s responsibility to apply the recipe’s enhancements.