Chapter 114: The Show Begins! Only Your Sister Can Save Zhen!

After replying to both Mr. Wu and his companion, Chu Lin drove back to the Linyao Restaurant in high spirits.

"It's good to know you have needs; the rest is just about knowing when to return favors and when to hold back."

Feeling pleased, he returned to Tianhui Plaza. No sooner had he parked than he received two more messages, again from Mr. Wu’s party, this time about reserving private rooms.

On the opening day, both Mr. Wu and Mr. Qin wanted to book separate private rooms to show their support.

Scrolling through his social circle, Chu Lin saw that Mr. Wu had already posted about it, and even Mr. Qin had helped share the post.

This meant owing them a small favor.

On opening day, he planned to sell a bottle of bone wine to Mr. Qin to repay the favor.

With the tasks Miss Cai had assigned now completed, he could report back to her.

Back at Linyao Restaurant, Miss Cai was meticulously inspecting every detail with her team. Chu Lin approached and informed her about the private room bookings made by Mr. Wu and Mr. Qin.

Since they were giving face, naturally, they deserved the best private rooms.

“Qin He—is that the one from the Amethyst Group?” Cai Yao suddenly exclaimed in surprise. “He’s also one of the key members of the Minjiang Chamber of Commerce.”

Chu Lin was not particularly surprised by Mr. Qin’s status; after all, anyone who could casually brew tea with Mr. Wu and address him by name was hardly ordinary.

But what of great wealth?

Thinking about how Mr. Qin had secretly messaged to purchase bone wine, he had already played his cards well.

Time passed.

Over the next two days, Linyao Restaurant operated smoothly.

The good news was that on the opening day, all the dining hall tables and private rooms were fully booked, with waiting lists stretched to their limits—it was truly bustling.

Some bookings came from second-generation wealthy patrons like Chen Feng, or from their circles.

Even Huang Bin reserved a private room to show support.

The first day was fully booked; if it could make a big splash then, the word of mouth would spread and business would flourish thereafter.

With premium oysters, fresh prawns, and that special cooking wine, the reputation was guaranteed.

This naturally brought a bright smile to Miss Cai’s face, lighting up her entire demeanor.

Linyao Restaurant spanned 3,000 square meters. Although it catered to a high-end clientele with spacious seating, it had 70 tables in the main hall and 70 private rooms. If managed well, these 140 seats could generate revenue equivalent to 20 regular Zhizhen outlets.

Without oysters and prawns, a typical Zhizhen table only brought in about 500 yuan.

But look at Linyao’s pricing:

Chu’s Premium Oysters: 1,500 yuan each.

Chu’s Premium Prawns: 600 yuan per serving.

Jade Nectar Sake-Marinated Eggplant: 300 yuan per serving.

Stellar Goose Liver with Moonlight Dew: 500 yuan per serving.

Spanish Specialty Vegetable Salad: 300 yuan per serving.

...

Aside from the Atlantis oysters and prawns, the other dishes were priced even higher than those at Yunhe, with smaller portions to match.

And that was intentional.

With the special cooking wine, once Linyao surpassed Yunhe Restaurant, the kind of clientele who frequented such upscale establishments wouldn’t mind the cost. Accordingly, oyster and prawn prices weren’t comparable to Zhizhen’s.

At this rate, even a single diner ordering two oysters and a couple of dishes would easily spend over 3,000 yuan.

Chu Lin alone supplied 250 oysters and over 200 jin of prawns. Selling all of that would yield 500,000 yuan in turnover.

Naturally, Linyao purchased from Chu Lin wholesale at prices similar to Jinshan’s, with oysters priced up to 400 yuan each and prawns at 100 yuan per jin.

Moreover, the oysters and prawns bore the “Chu’s” brand name, a deliberate move to establish brand recognition ahead of their own breeding farms coming online.

This was also Miss Cai’s suggestion.

Finally, opening day arrived.

Early that morning, Chu Lin was woken by a call from Miss Cai. With some reluctance he answered, “My dear Miss, it’s so early—what’s the matter?”

Cai Yao was brisk and to the point: “Mr. Chu, don’t forget to deliver the oysters and prawns on time.”

Then she abruptly hung up.

“...” Chu Lin could only sigh.

The first meal was scheduled for the evening—was she really worried the seafood wouldn’t arrive on time so early in the morning?

But it did show how serious and meticulous she was about the business. No complaints; after all, she was essentially helping him profit now.

Rubbing away his morning grumpiness, he got up, washed, and entered the breeding farm, transferring the newly refreshed Atlantis prawns and oysters from the game.

The Misobuda map remained quiet, lacking markets or wilderness expeditions, relying on random recipe quests to refresh.

After moving the oysters and prawns from the game, he divided them into two shipments: 500 jin of prawns and 50 oysters for Jinshan, and over 200 jin of prawns and 250 oysters for Linyao Restaurant.

When Liu Fa arrived, Chu Lin gave him explicit instructions: “Master Liu, don’t slack off!”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Chu,” Liu Fa nodded earnestly and loaded both shipments onto the vehicle, departing the breeding farm.

Soon after, Chu Lin received payment notifications from Jinshan and Linyao.

“Account ending... amount credited 72,100.00 yuan; balance 9,980,636.00 yuan.”

“Account ending... amount credited 125,000.00 yuan; balance 10,105,636.00 yuan.”

Previously, a 30% deposit of over 9.6 million yuan had been paid for the Bay Villa Complex, dropping his balance below ten million. Today, it had risen above that threshold once more.

That afternoon, Huang Bin and his glamorous companion visited the breeding farm.

Huang Bin had upgraded to a BMW X7, clearly enjoying the spoils of his fortunate life.

With his wealthy and beautiful girlfriend keeping him warm, a high school first love on the side, and a managerial role at Bafangke, he was truly a rising star and a winner in life.

They came primarily because Liu Yan had finalized the design plans for the Bay Complex and wanted to present them for approval.

Chu Lin was very satisfied with the overall design and instructed them to proceed with construction accordingly.

In fact, the villa foundations had already begun compacting over the past days, though the construction site was located 700 meters away from the breeding farm, on the opposite side of the 500-mu bayfront.

After all, living and leisure spaces shouldn’t be adjacent to aquaculture operations.

“Chu Lin, see you at your restaurant tonight,” Huang Bin said after Liu Yan finished her work and bid farewell.

That afternoon, Chu Lin received another call from Miss Cai, summoning him to Tianhui Plaza.

Upon arrival, he saw that a makeshift platform and cooking stove were being set up on the main thoroughfare in front of the restaurant.

“See that? Yunhe chose that spot for their food event,” Cai Yao said as soon as she spotted him. “They really planned this carefully. But I’ve already arranged for a platform right next to theirs. Tonight, we’ll face them head-on and give them a taste of their own medicine.”

“Also, Manager Han should be setting up a platform opposite Yunhe’s entrance now. The funny thing is, they don’t seem surprised or even concerned.”

Indeed, neither Cheng Jian nor Yunhe paid much attention to such matters.

After all, they didn’t believe anyone would be foolish enough to hold a food event right at Yunhe’s doorstep.

Even if someone was that foolish, they didn’t care. Tomorrow, the buzz would be about how someone dared to show off food in front of Yunhe.

So that afternoon, Cheng Jian and Ma Zhen sat by the window of a café in Tianhui Plaza, watching the event platform being erected.

Cheng Jian chuckled, “Ma Shao, you really picked an excellent spot. The custom-made banner for our food event just arrived. Once it’s hung, it’ll definitely put Cai Yao and Chu Lin in a bad mood.”

Ma Zhen smiled, “I’ve got the latest news—they’re charging more than Yunhe for their dishes. A bit arrogant. There’s no high-end restaurant in Min City that can compete with Yunhe!”

He was spending money at Tianhui Plaza just to get this satisfaction.

Cheng Jian was indeed a capable man; investing in Yunhe in the future would be no problem.

“Wait, what’s that?” Ma Zhen suddenly noticed another platform being set up opposite their event. It was surrounded and the interior was hidden.

He smiled and said, “Don’t mind it. Probably another company holding an event. This spot is prime, right in the flow of people.”

...

Hospital.

Cai Da had finally recovered after his extended stay—not just because Cai Sen’s decision to sell premium oysters at ordinary oyster prices had enraged him to the point of hospitalization.

More so because after the suspension for rectification, he received notice that Zhizhen had to compensate customers triple the amount for pre-paid oyster reservations, according to consumer protection laws.

This was the real cause of his fury, which led to vomiting blood and collapsing.

This compensation meant Zhizhen had lost years of hard work, even selling several outlets just to secure funds for reoperation.

Now, he truly regretted it. Had he known his useless son could ruin Zhizhen so quickly, he never would have supported him or mistreated his daughter.

It seemed Zhizhen’s salvation now depended on his daughter.

“Let’s go to the flagship store,” Cai Da instructed his flamboyantly dressed secretary after discharge.

Soon, Cai Da arrived at Zhizhen’s flagship store. Normally, it should have been open by now with customers arriving steadily.

But now it was silent due to the closure.

Stepping inside, he was stunned by how bleak the store was—no managers, no supervisors, not even waitstaff.

Even during a shutdown, the manager or supervisor should at least make it look like they were addressing the situation. This ghost town atmosphere was baffling.

Cai Da angrily called Cai Sen over, berating him, “What on earth are you doing? The store is so deserted. Where are the manager and supervisors? How come there are no servers?”

Cai Sen, annoyed, replied, “The manager, supervisors, and team leaders were all poached by others. The waitstaff think Zhizhen is finished, so they’ve all gone to find other jobs. What can I do?”

“Heh, what can you do?” Cai Da was exasperated that such a waste could even ask that. He sighed deeply, “With Zhizhen like this, hoping for you is like hoping for a dog. Looks like we have to bring your sister back if we want to save Zhizhen.”

(End of chapter)