Chapter Fourteen: A Successful Opening

  After finishing breakfast, Li Jiancheng and his two brothers Li Shimin and Li Yuanji followed Du Yan to the wine tower. In order not to expose their identities, they had made arrangements with them yesterday, and everything would be hosted by He Yini at that time, and also warned them that when they saw him, they must not show any signs of recognition.

  As they arrived at the entrance of the wine house, they saw that the door had not yet opened. At this time, a stage had been set up in front of the door, and He Niang was speaking on it, "Ladies and gentlemen, today is the first opening day of 'West Travel Inn', so all dishes are discounted by 20%, and there is also a family-made fine wine, everything will satisfy you, don't miss it!" After He Niang finished speaking, the door opened. Perhaps human nature is like this, everyone rushed in eagerly when they heard that something was cheap.

  Li Jiancheng and Dou Xian arrived at a registration office, where Dou Xian took out an iron plaque. Seeing Li Jiancheng there, He Niang realized that these were all his family members, so she personally led several people to the third floor. The people in the hall and on the second floor shouted: "Why can they go up to the third floor? It's not fair, we also want to go up."

  Hei Ni then turned around and explained: "This is our boss's rule, only those who have this card can enter the third floor. Of course, to get this card, you just need to spend 300,000 taels in this wine house or buy it directly with 100,000 taels." It looks like a lot of money, but for those rich people, it's nothing.

  But those sitting in the hall and on the second floor are not like that, only to hear them shouting: "Is your boss crazy about money, how can there be such a rule?"

  "What the boss thinks, I can't guess," Aunt He replied calmly. "But for those who want to enter the third floor, just meet the standard, and we welcome all guests infinitely. However, for those who make trouble, we won't be lenient." Aunt He's words were powerful and dignified, and those who sought trouble quieted down. Next, Aunt He said: "Our store has just opened, and each table will receive a bowl of our family's traditional fine wine as a gift. Since the quantity is limited, I hope everyone can understand." With this, Aunt He showed her skillful handling of the situation, and Li Jiancheng secretly gave her a thumbs up.

  After arriving at the third floor, Dou Xian chose the room with the horse, and we were the first batch of people to arrive on the third floor. It seems that some people are not coming or will be late. Later, you'll have a good show, Li Jiancheng thought coldly in his heart.

  "Huh? Brother Jiancheng, Brother Jiancheng." Li Jiancheng suddenly heard someone calling him and turned around to see that it was Dugu Feng, who he hadn't seen in several days. She was holding onto an old woman, who should be You Chuhong. Although she was very old, her body still emitted a majestic aura like Mount Tai. Behind them followed the guy Dugu Wen.

  "Little brother Jian is here again." Dugu Wen saw Li Jiancheng come up and greet him.

  "Old Lady Dugu is doing well." Du Xian replied as she saw You Chuhong come forward to greet her.

  "Hehe, it's good. I didn't expect you'd grow up so big now." Yu Chuhong sighed.

  "It's better for us to meet by chance than to make an appointment. The room is big enough, let's sit together." Yu Xiu invited.

  "So I won't be polite anymore." Yu Chuhong was very decisive and didn't pretend.

  After entering the room, everyone couldn't help but praise the decoration of the house. When they sat down in their chairs, they were shocked again, and Li Jiancheng pretended to be surprised.

  "The owner of this wine shop is really generous, I don't know who it is," said Yu Chuhong.

  "It's indeed true. Just looking at the decor in this room, without mentioning the cost, it's hard to match just with thoughts alone." Du Xian also sighed in admiration.

  "Is this the famous family wine that the tavern has been promoting?" Yu Chuhong said, looking at a jug of wine on the table. "Hehe, since it's a family wine, I'll try some." After saying that, she asked Dugu Wen to pour wine into everyone's cups. As soon as the wine was poured in, the aroma filled the air, and just from this, you could tell that this wine was no ordinary product. Yu Chuhong picked up her cup first and took a sip. Since she was the elder, others couldn't drink before her, of course, unless they were people who didn't respect their elders.

  "It's indeed a fine wine, worthy of being the Du Kang of today." Yu Chuhong took a sip and praised it. Then everyone else followed suit and took a sip, while the few children could only take a small taste under the watchful eyes of the two adults. Li Jiancheng was someone who had drunk before, so he didn't care, but Dugu Wen's heart itched with desire.

  "After drinking this wine, all the other wines I drank before are like plain water." Mother said after she drank it.

  "It's indeed true, for those who appreciate good wine, this wine is like a precious treasure. This winery must be making a fortune, I wonder who the owner of this winery is, to have such a family heirloom wine." Yu Chuhong sighed again, and was impressed by the room decor and wine for the second time today.

  "Dugu Laofuren, you order the dishes. I heard that on this floor, those famous dishes can only be ordered up to 28 courses." Mother said with a smile, and handed the menu to You Chuhong.

  "Oh! Is that what you're saying?" Yu Chuhong wondered.

  "It's true, Grandma!" Du Gu Wen replied, "I just asked the staff at the wine tower when I came up, they said that the main hall can order at most 12 famous dishes, the second floor can order 18 dishes, the third floor can order 28 dishes, and there are four rooms on the fourth floor that can order 38 dishes. Only the last room can be fully ordered."

  "The boss's mind is indeed crystal clear, beyond the reach of ordinary people. I just wonder, since we can only enter the third floor with our identity, who are those who can enter the fourth floor?" Yu Chuhong exclaimed for the third time today.

  "Grandma, I heard that only 20 households in the city have obtained the certificate to enter the third floor, and most of them are high-ranking officials. As for the certificate to enter the fourth floor, no one has obtained it yet." Dugu Wen showed off again, and everyone listened with relish, except for Li Jiancheng, who thought he could let whoever he wanted in, after all, he was the boss, haha!

  "This person, if he enters the imperial court as an official, will surely rise to prominence and can be expected to achieve great things in no time. It's just a pity that until now, no one knows who this old master is." Du Xian also sighed along with him. Li Jiancheng, on the other hand, rolled his eyes, thinking that with his humble nature, how could he possibly be suited for officialdom? If it weren't for the future, he estimated that he wouldn't even want to open a wine shop again. As they spoke, You Chuhong had already finished ordering the dishes and handed them over to Du Xian, who also ordered a few more, while the children didn't have any say in the matter.

  Here is the translation:

  He pulled the copper bell in the private room, which was available on both the third and fourth floors. Each copper bell corresponded to a specific room at the counter on the first floor, so when someone rang it, they knew which room it was. After the service staff came up with the menu we ordered, the two adults started chatting. But what's annoying is that Dugu Feng kept pestering Li Jiancheng. For a 30-year-old with a mental age of seven, he was very helpless. He couldn't tell her that she was too young and he wasn't interested, or else he would be in trouble if he said so.

  Finally, after waiting for a while, the dishes arrived, and we ordered a total of 12 dishes, following the principle of not wasting food. Moreover, these 12 dishes were not cheap, costing several hundred taels, and they weren't all from the Manchu Han Imperial Feast menu. Considering that today was an 8% discount day, if you wanted to eat all 108 dishes, it would cost hundreds of thousands of taels. Except for a few emperors in the Qing dynasty, no one would spend such idle money.

  In the middle of the third floor, several families seemed to have arrived, and these were all silver-haired people! After finishing the meal, Dugu Xuan voluntarily went to pay the bill, of course, she had to take the initiative, otherwise, how could the elder pay? However, they finally managed to get rid of Dugu Feng. When leaving, Dugu Feng kept looking back at Li Jiancheng with tears in her eyes, while his mother, Dugu Xuan, stood aside and smiled, seemingly wanting to see him make a fool of himself.

  So Li Jiancheng pulled Li Shimin and Li Yuanji and hastily retreated home.

  It was time for dinner in the evening, and Li Yu had not returned yet. So everyone ate first. After a while, Father finally came back. As soon as he entered the door, he complained.

  "You know, that restaurant where we got the VIP card is really popular!" Li Yuan paused and continued, "This afternoon, after finishing our morning meeting, a few of us decided to go try it out. When we arrived at the restaurant, there were so many people! We originally wanted to go to the third floor, but the staff said we didn't have the right pass, so they wouldn't let us up. One of my colleagues with a bad temper was going to force his way up, but the staff said even if we did get up there, no one would serve us, and we'd never be welcome again. In the end, we had no choice but to find a table on the second floor."

  Li Yuan's face turned red with anger as he continued, "If I knew who the owner of that restaurant was, I'd teach him a lesson!" Li Jiancheng felt a shiver run down his spine.

  Li Yuan went on, "Later, when we got our wine, it was just a tiny amount! We asked why and the waiter said, 'This is our family's special recipe, so we only serve a little. If you want more, there are many other wines to choose from.' We thought about it and decided not to bother with those other wines - after all, we came here to try something new. So we drank that wine, and wow! It was incredible! The flavors were amazing! This meal was worth every penny of the hundreds of taels we spent."

  Li Yuan's eyes sparkled mischievously as he continued, "Later, I asked them if they had any VIP passes, and they said no. Ha! Can't wait to show off our pass to those old guys and rub it in their faces!" Li Jiancheng looked at Li Yuan's smug expression and thought it was quite unsavory.

  After listening to Li Yuan, Li Jiancheng returned to the room very excited. The opening has attracted so many customers, and then there is no need to worry about not having anyone coming in the future. In that case, it will be easy to obtain information. After thinking about it, he continued to practice his skills, and must not let this go to waste...