Long Holiday

"Also, I received a message from the Inspector General. He said he has long heard of the Spring Festival gathering and has moved up the schedule, intending to arrive in Yanjiang County during the Spring Festival. You should be prepared and not show any weakness in front of the Inspector General."

The inspector had previously said he would come to Yanjiang County after the Spring Festival.

"Yes."

When Lu Yang left the branch, he encountered Wang He, Bai Zifang, and other stewards walking towards him.

Wang He and the others nodded slightly in greeting. This newly appointed steward Lu Yang, was a favorite of Chief Chu, and they couldn't afford to offend him.

Wang He and the others had worked at the branch for decades and knew some things. They guessed that the branch leader Chu directly appointed Lu Yang and the other two because they had received high evaluations during the initiation test, especially Lu Yang, who was probably the highest-rated of the three.

Wang He whispered, "The leader has always been a man who doesn't act without self-interest. He probably knows that Lu Yang will rise to prominence and wants to cultivate a good relationship with him before Lu Yang becomes wealthy, so that it will be easier for him to get promoted in the future."

They knew that what the leader wanted most was to be promoted and become the leader of an economically developed region, so he attached great importance to the inspection envoy who had come this time.

"Perhaps our summons is also related to the Inspector General."

"But speaking of which, there's still one condition the leader needs to meet before he can be promoted. Has he reached the Nascent Soul Realm?"

Promotion within the sect depends not only on one's faith in the immortals, but also on one's cultivation level.

"Who knows? Maybe he arrived a while ago but just didn't tell us. He never explains what he does to us, so we don't know his purpose in doing these things."

Chu's style is also the style of the entire Demonic Sect, filled with distrust. Chu seems to trust Lu Yang, but in reality, he has not revealed any information about himself to Lu Yang.

Lu Yang knew very little about Chief Chu.

With the Spring Festival approaching as scheduled, the barbecue restaurant's customer traffic reached its peak. Many out-of-town businessmen have noticed the business opportunities in the barbecue restaurant and have suggested to Lu Yang that he open a branch. Lu Yang provides the recipe, and they provide the funding.

Without exception, they were all kicked out by Lu Yang with a dark face.

Some cultivators wanted to dine and dash, but seeing the three brocade banners hanging on the wall, they swallowed their unrealistic ideas and obediently paid the bill.

With the help of the automatic barbecue array, the two skewers have more time to skewer the food, so the barbecue restaurant can keep up with the demand even when there are more customers than usual.

"Let's go to this barbecue restaurant again... Yes, this is it. My aunt told me that this barbecue restaurant is especially delicious. If you come to Yanjiang County, you must try it!"

"Look, this store is having a promotion right now. You can get a voucher when you shop here, and then get a 10% discount at the tofu shop on Qianmen Street."

"Spend one tael of silver to participate in the lucky draw once. You can accumulate spins with no upper limit. Prizes are limited, first come, first served."

"Let's go, let's try it."

The two agreed to join the end of the line, unsure how long they would have to wait to eat.

At the entrance of the barbecue restaurant, Meng Jingzhou was busy spinning the lucky wheel, thoroughly enjoying himself.

The spinning wheel had the words "One More Time," "Three Levels," "Second Prize," "First Prize," and "Special Prize" written on it.

"Congratulations to this guest for winning the second prize! This purchase is 40% off! Let's congratulate him!" Meng Jingzhou clapped his hands, looking even happier than the winner.

"First prize! The first prize has been won! This customer's entire bill is free!"

"The grand prize! Someone actually won the grand prize!"

The guest, surprised to have won the grand prize, asked cheerfully, "What's the grand prize?"

Meng Jingzhou shook the guest's hand and said warmly, "Congratulations! You've got the chance to experience being a waiter! Others who come here to experience being a waiter and enjoy the work pay for it, but you're lucky! You can experience what it's like to be a waiter here without paying a cent!"

"Considering the smoky and unpleasant environment in the backyard, our professionals will bring the skewers to the backyard entrance, so you won't have to go there!" Meng Jingzhou said with an expression that said, "We've thought of you so well, you don't need to praise us."

Customer: "... Could you change it to the first prize?"

"Cannot."

The guest declined the grand prize.

So far, Meng Jingzhou has not managed to convince anyone to enjoy the grand prize, but he enjoys the process of conning people.

Inside the barbecue restaurant, Lu Yang carried a tray and moved back and forth. He was light-footed and agile, with an extremely stable lower body. The tray did not tilt, the skewers did not wobble, and he did not bump into any customers. He was so fast that not a single leaf touched him.

After more than a month of working as a waiter, his walking skills improved significantly.

"Ma Gongcao and Chi Zhubu, how's the food?" Lu Yang greeted the two guests with a smile. These two were officials from the prefecture who often came here for skewers and drinks.

"It's still as delicious as ever, Mr. Lu. If you ask me, your skills are wasted here. You should open a shop in a bigger county; I guarantee you'd earn much more there!"

"Go away, don't talk nonsense. I've never heard that Shop Owner Lu doesn't even open a branch. It's obvious that he's opening the shop out of interest, not to make money."

Lu Yang could only force a smile, "May you both have a good time during the Spring Festival."

The two were clearly drunk, their cheeks flushed and they were quite tipsy. Ma Gongcao cursed, "I get angry just thinking about the Spring Festival. Originally, the Spring Festival holiday was seven days long, but I don't know who came up with the stupid idea of shortening it to three days!"

"What can you do in three days? And you call it a mini-holiday? Listen to that word, does it even make sense? Adding 'mini' before 'long holiday,' does it even count as a long holiday anymore!"

"I wish the person who came up with this phrase a long and healthy life!"

Clerk Chi quickly stopped Magistrate Ma from speaking, "You can't say things like that. It's normal that you didn't know because you arrived late. This was an idea that Prefect Li came up with!"

Ma Gongcao sneered, "So it's him. Not much skill, but plenty of ideas!"

The registrar, Chi, was more well-informed. "Keep your voice down. You can't speak ill of Prefect Li now. I heard that Prefect Li has found a way and captured three vicious Devil Cultivators in the prefecture. That's a great achievement, and he's about to be promoted. Chief Constable Fang Qingyun is going to take his place!"

Ma Gongcao curled his lip, looking down on Prefect Li. He figured Prefect Li wouldn't care about a nobody like him anyway. "A few days ago, a colleague complained to me that Prefect Li was issuing random orders, making the yamen runners work overtime until dawn, demanding they plant Squad Commander all night long, with no room for error. He even personally supervised, putting on a show. He's Golden Core cultivator and doesn't need sleep, but everyone else does. Many yamen runners just fell asleep while working!"

Lu Yang poured drinks for the two of them, saying, "I have other things to attend to now."

"Go ahead, go ahead, Shopkeeper Lu, don't worry about us."

On the first night of the Spring Festival, the four people and two ghosts were exhausted.

Before going to sleep, Man Gu thought to himself, "It seems like ghosts don't need to sleep. Should we assign them work at night too?"