Faster Than Robbing Money!

"Holy crap! This smells incredible! How did they make it?"

"This is amazing! I thought it was a scam, but it actually tastes good! Better than anything I've ever had!"

"Delicious as hell! I've never had food this fragrant! As expected of a chef who's traveled across the lands. With skills like this, they're even better than the biggest Fragrant Pavilion in the prefectural city!"

"Yeah! Totally worth it! I've traveled far and wide and eaten plenty of delicacies, but this braised pork is exactly to my taste! Waiter, add another six-hundred-cash set meal!"

As time passed.

By noon, when people all over the streets were looking for places to eat.

Both floors of the restaurant were completely full, and even the temporary tables and chairs outside were occupied.

Meng Huai and the other seven were worked nearly to death.

The restaurant's table turnover was also incredibly fast. According to Mo Chen's calculations, in just one shichen, the tables and chairs inside and outside, which seated one hundred and fifty people, had turned over a full four times.

In other words, six hundred diners had eaten there in a single shichen. Business was booming.

Meng Huai and Mo Chen were in charge of taking money, beating the gong, drawing in customers, and thanking the boss.

Two attendants served the food, while another two cleared tables and dishes, guided customers, and maintained order.

The two chefs stayed in the kitchen, constantly replenishing the food and washing the dishes.

It was not until the first quarter of the shen hour, around three in the afternoon, that the number of customers gradually dropped to twenty or so.

The seven of them, along with Mo Chen, were all slumped in their chairs, exhausted.

"Young Master Mo, I'm convinced! I'm truly convinced!"

"Your method is unprecedented, something the world has never seen. I never imagined people could go this crazy just to eat!"

Meng Huai panted heavily, wiping the sweat from his forehead as he gave Mo Chen a thumbs-up filled with admiration and awe.

Mo Chen drank his tea and laughed heartily.

"This is nothing. In a few days, there'll be even more people in the prefectural city, and we'll be even busier. If we weren't so short-handed, I'd have you send some people outside the city to sell food."

"No! Absolutely not! We can't handle it!"

Meng Huai smiled bitterly and waved his hands repeatedly.

Still, speaking of being short-handed, Mo Chen could see several current shortcomings.

For instance, advertising and drawing in customers, taking payments and making change.

The dishes could not be washed quickly enough, and the premises could not be cleaned promptly.

Too many people lined up when getting food, making the process far too slow.

When customers wanted extra dishes, they could not be delivered in time.

The two kitchen chefs could not devote themselves fully to cooking, and so on and so forth—a whole series of problems.

These factors reduced table turnover by at least half.

What they lost, naturally, was an enormous number of customers. All of them were money!

Thinking of this, Mo Chen said, "Shopkeeper Meng, there'll definitely be another huge wave of customers tonight. Be prepared."

"Also, I have an idea. Calculate today's accounts, then hire another thirty attendants from the broker's office. We need to improve our table turnover and service level again."

"Table turnover?" Meng Huai froze.

Mo Chen explained, "You can understand it as the number of times a dining table can be reused within one shichen."

"I took a rough look just now. Each table turns over four times per shichen, yet it sits empty for a long time in between. If we have enough staff, doubling that turnover rate won't be a problem!"

Meng Huai nodded, half understanding. "Alright! I'll calculate the accounts right away, then go to the broker's office to hire people."

Mo Chen nodded with a smile and raised his tea bowl for a large gulp.

After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, Meng Huai finished calculating the accounts. Then, staring at the cashbox and ledger, he was completely stunned.

"Oh my god, we actually made this much money!"

From the fourth quarter of the si hour to the first quarter of the shen hour.

In just two and a half shichen, they had served more than fifteen hundred diners.

Seventy percent of them had ordered the one-hundred-cash tasting set.

Even so, they had earned a full thirty-three taels and eight strings of silver.

Seeing that figure, Meng Huai sucked in a breath. The shock in his heart was beyond description.

"This is... way too damn profitable!"

After all, the cost of ingredients for the one-hundred-cash tasting set, with one meat dish and one vegetable dish, was at most around twenty cash.

They sold it for one hundred cash, earning a net profit of eighty cash.

The six-hundred-cash deluxe set and the one-string supreme set were even more profitable. Today, they had sold seventy-nine of the former and one hundred and two of the latter.

Meng Huai could rack his brains and still not understand it.

Did wealthy people really not look at the prices when they ate?

Were they buying the one-string supreme set with their eyes closed?

"This is faster than robbing money!"

Meng Huai did not know whether to laugh or cry.

Robbing money was dangerous, after all.

But opening a restaurant and selling food carried no danger at all.

When Mo Chen saw the revenue, the corners of his mouth rose as well.

"If we include the afternoon and evening, we can make at least fifty taels of silver a day. In thirteen days, that'll be six hundred and fifty taels."

"In one month, that's fifteen hundred taels. Damn, this is far more reliable than acting as a chivalrous hero!"

Even after the Martial Suppression Academy's martial examination, when the prefectural city's population would greatly decrease.

Their set meals could still be sold. The only difference would be lower sales volume and revenue.

When the time came, they could run promotions and lower the prices bit by bit.

There definitely would not be few customers.

For Mo Chen, having a stable way to earn silver was far better than risking his life outside.

"I heard that inner disciples of the Martial Suppression Academy only receive one shop, while true disciples can receive five. If I can become a true disciple, wouldn't I be able to expand the business even further?"

Just thinking about it made Mo Chen's eyes burn.

After all, he relied entirely on silver to exchange for martial arts.

To him, as long as he could earn silver, his martial cultivation would naturally improve.

Therefore, becoming a true disciple and receiving the corresponding resource support was undoubtedly the best choice.

"I'll give it a shot! I have to try for true disciple status!"

"If I can make it, I won't just get shops—I'll also obtain a large number of martial arts manuals!"

With silver, Mo Chen could invest it into cultivation.

It was not impossible for him to make a run at becoming a true disciple.

As for the restaurant's dividends, he had agreed with Su Jinse that they would be settled once a year.

Therefore, all the money the restaurant earned in its early stages could be freely invested into his cultivation.

Senior Sister said that once the Great Power Bear Demon Fist is cultivated to mastery, it can alter one's innate physique.

Mo Chen thought, then could I use money to deduce this incomplete high-grade martial art to mastery?

Although it would consume a great deal of silver, if he wanted to contend for true disciple status, he had to build a solid foundation step by step.

If he could improve his innate physique, it would be an extremely worthwhile investment, whether for increasing his own cultivation speed or preparing for the second round of the martial examination.

Besides.

He had already experienced two martial arts deductions.

The Fierce Tiger Fist had been deduced into Low Grade · Tyrant Tiger Heavenly Dipper Force.

The Giant Ape Long Fist had been deduced into Mid Grade · Giant Ape True Fist.

Mo Chen believed that as long as he was willing to spend the money, he could certainly deduce the incomplete Great Power Bear Demon Fist into a complete technique in the Martial Arts Arena.

"I won't rush to deduce it today. Ten days from now, right before the martial examination begins, I'll exchange for cultivation with everything I have!"

Thinking this, Mo Chen clenched his fists. His eyes shone brightly, and he was filled with drive from head to toe.