After a quick wash,
Lin Zhe changed into a clean, fresh outfit and went to the reception desk to meet Jiang Yining.
"Hi, Lin Zhe."
Jiang Yining had also returned to her room to change out of her workout gear and into her everyday clothes.
She wore a lightweight silk blouse with a deep V-neck and a simple pair of blue jeans.
The hair she had tied up for her morning workout now fell loose around her shoulders, looking soft and flowing.
She also wore a pair of round glasses with rose gold frames.
Her outfit made her look both innocent and alluring, drawing the eyes of quite a few customers ordering food at the reception desk.
Even Lin Zhe was a little dazzled by Jiang Yining.
Whether he compared her to the girls he knew in real life or the young women he followed online,
Jiang Yining easily ranked among the top three in looks.
"Sorry for the wait, Jiang Yining. Let me show you around our back courtyard. Order whatever you like."
Lin Zhe nodded toward the courtyard and extended a hand in invitation.
When the people around the reception desk heard him, they looked at him as though they wished they could take his place.
Jiang Yining smiled. "Sure! I burned quite a lot of energy just now.
"And now there's a free breakfast, too. I'm going to eat a ton, so don't regret it!"
"Haha, I'd happily empty my wallet for the chance to treat a beauty like you to a meal."
Chatting and laughing, they entered the courtyard through the inn's side door, leaving behind a crowd practically twisted out of shape with envy.
The Fortunate Inn's back courtyard was not open to the public, and this was Jiang Yining's first visit.
They passed through a patch of bamboo and reached the courtyard. Through the window, they could see Lin Xiaomeng and several women from the canteen busy at work.
"Have a seat here. Tell me what you'd like, and I'll order it for you."
Once they were in the courtyard, Lin Zhe invited Jiang Yining to sit at an outdoor picnic table beneath a sun umbrella.
His mother had bought this table-and-bench set at a secondhand furniture market, but it still looked fairly new.
"Soul-Stirring Egg Fried Rice, of course! Of all the main dishes in your Soul-Stirring Series, that's my favorite!"
Jiang Yining held up two slender, pale fingers, blinking her beautiful eyes at Lin Zhe as she asked in a slightly coaxing tone,
"Can I have two servings?"
"Haha, of course. Eat as much as you want today. If two servings aren't enough, you can have another two."
Faced with Jiang Yining's gentle charm, Lin Zhe surrendered instantly.
Unless a man was utterly oblivious, how could he refuse a beauty asking so sweetly?
"You're so generous, Boss Lin! When you visit Capital City, I'll take you out for the most authentic mutton hot pot, Quanjude roast duck, and zhajiang noodles!"
With her request granted, Jiang Yining's eyes curved into a little fox's smile, and she dangled a tempting promise before Lin Zhe.
"Haha, when I get the chance. I'll definitely visit again if I have the opportunity."
"The last time I went to Capital City was during the summer break after my freshman year. A friend and I spent a whole day and night on the train getting there."
"We only took a quick look around Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and places like that before coming home."
Jiang Yining smiled. "Get in touch with me next time you go. I'll take you sightseeing and eating all over Capital City!"
"All right, it's a deal. I'll go order your food first."
Lin Zhe then went to the kitchen and ordered two servings of Soul-Stirring Egg Fried Rice and two servings of Soul-Stirring Three-Delicacy Dumplings.
The Good Fortune Canteen always had plenty of breakfast food available, and there was generally enough of the Soul-Stirring Series main dishes to satisfy everyone.
"Good morning, boss!"
"Good morning, boss!"
"Morning, boss!"
"You're here, Zhe."
"Thanks for all your hard work."
As soon as Lin Zhe entered, Lin Xiaomeng and the women working on their respective tasks in the kitchen hurried to greet him. He responded with a smile.
After two rounds of hiring, the Good Fortune Canteen now had eight employees.
They could now comfortably handle breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Over Saturday and Sunday, Lin Zhe had completed all the formal hiring paperwork for the women.
They had also made time to visit the county's Center for Disease Control to obtain their health certificates.
During the afternoon closure yesterday, Lin Xiaomeng had also found time to submit the paperwork for their insurance.
Together with Hu Ting, who managed the guest rooms, and the two women who handled cleaning, they made up the Fortunate Inn's entire current staff.
When Lin Zhe's parents ran the Fortunate Inn, they had employed only five people even at the height of its business.
Less than six months after taking over the Fortunate Inn, he had already surpassed his parents' time in charge in both daily revenue and staff numbers.
None of this would have been possible without Lin Zhe's hard work.
Of course, it owed even more to the check-in panel's hard work...
In little more than a week, with the check-in panel helping him run it, the Fortunate Inn had come back to life, and business was booming.
Now that he had obtained an item as game-breaking as Little Peach Peach through checking in, his revenue could reach even greater heights!
Little Peach Peach could transform 250 kilograms of peaches every day. At a selling price of 40 yuan per kilogram, that meant another 10,000 yuan in revenue!
As for the cost...
Two hundred and fifty kilograms of peaches equaled 500 jin. At the wholesale price of 2.5 yuan per jin he had been offered, that came to only 1,250 yuan!
Subtracting the 1,250-yuan cost from 10,000 yuan in revenue left a gross profit of 8,750 yuan!
As for labor costs... they were practically negligible.
Lin Zhe planned to sell the transformed plums at the inn as well.
Who could resist plums so delicious they made your soul tremble?
Selling 500 jin a day probably wouldn't be a problem!
After exchanging a few pleasantries with everyone in the kitchen and placing his order, Lin Zhe went back outside to entertain Jiang Yining.
Through the window, Lin Xiaomeng saw Jiang Yining chatting and laughing with Lin Zhe in the courtyard. A sour feeling welled up inside her, as though she had bitten into an underripe plum.
"Oh my, that girl really is beautiful. In our Lin Family Village, only Xiaomeng could compare. None of the other girls would stand a chance."
"Is our young Boss Lin coming into some romantic luck? I've noticed several of the young women staying here seem pretty friendly with him."
"Our boss is handsome and a real standout, too. It's only natural that girls like him."
"If my daughter hadn't married so early, I'd definitely have tried to set her up with the boss!"
"..."
The women gossiped about their boss as they worked, keeping the atmosphere relaxed and cheerful.
Soon, Lin Zhe's order was ready.
As the boss, he naturally enjoyed certain privileges: his order had gone straight to the front of the queue.
Lin Zhe and Jiang Yining chatted as they ate, their conversation moving from the Mount Sanqing scenic area to Capital City, and from running to food and self-discipline.
They had talked throughout their morning run, and now they spent another half hour deep in lively conversation.
Being close in age and sharing the same interests, they both felt as though they should have met much sooner.
Through their time together that morning, they had also formed a genuine friendship, moving beyond the relationship between a proprietor and his guest to become friends.
Only after their pleasant breakfast ended did they each go off to attend to their own affairs.
Before you continue