Outside room 204 on the second floor of the Fortunate Inn.
Jiang Shan pushed open the door and found the room spotless. The floor was so clean it looked freshly waxed, without so much as a footprint on it.
The shoe rack and coat rack by the door, along with the table and stools inside, were all neatly arranged.
The pale green curtains hanging over the window were tied back on either side with two handwoven cords.
The windowpanes were so clear and transparent that it looked as though there was no glass at all.
The sheets and bedding had been washed snowy white, as good as new, and folded into neat, square blocks.
There was also a lovely fragrance of sweet osmanthus in the room, as though a blooming osmanthus tree had been planted inside.
"Honey, this inn pays so much attention to detail! It feels even nicer than that upscale guesthouse we stayed at on our last trip to Mount Tai!"
Originally, Jiang Shan hadn't expected much from an obscure little place like the Fortunate Inn.
If the other lodges and guesthouses in the scenic area hadn't been fully booked, she wouldn't have chosen it.
Now that she was here, though, the Fortunate Inn's cleanliness had far exceeded her expectations.
"It really is clean. Wow, did they just wax this floor? I almost can't bear to step on it."
Despite saying he couldn't bear to step on it, Wang Yanqiu had already gone inside and started changing his shoes.
Jiang Shan followed him in, slipping on disposable slippers as she said:
"Honey, let's stay here for the rest of our time on Mount Sanqing! No switching places. I love it here!"
"Sure, whatever you say."
Wang Yanqiu liked it here just as much and readily agreed.
Downstairs.
Less than five minutes after Lin Zhe had checked Jiang Shan and Wang Yanqiu in, another couple, this time middle-aged, entered the inn's lobby.
The moment they stepped inside, they too were drawn in by the Fortunate Inn's cleanliness and immediately booked a room with a double bed.
After the middle-aged couple, his luck ran out. By noon, he still hadn't had a third customer come to check in.
Still, Lin Zhe wasn't disappointed. Having few guests check in during the morning was perfectly normal.
The afternoon and evening were the peak check-in hours for the inn.
At noon, Lin Zhe went to the little kitchen in the inn's backyard and cooked a bowl of instant noodles.
He added a braised egg and a ham sausage, then took a piece of braised beef from the refrigerator, sliced off a few pieces, and sprinkled some chopped cilantro over the top.
After all that sprucing up, it really did look almost exactly like the noodles in a TV commercial.
"Time to dig in!"
Taking a pair of bamboo chopsticks from the chopstick box, Lin Zhe sat down at the dining table and dug in.
They were the same instant noodles, prepared the same way, but today they tasted fantastic.
As he ate, Lin Zhe kept raising his hand to check the "Sign" character on his palm.
He didn't even dare clench his fist too hard now, afraid he might somehow squeeze away the cheat he'd just acquired.
Only after confirming that "Sign" was still there could he slurp his noodles in peace.
Once he'd had his fill, Lin Zhe returned to the lobby to cover the front desk. He had no choice-he'd given Lin Xiaomeng half a day off!
He hadn't expected the Cleansing Talisman to take effect so quickly, either.
While covering the desk, Lin Zhe welcomed another three guests and booked out two rooms.
All three guests were equally full of praise for the inn's cleanliness.
Today is Friday, July 12. That means I can check in again in two days.
Which attraction will the next check-in take me to? And what kind of reward will I get?
Whenever no customers came in, Lin Zhe sat in the chair behind the front desk, his mind filled with thoughts of his check-in two days later.
The check-in panel he'd picked up operated on a calendar-week basis.
He could check in once each week, on any day he chose, but missed check-ins couldn't be made up.
A new week would begin on July 15, and his available check-in would reset along with it.
The Mount Sanqing scenic area had over a hundred attractions, large and small. Which one he randomly drew would come down entirely to luck.
At half past one that afternoon.
After wandering around the mountain, Lin Xiaomeng returned to the inn half an hour early.
"Huh? Why does our inn look different from when I left?"
Standing at the inn's main gate, Lin Xiaomeng looked around in surprise, her steps hesitant.
The sign still clearly read "Fortunate Inn," yet to Lin Xiaomeng, it felt as though this was a completely different inn.
The whole place felt fresh and new.
The last time Lin Xiaomeng had felt this way was after the heavy rain a few days ago.
After the downpour, the Fortunate Inn's wooden building and the plants in its courtyard had all been washed spotless.
With the mist-wreathed green mountains behind it, the scene had looked rather poetic and picturesque.
"What's different? Right! It's cleaner! The whole inn's suddenly become clean! But it doesn't seem to have rained..."
Lin Xiaomeng shaded her eyes with her hand and looked up at the sky. It was still cloudy, but there was no sign of rain.
Puzzled, she walked through the inn's main gate.
As she looked around at the courtyard's flowers, shrubs, and trees, so absurdly clean they seemed to gleam, Lin Xiaomeng's mouth fell open wide enough to fit her fist.
"This is... way too clean!"
Everywhere Lin Xiaomeng looked, she couldn't see a single piece of litter or speck of dust. She was genuinely astonished.
Crossing the courtyard to the inn's entrance, Lin Xiaomeng turned her gaze toward the lobby floor.
The floor had been cleaned too. Though it was wood, it gleamed like a sheet of glass.
Lin Zhe caught Lin Xiaomeng's astonished expression and found it quite amusing.
"Lin Zhe, how... how did our inn get so clean?"
After entering, Lin Xiaomeng walked over to the front desk and asked curiously.
"Oh, it's nothing. I had a cleaning company come over this morning and give the place a thorough cleaning."
Naturally, Lin Zhe wouldn't tell Lin Xiaomeng about the Cleansing Talisman. That was his secret, so he could only let a cleaning company take the credit.
"Oh... cleaning it this well must have cost a lot."
Lin Xiaomeng glanced around the inn. Everywhere she looked, everything seemed spotless and as good as new.
Out of the corner of his eye, Lin Zhe saw the young couple he'd checked in earlier coming downstairs, and took the opportunity to say:
"It didn't cost that much. Hiring a cleaning company to deep-clean the inn only cost about five thousand yuan.
It was money well spent if it meant giving our guests a pleasant stay."
"Huh? How much? Five thousand?!" Lin Xiaomeng was dumbfounded by her boss's answer.
Over five thousand to hire a cleaning company, and he didn't call that much?
I don't even make that much in three months!
"Buddy, I have to say, your inn's cleanliness is beyond reproach. Next time we come to Mount Sanqing, we'll stay here again!"
After the two guests coming downstairs overheard Lin Zhe and Lin Xiaomeng's conversation, the man smiled and gave him a thumbs-up in praise.
Lin Zhe smiled back at him. "Absolutely. You're both always welcome back at the Fortunate Inn."
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