This Clear Breeze Temple nice, and I heard the cafeteria we're going to later has excellent food. Most importantly, the work here is relatively easy and stable, and I heard the salary is decent. If Dazhuang really can't find a job in the future, I wonder if working here would be a good option.
The elderly couple certainly wouldn't ask a child like Qingya such a question, so although they had their minds on it, they tried their best to hold back.
After touring the yukata, it was time for the meal that everyone was looking forward to.
Normally, tourists are seated at the new Qingfeng Restaurant, but to boost the popularity of Brother Xiao Ma's premium tour, Yun Zhaozhao specially asked Daoist Chang Kong to reserve a table for Brother Xiao Ma at the old Clear Breeze Temple Restaurant.
If about 10 people squeeze in, they can probably sit down.
Although most of the people joining Brother Xiao Ma's one-day tour were locals from City A, only a minority had actually heard of Clear Breeze Temple's canteen and had never actually eaten there. So everyone was quite looking forward to it.
Even Dazhuang, who had been complaining incessantly, was unusually quiet this time. As soon as he entered the cafeteria, he smelled the aroma of food, and the other diners who had arrived before them were already eating non-stop. Dazhuang was called Dazhuang because he had always been a big eater and was a typical foodie, so he had no time to complain and was only thinking about ordering food and eating quickly.
Unfortunately, Daoist Chang Kong didn't give them a chance to order. Not long after they sat down, the dishes for the group meal were served one after another. There were nine dishes and a soup for ten people, filling the table to the brim. It looked like there were both meat and vegetables, but the presentation wasn't anything particularly amazing.
In front of Dazhuang was a braised pork trotters with five spices. The trotters were stewed until they were soft and tender, glistening under the light. If you gently shook the corner of the table, the meat on the trotters would start to jiggle slightly. The chewy and tender texture was clearly the result of careful cooking for a long time.
Dazhuang couldn't wait to pick up a piece and put it in his mouth. With a gentle bite, he felt the pig's trotter bounce in his mouth, and it had a slightly sticky and chewy texture.
Dazhuang buried himself in his food, completely oblivious to the reactions of others. His only regret was that this table wasn't one of those rotating tables found in restaurants, so it wasn't particularly convenient to reach for his food, except for the dishes right in front of him.
Sitting next to Dazhuang, Dazhuang's mother wasn't particularly interested in pig's trotters. She preferred a lighter diet, so she ate a ginseng and chicken soup.
She makes this dish at home and prides herself on being quite good at making soup. But after tasting the ginseng chicken soup at Clear Breeze Temple, she realized that chicken soup could be so fragrant and delicious. Although the soup only looked like chicken and a few ginseng roots, for some reason, it was exceptionally flavorful and rich, to the point that she even considered going to the kitchen to ask for the recipe.
The people at the table weren't familiar with each other, and now they were all focused on enjoying the food, so the table was so quiet that the only sound was chewing.
The tour that Brother Xiao Ma was leading today was a day trip, so after lunch, the afternoon was free time. But he remembered his promise to Yun Zhaozhao and knew that the ultimate goal was to lead people to Qingfeng Martial Arts Academy.
So, while we were eating, I didn't forget to give Yun Zhaozhao's Daoist temple guesthouse a shout-out, " Clear Breeze Temple not only has a delicious Daoist temple canteen, but also a Daoist temple guesthouse with a fantastic accommodation experience. If you have relatives or friends visiting from out of town, you might want to consider Clear Breeze Temple's Daoist temple guesthouse. Anyone referred by one of our tourists will receive a discount, and the food at Clear Breeze Guesthouse is just as good as what we serve in our Clear Breeze Temple canteen!"
Brother Xiao Ma is quite thorough in his work. Knowing that a verbal introduction might not leave a deep impression, he specifically asked Brother Li for a brochure about the Daoist temple guesthouse beforehand, and then handed one to each person after everyone had finished eating.
Dazhuang flipped through the manual and casually remarked, "Wow, Clear Breeze Temple is really something else! It has a canteen and guesthouses—a one-stop service for food and lodging!"
Brother Xiao Ma smiled slightly, "You underestimate Clear Breeze Temple. It has more than just a canteen and guesthouses. Clear Breeze Temple also has a clinic and a religious service center. Let me put it this way, if Clear Breeze Temple is willing, they can take care of everything for you, from eating and drinking to relieving yourself and even birth, aging, sickness, and death."
Little Qingya, standing nearby, said, "Our abbot said the cake is only this big; our Clear Breeze Temple can eat it all."
Everyone: "..." We don't know how big the cake is, but your abbot must have a big appetite.
Chapter 144
Brother Xiao Ma's first tour group trip went fairly smoothly.
So from that day on, he and his company employees would bring a new group of short-distance tourists to Clear Breeze Temple almost every week for sightseeing and to eat and drink.
Because he visited so many times, Brother Xiao Ma became increasingly familiar with Clear Breeze Temple.
As he became more familiar with and understood Clear Breeze Temple, the significance of Little Qingya's statement, "Our abbot said the cake is only so big, and Clear Breeze Temple can eat it all," gradually increased.
Because he increasingly realized that at Clear Breeze Temple, there was no money you couldn't spend, only money you didn't want to spend.
For example, when you travel, you'll definitely consider bringing back some local souvenirs. The tourists that Brother Xiao Ma brought had the same idea, and that's when Clear Breeze Temple would jump in and say, "I have some!"
In fact, Clear Breeze Temple does have souvenirs, and they are all produced and sold internally by the temple itself, eliminating middlemen and their markups. Most importantly, you can't buy these things outside, because some of them are even handmade by the Daoist priests of Clear Breeze Temple.
For example, when you travel, if you're thirsty, hungry, or craving something, you might want to buy some local fruit to try. Clear Breeze Temple also has that. Like the souvenirs, the fruit is grown by the Clear Breeze Temple. Most importantly, the fruit is all seasonal, picked and bought fresh, making it both fresh and inexpensive.
You bought souvenirs and fruit, and you thought you'd covered most of your spending... But if you walk along the fruit orchard of Clear Breeze Temple towards Clear Breeze Mountain, you'll pass a Prosperity Spring. There's not much to buy there, but a group of people are gathered around throwing coins into the spring, supposedly to bring good fortune if they hit the target.
When Brother Xiao Ma first saw the Prosperity Spring, he was completely stunned. Later, he found that all his tourists couldn't resist throwing coins, so since they couldn't beat him, they had to join in. From then on, every time he brought a tour group, he would carry some coins in his backpack so that tourists could exchange them with him.
In short, for such short trips, Brother Xiao Ma doesn't need to put in much effort to plan the itinerary. He only needs to bring the tourists to Clear Breeze Temple, and the tourists will naturally have a good time and enjoy themselves.
However, these early tourists were all short-distance travelers, which did not achieve Yun Zhaozhao's original intention for the cooperation. After all, Yun Zhaozhao's initial choice to cooperate with Brother Xiao Ma was not to attract tourists to Clear Breeze Temple, but to attract business for the guesthouses in Clear Breeze Temple.
So after a month of short-distance guided tours in March, Brother Xiao Ma launched "two-day, one-night" weekend tours in April. Because accommodation was involved, recruiting tourists became much more difficult, and more and more problems arose along the way.
For example, tourists might register in advance but then change their minds at the last minute.
Moreover, the daytime itinerary is quite tight, with eating, drinking, and sightseeing at Clear Breeze Temple, so time seems to fly by. However, if you need to stay overnight at a guesthouse near Clear Breeze Temple, then planning your evening itinerary will become a significant issue.
Jingting suggested to Brother Xiao Ma: "In the evenings, we could arrange for tourists to sing songs and practice Tai Chi Chuan at the guesthouses Clear Breeze Temple. After all, Clear Breeze Temple has a professional band..."
Brother Xiao Ma was shocked. "You Clear Breeze Temple even has a band?"
Jingting: "Ah, right, they offer a complete package of music, instruments, and singing; they're commonly known as a professional religious service team."
Brother Xiao Ma: "..."
Yun Zhaozhao pulled Jingting away. "Don't listen to Jingting's nonsense. In our Daoist temple guesthouse, you can enjoy tea in the evenings, and you can also listen to the old Daoist priest tell stories from the past."
Brother Xiao Ma frankly stated, "I have insomnia if I drink tea at night, and besides, I'm a materialistic person; cheap tea and expensive tea are the same to me, not even as good as water. They say that the right person leads the right tour group, but I'm afraid the tour groups I lead will be like me—wild boars that can't handle fine food."
Brother Li, who was in charge of the guesthouse management, had been in charge for more than half a year, so he had a thorough understanding of the guesthouse's operation. He shared his observations from the past six months with Yun Zhaozhao: "I researched the guesthouses in the area and found that those that were doing well were basically those that offered either good food or good entertainment. For example, some guesthouses not only had KTV, but also cinemas, billiard rooms, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, children's playgrounds... We initially wanted both tranquility and elegance, setting our standards too high. If we try to compete with them on these aspects now, we simply can't."
Yun Zhaozhao thought that what Xiao Li said actually made a lot of sense.
When she built this Daoist temple guesthouse, she only focused on improving the accommodation conditions and didn't consider that guests actually spend very little time sleeping. Besides sleep, guesthouse guests also have many other entertainment needs.
However, considering entertainment facilities like KTVs or home theaters at this point would not only be incompatible with the overall style of their Daoist temple guesthouse, but would also make it difficult to stand out in this guesthouse competition.
Actually, there are simple ways to break the deadlock. For example, you could transfer Daoist Chang Kong to Clear Breeze Guesthouse and then win over the guests' stomachs with the three daily meals. If the guests eat and stay well, the guest traffic might increase significantly.
However, this will create new problems. For example, there is only one Daoist Chang Kong. If he leaves, who will take over the Clear Breeze Temple's canteen? Furthermore, there is only one Daoist Chang Kong. Relying on him alone to attract customers is not a long-term solution.