Lu Lingyun only glanced at Cheng Yunshuo and the other before focusing on the table laden with food. There were cold dishes, hot dishes, snacks, and main courses, as well as barbecued meat skewers and bright red watermelon juice squeezed to its essence. “Indeed quite novel.” She had to say, the various novelties concocted by Xing Dai Rong were truly eye-catching. Especially the charcoal-grilled skewers and the watermelon juice squeezed into a drink. Regardless of anything else, those two were undoubtedly novel. The taste was also good. In her past life, perhaps because Lu Han Yi was wholeheartedly focused on competing for favor with Xing Dai Rong and because Qin Shi was in charge of the household, she had never heard of Xing Dai Rong creating a self-service restaurant. In this life, she let those two do their thing, allowing Xing Dai Rong to come up with new things. Regardless of the cost, it truly broadened her horizons. Lu Lingyun was not someone unwilling to learn from the strengths and advantages of others. If someone was in her sights, even if they had flaws, she would find their merits. She was happy to learn from anything she found good. For instance, besides the two novel dishes that she had tried, she had learned a new form of accounting from Kang Ping’s ledgers. “Young Madam, this is called one two three four five six seven eight nine ten, Miss Xing says it’s an Arabic number, and it makes keeping track of the accounts easier.” Lu Lingyun took a sip of the sweet watermelon juice, and the nearby Kang, the manager, presented her with a ledger showcasing the cost of the first day of business. Lu Lingyun quickly understood the meaning of these numbers, and nodded. “Your total cost for the day is fifty taels of silver?” “Yes.” “At this rate, how many more people can we accommodate before we break even?” “Young Madam, we won’t be able to break even!” Kang Ping’s face turned sour as he looked at Lu Lingyun. “Suddenly, over two hundred people flooded in, and all the ingredients we prepared have run out! Today was even half price!” Now, downstairs, it wasn’t about picking and choosing what was cheap or expensive; snacks, cold dishes, hot dishes, and grilled meat had all been snatched up. Even the steamed and boiled dishes were emptied. Xing Dai Rong had assumed that a person would eat at most two or three pounds of food, but in reality, how many people in this era had ever eaten their fill? She had set the prices low, and the people flooding in were all common folk. With unlimited food available, they filled their stomachs to the brim, utterly unaware of what it meant to overeat. It was common to see people eating seven or eight pounds, even ten pounds in a single sitting. Furthermore, many of their stomachs were like those of cattle, able to regurgitate their food. They would gorge themselves during a feast, only to gradually digest it later. A group of women with green eyes, their hunger insatiable, crammed food into their stomachs, intending to induce vomiting later so they could feed their children. With such kindhearted people doing charity, they had to eat their fill. “There were quite a few elderly and children among them. I roughly estimated that today’s revenue was at most six or seven taels of silver, meaning we lost nine out of ten.” Lu Lingyun blinked and waved her hand at him, whispering a mysterious instruction. Kang Ping received the order and said, “Yes, Young Madam.” He went downstairs. Lu Lingyun’s mood remained excellent despite the losses. She thought, firstly, it was a good deed, and secondly, it would force Cheng Yunshuo and Xing Dai Rong, these two celestial beings who were oblivious to the realities of the world, to finally remove the veil of luxury that clouded their vision. It was impossible to forcefully awaken those whose minds were solely filled with passion and idealism; mediocrity and reality would eventually kill them, and only then would they see each other’s true selves. She had prepared that side of them. Kang Ping descended downstairs and quickly posted a “Closed” sign outside Ju Fu Lou. Seeing that he was closing so early, Xing Dai Rong quickly pulled Cheng Yunshuo over. “Why are you closing so early?” “Miss, all the food is gone, we can’t keep up with the demand.” Xing Dai Rong proudly raised her head, “I told you to prepare more! My business is so good, we can’t even keep up with the sales!”
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