Chapter 152: A Letter from Highness Cheng

The admission fee was one tale of silver, but the customers needed to pay extra for robes and massage service.

Shen Chi looked at the account book and said, "There are many people buying bathrobes!"

Chen Xiao Cai nodded, "Yeah! It looks like they all like the idea of having their own bathrobes."

Customers who bought the bathrobes could either take the robes home or deposit the robes in the cabinets so they could use whenever they came back.

One bathrobe was sold for 500 cents, and one session of massage serviced was about the same price, but not a lot of customers were willing to give massage service a try.

People in this time and space were more conservative in general, they had some antipathy towards being touched by strangers.

Shen Chi glanced at Chen Xiao Cai and asked, "Hey, how did Lin Ge think of providing massage service in the resort? I've never even heard of such thing called massage."

Chen Xiao Cai shook his head, "I don't know, either."

In fact, at first, when Lu Lin told Chen Xiao Cai that he wanted to launch massage service in the resort, Chen Xiao Cai felt very uncomfortable. He felt that kind of service was a little out of place, but Lu Lin explained the service fully at ease.

'How did Lin Ge think of this? Could it originate from Lin Ge and Big Brother's bedroom activities?' thought Chen Xiao Cai, he then shook his head violently as if he wanted to shake that idea out of his brain, 'No! It must be Lin Ge, he is always full of novel ideas, it must be him.'

Shen Chi looked at Chen Xiao Cai and asked in confusion, " Why do you blush crimson? What are you thinking about? You look so strange."

Chen Xiao Cai lowered his head, "Nothing."

Shen Chi tilted his head and held his chin. "I've met anyone like Lin Ge, it seems that he can always come up with new ideas."

Chen Xiao Cai nodded, "Yeah! Our life will never be boring with him being part of it."

Shen Chi looked at the account book and said, "How strange, there are a lot of people buying buffet tickets, but each entry ticket comes with two buffet tickets for free."

Chen Xiao Cai leaned in and checked the account book, "Yeah, that's indeed strange!"

The customers could stay as long as they wanted with an entry ticket, so some of them chose to stay for even two or three days, they had to buy more buffet tickets after they spent the two buffet tickets came with the entry ticket.

"I heard that customers all speak highly of the food. They like the way how buffet works."

Shen Chi nodded, "See? That's another genius idea from Lin Ge, of the customers like the idea of all-you-can-eat, but to be honest, we are still getting a profit even though the customers think they are the winning party."

The resort took their reputation seriously, so all the food were carefully prepared and cooked, they only serve the best quality food to the customers.

"I think people are just fascinated by buffets, the concept is very new," Chen Xiao Cai said.

Chen Xiao Cai felt glad that he didn't hire too many masseurs right from the start, because most customers were still not willing to give that a try.

'People will be more and more open-minded, or maybe I can launch some free massage sessions to promote it,' thought Chen Xiao Cai.

The number of customers dropped drastically on the third day after the grand opening day. Essentially, 1 tale of silver was too much for common people, and the rich young masters wouldn't spend so many days in a row in the resort.

However, Chen Xiao Cai made about 200 taels of silver within just 3 days, that was a huge relief for him. He invested about 600 tales in the resort, he was optimistic the resort would start to make profit soon.

"Cai, we should feel proud, we took risks and now it pays off!" Shen Chi said.

Chen Xiao Cai nodded, "Yeah! Quite a few people are visiting the resort from the surrounding towns."

"Although that is the case, we still need to come up with new ways to attract new customers, there are way less customers today than yesterday, " Shen Chi said worriedly.

Chen Xiao Cai hired a large group of employees in the resort, the chef team, the masseur team, the cleaning team, the laundry team... ... Shen Chi couldn't help but get worried about the spending.

Chen Xiao Cai nodded and said, "For the time being, there's no need to worry. Lin Ge said that if there's really no business, we'll do some lucky draw activities in the hotpot restaurant and give out some free admission tickets, invite people over for free."

Shen Chi glanced at Chen Xiao Cai and said, "For free!"

Chen Xiao Cai said with an assuring smile, "Yes, they can enter the resort for free, but they will spend money in the dining hall, there are more than one way to stimulate consumption, but now we are pretty safe."

Shen Chi nodded and said, "Yeah, that's a great backup plan, but I've noticed there are a lot of merchants from Liao Dynasty inviting their potential business partners in our resort talking about business."

"Yeah, see, no need to worry. I think things are looking great for us," Chen Xiao Cai said.

......

In the capital city.

There were several restaurants added hotpot in their specialties.

Even though Lu Lin had only shared the soup base recipe with Highness Cheng, some chefs were able to imitate the soup base after they tried it in Highness Cheng's exclusive gatherings. Some restaurants had even launched new flavors like sweet and sour, tomato-based, seafood-based.

Highness Cheng was taking a stroll on the street to kill time this day and he was attracted by a shop sign, "Oh, how great, now there's one more restaurant claims that they do authentic hotpot."

"Yeah, Your Highness, would you like to give it a try?" replied a page respectfully.

Highness Cheng pouted and said, "No need. It must be another copycat. I've tried a few already, alas, that just makes me miss Sha County even more!" The page nodded.

"When can I go back to Sha County again?" Highness Cheng narrowed his eyes and said with anticipation.

The butler who stood behind Highness Cheng's back stepped forward with a worried look, "Your Highness, please don't get too carried away."

The butler still shuddered with fear whenever he thought about last time when Highness Cheng insist on staying in Sha County after the emperor rushed him back to the capital city.

Highness Cheng played with the folding fan in hand and said, "I'm just talking, I don't have a good excuse to leave the capital city at the moment. I heard that Lu Lin and Xiao Cai have invented a new dish called Roast Whole Lamb, they held an auction for that, damn that Gao boy who got the lamb with 80 taels of silver! I would get the lamb for sure if I were still in Sha County. Don't you agree?"

"Of course, Your Highness! I think all the young boys would flee in dejection if they saw you at the auction."

Highness Cheng rubbed his chin and said, "I heard that Ji Yun An and Chen Xiao Mai are engaged. This Ji kid has a good taste!"

Ji Yun An became the talk of town when he passed the highest imperial examination. Quite a number of high-ranking officials meant to betroth their daughters to him, but that young man turned them all down, and now he was engaged to a Bio boy who knew nothing about politics from Sha County.

The news that Ji Yun An was engaged to Chen Xiao Mai cause an uproar in the capital city. But Highness Cheng gave Ji Yun An a thumbs up in his heart.

"Your Highness, people all say that Chen Xiao Mai is retarded!"

"A man of great wisdom often appears slow-witted, that how I see Xiao Mai, he just has a golden heart, Ji Yun An is one lucky boy!" said Highness Cheng, "Plus, do you know what a great chef Mai is!"

The butler smiled dryly and thought to himself, "But this is a marriage, a young master always wants to marry a young lady from an influential family for a better official career."

Highness Cheng now thought about the pancakes Mai made for him and he smacked his lips, how he wished to go back to Sha County now!

Highness Cheng played with the handle on his fan and said to himself, "Hmm, both Ji boy are Mai have reached marriageable age, they should get married soon. They held an engagement banquet in Sha County, that's sweet, but I think they should hold their wedding in the capital city."

The butler looked at Highness Cheng who was absorbed in thought and thought to himself, 'Your Highness, Ji Yun An still has his family to worry about his wedding and stuff, what does it have to do with you!'

"Your Highness, are you thinking about..."

"Chen Xiao Mai and Ji Yun An are both young talents. It's a match made in heaven, they should get married as soon as possible!"

The butler made a face and thought to himself, 'Yeah, Young Master Ji is a young talent, but are you sure Chen Xiao Mai is also a young talent? It seems like Ji Yun An's father Zhao Heng dislikes Chen Xiao Mai.'

......

In the county yamen.

Lu Lin looked at the letter in his hand and he was utterly speechless.

Chen Xiao Mi walked into the house and looked at Lu Lin who was in a daze, "Is everything all right?"

Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiao Mi and said, "I just got a letter from Highness Cheng."

Chen Xiao Mi asked curiously, "What did His Highness say?"

"His Highness asked when Mai and Ji Yun An are getting married, he said he would love to be their matchmaker."

Chen Xiao Mi looked so confused, "But they are already engaged, how does that work? They don't need a matchmaker."

Lu Lin smiled and said, "Haha, I guess Highness Cheng really appreciates this young couple, and he knows Ji Yun An's father is creating difficulties, so he is trying to smooth the path for the couple."

Chen Xiao Mi nodded and said, "That's so considerate of him! Zhao Heng probably wouldn't say anything now that His Highness offers to be the matchmaker."

Lu Lin suppressed a laughter and said, "His Highness also said he would love to try some Roast Whole Lamb made by Mai."

Chen Xiao Mi and Lu Lin exchanged a look and said, "His Highness is like a child, so he is inviting the young couple to the capital city so he can have the lamb and hold their wedding."

"I didn't expect that the name of Roast Whole Lamb would reach the capital city," Lu Lin said.

Chen Xiao Mi said, "There are so many young masters from the capital city in our county, they must have mentioned it in the letter."

Lu Lin frowned and said, "Let's talk to Mai and Ji Yun An about this. We cannot ignore His Highness's letter."

Chen Xiao Mi nodded and said, "You have a point."