Chapter 8

After tasting the dishes, the young man in the purple robe stood up, clasped his hands towards Li Qi, and praised, "I never expected that a young man like you would have such exquisite culinary skills. Even compared to the imperial chefs, you would not be inferior."

Imperial chefs? Could he be from the imperial palace?

Li Qi was startled in his heart, but his face remained calm as he smiled and said, "As the saying goes, a scholar will die for a true friend. A good chef's most important task is to meet someone who appreciates good food. I just heard your evaluation of each dish, and it was truly spot-on. I believe you must have tasted many delicacies. It is truly an honor to cook for you."

It must be said that Li Qi's flattery was perfectly timed and left no trace.

The young man in the purple robe was quite pleased, laughed heartily, and said, "I never expected that a young man like you would not only have excellent culinary skills but also be so witty. Meeting you today has truly been a worthwhile trip. But may I ask for your name?"

"My name is Li Qi," Li Qi said, clasping his hands.

"Originally, it's Brother Li, nice to meet you," the young man in the purple robe clasped his hands towards Li Qi, seemingly not intending to reveal his own name. He nodded slightly to his attendant.

The attendant immediately took out two silver ingots from his chest and handed them to Li Qi, saying, "This is our young master's reward for you."

Wu Xiaoliu's eyes gleamed with excitement. There were fifty taels of silver here, more than their monthly income.

From this, it could be seen how poor the Drunken Immortal Inn's business had been this month.

The young man in the purple robe said, "A small token of appreciation, I hope Brother Li will not refuse."

Li Qi had no intention of refusing. After all, eating should be paid for. He smiled and said, "Then I will not decline." He took the silver and handed it to Wu Xiaoliu.

Seeing Li Qi's readiness, the young man in the purple robe's eyes flashed with approval. He quickly invited Li Qi to sit down, and the two chatted and ate, enjoying themselves.

After a satisfying meal, the young man in the purple robe saw that it was getting late and got up to take his leave. Before leaving, he said he would definitely come again.

Li Qi saw him off to the door, then returned, sighing softly with a look of regret. In fact, he was very dissatisfied with the three dishes he had just made. If it were in the past, such a level of dish would have been thrown in the trash before it even left the kitchen.

This was not because his culinary skills had declined, but because he had not prepared adequately and the ingredients were limited. This was already his best effort, and it was not easy to achieve such a result.

Li Qi was very clear that the reason the young man in the purple robe praised the three dishes so highly was entirely due to their novelty and unique flavors. It should be noted that stir-frying only began in the Northern Song Dynasty, and generally, only imperial chefs or chefs from large restaurants would stir-fry. But for Li Qi, stir-frying was something he was extremely familiar with. It was no exaggeration to say that in the Northern Song Dynasty, when it came to stir-frying, he would be second to none.

"Brother Li, the stir-fried pork you made is really delicious."

As soon as Li Qi returned to the hall, he saw Wu Xiaoliu wolfing down the leftover stir-fried pork, his mouth full of oil, and speaking indistinctly.

Even Wu Furong picked up his chopsticks to taste the three leftover dishes, though not as exaggerated as Wu Xiaoliu, his face was full of surprise.

For such simple praise as "delicious," Li Qi usually ignored it. He walked over, sat next to Wu Furong, and smiled, "Uncle Wu, what do you think?"

"Very good! Really very good, young brother. I never expected your culinary skills to be so excellent. I really misjudged you," Wu Furong said with a sigh.

"Of course! Uncle, didn't you hear what the young master said? Brother Li's culinary skills can be compared to those of the imperial chefs," Wu Xiaoliu said. Then he seemed to remember something and sighed, "If the lady hadn't decided to sell the inn, we could have asked Brother Li to be our head chef at the Drunken Immortal Inn. The business would definitely be much better then."

"Sell the inn?"

Li Qi's face tightened, and he asked, "Uncle Wu, why are you selling the inn?"

Wu Furong sighed, "Young brother, I'm sure you've noticed that our business has been quite cold lately."

Li Qi nodded slightly. It was not just cold; it was practically deserted.

Actually, Li Qi had wanted to ask about this topic for a long time. The Drunken Immortal Inn's location was absolutely a prime spot in Bianjing. The business should not be this bad. The root cause was the lack of a good chef. Li Qi had tasted Zhou Shifu's cooking, and it was so bad that it was hard to describe. With such a chef, it was hard to stay in business. However, Zhou Shifu was usually very kind to him, so he did not want to bring it up.

Since Li Qi came to the Drunken Immortal Inn, Wu Furong had never treated him as an outsider. He sighed heavily and told him the whole story.

It turned out that the Drunken Immortal Inn was founded by a wealthy family surnamed Qin. This family had been running the inn for three generations and was considered a well-known old brand in Tokyo Bianliang.

The Drunken Immortal Inn was not always like this. It was once a household name, with the inn almost always full, and the business was booming.

However, a few years ago, the then owner, who was young, suddenly died, and he had no children. So he had to hand the inn over to his wife, the current Lady Qin. However, Lady Qin knew nothing about business and rarely came to the inn. She then handed the responsibility to Wu Furong.

When Li Qi heard that Lady Qin had handed the inn to Wu Furong, he knew that this was probably the key reason for the Drunken Immortal Inn's decline. He knew that Wu Furong was a kind and honest person with no guile. Such a person could manage the inn, but not make decisions. In business, without some cunning and ruthlessness, failure was inevitable.

Wu Furong could be considered a two-generation veteran. He had been a helper at the Drunken Immortal Inn since he was very young and was later promoted to manager because he could read and write. He was very familiar with the inn's operations. In the first two years after he took over, the business was still okay, though there was no improvement, it was still stable.

Until two years ago, the Emerald Pavilion suddenly rose, and the Drunken Immortal Inn began to decline. It was said that the owner of the Emerald Pavilion was originally a chef in the house of the Marquis of Lu, Cai Jing. His original surname was Qiu, but he changed it to Cai after entering the Cai family. He was known as Cai Yewai, a ruthless and unscrupulous person. Within half a year of the Emerald Pavilion's opening, Cai Yewai used some means to poach several of the Drunken Immortal Inn's top chefs, even the helpers. This left the Drunken Immortal Inn in a state of no one to use.

With no choice, Wu Furong had to bring back Zhou Shifu to be the head chef. Zhou Shifu was originally the Drunken Immortal Inn's top chef and a two-generation veteran. He had retired for several years and was originally planning to enjoy his retirement. However, seeing the Drunken Immortal Inn in trouble, he stepped forward to help. Unfortunately, his taste had deteriorated, and the dishes he made were too heavy, making them hard for most people to eat.

From then on, the Drunken Immortal Inn's business plummeted, and most of the regular customers left. The most critical issue was that Wu Furong, to save face for Zhou Shifu, kept this a secret. Later, he hired a few new chefs, but their skills were average, and the business did not improve. These chefs left after a few months, and even the helpers left, leaving only Wu Xiaoliu.

In the past six months, the Drunken Immortal Inn had been losing money every day. Over the years, the capital had been almost depleted, and Lady Qin's mind was not on the business. So she decided to sell the Drunken Immortal Inn. She called Wu Furong and Zhou Shifu to her house to discuss the sale. Though it was called a discussion, everyone knew that selling the inn was the only way out.

What a dramatic story, it could be made into a TV series. Li Qi sighed and asked, "Have you found a buyer yet?"

Speaking of this, Wu Furong's face was full of worry, and he shook his head, "The Drunken Immortal Inn is not too big or too small. There are not many people who can afford to buy it. If someone has not run an inn before, they are generally not willing to spend so much silver to buy the Drunken Immortal Inn."

"Why not find someone in the same industry? There are so many inns in Bianjing. Surely there must be one willing to buy it?"

Li Qi was quite puzzled. Not to mention the excellent location of the Drunken Immortal Inn, if it were in his time, there would be a lot of people vying to buy it.

Wu Furong shook his head and sighed, "You don't know. Although the inn industry in Bianjing is flourishing, with over seventy inns of various sizes, most of them are hesitant to take the risk because the Drunken Immortal Inn is close to the Emerald Pavilion, which is a rising star and is now at its peak. In my opinion, the only ones who could buy the Drunken Immortal Inn and not fear the Emerald Pavilion are the Fanlou in the East City and the Yanglou in the North City. However, the Fanlou is already the most prosperous inn in Bianjing, with branches throughout the city, so the chances of them buying the Drunken Immortal Inn are slim. The owner of the Yanglou is very conservative, and I have talked to them about this, but they seem to have no interest."

"In that case, isn't the only option left the Emerald Pavilion?" Li Qi asked, frowning. This was definitely not good news for the Drunken Immortal Inn.

Wu Furong sighed and nodded.

"Since that's the case, wouldn't Cai Yewai try to lower the price as much as possible?" Li Qi asked. At this point, any ruthless businessman would try to squeeze you dry. After all, you are the one in a hurry, not them. The longer you wait, the more you lose.

Wu Furong was slightly taken aback, a look of surprise flashing in his eyes, and he smiled, "I never expected that a young brother like you would not only have excellent culinary skills but also be very knowledgeable about business."

Li Qi smiled but did not speak. Such tactics were common in his time, even a bun seller would know them.

Wu Furong nodded and said, "Actually, last month, the lady asked me to sound out Cai Yewai. He said he could only offer four thousand guan, but I calculated that the Drunken Immortal Inn is worth at least eight thousand guan."

That was a very low price. Li Qi smiled bitterly, "What does the lady plan to do now?"

"The lady's idea is to wait another month. If no one is willing to buy it, she will have to sell it to Cai Yewai," Wu Furong sighed.

Li Qi knew that the Drunken Immortal Inn would most likely end up in Cai Yewai's hands.