Chapter 53 Hogging It All

The small amount of food left on the plates was merely the result of everyone putting on airs of restraint.

Observing this outcome, Jia Pingan didn't even need to ask to know how satisfied everyone was with the dishes on the third floor. "Gentlemen, now that we are well-fed and refreshed, why don't we step into the inner room for a while? There are plenty of wonderful novelties in there that you have never laid eyes on before."

At the mention of things they had never seen, Hu Buyun and the others immediately grew interested.

While they were far from matching the high-ranking ministers in the imperial court, they would certainly find it hard to accept that there were things in this world they had yet to encounter. Without further ado, they all stood up and headed toward the inner chambers.

Barely half an hour later, every single one of them was completely captivated.

Whether it was the unfamiliar board games or the various ways to play poker using different card suits, everything opened their eyes to an entirely new world. Once they started playing, they found it utterly impossible to stop.

Jia Pingan and Guo Tongfang, who had been introduced to these pastimes a few days earlier, took charge of teaching. It didn't take long for everyone to find something that sparked their interest, and they soon lost themselves in merriment following the rules.

Take Hu Buyun, the General of Ningguta, for instance. Initially, he had intended to merely have lunch here before leaving, considering how many official duties awaited a man of his military rank. Yet now, night had fallen, and it was nearly time for dinner, yet he showed not the slightest intention of leaving. Teamed up with Zhou Wenbing against Zheng Sihai and Guo Tongfang, the four of them were playing the card game Upgrade with such absorbing focus that they completely forgot about food and sleep, oblivious to their surroundings and the passing of time.

While everyone was engrossed in their entertainment, Jia Pingan quietly slipped away. Unlike them, he still needed to check on the feedback from the other patrons.

Needless to say, everyone else was having an equally splendid time.

On the first floor, the introduction of Magnificent Tea kept the working-class patrons lingering, and with a storyteller reciting Journey to the West, not a single person who came in had any desire to leave.

On the second floor, Bailuo Lan had played her rendition of *Ambush from Ten Sides* nearly ten times. The guests were so intoxicated by the music that they felt like immortals, unwilling to depart.

On the third floor, various fierce contests were already underway inside every private room. Once the talented entertainers stepped forward to explain the rules of the board and card games to the guests, not a single person expressed a wish to leave.

"Splendid. It appears we can turn a handsome profit on our very first day of business." After making a round from the first floor to the third, Jia Pingan's face radiated satisfaction.

As for those who brought congratulatory gift money to the opening ceremony, their lunch was complimentary, but dinner would have to come out of their own pockets. Since these people were all wealthy fat cats, whose silver was he supposed to pocket if not theirs?

As for the patrons on the first and second floors, the sales of Magnificent Tea alone had already extracted an untold amount of silver from their purses. Facts had proven that there was no shortage of wealthy individuals in Ningguta.

The Third Restaurant Under Heaven achieved an immediate blockbuster hit, making its grand debut in Ningguta City with an unexpected wave of popularity. One could easily imagine that for the days to come, everyone in the city would be talking about little else besides the Third Restaurant.

They say that happy times always pass quickly. It wasn't until night had completely settled and the hour reached Hai—around ten o'clock in the evening—that the Third Restaurant announced it was closing for the day. Only after receiving the notice did the patrons reluctantly begin to leave one by one.

"Is it already the hour of Hai? Time flies far too quickly." Hu Buyun, the General of Ningguta, wore a look of utter astonishment when Jia Pingan notified him, as their game of Upgrade was still undecided, currently tied at one game apiece.

He remembered having lunch just a short while ago; how on earth had it reached this hour already? Time truly slipped away far too swiftly.

Zheng Tianhai, the patriarch of the Zheng clan, wore a dazed expression when Jia Pingan entered to announce the restaurant's closing. But his face quickly darkened, and the moment he stepped out the front doors of the Third Restaurant, he commanded his personal attendant, "Go, summon all of them to the main courtyard immediately."

Zheng Tianhai sensed a formidable crisis.

Previously, he had assumed Jia Pingan was merely acting on adolescent impulse, having too much money with nowhere to spend it, which was why he wanted to set up a restaurant. But now, it was abundantly clear that this was not the case at all. The young man's restaurant was running exceptionally well—or rather, too well, to the point where it threatened to eclipse and crush the Zheng clan's own Wellspring Restaurant.

One could easily foresee that their family's restaurant would soon have zero business.

The Zheng clan had many members, but truly lucrative businesses were relatively few. Aside from their core trade of ginseng harvesting, they only had a restaurant, a brothel, and a gambling house that turned a steady profit.

These were known as the three pillars of the Zheng clan.

As for their other ventures, thanking the heavens was enough if they didn't end up losing money. Yet now, someone was coming to smash one of the Zheng clan's pillars. As the patriarch, how could he not feel anxious?

At this moment, Zheng Tianhai felt a pang of regret. Had he known Jia Pingan possessed so many clever tricks and could run a restaurant so brilliantly, he never would have sent men to help him build the place in the first place. No, he shouldn't have sold him that burned-down property to begin with.

However, playing the wise after the fact was clearly too late now. What he needed to do right now was pool everyone's wisdom, gather the core figures of the Zheng clan, and discuss how to counter the threat of the Third Restaurant.

Inside the main courtyard of the Zheng estate, Zheng Tianhai sat in the highest seat of honor, with the strategist Zheng Yugong seated to his left, and Zheng Denghao, the manager of the ginseng firm, seated to his right. As for Zheng Liyuan, the manager of Wellspring Restaurant, he sat hunched over at the very edge of the seating area with his head lowered.

He had attended the opening of the Third Restaurant today, and he counted as one of those whose eyes had been thoroughly opened.

What a true gap in quality meant, he finally understood. When he thought of his own Wellspring Restaurant, comparison only made it look like a piece of filth—the disparity was simply too vast.

If he were a mere diner, given the choice, he would undoubtedly choose to dine at the Third Restaurant. Even though its prices were noticeably higher than those at Wellspring Restaurant, he still would have made the exact same choice.

If even he thought this way, there was no need to speak of others.

The mere thought that Wellspring Restaurant would soon be deserted, and that he himself would soon be unemployed, made him lower his head in silence the moment he stepped into the old Zheng courtyard. He truly didn't know what to say.

In truth, there was no need for him to say anything; everyone could already feel the overwhelming formidable presence of the Third Restaurant.

"Speak, everyone. The Third Restaurant opened its doors today, and I presume our Zheng clan's Wellspring Restaurant will soon have no business left. What should our next course of action be?" As the patriarch and the initiator of this meeting, Zheng Tianhai delivered his opening remarks and then swept his gaze across the three men present.

"He comes with ill intentions," Zheng Yugong said as the first to speak, honestly voicing his inner assessment.

"Indeed so. Unless we make changes to match them, the restaurant's business is bound to plummet drastically." Though Zheng Denghao was usually a proud and haughty man, he had no choice but to admit that Jia Pingan's Third Restaurant was simply far, far superior to their own family establishment.

"Change to match them? How so?" Seeing that Zheng Denghao seemed to have some ideas, Zheng Tianhai prompted him.

"Well... we could buy some of their wonderful novelties and use them in our Wellspring Restaurant, and thus—"

Before Zheng Denghao could finish, Zheng Tianhai interrupted him directly, "You can dismiss that thought entirely; it is utterly impossible. I might as well speak plainly to you all: Jia Pingan that brat mentioned during lunch that whether it is Dukang liquor or Magnificent Tea, the quantities he holds are very small, and he refuses to sell them externally."

"What? Is he trying to monopolize everything for himself?" Hearing this, Zheng Liyuan immediately flared up like a cat with its fur bristling and leaped to his feet.

Ever since he walked out of the Third Restaurant, he had been racking his brains for countermeasures. Yet no matter how much he thought about it, imitation seemed to be his only recourse.

Yet now, Jia Pingan had actually declared that neither the Magnificent Tea nor the Dukang liquor would be sold externally. Didn't that completely cut off his path of imitation? How could this be allowed?

"He *is* trying to monopolize it. Can you idiots still not see that?" Seeing that Zheng Liyuan had only just figured this out, Zheng Tianhai barked in fury.

If this Jia Pingan hadn't wanted to hoard all the benefits for himself, he wouldn't have made those remarks during lunch. Since he had spoken them aloud, his stance was already crystal clear.

"Oh? Patriarch, did he say this right in front of you and the General?" Upon hearing this, Zheng Yugong's expression didn't show much fluctuation; he merely wished to confirm the facts.

"That's right, he said it right in front of the few of us." Speaking of this matter, Zheng Tianhai offered a helpless nod, confirming that this was indeed the case.

"Hmph, he certainly has grand ambitions. Does he truly believe our Zheng clan is so easily bullied?" Having obtained his answer, Zheng Yugong's face grew somewhat colder as he spoke.

"Bullied the Zheng clan? How can you speak of bullying?" Hearing his words, Zheng Tianhai looked surprised.

"Patriarch, isn't the situation as plain as day? The only profitable restaurant in all of Ningguta was our Wellspring, alongside the General's Mansion's Huancai Restaurant. But lately, under our suppression, Huancai Restaurant has long ceased to make a profit. If things continued, it might even start losing money. Therefore, whether the Third Restaurant opened or not posed no threat to the General's Mansion. So when you trace it all back, wasn't this meant to target our Zheng clan's restaurant?"

Zheng Yugong analyzed the situation for the group. The moment his words fell, the expressions of the three men in the room shifted simultaneously.

If looked at from this perspective, it truly was the case. Yet wasn't this Jia Pingan being far too arrogant? This was Ningguta, after all—their Zheng clan's territory. Even someone with powerful connections in the imperial palace like Zhou Wenbing had been subjected to a deliberate display of dominance by them during his establishment's opening. Yet this Jia Pingan dared to openly provoke the Zheng clan? What on earth gave him the confidence?

At that moment, everyone finally understood why Zheng Yugong had just said that Jia Pingan was bullying the Zheng clan.

"Patriarch, Master Strategist, I will go rally some men right now and smash the Third Restaurant to pieces!" Upon learning that Jia Pingan looked down upon their Zheng clan to such an extent, Zheng Liyuan stood up once more, his expression brimming with indignation and impulse.

"No, you must not." Just as those words left his mouth, the strategist Zheng Yugong spoke up to stop him.

"Why must we not?" Zheng Liyuan was currently boiling with anger, and even when facing Zheng Yugong, he showed no intention of restraining his fury.