Chapter 98: New Prices

The room ledger remained open on the counter long after Zhao Wei and Shen Yao disappeared along the eastern road.

Lin Yuan had been studying the recent entries for several minutes. The lodging price was still based on what he had charged when Blackstone was little more than an uncertain stop in the wasteland. At the time, finding people willing to stay overnight had mattered more than earning much from each room.

Now the problem had reversed.

Su Mei stood across from him, waiting patiently.

"Well?"

"I’m looking."

"You’ve been looking for a while."

"That’s how numbers work."

She gave him the patient expression she usually wore when he was clearly delaying a decision.

Lin Yuan turned another page. One recent night had six occupied rooms. Another had seven. A quieter evening dropped to five, but that was followed by a full house and another night with seven taken.

There were still occasional slow days, but the pattern was hard to ignore. More travelers were staying overnight, repeat customers were becoming common, and empty rooms were getting harder to find. The growing market and heavier traffic along the road had both contributed.

Even the rumors surrounding the buried structure had brought curious visitors, although Lin Yuan preferred not to count armed raiders as part of Blackstone’s growing reputation.

He tapped the ledger.

"Two low-grade spirit stones per room, per night."

Su Mei raised her eyebrows slightly.

"That’s a bigger increase than I expected. I thought you might raise it more slowly."

"I considered it," Lin Yuan admitted. "But if I’m changing the price, I’d rather keep it simple. Two stones are easy to collect and record, and travelers sharing a room can split the cost."

Su Mei thought about that before asking, "What about people who already reserved?"

"They pay the price we agreed on when they booked."

That required no thought. Changing an agreed price after accepting a reservation might earn him a little more once, but it was also a good way to make sure a customer remembered Blackstone for the wrong reason.

"The new rate only applies to new bookings," he added.

Su Mei nodded, apparently satisfied with the arrangement.

Qiao Ren chose that moment to enter the tavern.

He had developed an irritating talent for appearing whenever money was being discussed. The merchant noticed the open ledger immediately and pulled out a chair.

"You finally decided?"

"Two stones."

"For the rooms?"

"No. For standing near the counter."

Qiao Ren ignored the remark.

"Only two? I would have tried three."

Lin Yuan gave him a flat look.

"That is why you don’t set my prices."

"If the rooms keep filling, three wouldn’t be unreasonable."

"They were cheaper yesterday."

"And Blackstone was busy yesterday."

Lin Yuan glanced toward the patched section of the tavern entrance. The repairs were holding, but the damaged wood remained an unpleasant reminder of the raid.

"After everything that’s happened, I’d prefer customers to complain about prices instead of gathering outside with weapons."

Qiao Ren followed his gaze.

"That’s a very specific concern."

"I’ve had a very specific month."

That silenced him briefly.

Eventually, Qiao Ren nodded.

"Two is reasonable."

"Good. We finally agree."

"I still think three could work."

"You can charge three when you build guest rooms above your shop."

Qiao Ren glanced upward as if the ceiling had suddenly become worthy of careful study.

Lin Yuan immediately regretted giving him the idea.

"Don’t."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You were thinking."

"That’s still allowed."

"For now."

Su Mei left before the discussion became any less useful.

The next problem was making sure customers knew about the change.

Lin Yuan had no intention of announcing the new price as though he had achieved some great cultivation breakthrough, but he also didn’t want travelers reaching the counter only to discover the increase after deciding to stay.

Xiao Lan solved that problem with a small wooden board.

She spent several minutes writing carefully while Lin Yuan watched. When she finally finished, she held it up for inspection.

Guest Room — 2 Low-Grade Spirit Stones Per Night

"Good?"

Lin Yuan examined the writing.

"Readable."

Her expression fell.

"That’s all?"

"It’s a price board."

"I could decorate it."

"No."

"Only around the edges."

"No."

"A small cloud?"

Lin Yuan looked at her.

Xiao Lan slowly lowered the brush.

"Readable is fine."

They placed the board near the counter, where anyone entering the tavern would see it.

The first person to notice was a merchant who had stayed at Wandering Cloud Tavern several times over the past month.

He stopped in front of the board, looked at Lin Yuan, and then read the price again.

"When did this happen?"

"This morning."

"The room price went up."

"Yes."

The merchant studied him for a moment.

"How much if I complain?"

"Two."

"What if I complain for a long time?"

"Still two."

The merchant sighed.

"I should have reserved yesterday."

"That would have shown excellent foresight."

He glanced toward the staircase.

"Same rooms?"

"Unless Xiao Lan rebuilt them while I wasn’t looking."

From the kitchen entrance came an immediate reply.

"I didn’t!"

The merchant looked confused.

Lin Yuan decided it was better not to explain.

After another moment, the man placed two low-grade spirit stones on the counter.

"Fine. One room."

Lin Yuan accepted the payment, recorded the booking, and handed him a key.

Once the merchant had gone upstairs, Xiao Lan appeared beside the counter.

"He paid."

"I noticed."

"I thought he might leave."

"So did I."

Her eyes followed the spirit stones as Lin Yuan put them away.

"Maybe Qiao Ren was right about three."

Lin Yuan pointed toward the kitchen.

Xiao Lan disappeared before the price could rise any further.

Around midday, two traveling cultivators stopped in front of the price board.

One frowned.

"Two stones for one room? We stayed here before. It was cheaper."

"The price changed today," Lin Yuan explained.

"Why?"

Lin Yuan could have given them the full explanation: higher occupancy, increased road traffic, maintenance, the growing market, and travelers who had already started offering extra payment when the rooms were full.

Instead, he kept it simple.

"The rooms fill much more often now. The old rate no longer makes sense."

The cultivator glanced around the dining room. Several tables were occupied even though the evening rush was still hours away. Outside, merchants moved between the stalls while travelers stopped to inspect their goods.

His companion shrugged.

"We can share."

The first man still looked dissatisfied.

"For two stones?"

"One each," his companion reminded him.

That seemed to make the price more acceptable. After a brief discussion, they rented one room between them.

Lin Yuan watched them head upstairs.

Su Mei approached once they were out of earshot.

"You were worried."

"I was evaluating."

"You thought they might leave."

"That was one possible result of the evaluation."

She smiled slightly, and Lin Yuan returned his attention to the ledger.

Some resistance was expected. If nobody noticed a price increase at all, he had probably waited much too long to make it.

What mattered was whether travelers still considered the rooms worth paying for.

By evening, five rooms had been taken at the new rate. Two more belonged to guests who had reserved before the change, leaving only one room empty.

Lin Yuan checked the ledger again.

Seven occupied rooms on the first day of a higher price was a result he could live with. More importantly, the travelers who had questioned the new rate had still chosen to stay.

Qiao Ren came by after closing his shop and immediately asked about the bookings.

"How many?"

"Seven. Five at the new rate, two from earlier reservations."

"And the customers accepted it?"

"Two complained, but both stayed."

Qiao Ren looked far too pleased.

"Then perhaps three stones—"

"No."

"I hadn’t finished."

"You didn’t need to."

Qiao Ren laughed and accepted the tea Xiao Lan placed in front of him.

Lin Yuan looked at the ledger again.

Five rooms at the new rate already meant noticeably more lodging income than those same rooms would have produced before.

It wouldn’t solve Blackstone’s expenses by itself, but there was no shortage of places for the additional spirit stones to go.

The warning formation still needed repairs, parts of the market required proper rebuilding, and the tavern entrance was still relying on temporary work.

Those were only the problems already on his list.

Lin Yuan opened that list beside the ledger.

Near the bottom was an entry Xiao Lan had been far too pleased to discover earlier.

Bathing facilities — later.

He stared at it for a few seconds.

Qiao Ren noticed.

"What’s that?"

"Nothing."

"That usually means something expensive."

Lin Yuan covered the line with his hand, but Qiao Ren leaned sideways and read it anyway.

"Bathing facilities?"

Xiao Lan appeared from the kitchen almost immediately.

"I told him we should build a bathhouse."

Qiao Ren became interested at once.

"That could work."

Lin Yuan looked from one to the other.

"No."

"You wrote it down," Xiao Lan reminded him.

"I’m starting to understand why writing things down is dangerous."

Qiao Ren ignored the complaint.

"Travelers would pay to use one."

"I know."

"You already have a reliable water source, and people stay overnight regularly."

"I am aware of how my tavern works."

Qiao Ren took a drink of tea.

"Then what’s stopping you?"

Lin Yuan looked down at the list.

Money was the obvious answer, but it was hardly the only concern.

A proper bathhouse would need construction materials, heating, drainage, privacy, and enough space that it didn’t interfere with either the tavern or the market. It wasn’t something they could build simply by putting a large wooden tub in an empty corner.

Then there was the well.

The Spirit-Touched Well had reliably supplied water for drinking, cooking, and ordinary washing. Filling baths every day would place a very different demand on it.

Lin Yuan had no intention of assuming it could handle that much simply because it had never given him trouble before.

"I need to know what building one would actually require," he said. "And how much water it would use."

Xiao Lan brightened immediately.

"That means you’re considering it."

"It means I’m considering finding out how expensive your idea is."

"That still counts."

Lin Yuan glanced toward Su Mei.

She was very deliberately wiping a table that already looked clean.

He suspected he was outnumbered.

The final room was taken shortly before closing.

A lone traveler arrived from the west, covered in enough dust that Lin Yuan suspected the man would soon become another argument in favor of better bathing facilities.

The traveler stopped at the price board.

"Two stones?"

Lin Yuan prepared himself for another discussion.

The man simply placed two low-grade spirit stones on the counter.

"One room."

Lin Yuan handed over the key, and the traveler went upstairs without trying to bargain.

For a moment, Lin Yuan remained behind the counter, looking at the ledger.

All eight rooms were occupied. Six had been booked at the new price, while two belonged to earlier reservations.

Su Mei came over and checked the page.

"Well?"

Lin Yuan closed the ledger.

"We keep the price."

She nodded.

"You sound disappointed."

"I expected more resistance."

"Would you prefer complaints?"

"No."

"Then stop looking for problems."

Lin Yuan considered that questionable advice.

Problems had shown a remarkable ability to reach Blackstone without any help from him.

Still, the first day had answered the question that mattered. The higher price hadn’t emptied the rooms, and Blackstone had grown enough for the tavern to change with it.

He looked around the dining room as the last tables were cleared.

Travelers were already beginning to expect more from Wandering Cloud Tavern. Some wanted comfortable rooms, others wanted better washing facilities, and as Blackstone grew, there would probably be more requests that had never mattered when the tavern was small.

Every useful new service also seemed to bring another cost with it.

For weeks, much of Lin Yuan’s attention had been fixed on what might be buried beneath Blackstone. He was ready to spend some time dealing with what was growing above it instead.

He opened the improvement list again and looked at the bathhouse entry.

After a moment, he moved it higher.