Cultivation Daddy

Chapter 190: Chapter 189: Opening Day

When Li Jain returned to the residence that night, his eyes lit up. Everyone is back, he has a full house again. He was worried that they wouldn’t make it back in time, after all tomorrow is opening day.

The exhaustion from spending the entire day at District Seven supervising the final details of the renovation was suddenly lifted off his shoulders. He headed straight for a bath. He added calming spiritual herbs to the hot water, which did wonders to soothe his aching muscles and clear his cluttered mind.

After his bath, he put on comfortable, loose-fitting robes and dried his damp hair with a towel.

He then made his way to the dining room, he knew the children were waiting there, he saw them when he came in.

As expected, he found Jingxuan and Jingsheng carefully setting down plates on the dining table. The aroma of freshly cooked dishes, steaming bowls of spiritual rice, stir-fried vegetables, and a perfectly seasoned soup filled the air.

As soon as the children noticed him entering, they looked over nervously. It was clear they still felt guilty about their behavior from last night. Li Jain’s heart softened at the sight. He didn’t want them to keep carrying that weight or feeling uneasy around him over a minor mistake.

"Smells incredible," Li Jain said, his voice warm and deliberate as he took his seat at the table:

"Did you two make all of this?"

Jingsheng looked up hesitantly, his small face still carrying a trace of worry: "Yes, Father. We... we wanted to make sure you had a proper meal after working so hard today."

"We chose the ingredients ourselves." Li Jingxuan added quietly, sneakily glancing at Li Jain’s expression.

Li Jain smiled warmly. Without another word, he picked up his chopsticks and took a large bite of the stir-fried vegetables, followed by a spoonful of the hot soup. The flavors were simple but prepared with obvious care. With a bit more practice, his children would be genius little chefs.

"This is absolutely delicious." Li Jain praised: ’The seasoning is perfect, and the soup is incredibly rich. You’ve both improved so much."

To prove his words, Li Jain ate with gusto, making sure to clear every single dish on the table. He didn’t leave a single grain of rice behind. Watching him eat so heartily, the tension in the children’ shoulders gradually melted away. Li Jingxuan’s serious expression broke into a proud smile, and his brother let out a sigh of relief. The others that were listening in also breathed a sigh of relief.

"I’m glad you liked it, Father. Whenever you want to eat something, just say the word and I will make it." Jingsheng said, his posture returning to its usual upright state.

Jingxuan didn’t want to be outdone and quickly said: "Don’t sound all mighty. Father also likes my food, I can also cook for him."

Jingsheng frowned: "Come up with your own thing to say, why target me?"

Li Jain got up and pats their heads gently: "Alright, now go get some rest, tomorrow is going to be a big day, and I want you all to sleep well."

...

Once the children had left, Li Jain gathered his thoughts and summoned his employees to the main sitting room. One by one, they filed in and greeted Li Jain.

Once they were all seated, Li Jain said: "Now that everyone is back, we need to discuss the opening. As you all know, the renovations are complete. The restaurant is much bigger now, we’ve expanded the seating capacity, added private dining rooms from the third floor upwards, and the kitchen is twice its original size. With a larger venue, our operations must adjust."

He turned his gaze to Liu Xiong and Ding Weiyuan: "Liu Xiong, Ding Weiyuan, your responsibilities will remain the same. You will still be in charge of collecting high-quality spiritual ingredients. With the increased size of the tavern, we will need a steady and abundant supply. I trust you both to manage this."

Liu Xiong gave a slow nod, his dark eyes fixed on Li Jain: "Leave it to us. The ingredients will be of the highest quality."

Ding Weiyuan chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck: "Don’t worry, Master. We’ve got this."

Li Jain smiled, then looked at Zhou Lifen: "Zhou Lifen, you will remain at the gate. I need you to do whatever you can to deter troublemakers before they even step through the door. We can’t afford for things to go wrong tomorrow."

Zhou Lifen bowed lightly: "I will keep the gate secure, Master."

"As for Fu Seng," Li Jain continued, turning to the young man who was sitting slightly behind Zhou Lifen: "You have a new position. Since we are expanding, we will be offering a delivery service for customers who want our dishes but cannot get a table. You will be in charge of delivering orders across the city."

Fu Seng’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. He hadn’t expected a role that required him to move around the city so much. He glanced at Zhou Lifen, then back at Li Jain, bowing quickly: "I... I will do my best, Master."

Li Jain said to Bai Lian and Hou Mingyu: "Bai Lian, Hou Mingyu, the two of you will stay indoors to serve the customers. With the larger floor plan, you will need to coordinate closely to ensure no table is neglected. It’s going to be busy. If you two can’t manage, I will consider hiring more workers later."

Bai Lian smiled: "Do not worry, Master. It won’t be much, we will ensure every customer feels welcomed."

Hou Mingyu remained stoic but nodded firmly in agreement.

"We are still short of staff for a tavern of this size." Li Jain admitted, sighing slightly: "But it’s OK for now. We will manage with what we have. However, there will inevitably be eyes on us. I want everyone to watch out for trouble, just be vigilant. If anyone causes a scene, handle it quickly but professionally."

"And if they don’t listen?" Liu Xiong asked, his voice low, but the danger in it couldn’t be hidden.

Li Jain frowned: ’Then Zhou Lifen can throw them out. I don’t want my newly bought tavern to be destroyed."

A brief chuckle spread through the room. Everyone knew he was hitting on Liu Xiong. They were all curious about Liu Xiong’s actual strength. After the discussion, Li Jain dismissed them to get some rest.

...

The opening day finally arrived. Li Jain had deliberately scheduled the opening on the weekend so it wouldn’t interfere with the children’s school schedule. The twins had been eager to help, and he wanted them to be able to watch the grand opening without worrying about their lessons.

At six o’clock in the morning, the sky was still deem, but outside was unexpectedly lively. The Spiritual Tavern was scheduled to open its gates at eight, but when Li Jain and his group arrived at District Seven, they were met with an unbelievable sight.

A massive crowd had already formed, lining up outside the gate. The queue stretched down the street and wrapped around the corner. Words of the spiritual dishes and the grand expansion had spread like wildfire through the city.

"Are they crazy?" Li Zhang muttered, staring at the crowd: "It’s only six in the morning."

"Look, some of them brought chairs," Li Yuhan whispered, his eyes wide open in disbelief.

Among the crowd, Li Jain recognized several familiar faces. Those old guys from Qingyang Town were also here.

Several people stood near the entrance holding number plates they had made themselves, arguing over who came first:

"What number are you?"

"Number twelve."

"You wrote that yourself!"

"So did you!"

"I arrived before sunrise."

"So did everyone else!"

"People are going to enter according to the line, not your dumb number plates."

As Li Jain and his group approached the entrance, they realized the path to the gate was completely blocked. To get inside, they had no choice but to force their way through the dense crowd.

"Excuse us, please let us through,’ Bai Lian said politely, trying to guide Li Jain forward.

But the eager cultivators in line were not pleased.

"Hey! No cutting!’ a burly cultivator in the front shouted, glaring at them. ’We’ve been waiting here since four AM! Get to the back of the line!"

"Yeah! Just because you’re dressed nicely doesn’t mean you get special treatment!" another complained, crossing his arms.

"It’s those big families, shoving their weight wherever they go."

"Even if you are from a big family, you cannot cut in front of everyone."

Li Jain was not angry. He only said gently: "Excuse me, we need to go in first."

A man in gray robes frowned: "Everyone needs to go in. That does not mean you can cut."

Before Li Jain could explain, an old customer immediately spoke up: "Are you blind? This is Owner Li."

The man froze: "Owner Li?"

"The owner of Spiritual Tavern!"

The gray-robed man’s face changed at once.

Another person quickly stepped aside: "Owner Li, please go in."

Someone else laughed awkwardly: "We did not recognize you. Please don’t take it to heart."

"We are the staff," Bai Lian said calmly: "The tavern won’t open if we can’t get inside."

The crowd quickly parted, creating a wide path for them. The burly cultivator who had complained swallowed hard, sweating profusely, and kept his head down as they walked past.

Once they finally enter inside, the heavy doors close behind them.

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