Universe Infinite Canteen

After the Gold Medal Producer joined, Ma Lu had collected a total of 2316 management points in the next five days. Enjoy new adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

Once he had the management points in hand, Ma Lu couldn't wait to start playing with restaurant renovation.

He first replaced the cheap, second-hand chairs that matched those of the original canteen with upholstered seats made of black walnut wood, and then switched the dining tables to black walnut as well.

Afterward, he also changed the lightbulbs overhead. Lighting is actually very important for a restaurant because it directly affects the appearance of the dishes and the dining atmosphere, especially in the evening. Good lighting can make the dishes on the table look even more appealing.

Previously, Ma Lu had cut corners with the lighting to save money, and once he had earned some money, he found the remodeling too much of a hassle, so he never attended to it again. He was depending on Old Wang's presentation to save the visual aspect.

But now that he could solve this problem with a flick of his fingers, there was no reason to delay, so he replaced all the previous incandescent bulbs with full-spectrum strip pendant lights that allowed adjustment of color temperature and brightness, hanging about 75 centimeters above the dining tables.

In addition, he placed a vase on each table, immediately enhancing the atmosphere.

But this made the original flooring and walls of the hot pot restaurant seem out of place. Ma Lu changed the floor to herringbone solid wood, but by then, his over two thousand management points were almost depleted.

There weren't enough tiles for the walls, so that had to wait until the next week.

Even though the renovation was only half done, it still shocked the dining customers, some of whom thought Boss Ma was planning to raise the prices.

Because previously, Universe Infinite Canteen had a battle-worn décor and dared to charge hundreds for a single dish. Now that the renovation had upgraded the place, wouldn't the prices have to double?@@novelbin@@

Some apprehensive patrons approached Ma Lu to inquire, and ended up receiving both good news and bad news.

The good news was that Universe Infinite Canteen had no plans to raise prices recently, but the bad news was that their inquiry reminded Ma Lu that he could indeed increase the dish prices after the renovation was complete.

The queue outside the restaurant was getting longer every day, and sometimes, if you didn't come two to three hours early, you couldn't get a meal. Honestly, this was quite an impact on the dining experience.

Raising prices could also shorten the wait time a bit.

However, this was a critical period to divert traffic to Red Ridge, and Ma Lu didn't want to miss out on such substantial flow, so he decided to wait a bit longer, at least until the restaurant renovations were complete.

After being busy with immediate matters and not having proper time to relax, Ma Lu set out again on a journey to find ingredients, returning to Yuchang County.

This time, there were no surprises. Gu Qingyi came out of the city to meet him, and the two smoothly rendezvoused.

Ma Lu learned from Gu Qingyi about the incidents that had occurred in the city since his departure.

Because he and Gu Qingyi had captured the real murderers behind the killing of Xu Deputy Gate Master, Yit successfully restrained people like Tan Mazi, who were determined to seek revenge for Xu Deputy Gate Master. This prevented them from going to the Beggars' Sect for a deadly fight.

Meanwhile, the Beggars' Sect put their plans to attack the Heavenly Dragon Sect on hold, due to the persuasion of Chu Qianyuan and several elders.

However, just yesterday, there was another death in the city.

This time, seven people died. These seven were neither from Heavenly Dragon Sect nor the Beggars' Sect, but they were martial arts experts who had come to aid the Beggars' Sect, and they had respectable backgrounds.

They were either long-established experts from Jianghu or core disciples from prestigious sects. The combined forces behind these individuals were not something even the Beggars' Sect could afford to provoke.

With their deaths, the Heavenly Dragon Sect became the prime suspect, and since they had come to assist the Beggars' Sect, the Beggars' Sect naturally could not just sit idly by. Consequently, the atmosphere in the city immediately became tense again.

"These deaths seem too coincidental," Ma Lu commented after hearing about them.

Gu Qingyi nodded, "Exactly, the Beggars' Sect had just decided to postpone their attack on the Heavenly Dragon Sect, and less than two days later they died, practically forcing the Beggars' Sect to continue their conflict with the Heavenly Dragon Sect."

She paused and then continued, "The person you asked me to look for, the one who sent Cai Die to the Xu Mansion, I found him. Manager Zhou remembered him slightly; he said the man was called Liu Huozui, the most famous Yaren in Yuchang County, dealing not only in people but also in houses. However, he had already died three years ago."

"His eldest son says he died of a cold, but some neighbors say it was because he had done too many immoral things and met his retribution, hounded to death by a Fierce Ghost."

"Three years ago? So, he died just a year after Cai Die was sent to the Xu Mansion." Ma Lu touched his nose, "This is yet another coincidence; the mastermind is indeed cautious."

As he said this, he looked at Gu Qingyi. He had thought that the girl would be somewhat disappointed since this lead had broken, but to his surprise, Gu Qingyi was not anxious at all and seemed quite confident.

Ma Lu curiously asked, "What, have you discovered something else?"

Gu Qingyi nodded, "According to Liu Huozui's eldest son, Liu Huozui became restless a month before his death, and whenever his family asked him what he was worried about, he kept silent.

"However, he did have a good friend named Qin Feng, who had been his playmate since childhood. Qin Feng was originally a constable at the county office, but once, during a prisoner transport, the prisoner escaped. Fearing punishment upon his return, he instead fled,

"took to the mountains nearby, and became a robber. Liu Huozui's eldest son mentioned that Qin Feng had returned to Yuchang County for a visit one month before Liu Huozui died and had met with Liu Huozui. After that meeting, Liu Huozui started becoming restless and paranoid.

"It seems Qin Feng came back to warn Liu Huozui. Finding Qin Feng should help us discover who really killed Liu Huozui," said Ma Lu.

"That's what I think too," Gu Qingyi affirmed.

"Have you found Qin Feng yet?"

"Not yet," Gu Qingyi shook her head, "I only know he took to banditry at Crouching Tiger Hill, but there are several groups of bandits in Green Forest on Crouching Tiger Hill. I'm not sure who he joined, so I plan to go there and look around."

"Then let's go together, but before we do, there's something I need to do first."

"What is it?"

"There were the seven dead experts and righteous disciples you mentioned earlier; I want to pay my respects to them."

"What? Another memorial?" Gu Qingyi did not understand why Ma Lu was so keen on paying respects to the dead, as if he wanted to pay respects to everyone he met.

Could it be that one of them was his teacher?

That couldn't be possible.

She then heard Ma Lu explain, "It's very likely that these people were killed by the mastermind behind all this. We might still find some other leads from their bodies."

Well, that did make some sense.

Gu Qingyi said, "I checked already; their bodies were severely damaged. Even if there are any clues, they would be hard to find. But if you want to go, I'll go with you to take a look."