Chapter 46 - The Mysterious Visitor

Li Ming spent the rest of the day taking care of the inn's business. It was nearly the end of the month, therefore she paid salary to the staff.

Since everyone had worked hard she gave a bottle of newly made healing potions to each of them.

Everyone was more than happy with their reward because a single bottle of healing elixir still was too costly for servants like them but their master was giving them such a precious elixir in free.

She took a tour of the inn and found that everything was still in one piece and intact.

Then she checked the account book and found that Ming Zhu was improving in her accounting skills under the guidance of Madam Fu.

In the evening, Li Ming once again spent her time in teaching the Huang Sisters some new dishes. In the past five months, the sister's culinary arts had grown better.

The business of the inn was blooming day by day. The game of Stratego was attracting the Young Masters of the noble families and the women, elders and children were drawn towards the Black Jade Inn because of its beautiful interior and delicious dishes or snacks.

The Black Jade Inn was the fifth most reputable and successful business of the black market after the Weapons Armory, Breezing Flowers, Herb Hall and Precious Jewels.

But the secret was that all these four shops were under the Crown Prince of Han Empire.

Next day, Li Ming decided to make some more arrangements for the inn.

The number of customers were increasing in the inn. Nearly 10 - 12 people were staying in the inn nearly every day and the number of visitors to enjoy the delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner was also not small.

There were only four maids and the Huang sisters and only these six people were not able to take over the entire work force.

They not only needed to clean the inn twice a day but also needed to serve the customers. There was also kitchen work which needed it's own team of maids. So, she decided to hire more staff. After she gave her order, Elder Fu left to take care of the new hiring.

Li Ming was currently sitting on a table while playing with a Pikachu keyring. She looked lost in her thoughts.

Ruoshan noticed the frown on her face and couldn't stop himself from asking.

"What's the problem with you?"

Li Ming heard the cold voice of the man who was looking at her with confusion.

She sighed and said while looking at him with an irritated look, "Are you made of iceberg or something? How can you ask such a normal question with such coldness?"

"Ice.....what?" Ruoshan asked with

confusion.

"Aah! Nothing. Just pretend I didn't say anything. I don't have the patience to teach you a very basic vocabulary." Li Ming said while making a sad face.

Ruoshan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The girl was clearly insulting him!

After nearly half an hour, Elder Fu returned with seven maids. Li Ming looked through the servant agreement and found no problem in them.

Then she looked through the thoughts of the new maids. All of them were fine until her eyes fell on the last one.

An evil smile appeared on her face as she went towards the last maid who was in her late thirties. She bowed her head when she saw Li Ming coming towards her.

"You can return back to Precious Jewels. Our Black Jade Inn don't welcome spies." Her tone was as cold as ice.

Everyone fell silent when they heard Li Ming's words. They looked at the maid who was shivering in cold sweat.

"I don't like to repeat myself." Li Ming was clearly angry.

The maid didn't waste a single second as she ran out of the inn.

Elder Fu kneeled down and said, "Master, it's my fault. I was unable to perform my duty well, please punish me." The sadness and guilt was clear in his voice.

Li Ming looked at the old man who was kneeling on the floor. She knew that Elder Fu had no bad intentions towards her and he would never do anything purposely to harm the Black Jade Inn.

She helped Elder Fu to stand up and said with a soft smile, "It's not your fault. Sometimes it takes more than just our eyes to see the true form of others. But be careful next time."

Elder Fu nodded his head but it was clear that he was still feeling guilty.

Li Ming assigned the new six maids their duties and finally relaxed. She placed one of the previous maid and two new maids under Huang sisters in the kitchen.

Two more new maids were assigned under one of the previous maid to the cleaning team.

And the last group had four maids, two new and two previous ones, who were assigned to serve the customers.

It was already reaching the noon, so all of them had their lunch as they discussed about the current situation of the Black Market.

After lunch, Li Ming took Ruoshan to her room upstairs.

"Here! You are going to stay in this room and cultivate. And I'm going to take care of my business. You will still be in the radius of 100 metre of me. Alright?"

Ruoshan nodded his head and sat down on the bed cross legged. He closed his eyes and started to cultivate spiritual energy.

Li Ming gave a last look to him and closed the door. When she came downstairs again, she found that a guard of the black market was standing in the main room waiting for her.

The black market had a group of guards, who made sure that no one cause any kind of problem in the market.

"What's wrong?" Li Ming asked as she approached Elder Fu and the guard.

"Miss Li, there is an old man at the entrance of Black Market, who's calling himself one of your man. But he has no proof. I will trouble you to please confirm his identity." The guard said as he bowed respectfully.

Since the Black Jade Inn was becoming popular, so was Li Ming. Everyone in the black market knew about the mysterious Young Miss of the Black Jade Inn.

"Miss Li, let me go and check." Elder Fu said.

"It's alright. I'll go myself." Li Ming said and nodded slightly at Elder Fu.

"Fine. But at least take a guard with you." Elder Fu was reluctant to let her go all alone.

"You can't be serious right! I'm not a child who can't look after herself. Don't worry." Li Ming said while shaking her head.

She followed the guard and left the inn. But the moment she sat her foot outside the inn, she realized something.

She sent one of inn's guard and after a few seconds, Ruoshan came out of the inn with a small smile on his face.

"Follow me and stop smiling. You look like an idiot when you do that." Li Ming said, clearly irritated by his smiling face and followed the guard towards the entrance of the black market.