Chapter 407: Feng City’s Way of Doing Things
Upon hearing his subordinate’s words, Xing Yong’s lips curled into a meaningful smile.
“Hah, this price is not high at all. Send them my reply.”
*
To prepare for the Food Festival, Yu Haojie trained the cooks thoroughly, and Luo City even set aside an entire street for a special snack market.
In addition to these preparations, he introduced many festive activities from his past life—things like opera performances, dragon dances, stilt walking, ring toss, archery competitions, and sandbag throwing.
These interactive games took up half of the snack street, and countless delicacies were also brought out to attract visitors.
Three days before the Food Festival, Zhang Hu hurriedly approached Yu Luo, his face filled with concern.
Seeing his expression, Yu Luo immediately knew that something unexpected had happened again.
“Miss, Feng City has announced a martial arts tournament—on the same day as our Food Festival.”
Hearing this, Yu Luo’s cool expression flickered briefly with surprise before she suddenly curved her lips into a smirk, her eyes gleaming with intrigue.
“Miss, what do you mean by that? I believe Feng City is deliberately trying to undermine us! You personally delivered an invitation to them, and yet they have the audacity to send one back today for their tournament? It’s obvious they’re trying to steal all our visitors!”
“No need to panic. Even if they are trying to compete with us, we have nothing to fear. The snow started falling two days ago—I was actually worried that attendance at the festival would be low. Now this is perfect.”
Hearing this, Zhang Hu’s mouth fell slightly open, as if he suddenly understood Yu Luo’s plan.
“Miss, I understand now!”
Zhang Hu, who was always composed, couldn’t help raising his voice slightly in excitement.
Seeing his expression, Yu Luo’s own smirk deepened.
“Good. Sometimes, what seems like a disadvantage might actually turn out in our favor. Has Feng City’s tournament invitation arrived? Let me take a look.”
“Here it is, Miss. I was going to bring it directly to the City Lord, but I was so furious that I came to tell you first.”
Yu Luo took the invitation from Zhang Hu, opened it, and upon reading it, her smile grew wider.
“Hah. Even the opening ceremony is on the same day as ours. They’ve really put a lot of effort into this, haven’t they? Go and find out when they first announced their tournament. If it was after they learned about our Food Festival, then we won’t even bother attending.”
“Understood, Miss. I’ll get the information immediately.”
The next day, Zhang Hu returned after spending an entire day gathering intel.
As expected, Feng City only announced their tournament the day after Yu Luo visited them.
With that confirmation, Yu Luo immediately penned a letter, expressing her father’s regrets that they could not attend Feng City’s opening ceremony, and had it delivered to Feng City.
Meanwhile, after nearly a month of preparations, the Food Festival finally arrived—on a snowy day.
Over the past month, Luo City had opened several new inns, and Yu Luo’s family made a tidy profit from rental fees and property sales.
As the city gates swung open, however, very few outsiders entered.
Some wandering martial artists passed through, and Luo City’s guards enthusiastically handed them flyers about the Food Festival.
Yet by the afternoon, the total number of visitors barely reached 100.
The long-prepared snack street felt eerily empty, with only local residents and Luo City’s own people stopping by.
Yu Haojie, seeing his month-long efforts yielding such poor results, frowned deeply.
“Xiao Luo, Feng City is too much! They’re deliberately preventing outsiders from recognizing Luo City’s potential! I heard that Feng City’s martial arts tournament charges an entry fee of 300 taels per participant—30 times more than ours. And yet thousands—if not tens of thousands—of people have already gone there! Do you know how much money they’re making from just the entry fees alone?!”
“Father, don’t worry. This sluggish start is only temporary. Besides, I highly doubt that Feng City’s actual number of participants is higher than our last tournament. I’ve already sent someone to observe their opening ceremony—we should hear back soon.”
The father-daughter duo sat at a teahouse overlooking the city gates, watching as very few visitors arrived.
Yu Luo remained calm, but Yu Haojie was visibly restless.
Despite his daughter’s reassurances, he couldn’t shake his worry.
The streets, covered in freshly fallen snow, were well-maintained, but few locals ventured out due to the cold.
Even the farmlands lay dormant, with workers entering their winter rest period.
Meanwhile, Xiao Yi had successfully created an underground fortress, capable of housing tens of thousands of people.
Though still unfinished, it would be fully operational in two months—just in time for peak winter conditions.
Just as Yu Haojie sighed heavily, a group of people hurriedly entered the city.
Seeing them, Yu Luo’s smirk returned.
She leaped out the window, startling her father so much that he almost jumped after her!
Realizing his daughter had mastered light-footwork, Yu Haojie sighed in relief.
“What’s the news?”
“Miss, we distributed over 10,000 flyers along every major route leading to Feng City. Just as you predicted—Feng City’s tournament has far fewer actual participants than our last event. Only 400 to 500 fighters signed up.”
“What? Only that many? This is Feng City’s martial arts tournament!”
Hearing this, Yu Haojie’s eyes widened in disbelief, but soon his shock turned to excitement!
Yu Luo glanced at her father’s overjoyed expression and knew he was misinterpreting the situation.
“Father, don’t celebrate too soon. The low number of participants means that only the strongest warriors entered. That means plenty of spectators will still attend. If my guess is correct, Feng City is charging an entry fee for the audience as well.”
As soon as she said this, Yu Haojie’s smile froze.
“Miss, you’re absolutely right. Feng City is charging 10 taels of gold per spectator! Many people are complaining about the high price, but that’s just Feng City’s way of doing business.”
