Chapter 195: The Opening of The Inn
Chapter 195: The Opening of The Inn
The weekend arrived quicker than expected and along with it arrived the day of the official opening of Tranquil Cloud Inn.
With the arrival of a new morning, Xiang Ling and her family set out from Dongzhi City and traveled all the way to the Inn. By the time they arrived at the Inn’s entrance, it was already past nine in the morning.
"Is... i-is this our Inn?" Zuan Hu hesitated even as she asked the question with her gaze transfixed on the biggest and most beautiful Inn she had ever seen in her life. Her heart was beating wildly as she waited for Xiang Ling’s reply.
"How can that be? Maybe our Inn is somewhere near by." Hao Ran said in response to his wife’s question. Yet, his eyes were filled with uncertainty. Even though a part of him knew exactly whether the huge Inn standing in front of them belonged to his sister or not, he didn’t dare believe that part of himself.
"Lingling, this place is absolutely beautiful." Zhe Yuan didn’t waste time like the former two in questioning whether the Inn was indeed the Tranquil Cloud Inn or not. He straight out used the chance to speak his mind and told his wife just how beautiful of a place she had built.
"Thank you, Ah Yuan." Xiang Ling said with a soft smile before she turned her attention toward Hao Ran and Zuan Hu and added, "First Brother, First sister-in-law, welcome to Tranquil Cloud Inn."
The duo didn’t even try to hide their shock as their doubts just got confirmed. They had been hearing all sorts of rumors back in Dongzhi City about how big and magnificent the Inn was looking even during its construction. But not even in their wildest dreams they would have expected Xiang Ling to built something as big and grand as Tranquil Cloud Inn.
After the initial shock faded, Xiang Ling led everyone inside the Inn. With every step they took forward, she was able to hear the gasps and little cries of shock that left the mouths of people following her as they kept taking in the beauty and well designed structure of the place.
"This place is even more huge than what it seems from the outside. Look at all these buildings. I’m sure nearly five hundred people can stay here without any problems." Zuan Hu commented when she got to know just how many guest rooms in total were built in the Inn.
"First sister-in-law, that’s a little bit exaggerated." Xiang Ling said with a little chuckle, but it seemed like Zuan Hu wasn’t buying her words.
"Of course not! Look at all these servants. If I’m not wrong then at least a hundred servants are currently living in this place. A place that can afford that many servants, can easily afford five hundred customers."
Xiang Ling wasn’t able to contradict her sister-in-law’s words as the current number of the Inn’s servants was actually over a hundred.
Previously, she contemplated on the matter a little bit more and realized that the original staff of the Inn wasn’t enough to handle all the work if her business ended up booming like she was aiming for.
That’s why, she recently added more servants to the original line up. The first group of maidservants consisted of thirty-five females, five of whom were appointed to the first building, five for the second building, seven for the third building, and finally eighteen for the main building.
Then there were a total of fifteen men-servants working alongside the thirty-five female servants, two of whom were appointed to the first building, two for second building, four for third building, and seven for the main building.
The main works for these female and male servants were - cleaning their respective buildings, washing the bedsheets and curtains of guestrooms, serving the customers, and making sure that the customers were having a comfortable experience while staying in the Inn.
Then there were four more servants, two men and two women, who were appointed to take care of the gardens and open courtyards. This group of fifty-four servants were under the supervision of Xu Tao. He was the sixteen year old young man whom she rescued along with Aunt Yan and the others.
Next was the team of kitchen staff. In total, there were fifteen servants working in the kitchen and they were led by the head chef, Xu Ling, whom Xiang Ling had been training for the past three months. The nineteen year old girl was a quick learner and dedicated. She too showed rapid growth and earned her current position with her hardworking.
Other than these seventy people assigned for taking care of the Inn and its business, Xiang Ling appointed Liu Xin as the assistant manager /accountant of the Inn. He was the eighteen year old young man who proved his ability of understanding business and accounts while training under her supervision.
Then there was also the group of musicians and dealers. Other than that, there were a total of seven servants assigned to look after the greenhouse. Seven more servants were assigned to the farmhouse to take care of the animals. Five men were assigned to look after the horses and to ride the carriages when required. Finally, there were five men who were assigned to the posts of guards.
Hence, it was more than clear that Xiang Ling had appointed a really big staff for the Tranquil Cloud Inn. Even the Chen Manor didn’t use to have these many servants in the past. The highest their number ever went was sixty-three.
Once everyone, mostly Hao Ran, Zuan Hu, Fu Xiao, and An Mei, recovered from the shock they received after seeing the Inn for the first time, everyone busied themselves in the preparation of the opening.
Fifteen or so minutes later, Xiang Ling and her family along with the entire staff of the Inn were present at the entrance of the Inn. The lanterns swayed with the wind as Hao Ran lit up the firecrackers that filled the air with their cracking sound all the while everyone clapped to celebrate the occasion.