Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Not bad.”
Shen Lang wrote a record and noted down the results of the appraisal. Meanwhile, Xu Hongtao, who was beside him, took out a wooden box and sealed the green jade inside. After labeling it, he handed a bamboo stick to Chen Shaojun.
“Thank you, Uncle Xu!”
Chen Shaojun thanked him.
This bamboo stick was actually equivalent to a kind of tally used by dock porters. At the end of every month, they could use these tallies to receive their monthly wages.
Even though Chen Shaojun had signed a contract to sell himself and was only an apprentice pawnbroker, he could still receive a salary every month. His salary would depend on the tallies he obtained after appraising items.
However, he would not obtain much. Every tally would only add up to 30 wen1.
Even if he obtained one tally every day, he would only receive 900 wen in a month. He wouldn’t even receive one tael of silver.
Then, he turned around and headed towards the backyard.
As he turned around, his gaze couldn’t help but turn towards an arch beside the side hall.
That place was connected to the main hall and was also where the Lin Pawnshop was located. There was a platform inside the pawnshop that blocked his line of sight. In a certain sense, it also sealed him within the pawnshop.
Even though the pawnshop didn’t restrict them from going out, the backyard behind the Lin Pawnshop had a high wall that blocked them from going out. Thus, if the staff of the pawnshop wanted to go out, they could only go through the front door.
Furthermore, in the pawnshop, those who might have come into contact with pawned items would have to report to the shopkeeper when they went out. They would also have to go through a body search, equipment inspection, and questioning… The person who questioned them was imposing, and the person who searched their bodies was rough. Thus, unless necessary, no one really wanted to rashly go out.
In Chen Shaojun’s memories, his previous self had not gone out for three months.
…
The backyard of the pawnshop was very spacious. It was somewhat like a courtyard house. There was a large, flat area with many rooms around it.
Chen Shaojun walked into one of the rooms and saw a large bunk bed. It was connected from the top of the wall to the bottom of the wall. Furthermore, there were a few cabinets beside the bed, making it difficult to move around.
This was where he lived.
There were 12 beds that were all connected to one another. Currently, there were a total of seven people living here, including him. They were all apprentice pawnbrokers in the pawnshop.
At that moment, a few apprentices had returned and were gathered together.
“Brother Chen, you’re back. Did anything happen?”
Upon seeing Chen Shaojun return, a small man quickly approached him and asked with concern.
“It’s nothing.”
Chen Shaojun shook his head. He recognized this person as Zhao Hu. In the past, they had only barely known each other as they were both domestic servants in the Lin family mansion. Half a year ago, they were arranged to enter the Lin Pawnshop together. Only then did they know each other better.
The others had also previously been working for the Lin family. They were either odd-job workers or family servants. It was just that they were not familiar with each other.
At this time, all of them were extremely dispirited, as if they hadn’t slept for three days and three nights. They either had red eyes, excited looks, or ashen expressions with eyebags that were as black as ink, making them seem extremely exhausted and peculiar.
From this, it could be seen how great the consumption of the Divine Vision technique was.
If Chen Shaojun had not swallowed the Essence Augmenting Pill to clean his marrow, replenish his energy, nourish his spirit, and enhance his vigor, he probably would not be much better than them.
“Brother Chen, have you heard? Something happened to Zhang Wang today.”
Zhao Hu leaned over with a mysterious and nervous expression.
“Did something happen?”
Chen Shaojun was stunned. He had some guesses.
“Zhang Wang was infected by an evil aura during the appraisal. When he was carried out, he was on the verge of death.”
Zhao Hu didn’t leave Chen Shaojun hanging and directly revealed this.
“Zhang Wang might usually be arrogant, but he is indeed the most skilled appraiser among us and has the most profound Divine Vision technique. Now that even he is in trouble, we…”
Each of their tired faces was filled with worry and even some fear.
The topic of sudden death was often taboo. Meanwhile, the most taboo topic among the pawnbrokers in the pawnshop was encountering an accident while appraising an item.
This was because any accident could endanger their lives.
Furthermore, every single one of them had personally experienced the scene of five apprentice pawnbrokers collapsing.
No one wanted to be one of them.
“The ‘raw materials’ this time are indeed somewhat different. Most of them are old materials.”
“As the saying goes, the older a material is, the more evil it is. No one knows what exactly these old materials went through before they were delivered to us.”
“Actually, when I was appraising a treasure, I also vaguely felt a wave of evil aura rush out. Fortunately, it wasn’t strong. I only felt dizzy for a moment before recovering…”
A rather tall apprentice pawnbroker also spoke with a bit of lingering fear.
Chen Shaojun could not help but glance at him. He also muttered in his heart.
He always had doubts about the death of his previous self.
When he thought about the scene that appeared in the Psychic Treasure Mirror, he couldn’t help but think about it.
“I wonder if you guys remember Zhang Wang rebutting Mr. Shen?”
Suddenly, someone spoke.
The expressions of the others instantly changed.
“You mean—”
“Watch your words!”
“Don’t talk nonsense if you have no evidence.”
Those who were quick-witted quickly stopped him.
However, everyone could not help but feel gloomy.
There were many things that did not need evidence.
Even though this batch of raw materials had been selected by official pawnbrokers and most of the dangerous items had been removed, Ticketing Manager Shen was still the one who arranged the appraisal.
If Shen Lang really wanted to mess around with them, there was simply no need for him to painstakingly do so. As long as he handed a rather ‘dangerous’ raw material to an apprentice pawnbroker, he could definitely make them suffer a huge loss.
However, things had already happened. So what if they knew about it? They were powerless to change anything.
Some people even wondered if they should find a time to suck up to Ticketing Manager Shen so that they could relax in the future.
…
The life of an apprentice pawnbroker was actually very boring. Other than going to the storeroom and appraising items, the only other place they could move around in was the backyard.
After forcing themselves to eat dinner, the group of apprentice pawnbrokers impatiently laid down on their beds. Their snoring could be heard the moment they touched their beds.
However, Chen Shaojun consumed the Essence Augmenting Pill and he remained energetic even after the appraisal earlier. He was full of energy and did not feel sleepy at all.
Although he was lying on the bed, he was thinking about his future.
There was no doubt that with the Psychic Treasure Mirror on him, the pawnshop was the most suitable place for him to stay in the short term.
However, this did not mean that he had to settle for the current situation.
He had come to this world and learned that there were demons and ghosts running rampant in this world, as well as powerful cultivators. Thus, he naturally did not want to live an ordinary life.
“I have to become stronger.”
“Only by becoming stronger can I freely survive in this world that is fraught in danger.”
Chen Shaojun knew that this was not easy.
Obtaining freedom was never easy.
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Based on what he knew, the only way to truly achieve this was to master Dao and martial arts techniques.
What exactly did this entail?
This referred to cultivating the Dao and practicing martial arts.
These were also the two cultivation directions in this world that were used to fight against all kinds of strange demons.
Furthermore, no matter which cultivation direction one took, one could become an expert and possess the ability to slay demons.