Chapter 42 - Shabby Old Shop
Finding work was more difficult than Yaan had initially expected. Stores that dealt in the buying and selling of materials, pills and treasures, would only employ competent individuals who were actually able to identify the items brought in by the customers.
Whilst Yaan had come across a fair few different materials and resources in his life, he was simply too young. He hadn’t lived for long enough to accumulate sufficient knowledge on these things, leaving him unable to satisfy any of the store owners in the area.
After being turned away for the twentieth time that day, Yaan realised that he would need to build up a more firm foundational knowledge if he wanted to find work. His original plan was to use the work experience itself to build up this knowledge, but it seemed that employers weren’t so keen on becoming mentors for ignorant apprentices.
“Hey, wait a moment.” Just as he was leaving, Yaan turned back towards the store keeper of a run-down looking place in surprise. He was surpassed because…this was the first time that someone had called him back!
“My assistant left me yesterday, I do need a hand around here, but not many people want to work in such a shabby looking shop.” The fat store keeper explained lazily.
The overnight man scratched his head as he spoke, giving the impression that this wasn’t really important to him. His clothes looked expensive, embroidered with fine golden threads, but his demeanour matched that of his store; shabby.
Yaan nodded without really thinking about it. From the outside, this two storey wooden building really did look like a shanty shack, it wasn’t attractive at all compared to the other surrounding buildings.
“Tell you what. You can work here for one third pay. If you can memorise the contents in this book, I’ll pay you in full.”
“One third pay? How much is that?” Yaan asked curiously. The storekeeper was yet to mention the pay. Since Yaan was willing to work any job he could find, he also hadn’t yet asked.
“One Rank 2 recovery pill each week.”
“Huh?! You’re really paying so much?” Yaan’s eyes went round and he almost let out a gasp. This wage was well above the norm for an assistant shop keeper!
If he could earn this full wage, he would be making three Rank 2 recovery pills each week! For a job with no danger or risk, this was certainly a very good starting wage for an unskilled person like himself.
“Well, let’s just say that the most important transactions here are carried out below ground. Having such a young and fresh face around here would ease suspicions, if you know what I mean.”
Yaan paused. He immediately understood that he was being tested.
The shabby nature of the store was only a front to divert away any unwanted attention. He didn’t know what sort of business they conducted in the basement below ground, and he didn’t intend to ask. He could sense a faint threat in the store keeper’s words. If he responded improperly, this would not end well for him…
The large man stood in the doorway of the shabby store. He leaned against the wooden doorframe with a seemingly lazy, uncaring expression, yet Yaan could feel his eyes digging into him, as if watching him, judging his every movement…
“I understand. When can I start working?” Yaan looked the store keeper in the eye and nodded seriously, showing that he fully understood the subtle threat.
“Heh, smart. Come back here at first light tomorrow.” With that, the large man tossed an old book towards Yaan. Yaan nodded and thanked the store keeper, then immediately left this place, returning to his temple excitedly.
The fact that he had been threatened did not particularly bother him. When Yaan left Heavenly Path Mountain, He was already prepared to face a road filled with danger. His resolve was further tempered during his journey through the dark forest, where he was forced to fight to survive against the countless demonic beasts. At this point, simply being threatened was not a big deal to him.
The moment Yaan stepped foot inside his temple home, he started studying the contents of the book.
The book was a relatively basic one that provided descriptions of the most common pills, spells, treasures and other resources. Since the shop only dealt with items that would be useful to Innate Qi Realm and Qi Temple Realm cultivators, the book lacked descriptions of anything above this level.
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“Pills, spiritual treasures, natural materials, spells and cultivation techniques. These are the main groups of resources used by cultivators. Pills are ranked according to the required rank of the alchemist. Spells can be categorised by their minimum realm requirement, but sometimes this is not clear. Treasures, natural resources and cultivation techniques, are generally not ranked according to any system.”
This old book gave a clear introduction towards the lower ranked resources which were commonly used and traded amongst cultivators. It then went on to list many different common items, along with methods of identifying and assessing unique items.
Whilst pills and natural materials could be identified clearly, spiritual treasures, spells and cultivation techniques were often unique and could only be assessed individually.
Yaan ended up spending the whole night studying this book and trying to memorise the contents. He felt slightly tired after reading all night, but missing a single night of sleep wasn’t a big deal at his level.
When he returned to the shabby store the following day, he paid closer attention to the location and appearance of the place. The day before, he was more worried about finding work, so he hadn’t examined it too closely. Now that he was working here, Yaan wanted to get a deeper impression of the mysterious store.
A wooden shanty shack with two floors and a basement. Situated near the end of the market street amongst various temples, pagodas and well looked after buildings, the shack really wasn’t eye catching at all. If anything, the cheap and unkempt appearance was quite off-putting compared to the surrounding stores which all flaunted lavish decor.
If an onlooker were to examine the place closely though, they would realise that the wood used to build this shack was actually very high quality, it was just that nobody had cleaned the building in a long time. When he noticed this, Yaan began to see this hidden store as an old and forgotten temple, rather than a shack that belonged in the slums.
Inside the shop, the ground floor was similarly unkempt, the shelves around the outside of the room had even accumulated a thick layer of dust. Only the cases holding more precious items were cleaned properly.
“Starting from today, you’ll be managing the shop floor. When the shop is empty, spend your time memorising the items we have for sale along with their prices. When a customer comes to buy something, sell it at the price listed, no exceptions.” The large shopkeeper explained.
Yaan blinked, feeling a bit surprised that he was being given this much responsibly right away. However, the slobbish man seemed to have no intention of explaining why he cared so little about the above ground shop wares. He Yaan’s changing expression and continued speaking.
“If someone shows you a coin like this one, then send them through to the basement.” He lifted up a gold coin and allowed Yaan to examine it for a few seconds. The coin had an image of a man standing on a gravestone engraved into both sides.
“Just yell for me if you need anything, I’ll be downstairs. Oh, right, don’t come down, it won’t end well for you.”
With that final warning, the shopkeeper walked to the back of the shop and took a right turn through the back door. Yaan watched as the man’s wide figure gradually descended down below, until finally, he was left alone on the shop floor.
‘As expected, the shop itself is just a front. The true purpose of this place is to serve those customers who carry that gold coin. I wonder what business the shopkeeper does behind the scenes…well, maybe I don’t actually want to know that.’
Yaan knew that being too curious for his own good would get him in trouble, so he decided to just play it safe and do his job. It was a fairly simple job and the pay was quite good. Also…
He looked around the store and realised something. There were a variety of books for sale in this store, as well as cultivation techniques, spells and other written items.
Perhaps, if he hung around this place for long enough, he would be able to learn something good!
No, on second thought, it would be impossible to learn a spell just by reading the scroll without practising. Besides, as his mind travelled down these lines, Yaan depressingly remembered that his dantian was crippled and that he couldn’t use spells anyway.
In all likelihood, most of these spells were probably not very good. At least, those shelved out in the open would all be poor quality.
Before leaving, the shopkeeper provided him with keys to the incased items. Perhaps the spells in these cases were of greater value.
“I’m getting ahead of myself. First off, I need to memorise the items for sale and their prices.” Yaan shook his head lightly. If he couldn’t even do this simple yet well payed job properly, then he really would be useless.
For two hours, the store was silent. Even though it was sat on such a busy market street, not a single person thought to enter this store. The shop was located near to the end of the street in a less thriving area, but still…business was slow. Yaan guessed that this was probably what the shopkeeper wanted, though.
He spent this time examining the items for sale, whilst comparing them to the notes in the book that he had received the day before. The shop wasn’t exactly large, but many of these pills and resources were very small and didn’t take up much space, so there were hundreds of items available for sale.
Rank 1 and Rank 2 pills were aplenty, but Rank 3 pills were less common and kept in boxes behind locked cases. The same went for the spiritual treasures, spells, techniques and other resources of similar value.
Ding!
Finally, a customer arrived. Yaan stood up straight and approached the customer with a smile.
The person who entered was a tall and slender man with a slightly feminine appearance. He carried a fan that matched the white and blue colouring of his robe. As Yaan stood in front of him, the man looked down and his expression became bright.
“Why, what a gorgeous child! Are you lost young boy, how about coming home with me? Hmm?”
“Uh…” Yaan subconsciously took a step back. The gentle gaze that this man cast upon him did nothing to quell his apprehension, instead sending shivers throughout his body. The man chuckled at Yaan’s reaction, then paid him no more attention and glanced around the shop casually.
“That’s strange, where’s the assistant?” The man frowned.
“I’m the new assistant…” Yaan replied reluctantly. Really, he didn’t want to talk to this person, but he supposed that it was part of his job to deal with weirdos…
“Eh?” The man looked at Yaan and blinked in surprise. “Did that oaf really hire a child for this job?”
After saying this, the man pondered for a moment, before withdrawing a golden coin and holding it up casually.
“Is the shop interested in buying this little antique I found?” He smiled as he spoke, as if he really was looking to sell the coin.
Yaan examined the coin carefully. His eyes lit up as he confirmed that this was the same coin shown to him earlier by the the store keeper. He quickly guessed that this feminine looking man was testing him. The man couldn’t be certain that Yaan really was the new assistant, and even if he did work here, it was still unknown whether or not he was aware of this store’s unique arrangement.
The gentle looking man cursed in his mind at the shopkeeper’s carefree attitude regarding these things, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.
“The shopkeeper is in the basement, right this way.” Yaan mimicked the same demeanour that he had seen used by other store attendants, then pointed towards the basement with a forced smile. He was still on guard against this person and only felt relieved once the gentle looking man walked past him, then disappeared from view.
A few minutes later, the man returned from the basement. He paused and looked at Yaan as if examining him, before leaving the shop. However, just before stepping out through the door, he glanced back at Yaan again with an unnerving smile.
“If you get sick of working in this old shack, come find me at the Fallen Lotus Brothel. I promise to treat you very, very well.” With that, he winked at Yaan and exited through the door.
Yaan stared at the door, his strained smile immediately vanishing after the unsettling man disappeared from view.
‘I will definitely avoid that brothel at all costs.’ Yaan thought to himself.
He wasn’t sure if that man was the owner of the brothel, a staff member or a prostitute…and frankly, he didn’t want to know.