I can't be a demon.

Chapter 1: The world is tough, it is better to lie down

The Eastern Land of the Tang Dynasty.

In the twelfth month of the year, spring is still early and the north wind blows up the heavy snow.

Nanshanbuzhou, Yanliang Town.

Yanliang Town is located in the mountains, and because there are salt mines in the mountains, there are endless caravans coming and going.

Among them, [Shen’s Pawnshop] is located on Hefeng Street in the west corner of the town. The shop is not large, but the pawn business does not advocate extravagance.

The sun was just rising and the pawnshop was already open early.

In addition to the porter who maintains order, the clerk who is responsible for miscellaneous chores, and the court attendant who identifies the value of goods, there is also a young man behind the counter.

The young man was no more than fifteen or sixteen years old, with a fair complexion. He was lying in a recliner reading a book.

In front of me, a fine purple clay teapot was warming up, along with three taels of kumquats, a handful of red dates, and small, reddish sweet potatoes...

A mynah bird with shiny black feathers was perched on the young man's shoulder, staring at the peanuts. It tried to get closer to the stove several times but was driven away by the heat.

"Ah~ I'm hungry. I'm hungry."

Mynah birds are eloquent and are a unique species among birds that can learn human language.

"Don't make trouble."

The young man patted the starling's head, pointed at the page with interest and talked to himself.

"It is said in Caotang Miscellaneous Notes that night market vendors occasionally receive blood-stained silver ingots, which must be spent within three days, otherwise they will bleed to death from all seven orifices."

"I heard that it was distributed by the gambling addicts who died unjustly."

The young man turned over and asked the old official who was sitting at the counter not far away.

"Mr. Wang, does the money-giving ghost really exist?"

"Young Master, I... can't say for sure. Anyway, I haven't seen it with my own eyes."

Wang Donglin smiled awkwardly and shook his head. He was already in his sixties or seventies, and had been working as an appraiser of antiques in a pawn shop for forty years.

The customers coming in and out of the pawnshop were not surprised at all, as they all knew that the only son of the pawnshop owner Shen Hansheng, Shen Lian, had a strange personality.

Shen Lian stayed in the lobby of the pawn shop all day doing nothing.

Although he was born intelligent, his teacher praised him as a top scholar after only three years in private school. However, he was not interested in a career in politics. Even now, his teacher still couldn't help sighing when he mentioned Shen Lian.

It seems that Shen Lian’s greatest interest is to stay in the pawnshop, tasting new tea from all over the place and killing time.

And, play with the starling.

"Young Master, someone is living as a hundred-year-old jade pendant, the quality is average."

Old Wang turned around and handed over the jade pendant. The clerk handed it to Shen Lian attentively. The latter pretended to play with it for a while, but lost interest after a while.

"kindness."

Shen Lian threw the jade pendant into the air, and the mynah bird flew over and grabbed it.

"Ah ah ah."

The starling cleared his throat and said loudly: "It's pure cotton bean-type Nanshan jade, 78 years old, worthless stuff, ah~"

The customers in the pawnshop started to make a noise, trying to get the myna to say something again.

The starling glanced at them with disdain and hit Shen Lian on the head with its beak until the latter threw out a few burnt red-skinned peanuts.

The mynah bird raised by Shen Lian is also a wonder in the pawn shop.

Shen Lian had been hanging around in the pawn shop for a long time, but he didn't seem to have developed any ability to appraise treasures. However, he taught my dear mynah bird the ability to distinguish antique calligraphy and paintings.

Once, a nobleman offered a hundred taels of silver to buy the starling, but was rejected by Shen Lian.

The other party did not force it. An ordinary starling is considered to have a long life if it lives for more than seven years, and Shen Lian's starling is over ten years old, which is equivalent to a centenarian.

"Come on, come on."

A familiar customer brought an antique from home and took the opportunity to touch the starling's head.

"Little starling, how about taking a look at my ancestral snuff bottle?"

The starling flapped its wings and fled in a hurry, using its beak to hit the head of the familiar customer repeatedly, "Ah~ bastard, call me Master Ba, call me Master Ba!"

"Hahaha, Master Ba, can you please have a look?"

The regular customer was not angry at all, he opened his palm and took out the snuff bottle.

"This snuff bottle is a rare item. It smells extremely fishy when used to smoke dry tobacco."

The so-called snuff bottle is usually made of porcelain and is specifically used to store tobacco powder.

The starling moved closer to take a look, and the moment its claws touched the snuff bottle, the collapsed Shen Lian sat up, and man and bird looked at each other.

"Big money!"

Shen Lian secretly called out to his career panel, and suddenly countless streams of information surged in front of him.

[Snuff bottle appraisal completed, court experience +0.7%] [Jun kiln slightly flawed snuff bottle, years]

[Chaofeng reaches 90.2%, martial arts points +1]

Shen Lian chuckled and murmured in his heart: "A small snuff bottle actually has so much experience, professional advancement is just around the corner."

【Shen Lian】

[Martial Arts: None]

【Points: 9】

[Occupation: Court Official (90.2%)]

【Related: Myna】

[Magic Power: Wisdom Eye]

【Wisdom Eyes: Can easily identify antique calligraphy and paintings less than 500 years old.】

.........

It has been six years since Shen Lian traveled to this world. The original owner died of a cold caused by freezing, so he took advantage of him for nothing.

He has always been cautious in his words and actions, and Shen Hansheng just thought that his only son had calmed down after his serious illness.

Three years ago, Shen Hansheng asked Shen Lian to follow Mr. Wang to see antique calligraphy and paintings to improve his eyesight, and accidentally activated the golden finger [Career Panel].

The first person to take office is [Chao Feng], who refers to the [appraiser of treasures] in ancient pawnshops.

As for why Chao Feng is associated with the myna, it is purely a requirement of the profession panel. It seems that every profession must be bound to an object.

Whether dead or alive.

Shen Lian simply used it on the mynah bird he had raised for seven years. As a result, after the Chaofeng profession derived the magical power of wisdom eyes, both the man and the bird could use this magical power.

This creates an extremely spiritual Baye.

The advantage is that starlings are not limited by their lifespan, but the disadvantage is that they chatter every day and are extremely noisy, making people wish they could tie up their beaks.

Shen Lian was sometimes very curious. What would happen if the objects he bound were inanimate objects? Would the tables, chairs, and benches start talking?
"Ah~ Master Ba wants to reward people according to their merits!"

"It's so annoying."

The sharp neighing of the starling echoed in the pawnshop, and Shen Lian hurried to feed it.

It caused bursts of laughter.

Shen Lian took a closer look at the snuff bottle, then handed it back to the regular customer, "What a treasure! If you pawn it to a pawnshop..."

"No, no, I just wanted to show it to Master Ba. Ha, it's amazing."

"Ah~"

The regular customer nodded, and seeing that the morning market was already open, he walked away.

"Goodbye."

After Shen Lian watched the regular customer go away, he lay back in his chair and couldn't help muttering in his heart.

"What is the basis for the amount of experience gained during the appraisal? I still don't understand it."

"Someone sent me a 200-year-old snuff bottle a few days ago. It was made of jade. Why didn't they provide any professional experience?"

"Too metaphysical."

"The progress of Chaofeng has reached 100%, and the magical power of Wisdom Eyes should be promoted. However, due to the limitations of the profession, it is really meaningless."

For every 10% increase in Chao Feng's career progress, he would gain one martial arts point, which he estimated could be used to improve the level of his internal and external skills.

Unfortunately, the pawnshop's martial arts are rather rudimentary, just a few moves of wielding sticks and swords, and are not recognized by the professional panel at all.

As for the martial arts school.

In fact, Shen Hansheng had been helping Shen Lian find a martial arts school two and a half years ago.

However, all the martial arts schools in Yanliang Town have gang backgrounds, and someone dies in them every now and then.

The most outrageous thing is that in the Nanshan Martial Arts School that was destroyed not long ago, there were only thirty or forty disciples and coaches living in it, but the government office found 175 fresh corpses.

There were rumors that it was a ghost, but a large number of corpses couldn't just appear out of thin air, right? It was probably a gang fight, and the government deliberately downplayed the impact.

"The world is dangerous. It is really difficult to move forward without martial arts skills."

Although Shen Lian is very satisfied with his current wealthy life, he still has to consider self-protection.

"When the old man sells all the antiques and returns to Yanliang Town, the progress of the Chaofeng profession will be almost 100%. Yes, the points are enough."

If you can't avoid the struggle in the underworld, just earn enough points to take shortcuts.

"If I join a martial arts school, maybe I can become a warrior?"

(End of this chapter)