Folk customs begin with the entire funeral procession

Chapter 118 Arrangement and Planning of the Funeral Home

Chen Miao was fairly satisfied with what he had gained this time.

But if you were to ask him if he wanted to do it again, he would rather not have these rewards.

Compared to this ordeal, Chen Miao would much rather run a funeral home quietly.

Thinking of the funeral home, Chen Miao suddenly remembered information about the old master of ceremonies, Tao Bo, from a previous chapter.

"I didn't go back for a week, and he resigned?"

Although business at Tianmen Funeral Home has rebounded somewhat, it's not much.

Tao Bo doesn't seem like someone who can't endure hardship, but he still chose to resign before Chen Miao returned.

Why is that?
Chen Miao tapped his fingers on the table and quickly thought of a place.

Fushou Funeral Center!

Although Du Rui's reckless actions led to his own demise, Fushou Funeral Center is still operating.

Just from the name, you can tell that the new boss, Du Xiang, is very close to Du Rui.

During this period, Du Xiang continued to do some things, but they were all done through overt means.

For example, raising wages, offering half-price items, or increasing the number of sales staff, etc.

This Du Xiang looks much smarter than Du Rui.

Or rather, Du Xiang wasn't as greedy as Du Rui!
It now appears that Du Xiang has completely taken control of the Fushou Funeral Center and has begun to use his influence.

Poaching talent is likely one of their tactics!

Tao Bo was just a newcomer and had no sense of belonging to Tianmen Funeral Home. It was understandable that he would go to whichever funeral home offered the most money.

However, now that Chen Miao knew, he naturally wouldn't just sit idly by and wait for his doom.

Tao Bo is unstable, so he needs to prepare in advance.

He didn't want to go back to his previous days of being busy all by himself, especially now that he had so much more to do.

Immediately, Chen Miao drafted a job posting and published it on several local public WeChat accounts, and also uploaded the corresponding job posting to a job recruitment platform.

The director of Tianmen Funeral Home handles all the recruitment matters on a part-time basis.

After all, staff turnover in the funeral industry is not frequent, so there is no need to hire a specialist to handle this matter.

The situation at Tianmen Funeral Home is an exception.

In terms of compensation, Chen Miao raised it to the same level as Tao Bo.

In addition, Chen Miao also posted a recruitment notice in the "Funeral Services" classmates' group and sent out a large red envelope.

"Zhi Shu Da Li (Chen Miao): @Everyone, those looking for jobs can take a look, and please help spread the word. Thank you!"

He ignored the subsequent string of compliments about how 'the boss is generous'.

Chen Miao then added three days of overtime to Tao Bo's attendance record.

A direct pay raise won't work, as it would cause unrest among the staff, but overtime pay is an option.

After all, whether someone is busy or not is obvious to everyone, so it's only right that they should be rewarded for their hard work.

However, the overtime pay won't be paid until the beginning of next month when salaries are paid. I don't know if Tao Bo can hold out until then.

If Tao Bo leaves early, Chen Miao will probably have to stay busy for a while longer.

After dealing with Tao Bo's matter, Chen Miao picked up the black umbrella.

"Filth?"

Chen Miao sensed a faint yin energy emanating from the black umbrella, opened it, and waved it above his head.

Aside from feeling a bit cool under it, this umbrella didn't exhibit any particular qualities.

After watching for a while, Chen Miao still resisted the urge to perform the ritual.

Anyway, the umbrella is right here, and it's not going to run away.

Treat it as a 'backup battery'; if it's really too wicked, you can perform a ritual to help it pass on to the afterlife later.

He got up and walked towards the bedroom.

Chen Miao stuffed the umbrella into the closet in the bedroom.

"Afterwards, I'll need to place the spirit tablet in the bedroom, so it looks like I'll have to buy a larger, lockable cabinet."

Chen Miao felt that the cabinet was very necessary.

In the future, it's impossible for everything he creates or obtains while dealing with paranormal events to be included in the book.

It's impossible to take all your belongings with you every time you go out, so a place to store these things is essential.

Chen Miao even considered tidying up the basement of the funeral home dormitory building and turning it into his secret base. After all, it was currently just a dumping ground for miscellaneous items, and it could still be used after a cleanup. Chen Miao even wanted to try writing soul-suppressing scriptures on the four walls of the basement to see if it could protect the entire basement!

Of course, if writing on the basement walls, one would certainly not use items such as cinnabar obtained from books.

Otherwise, with his current two taels and one mace of good karma, he would never have been able to finish writing on one wall!

Even purchasing real-world materials can be quite expensive.

"It seems that the basement renovation plan still has a long way to go. We can use a memorial tablet for now to create an environment with abundant yin energy that will not leak out."

Suddenly, a picture popped into Chen Miao's mind.

In a gloomy basement, under dim lighting, he stood between three memorial tablets, raised his talisman brush, dipped it into the blood-red ink beside him, and wrote obscure and unknown symbols on the paper.

"No matter how you look at it, he doesn't seem like a respectable person!"

Chen Miao shook his head, dismissing the thought.

Back at his desk, Chen Miao took out a stack of A4 paper and began to write.

What was written was none other than the method for making talismans, which was being prepared for Xiang Shang.

However, unlike "Zhong's Talismans", Chen Miao only wrote down the methods for making two kinds of talismans on paper.

The first is a talisman to suppress spirits, and the second is a talisman to dispel yin.

The other types of talismans are as follows: the Heart-to-Heart Talisman is useless; the Yin-Gathering Talisman will bring disaster if used improperly; and the Corpse-Controlling Talisman cannot be used without the method of controlling a corpse.

Rather than distracting Xiang Shang with this, it's better to just let him learn these two things.

If he really has talent, Chen Miao might be able to find Xiang Shang to supplement his ordinary talismans in the future.

However, when Chen Miao wrote it, in addition to the original production method, he also incorporated his experience in drawing talismans during this period.

Chen Miao may not be as skilled as Zhong Cai in drawing talismans, but his understanding of talisman drawing is not much less than Zhong Cai's.

Zhong Cai only draws talismans once every two months, while Chen Miao draws them every day!
He could gradually improve the problems he encountered every day when drawing talismans over the next few days, which gave Chen Miao a clear and profound understanding of the process of drawing talismans.

What Chen Miao didn't know was that usually only master-level figures who cultivated a breath of Yin energy within their bodies and could draw talismans anytime, anywhere could achieve this.

This is one of the reasons why the students taught by those master teachers are all outstanding.

Therefore, Chen Miao had no idea how valuable the experiences he had written down were!
Chen Miao wrote two talismans, filling two A4 sheets of paper in total. He also took two scrap talismans from his previous drawings and placed them with the paper.

It's fine to use the discarded talisman as a visual reference for Xiang Shang, since Xiang Shang can't tell the difference between the discarded talisman and the real one anyway.

After dealing with Xiang Shang's matter, Chen Miao thought of Shi Manman again.

It doesn't make sense that Xiang Shang wrote it all down, but Shi Manman, this sensible apprentice, didn't.

But soon, Chen Miao gave up.

There's too much stuff in "The Secret Techniques of Southern-Style Corpse Stitching" for Chen Miao to copy; it would take more than just an hour or two.

Moreover, given his current relationship with Shi Manman, it would be better to primarily teach verbally.

By the time I finished doing all that, it was getting late.

Chen Miao went straight to bed.

Chen Miao slept soundly, even disrupting his biological clock, and didn't get up until nine o'clock in the morning.

After getting up, Chen Miao felt refreshed.

After reviewing today's schedule, Chen Miao went to see Tao Bo, informed him that he had returned, expressed his appreciation for Tao Bo's hard work during this period, and explained the matter of overtime pay.

Tao Bo simply responded with a "okay" and said nothing more.

Chen Miao sensed a hint of absent-mindedness and hesitation in the other person's expression.

Therefore, Chen Miao guessed that Du Xiang had likely already contacted Tao Bo.

Chen Miao is unlikely to engage in a price war with Du Xiang over this matter, and he won't stop Tao Bo if he really wants to leave.

Otherwise, the series of reactions triggered by the wage increase will hasten the demise of Tianmen Funeral Home.

Moreover, even if Du Xiang were to poach people, there would be a limit; he couldn't keep poaching people from their funeral home indefinitely.

As for whether Du Xiang would use special methods... Chen Miao actually quite hoped that the other party would.

If the other party dares to make a move, Chen Miao doesn't even need to lift a finger; he can get Fushou Funeral Center to change owners again.

In the days that followed, Chen Miao resumed his regular life.

When something needs to be done, he does it.

In his spare time, he would practice drawing talismans, reciting incantations, copying scriptures, and making seven-star peach wood swords!
Because he failed to obtain the Seven Star Peach Wood Sword in the last incident, Chen Miao still harbored some resentment, so he made this matter his top priority recently.

……

(End of this chapter)