Becoming a martial arts god starting from the mortician.

"Side jobs?"

Shen Qi put down the rough porcelain teacup in his hand.

"Brother, why don't you be more direct? I think there were at least dozens of corpses delivered yesterday. Isn't that enough to keep our mortuary busy?"

Shen Qi remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he was already making plans.

Gangs in the outer city clashed daily over territory, resulting in frequent deaths and injuries. He could easily and discreetly retrieve a few strands of bloody life from the bodies of those who died violent deaths.

If you take on freelance work outside, you will inevitably have to take risks.

But then I thought, this Fatty Zhao is a shrewd guy. He was so eager to recruit me on my first day here, there must be some lucrative opportunity for him.

Seeing that Shen Qi didn't immediately refuse, Zhao Youtian felt reassured; there was hope for this!

"Seventh Brother, you don't understand." Zhao Youtian shifted his position forward, then picked up his teacup to moisten his throat. "Birth, aging, sickness, and death are ordained by Heaven; they happen every day. We naturally receive quite a few dead souls in our mortuary, but most are from the outer city; those from the inner city are extremely rare. Do you know why?"

Shen Qi's eyes flickered slightly as he looked at Zhao Youtian, waiting for his explanation.

"Who lives in the inner city? Merchants, wealthy families, and high-ranking officials! They value 'respectability'!"

Zhao Youtian slammed his hand on the table with a "bang".

"If an old man or woman dies in a family, the funeral must be grand and extravagant. In the eyes of those gentry, our place is a filthy place only for the dead, the lowest of the low, for peasants and beggars. Sending your own family here? That would be beneath you!"

"When they need to hold a funeral, they have to spend a lot of money to hire a mortician from outside to come to their home and take good care of them."

At this point, he spread his hands, his expression becoming somewhat comical.

"But look at the streets of our outer city, what kind of people are involved in the mummification business?"

"No normal person would ever do this. Most of the people who do this are desperate people who have nowhere else to go and can't make a living. If you walk around the streets, there are plenty of people with repulsive faces. It's very difficult to find someone who looks normal."

"What kind of people are those gentlemen? They'd complain about even a speck of mud on the flagstones they walk on. Imagine, the mortician they hire comes looking like this, standing in the mourning hall like a vengeful ghost. How could the family feel happy seeing that?"

As Shen Qi listened, he leaned back comfortably in his chair.

That is absolutely true.

The profession of mortician is not necessarily one that requires three lacks and five deficiencies, it's not that weird, but morticians deal with the dead all year round, and yin energy enters their bodies, so in the end, they are not much different.

Zhao Youtian changed the subject, his gaze sweeping over Shen Qi, scrutinizing him from head to toe.

"But Seventh Brother, you're different! Look at you, so handsome and dashing, and your skills are impeccable!"

"The most important thing is that, Seventh Brother, you're officially a member of the Observatory, so you're considered a big shot by those gentlemen!"

"Think about it," Zhao Youtian said, his face beaming, getting more and more excited as he spoke. "If we spread the word that we've invited the celestial officials to personally come and prepare the body for burial... what kind of reaction would those wealthy families have?"

He patted his round belly and confidently made his promise.

"Absolutely everyone's flocking to it! Even the martial arts masters from the Observatory didn't mind the bad luck and personally came to clean up his old man's body. That's a huge honor!"

Shen Qi watched the fat man gesticulating wildly, nodding inwardly.

This Fatty Zhao is indeed a shrewd man.

Zhao Youtian swallowed hard, held up five fingers, and waved them in front of Shen Qi's eyes.

"If we handle things properly, a trip to the inner city... it doesn't have to be much, just fifty taels of silver per order, and those gentlemen will be happy to pay!"

Fifty taels. This is no small sum. Shen Qi currently only has a little over fifty taels on him. Although he hasn't gone to get the medicine yet, those herbs that can nourish blood and strengthen bones and muscles will definitely not be cheap. As the saying goes, "the poor study literature, the rich study martial arts," having real gold and silver in hand will allow him to go further on the path of martial arts.

Seeing that Shen Qi remained silent for a long time, Zhao Youtian quickly added more pressure.

"We'll split the money 20/80 after we get it. Seventh Brother, you take the lion's share, 80%. I'll just have a small portion, 20%."

Fearing Shen Qi would think he was getting paid for nothing, Zhao Youtian quickly added with a forced smile, "Brother Qi, I'm not taking this money for nothing. Those high-ranking officials above naturally wouldn't care about such a small sum, but the gatekeepers, the messengers, and the stewards of various households all need to be bribed. I take this 20%, and it all goes into smoothing things over, ensuring you have unimpeded access to the inner city!"

After listening, Shen Qi pondered for a moment.

You can't grow up if you eat alone. If you want a horse to run, you have to give it enough grass. You also need to save your energy for martial arts training and assimilating your life force. It's best to leave the trivial matters of managing interpersonal relationships to Zhao Youtian.

But a 20% profit margin is clearly not enough.

He smiled slightly and took the initiative to speak.

"Brother, this 20/80 split isn't right."

Zhao Youtian was stunned for a moment, his heart skipped a beat. Too much?

He was about to speak up to make amends when Shen Qi continued.

"Brother, you've been running around doing all this, taking risks and putting on a smiling face to smooth things over. I can't let you work so hard for nothing, so let's split the money 30/70. You get 30%, I get 70%."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Youtian's obese body trembled.

He stared wide-eyed at Shen Qi, waving his hands repeatedly to refuse, insisting that it was absolutely impossible.

"Oh dear! Seventh Brother, how can you do this! The title is yours, the skill is yours, I'm just running errands at best, how can I possibly take an extra ten percent!"

Without saying a word, Shen Qi reached out and picked up the teacup on the table, offering it to Zhao Youtian.

"Brother, please don't refuse. I'm new here and don't know anything. I'll need your help a lot in the future. This extra ten percent is a token of my appreciation for your hard work."

Shen Qi took a sip of tea and made the final decision: "It's settled then."

Looking at Shen Qi's calm and handsome face, Zhao Youtian's goodwill towards him increased rapidly.

No wonder someone can get into the Observatory at such a young age; with such skill and vision, they're truly different!

"Seventh Brother is so generous!" Zhao Youtian quickly picked up the teacup with both hands and drank it all in one gulp.

"In that case, brother, I'll go to work now."

Seeing that the matter was settled, Shen Qi stood up, smoothed out the wrinkles on the hem of his clothes, and bid farewell to Zhao Youtian.

Zhao Youtian also stood up with a smile, escorting Shen Qi to the door. He patted his chest and assured Shen Qi, "Seventh Brother, just focus on your studies! I'll take some time these next two days to wander around the inner city and find out the connections for you!"

……