Jiang City was a provincial city of the Li Kingdom, vast in area and crouching over the southeast like a tiger.
The sky had only just begun to brighten, and Jiang City was shrouded in a hazy white mist.
Out of the mist came a young man.
He wore a bamboo hat, with a suona tucked at his waist, and a black dog half the height of a man followed at his side.
That young man was Bai Yu.
He removed his bamboo hat and patted the dew from his clothes.
"We've finally reached Jiang City, Old Mo. From now on, we'll make our home here."
"Why must one's bones be buried in the soil of one's homeland? Under heaven, every place has its green hills."
"Where the heart finds peace, there lies one's homeland."
Old Mo answered with several barks.
Bai Yu led Old Mo into the city.
The city truly was nothing like a little mountain village. Even at dawn, people already streamed through its streets.
The steamed bun and rice noodle stalls by the road gave off the fragrant scent of scallions and garlic.
Bai Yu bought two large meat buns, one for each of them. Once the steaming buns were in their bellies, all the exhaustion in their bodies was swept away.
Having just entered the city, man and dog found everything fresh and fascinating.
The streets were over ten zhang wide, all paved with bluestone, wide enough for several carriages to pass side by side.
"Old Mo, look! There's an acrobat show—breaking a huge stone on someone's chest."
A stone weighing over a hundred jin was pressed atop a burly man's body.
With a bang, the stone was smashed apart, while the strongman remained completely unharmed.
Bai Yu shouted his approval several times and tossed down two copper coins.
On the other side, someone began performing face-changing. Bai Yu pulled Old Mo over to watch for a while.
"Amazing, amazing. He changed faces so quickly."
"Of course, though he's still a little slower than Uncle Dazhuang's wife. Now that was what you called fast face-changing."
Man and dog wandered around the city, eating and playing as they went.
Bai Yu even bought Old Mo a little wooden puppet, which Old Mo solemnly tucked into its small bag.
Only at noon, after they had eaten their fill and played to their hearts' content, did they stop.
Bai Yu took Old Mo to rest on a patch of grass.
"Old Mo, we didn't bring much silver. We need to find work."
"Best if it's related to playing the suona. Once we earn money, we'll buy a pile of big meat buns—and get you a few little female whatevers too."
Old Mo stretched out its paws, showing off its muscles to indicate that it could help Bai Yu work as well.
Bai Yu chuckled and headed beneath a section of the eastern city wall.
The wall was plastered with recruitment notices, packed so densely they seemed endless.
"Zhou's Roast Duck Restaurant is hiring two serving hands. Food and lodging included."
"Spring Breeze Pavilion is hiring one robust male escort."
"Zhang Estate is hiring ten servants."
Bai Yu examined them carefully and finally found a job he liked.
"Hundred Virtues Funeral Home in the south of the city is hiring five laborers. Applicants must be physically strong, bold, and meticulous."
A funeral home, plainly put, was a morgue, a mass burial ground.
The city's dead were buried through the funeral home.
Travelers who died away from home were placed in the funeral home to await their return home.
Others might find that somewhat taboo, but for Bai Yu, it was simply tailor-made.
After asking for directions all the way, Bai Yu left through the southern gate and found Hundred Virtues Funeral Home.
The sprawling funeral home contained several hundred rooms of every kind.
Behind it stretched a barren mountain range, its slopes covered everywhere with graves.
At this time, a crowd had already gathered outside the funeral home's gates.
The notice only sought five laborers, but there were probably several hundred people here to apply.
Bai Yu was taken aback.
Was finding work in this world this cutthroat too?
Several hundred people fighting over five positions—this was far too difficult.
He began waiting at the edge of the crowd.
Listening to everyone chat, he also learned quite a bit.
This funeral home had been spearheaded by the provincial government and funded by several major Aristocratic Clans inside and outside the city.
In other words, even a funeral home laborer held a government position of sorts.
No wonder so many people had come scrambling for it.
They waited until the sun hung directly overhead before the funeral home's gates finally creaked open.
A scrawny servant came out and called:
"Manager Wu will come out to interview you. Get ready."
Soon, several servants carried out tables and chairs and set up a temporary interview station.
A rotund, pot-bellied manager sat in the seat of honor. At his weight, one truly had to wonder whether that wooden chair could bear it.
The other interviewer was a Daoist dressed in a Daoist robe.
The people around them whispered among themselves.
"That's Manager Wu. Whether you pass the interview depends entirely on whether Manager Wu nods."
"The one beside him is Daoist Lin Jiu. They say he has a knack for banishing evil. He's the one keeping this funeral home in check."
Very soon, a servant pointed to a young man in white and called him forward for an interview.
Manager Wu was practically reclining in his chair.
With a lift of his hand, a servant beside him offered a pot of tea. He took an indifferent sip and asked:
"Tell me, what are your strengths?"
The young man in white cupped his hands slightly.
"My surname is Liu. My strength is my second maternal uncle."
Manager Wu's expression turned several degrees more serious as he asked:
"Your second maternal uncle is?"
"Detective Zhao!"
Manager Wu immediately rose and said:
"Young Master Liu, is it? Please, have a seat. You've passed."
"Someone, pour tea for Young Master Liu."
Just like that, the first position had been handed out.
Bai Yu stared, dumbfounded.
Was it really this blatant?
Yet looking around, not one person dared voice any complaint.
Everyone found it only natural and right.
Sigh. Such was the world.
At that moment, another middle-aged man in brocade robes stepped forward for an interview.
Manager Wu asked again:
"What are your strengths?"
The middle-aged man smiled and bowed.
"In answer to Manager Wu, Patriarch Zhang sent me."
He pulled an envelope from his robes and presented it.
Manager Wu opened the envelope, saw a character for Zhang, and found a small-denomination silver banknote tucked inside.
He smiled as well.
"So you're Patriarch Zhang's wife's elder brother. You qualify. Go collect your identity plaque."
And just like that, the second position was gone as well.
The third position went to a distant relative of the Zhao Family in the west of the city.
The fourth went to a retired instructor from the Long-Armed Martial Arts Hall.
In the blink of an eye, only one position remained.
Bai Yu grew anxious. This funeral home job could not have suited him better.
If he joined the funeral home, there would be an endless stream of funeral rewards.
But who could have expected the hiring process to be so riddled with shady dealings?
Only one position remained, yet another connected candidate stepped forward.
A servant whispered to Manager Wu:
"This is the younger brother-in-law of the Golden Coin Gang's deputy leader's twelfth wife."
Manager Wu was about to nod when Daoist Lin Jiu, who had remained silent all this time, spoke.
"That's enough. Someone has to do the work, after all."
On second thought, Manager Wu realized that made sense.
If they were all people with connections, who would they rely on for the daily work?
If something went wrong at the funeral home, he would not be able to escape responsibility either.
So he cleared his throat and said:
"For this next position, everyone will compete based on ability. We have always conducted affairs fairly, openly, and impartially."
The crowd stirred excitedly. At last, there was a little hope.
Thus, the servants began calling people up one by one for interviews.
The first was a burly man who displayed his corded muscles, claiming that his vital energy and blood were strong and that he feared no yin evil.
Manager Wu watched and nodded repeatedly.
The second was an even more ruthless fellow. No one knew where he pulled a skull from, but he planted a loud kiss on it.
He shouted that he was brave and unafraid of ghosts.
The people competing each displayed their own miraculous skills, making Bai Yu tremble with fear.
He feared Manager Wu would nod and the final position would be gone too.
Relying on his Tendon Forging Realm strength, Bai Yu shoved his way through the crowd and quickly squeezed to the very front.
At last, after several people had gone up, the servant called Bai Yu.
Before you continue