New Work

Having made up his mind, Deng Qing strolled toward Five Blessings Butcher Shop, ready to finish his extra meal.

Half a cup of tea later, he reached the small room beside Five Blessings Butcher Shop. Pushing open the door, he found that the food Wu Yun had left this time was far more lavish than usual.

A large bowl of meat sat on the table, along with a bowl of pig's blood and half a basin of bone broth.

Deng Qing did not stand on ceremony. He sat down and ate.

Just as he finished, there came two knocks on the door before it was pushed open, and Wu Yun walked in.

Deng Qing counted the days and felt his heart skip a beat. When the house leaked, it always seemed to rain all night.

Before Wu Yun could say it, he took the initiative. "Senior Brother Wu, the agreed period for supplying meat has come to an end. Starting tomorrow, I won't be coming anymore.

"These past days, I've had much thanks to Senior Brother Wu's care. I'll remember this favor."

Wu Yun waved a hand. "No need for empty pleasantries between us. We've been helping each other out.

"I heard about what happened at Celebration Hall too. Times are truly hard right now. There's no work anywhere, and even putting food on the table has become a problem.

"But I've thought it over for you, Junior Brother. I do have a job here. I wonder whether you'd be willing to take it."

Deng Qing smiled. "I'm about to go hungry already. A beggar can't complain that the rice is coarse!"

Wu Yun chuckled. "Junior Brother, you've got a sense of humor. How about this? Come to the pig farm and help me guard the place. One tael of silver a month, and you can take as much offal as you want.

"I also heard of your mighty showing in the battle at Blackwind Ravine."

Deng Qing did not care about any reputation. He immediately pressed the crucial question. "Can I really take the offal freely?"

"Of course. Though pork liver and kidneys and the like are beyond what I can offer. It'll still be pig intestines and lungs."

Wu Yun said, "Besides, you won't need to stay at the pig farm every day. There are workers to watch over it normally. But if something truly happens at the farm, you must step forward."

The world was in chaos now, and every trade was fiercely competitive. The pork market was competition within competition. If Wu Yun had not been backed by Celebration Hall, he would have had a hard time keeping control of the situation.

Even so, he still had to gather strength and build up his power.

Deng Qing, whose reputation was gradually rising, naturally became a key target Wu Yun sought to draw in.

"Of course."

Deng Qing said, "By the way, isn't offal expensive now too?"

Wu Yun smiled. "That was some time ago. Everyone heard that offal contained the power of the organs, that eating it could break through a bottleneck, so they went home and bought large intestines, small intestines, and pig lungs to eat. In the end, plenty ate it, but not a single one managed to break through.

"Now the prices of pig intestines and lungs are dropping day by day. Before long, they'll likely fall back to the price of compost. If you're willing to take the job, all that stuff will be yours from now on."

Amid his delight, Deng Qing could not help but sigh. After winding round and round, he had ended up back at pig offal again.

When he left Five Blessings Butcher Shop, Deng Qing had a fresh set of newly butchered offal in hand, and he strode lightly into the cold night.

Although he now had Wu Yun's pig offal, Deng Qing's life did not suddenly become easier.

For one thing, the offal Five Blessings Butcher Shop had accumulated some time ago had long since been snapped up.

For another, the butcher shop now only slaughtered two pigs a day, and sometimes one of the two sets of offal could still be sold.

What truly fell into Deng Qing's hands was only one set.

One set of offal could at most offset the meat meal Wu Yun had previously provided him.

It was nowhere near enough to fill the final gap of twenty or thirty taels of silver needed for his qi and blood.

Deng Qing had also considered selling the soft sword.

After all, the Blacksteel Soft Sword was clearly no ordinary object. If he could truly sell it, that gap of twenty or thirty taels of silver before him would most likely be filled.

But the moment the thought arose, he suppressed it.

Zhang Yan had warned him that the sword could not be casually revealed.

The Blacksteel Soft Sword's characteristics were far too obvious. Any shop in Everjoy County that could afford such a weapon likely had people behind it.

He feared that before the silver even reached his hands, word would already have spread to the Golden Saber Sect.

Kept hidden, the sword was spoils of war. Taken out to sell, it was an invitation to disaster.

Unable to sell the sword, Deng Qing also considered borrowing money from Li Cheng.

Deng Qing already knew that Li Cheng's family was wealthy. If he asked to borrow twenty or thirty taels, he might not fail to get it.

But as soon as the notion appeared, Deng Qing immediately rejected it.

Li Cheng had already helped him inquire about Tianshun Apothecary. He could not keep spending favors.

Besides, shortages in cultivation would likely become the norm in the future.

Today he lacked twenty or thirty taels of silver; tomorrow he would lack medicine and meat.

Yet silver debts had a fixed sum, while debts of favor were hard to repay.

With no way to get money from either side, Deng Qing began taking odd jobs around the county seat.

Carrying burlap sacks, hauling bags of rice, keeping night watch for coffin shops, moving medicine jars for pharmacies...

He took any job that paid out the same day.

At noon that day, Deng Qing was eating at Celebration Hall.

The food was much worse than before. Though there was still a sheen of oil in the bowl, not a speck of meat could be seen.

As he ate with his head lowered, someone walked up to him.

Deng Qing looked up and saw Tu Wei, the senior brother who had taught him the Violet Palace Method.

"Senior Brother Tu."

Deng Qing hurriedly greeted him.

Tu Wei sat opposite him and lowered his voice. "I heard you've been taking work everywhere. Are things a little tight lately?"

Deng Qing did not hide it and nodded.

Tu Wei asked again, "How is your Violet Palace Method progressing?"

Deng Qing nodded. "Not bad."

Tu Wei said, "When you circulate your cultivation for one cycle, can you digest five jin of meat?"

Deng Qing thought that even ten jin would be no problem, but when the words reached his lips, they became a single word. "Yes."

Tu Wei's eyes lit up. "I hadn't expected it. You're actually suited to cultivating an internal training method."

"You're joking, Senior Brother."

Deng Qing stared at Tu Wei, quietly waiting for what came next.

Tu Wei lowered his voice further. "Tianshun Apothecary needs to rush out a batch of medicine before the New Year, and they're short on furnace guards."

"Furnace guards?"

"Exactly!"

Tu Wei said, "Whenever medicine is refined, there is inevitably medicinal poison. Ordinary workers can't withstand it, so the apothecary wants people who cultivate internal training methods to guard the furnaces.

"This job pays by the furnace—five qian of silver per furnace. If you can't hold on midway, you may leave. But there is one condition: if the medicinal poison harms your body, the apothecary bears no responsibility."

Deng Qing's eyes brightened.

Five qian of silver per furnace was already far beyond the pay of ordinary odd jobs.

Tu Wei said, "I've already taken it. If you're willing, you can come try it with me."

Deng Qing set down his bowl and chopsticks. "I'm going."

He was nearly driven mad by poverty. How could he afford to be picky about work?

Half an hour later, the two arrived at Tianshun Apothecary. They entered through a side door and stepped into a long, narrow alley. High walls stood on both sides, blocking even sunlight from passing through.

Tu Wei knew the way well and led Deng Qing straight inward.

At the end of the alley was an underground entrance, guarded by someone.

Deng Qing looked closely and saw that it was Steward Liu, who had received him when he bought supplementary medicines last time.

Steward Liu nodded to Deng Qing, then began explaining the rules of guarding the furnace, no different from what Tu Wei had told him before.

Only after finishing did Steward Liu lead the two into the underground entrance. They followed stone steps winding downward into a refining room.

The refining room was a separate stone chamber. There were no windows inside, only a smoke vent in one corner of the wall, leading who knew where.

On the way here, Deng Qing had heard Tu Wei explain that this design existed solely to preserve the medicinal properties as much as possible.

As for the health of the furnace guards, that was not within consideration.

That was why furnace guarding had become a line of work.

In the center of the stone chamber stood a large furnace half the height of a man.

Its body was pitch-black, its belly broad. A firewood opening was set at its base, where dim red firelight flickered, making the furnace walls brighten and darken by turns.

Split hardwood was piled on the west side of the stone chamber, while buckets, iron hooks, fire tongs, and other items sat on the east.

Deng Qing swept his gaze around and quickly noticed something was wrong.