Folk customs begin with the entire funeral procession

Chapter 40: Materials Complete, Drawing the Talisman (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
“Sanshui, your uncle has seen all your hard work during this time. I think you are ready to carry the banner of Tianmen Funeral Home.”

Chen Weiyi looked at Chen Miao, his eyes filled with satisfaction.

Chen Miao paused for a moment, then nodded.

"Uncle, I will do my best to run Tianmen Funeral Home well."

"Hehe, okay, I believe you."

"With Sanshui taking over the funeral home, we're not afraid of ghosts."

Listening to his uncle's heartfelt words, Chen Miao remained silent.

"Alright, Sanshui, I will announce this at the museum this afternoon, but before that, go and offer incense to your parents."

Chen Weiyi stood up and said.

Afterwards, Chen Miao followed his uncle to the columbarium in the museum.

The memorial tablets for Chen Miao's parents are in the columbarium. This is not a feature of Tianmen Funeral Home, but rather a place specially reserved for Chen Miao's parents by the principal, which is inaccessible to outsiders.

Upon arriving at the location, Chen Weiyi looked at the memorial tablets of Chen Miao's parents, swept away the dust, and then murmured some words with a touch of sadness.

His tone only softened when he finally spoke of Chen Miao.

"Hehe, little brother, Sanshui is a good and steady person. I've already handed the funeral home over to him. May your spirit in heaven bless this kid and ensure that he has a peaceful and smooth life from now on!"

"Sister-in-law, don't worry. With Sanshui's abilities, he will definitely find a good wife. I'll have him bring his wife to see you then!"

After saying that, Chen Weiyi stood aside and gave the altar to Chen Miao.

"Sanshui, offer incense to your parents."

Chen Miao took two steps forward and looked up at his parents' memorial tablets.

It is said that a person dies three times in their lifetime.

The first death is the end of the physical body; your heart stops beating, your breathing ceases, and the doctor pronounces you dead.

The second death is the disappearance of society; your photo is put away, your name is no longer mentioned, and the last person who remembers your face has also left this world.

The third death is eternal annihilation; the trees you planted die, the houses you built are gone, and the last trace of you disappears from the world.

Looking at the photos pasted on her parents' memorial tablets, Chen Miao's somewhat blurred memories of their faces became clear again.

Perhaps this is why we worship our ancestors every year.

"Dad, Mom, I'm doing very well and have a fulfilling life. Don't worry."

After saying that, Chen Miao reached out and pulled out incense from the offering table, preparing to light it.

"Snapped!"

A hand slapped Chen Miao on the back of the head.

Chen Miao's emotions, which he had just begun to build up, were abruptly interrupted. In a daze, he turned his head and saw his uncle standing to the side with a serious expression.

"How many sticks of incense are you planning to offer to your parents, kid?"

"That kid's a tiger!"

Chen Miao was taken aback, looking at the four incense sticks in his hand, sweat beading on his forehead.

That's it, I'm getting the hang of it!
……

In the afternoon, Chen Weiyi gathered everyone in the museum and announced in front of more than ten people that Chen Miao would be appointed as the deputy director.

He also explained that from now on, all matters should be reported directly to Chen Miao.

The implication is clear: although it is the position of deputy director, it is the power of the director.

This arrangement was the result of discussions between Chen Weiyi and Chen Miao.

By holding the title of curator, Chen Weiyi can avoid some trouble.

For example, those employees who want to leave but haven't left yet might wait and see for a while. They might think that if Chen Miao isn't up to par, Chen Weiyi will come back to bail them out.

After all, a job that provides dormitory accommodation is unique in the entire Tianmen County.

Less than an hour after the news was announced, Chen Weiyi left the funeral home in a nonchalant manner, leaving the huge funeral home to Chen Miao, a young man who was not yet twenty-five years old.

From this moment on, the office on the second floor of the business hall with the 'Curator' sign hanging on it became Chen Miao's new office.

Chen Weiyi's personal belongings in the office had all been taken away, but the bookshelves and tea table were still there.

Chen Weiyi said that Chen Miao could make any changes he wanted, but Chen Miao didn't.

Strangely enough, this young man in his early twenties had similar tastes to this fifty-year-old man, and didn't think there was anything wrong with the office's decoration and layout.

After that, Chen Miao moved his bedding and other belongings from his dormitory to the office.

During the process, several salespeople on the first floor saw what was happening and offered their help with great enthusiasm.

As for why bedding and other items were moved here, it's because the curator's office has an attached bedroom!
From now on, Chen Miao can work and sleep in the curator's office!
As for the funeral director's office next to the farewell hall, Chen Miao would only be on duty there on the day of the memorial service.

Although it's a bit of a waste to leave it empty, there's no other way, so Chen Miao isn't considering hiring another funeral director for the time being.

The reasons for doing this are twofold: firstly, it's difficult to recruit certified funeral directors in a small county; secondly, Chen Miao is currently sufficient to handle the funeral home's workload. They'll have the confidence to hire more staff once he's further developed the funeral home.
After all, hiring people requires offering corresponding compensation.

After everything was in order, Chen Miao sat behind his large desk, a sense of pride rising within him!
Tianmen Funeral Home may well shine again under his leadership!

After thinking for a full half hour, Chen Miao finally prepared to continue what he hadn't finished before, which was to check the things that Xiang Shang had sent him by express delivery.

But just then, Chen Miao's gaze fell on the bookshelf.

He paused for a moment, then walked over and took down the book "If Your Eyes Deceive You" from the bookshelf.

It was rather strange that there was already a 'same' book on his desk, and another one on the bookshelf.

"Next time I see Xiang Shang, I'll give him this book."

As he spoke, Chen Miao put the book back into his desk.

Soon, Chen Miao opened the package and took out some items, placing them on his desk.

A stack of uncut yellow paper, an inkstone, five small bottles, plus the wolf-hair talisman brush that Chen Miao bought himself—all the materials he needed to draw talismans were chicken blood.

Chen Miao picked up one of the five bottles and poured the cinnabar inside into the inkstone to observe it.

This bottle of cinnabar was obtained by Xiang Shang from his friend's traditional Chinese medicine shop for Chen Miao; it is high-quality cinnabar with a purity of around 90%.

It has a bright luster, is bright red in color, and is crystalline.

The price of cinnabar of this quality is about fifty yuan per gram. Xiang Shang sent Chen Miao a pound, or five small bottles!
The market price is 25,000 yuan!
Compared to the cinnabar, the yellow paper was not worth much.

In the end, Chen Miao directly transferred 30,000 yuan to Xiang Shang, and Xiang Shang didn't say anything more.

Xiang Shang, as Chen Miao's best friend, knew his personality well.

Chen Miao might rip Xiang Shang off for 500 yuan, but he would never let Xiang Shang pay 30,000 yuan again.

Although the money was given readily, Chen Miao still felt a little pained taking out 30,000 yuan at once.

Not counting the inheritance left by his parents, Chen Miao only managed to save 300,000 yuan after working for two and a half years.

This time, they emptied one-tenth of his savings.

Even so, it's still uncertain whether 30,000 yuan can be used to make a real talisman.

"Indeed, the stories of wealth, companions, magic, and land in cultivation novels, and the stories of poor scholars and rich warriors in martial arts novels, are not just empty words!"

Chen Miao didn't start immediately. Instead, he practiced with ink for another hour, and then cut the yellow paper into the size of ordinary talisman paper.

After that, he bought two roosters and had the cook kill them at the canteen. He then collected half a bottle of chicken blood and put it in the refrigerator.

Chen Miao waited until dawn before finally going out and walking around the funeral home a few times.

During the process, he continuously gathered yin energy and threw the clumps of yin energy into his office.

He didn't stop until after 1 a.m., a full hour later.

At this time, the temperature in his office had dropped to the teens.

Chen Miao even had to wear long sleeves to keep out the cold.

However, this also gave him more confidence.

"This level of yin energy concentration should be sufficient, right?"

Thinking this, Chen Miao took out the bottle of congealed chicken blood from the refrigerator.

There was no way around it; Chen Miao had never killed a chicken before, and he couldn't very well kill one in the office in the middle of the night, could he?

Fortunately, he had a solution for the solidified chicken blood; it just needed to be processed again to be usable.

Chen Miao opened his blender, which he had only used two or three times since he bought it, cut open the bottle, and poured in the chicken blood cubes.

A buzzing noise filled the office.

Fortunately, he had already moved out of the dormitory building; otherwise, the noise would have definitely made the other people sleeping in the dormitory curse his whole family.

During the blending process, Chen Miao would occasionally add a little water.

If you don't do it this way, the chicken blood you get won't be usable.

Two minutes later, Chen Miao poured out the thick chicken blood from the blender.

After glancing at it, Chen Miao sat down in a chair, took out a cut talisman, placed it on the table, and pressed it down with a paperweight.

According to the records in "Zhong's Talismans", Chen Miao poured one qian of cinnabar into the inkstone, followed by one liang of rooster blood.

Mix and grind!
After the cinnabar in the chicken blood was crushed and mixed with the chicken blood, Chen Miao picked up the new wolf-hair talisman brush from the brush holder next to him.

"Then, let's start!"

Chen Miao's eyes lit up, but after a few deep breaths, his eyes gradually became calm and still.

Ice Heart state, enter!
……

P.S.: Please vote with your monthly tickets! I'm updating early today, and will update as usual at 10 PM tomorrow.
I've already included a structural diagram of Tianmen Funeral Home in the bonus chapter. I'm not good at art, so I drew it in Excel; please bear with it! (It's a bit blurry.)

(End of this chapter)