From Beggar to Emperor: My Profession Has Its Own Characteristics

Under Zhao Dazhu's guidance, Zhu Yuan began to attempt to dissect the pig's body.

Following the instructions, he placed the tip of the knife against the junction of his shoulder blade, exerted force with his wrist, and felt the blade cutting into the flesh, fascia, and then into the hard bone.

His movements weren't fast, even a bit hesitant and cautious, but he strived for precision with every cut, his expression incredibly focused.

The better you do this kind of work, the more professional experience you should gain.

Later, when Zhu Yuan examined the ancient books, his idea was confirmed.

[You observed Zhao Dazhu's steps in processing the pig and learned how to inflate a dead pig; your professional experience increases by 10.]

[You started scraping the pig bristles with a scraper. The bristles were removed fairly cleanly. Professional experience +5.]

[Zhao Dazhu will teach you his experience in butchering pigs, granting you +100 professional experience.]

[You diligently began dismembering the pig's carcass, extracting pork ribs. The dismemberment was quite successful; your professional experience increases by 8.]

……

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Occupation: Butcher

Level: Lv1 (153/500)

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One hundred and ten experience points were gained from learning and observation, and the remaining forty-three experience points were obtained from the pig's carcass.

You should gain a lot of experience from killing pigs.

"Aside from the experience gained from learning, you should be able to upgrade your butcher profession to level two by killing about five pigs."

After reviewing the records in the ancient books in his mind, Zhu Yuan estimated how much experience he could gain from killing a pig.

Pigs may have different sizes, be handled differently, and have different levels of experience.

The entire slaughtering and processing work is considered complete only after the time from 5:00 AM to 7:00 AM.

"Zhu Yuan, this is your wages for working as a helper today."

Zhao Dazhu wiped his hands with his apron, walked over to Zhu Yuan who was cleaning the last few tools, and handed him a small string of copper coins with a satisfied smile on his face.

A total of sixty coins.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Yuan quickly put down what he was doing, wiped his wet hands on his apron, and then took the apron with both hands, but a look of surprise immediately appeared on his face.

"Uncle Zhao, this is too much." He weighed the money in his hand and said sincerely.

Zhu Yuan knew the going rate for a laborer; it was generally between twenty and thirty coins, plus a meal. Thirty coins was the absolute maximum a laborer could earn.

"Without you, I would usually hire two or three helpers, and you do most of the work, so it's normal for me to give you sixty coins."

"No, Uncle Zhao." Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuan shook his head and retorted with a mischievous smile, "You're not a big pig, and Tie Zhu helped out the whole time. You're probably just paying me Tie Zhu's share of the wages too."

He said this half-jokingly, which was both a refusal and an expression of his unwillingness to take advantage of the situation.

"Tiezhu didn't do much. He was just helping out at home, so it doesn't count as work," Zhao Dazhu said dismissively, glancing at his grinning son beside him.

"How about this, Uncle Zhao?"

Seeing this, Zhu Yuan knew that Zhao Dazhu insisted, so he quickly considered the situation in his mind and soon came up with a compromise solution.

"I'll take fifty coins."

"However, if I come to work for you again in the future, you can rest assured that I can handle most of the work."

He knew very well that if Zhao Dazhu really gave him fifty coins this time, Zhao Dazhu would be reluctant to give him less next time he came to help.

His plan not only allows Zhao Dazhu to pay money comfortably without any psychological burden, but more importantly, it allows him to accumulate more professional experience as a butcher.

For him, it was the best of both worlds!

Upon hearing this, Zhao Dazhu did not immediately agree. He hesitated for a moment, his gaze lingering on Zhu Yuanzhen's face for a while, as if weighing his options.

After a moment, he slowly nodded, a more satisfied smile appearing on his face.

"Okay, we'll do as you say."

Zhu Yuan's proposal was both sensible and comprehensive. He didn't take the care of Tie Zhu for granted just because he had a good relationship with him. Instead, he showed consideration and long-term thinking, which made Tie Zhu like him more and more.

"Fifty coins is your wages, and these five coins are for your meals." Zhao Dazhu said, deftly breaking apart the small string of copper coins in his hand, counting out five coins, and handing them to Zhu Yuan. He said in an unquestionable manner, "I didn't provide you with meals. If you want to eat lunch, go to the martial arts school."

Zhu Yuan looked at the five copper coins in Zhao Dazhu's hand, then glanced at the other man's expression.

After a moment's hesitation, he reached out and took the five coins with both hands, a grateful smile on his face.

"Thank you very much, Uncle Zhao."

This time, he truly had no reason to refuse, nor did he go against Zhao Dazhu's genuine kindness.

"By the way, Uncle Zhao," Zhu Yuan said, putting the money away and then asking as if he remembered something, "How often do you slaughter this pig?"

"It usually takes two to three days," Zhao Dazhu replied while tidying up the knives on the cutting board. "This pig is relatively small, so the meat sells quickly. You'll have to come back the day after tomorrow morning."

"No problem," Zhu Yuan readily agreed, his tone decisive.

Next, Zhu Yuan asked Zhao Tiezhu to go to Dongyun Martial Arts School first.

He stayed behind to help Zhao Dazhu cut the pork, planning to go to the martial arts school later.

His reason for leaving himself was to experience it.

In fact, he wanted to secretly test how much butcher's experience he could gain from processing pork.

This is a small test.

[You helped cut the pork, and it took five cuts to reach one pound. This is an increase in experience without prior work experience.]

[You helped cut the pork, and it took four cuts to reach two pounds. This is an increase for someone with no prior professional experience.]

[You helped cut the pork, and it took three cuts to reach one pound. Your professional experience +0.1.]

……

After helping out for a while, Zhu Yuan only gained a little experience.

Through this test, he understood.

As a butcher, the majority of experience comes from slaughtering pigs, while the subsequent experience in processing pork for sale comes from cutting the pork. Only by cutting accurately enough can one gain even a little experience.

This is still when the Butcher is at level one; it will probably be even harder to gain experience later on.

Having received this clear result, Zhu Yuan, after estimating that the time was almost up, bid farewell to Zhao Dazhu.

He patted the oil off his clothes and straightened them. Now that he was heading to Dongyun Martial Arts School, he could still make the most of his time to practice for a while.

I didn't have much time to practice martial arts today.

In the afternoon, Zhu Yuan continued to work as a porter at the dock.

This time, a total of forty-nine trips were made, and adding the remaining records from before, the total was still seventy coins.

Fifty-five coins plus seventy coins, I earned a total of one hundred and twenty-five coins today!

The highest I ever made was 67 trips at the dock, and with what I had left over, I finally earned 98 coins.

He had never broken through 100 coins before.

Today I broke a record.

However, breaking records comes at the cost of sacrificing time for martial arts practice.