Hide in the world of gods and demons

Chapter 46 Zhang Shuniang

"Hehe, I thought I was late!" Zhang Yan said with a forced smile.
The saying goes, "Promotion brings wealth, but colleagues die."

There is only naked hatred towards their peers.

Although he was persuaded by his words and the spirit stones during the day and agreed to the matter, he shouldn't expect him to give Chen Li a good look.

He snorted inwardly, too lazy to exchange any more pleasantries, and went up to knock on the door.

"Shuniang, open the door."

With a "squeak" sound, the door opened.

"Dad, why are you so late? This uncle has been waiting for a long time." Zhang Shuniang glanced at Chen Li behind her father and said in a sweet voice.

Uncle!

Ugh!
Chen Li's smile immediately became somewhat unnatural.

“I ran into a friend on the way and couldn’t help but chat for a bit. Never mind Dad’s business, go back to your room!” Zhang Yan said with a smile.

"Oh!" Zhang Shuniang responded obediently and walked away with light steps.

Chen Li entered the house and looked around. The house was very clean, with various furnishings arranged in a neat and orderly manner. The floor was not the muddy ground of an ordinary house, but was paved with smooth stone slabs.

Of course, none of these can reflect a cultivator's wealth.

However, a talisman maker who can make 'lightness talismans,' 'arrow-avoidance talismans,' and 'evil-repelling talismans,' and can even dress his daughter in a magic robe, is obviously living a very comfortable life.

“Since you’ve paid to come here to learn, we won’t waste any more time, lest you accuse me of holding back. Come on, let’s go to my talisman-making room.” Zhang Yan interrupted Chen Li’s looking around and walked towards the talisman-making room.

As soon as the door to the talisman-making room was opened, a strong, pungent stench hit him, almost making him turn away.

Inside, there were animal hides everywhere.

Unprocessed animal hides, still streaked with blood.

Animal hides soaking in various medicinal solutions,
Animal hides were hung on ropes to dry in the shade, just like clothes.

There was almost nowhere to put one's feet.

"Staying here too long will shorten one's lifespan," Chen Li thought to himself.

Fortunately, I don't make talisman skins myself.

Zhang Yan seemed oblivious to the strange smell and chuckled dryly, "My talisman-making workshop is crude; please excuse my amateurishness."

"Not at all, my talisman-making workshop is not as good as yours, fellow Daoist!" Chen Li said modestly, then suddenly had an idea: "I wonder how the quality of your talisman skins is? Do you sell them?"

"Why don't you make the talisman skin yourself?" Zhang Yan asked with a surprised look.

"Too lazy to deal with it," Chen Li said.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yan finally showed a genuine smile, and his attitude immediately became warm:
"Of course we sell them. The craftsmanship of the talisman skins sold by the merchants is passable, but they always cut corners and the quality of the skins is poor. They can't compare to the genuine materials used in the talisman skins made by us talisman makers, which have a higher success rate in drawing talismans."

If this deal goes through, although the profit won't be much, it will be a steady stream of extra income.

The key is that this money is not much and doesn't require much effort. For him, making one skin is the same as making two skins.

“This isn’t just me bragging. Here, let me show you.” Zhang Yan took a piece of uncut talisman skin and held it up to Chen Li. “It’s made from genuine demon beast hide. Look at the thickness of this skin; it’s only slightly thicker than a piece of paper… Here, feel it again…”

Unable to resist the other party's enthusiasm, Chen Li reached out and touched it a few times.

How does my skin feel?

"Smooth, soft, and tender, excellent skin!"

Chen Li exclaimed that the quality of this leather was indeed better than that sold by merchants.

But something about that sounds a little strange.

"As expected of an expert, you have a good eye! This has been processed through many complex procedures, some of which are my secret techniques. A good talisman skin should feel smooth and tender to the touch, like a baby's skin... And look at its resilience!"

As Zhang Yan spoke, he forcefully tore at the talisman skin again, his face turning red and his breathing becoming heavy: "Ah...isn't it...isn't it much better than the ones from the shops!" "Your talisman skin is indeed quite good. I wonder what the price is?" Chen Li asked. "I got a bargain; it can't be more expensive than the ones from the shops!"

Feeling somewhat helpless, he thought, "Selling just a talisman skin is too honest."

"Don't worry... I won't charge you much. The shop sells low-grade talisman skins for ten spirit stones each, but I'll give you fifteen. Any lower and I won't make any profit," Zhang Yan said, still a little out of breath.

Seeing how hard the other party was trying to sell it, Chen Li couldn't bear to haggle anymore.

And the price is indeed not expensive.

"Then give me 150 first," Chen Li said.

“Sure, but we don’t have that many right now. Three days… I doubt it will work.” Zhang Yan did some quick calculations: “Five days from now. I’ll bring them to you personally in five days.”

Making talisman skin involves many steps, some of which are extremely time-consuming. For example, the simplest step, drying, cannot be done by direct sunlight or fire; it can only be allowed to dry slowly in the shade, and cannot be rushed at all.

"No problem, I'm not in a hurry," Chen Li said with a smile.

He just bought thirty talisman skins at the market yesterday, which is more than enough for now.

"Fellow Daoist Chen is indeed generous." Zhang Yangang was in a great mood after closing a deal and said with a smile, "This girl, the guests have been here for so long, why hasn't the tea been served yet? I'll go and urge them!"

Before Chen Li could refuse...

Zhang Yan opened the door and said, "Shuniang, pour two cups of tea."

"Oh! Father, should we use regular tea leaves or spirit tea?" Zhang Shuniang's sweet voice came from outside.

"Of course it's spirit tea!" Zhang Yan turned around and looked at Chen Li with an awkward laugh, "Hehe... This girl has been motherless since she was little, and now I've spoiled her rotten!"

Chen Li responded with an awkward yet polite smile.

At this point, someone with high emotional intelligence would say something like, "Your daughter is so innocent and naive."

If it's due to low emotional intelligence: It's normal for your daughter to be a little naive at her age, it's nothing to worry about.

But the thought of having to speak in that middle-aged elder's tone completely ruined his mood.

Chen Li's awkward smile immediately made Zhang Yan even more embarrassed.

The two exchanged awkward laughs.

"Why do I suddenly feel a bit hot? Hehe!" Zhang Yan said, trying to make conversation, completely forgetting that it was already winter.

"Yeah yeah!"

"It's getting late, how about we draw the talisman now?"

"Exactly what I want!"

The two had just stood at the talisman-making table.

Zhang Shuniang finally brought in the tea.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Zhang!" Chen Li accepted the tea and said politely.

Zhang Shuniang blushed upon hearing this and stole a glance at him. No one had ever called her "fellow Daoist" before.

"Dad, have some tea!"

"Hmm!" Zhang Yan responded with dissatisfaction, looking like a stern father: "Go back to your room, Dad is going to make talismans."

"Oh!" Zhang Shuniang left quickly.

Chen Li wasn't interested in the spiritual tea; it didn't contain much spiritual energy, and he couldn't taste anything. He took one sip and then put it aside.

Seeing this, Zhang Yan didn't delay any longer and put down his teacup: "Let's start drawing the talismans now. I'll explain as I draw, and you can ask me anything you don't understand. Is that alright?"

“No problem!” Chen Li said.

(End of this chapter)