Book 19 Chapter 22

108 Books Every Student Should Read-But Almost No One Else Does

二十. Reflections on the Current Nanchang Feng Shui Industry

Nanchang is a city of many people, and many kinds of entertainment establishments line both sides of the downtown area. Just as it would be foolish to set up shop where there are no customers, it would be equally foolish not to set up shop where there are customers, and the most profitable of them all are the girou (妓樓), which sells the unusual products of spring, flowers, and song.

Why does giraffe make more money than other restaurants? It's because of the scarcity of supply. People think that more is always better, but sometimes less is more. Especially in business, exclusivity and discrimination are the most recommended virtues.

Prostitution is one of the few jobs available to women today, but it's always in short supply. The reason is clear.

Being a prostitute involves several risks, and not many people are willing to take on the insecurities, risks, and unpleasantness that are unique to this profession. In addition to these physical and physiological risks, negative social perceptions of the profession also play a significant role in fueling scarcity. Nevertheless, it is a mystery that most of the people who are enthusiastic about the socially stigmatized and despised prostitutes are those who belong to the mainstream of society.

To meet this unstable supply, the industry has resorted to buying children from impoverished parents, but the high infant mortality rate means that this is not an option. The high infant mortality rate is attributed to poor sanitation, poor finances, national apathy, and unchecked and indiscriminate family planning. Ordinary people have no choice but to give their children up for adoption or, in the worst case scenario, sell them, because if the number of children increases beyond three, the whole family will starve. Otherwise, everyone will starve to death. The feng shui industry, which has always had a shortage of volunteer workers, has capitalized on this phenomenon by offering better prices than other competitors to cover the shortage. However, the critical shortage of quality supply is still an unavoidable consequence of the specificity of the industry.

A surprising number of people think that if you have a lot of girls, your business will thrive, but that's a big mistake. Simply buying a lot of girls will never make your business prosperous. It's also never a good idea to sell them cheaply and in large quantities.

Not everyone who is a woman becomes a courtesan, nor can they. Because in this process of selection, a highly subjective but partially universal social convention called the so-called "beauty consciousness" comes into play. Therefore, courtesans are expected to be beautiful in a way that does not violate universal common sense.

However, each giru must maintain a certain level of water quality in order to remain competitive with other shops. In particular, if you want to become a local giroux, you can't get by with a second-rate water quality that's halfway decent, and you need to have a giroux that can be used as a signboard. How many of them you can secure is the only key to winning against fierce competition.

This is why in the famous giru, which are considered first-class and above, the courtesans don't sell their bodies, but their style and flavor. They also have to take the time and effort to learn the proper lessons.

What you need to pay particular attention to in a first-class mirage like this is to create the illusion that coming to a "mirage like this" is not a disgrace, that it is somehow inexplicably different from the rest of the world, that it is very refined and elegant, but never vulgar, in short, that it is a cultural thing, that the fundamental reason they come here is animalistic desire, but that you will never give them that impression, so that they can hypnotize themselves into believing that it is a mass issuance of indulgences that will allow them to deceive themselves. Without this kind of meticulous and highly psychological consideration of putting the customer first, you can never be first class. With a few specialized exceptions, the story applies to other industries as well. Therefore, each giroux must make unremitting efforts to provide better quality service.

…(more)…….

Hyo-Ryong: Huh? Wait, this isn't a must-read! It's not on the recommended reading list anywhere!

Jang Hong: What?! Oh, no! My mistake. That's what I was reading! It's actually this way!

Hyo-Ryong: No, why? Are you going to be a waterman?

Jang Hong: Don't tell too much. Hurt.

Hyo-Ryong: I'll have to tell my brother-in-law about this later…….

Jang Hong: (Bam!) He's going to be in trouble! You're going to be just like Ryuyeon!

Hyo-Ryong: I don't know…….

<眞> 二十. Complexion at an autopsy

…(strategy)…….

Once you're ready to begin your autopsy, you'll want to start with a thorough examination of the corpse's complexion.

You might be wondering why you'd want to look at a dead body, but Eastern medicine has long emphasized complexion. Color was an important way to determine the condition of organs outside the body, and this was equally true for autopsies. As a result, there are many different expressions for color.

It was the common belief of the ancients that red, green, yellow, and black were not only insufficient, but also ignorant to describe the many subtle differences between them. They understood that calling things the same only creates confusion.

The means and method of death can make a big difference in complexion. For example, if a person is slashed with a knife while still alive, the wound will be bright red. However, if a person is suffocated and then stabbed with a variety of creative stab wounds to disguise an accident or suicide, the wounds will be white rather than crimson. This is because after death, the body will no longer have blood circulating throughout the body. On the other hand, a corpse that has suffocated will be blue in color, not red. As you can see, color was a very important indicator of cause of death.

That's why they don't just blindly cut the body open from the stomach without looking at the complexion. This is the kind of behavior that a common sense medical examiner would avoid.

It could be said that dealing with the living and the dead is both different and the same: just as cutting into a patient is a doctor's last resort, cutting into a corpse is the last and only step in an autopsy.

Black color is a very important indicator of a beating or strangulation wound.

There are three main types of weapons used to inflict bludgeoning injuries: hand weapons (手足), figure weapons (刃物) (bladed objects), and other weapons. While the distinction between hand and figure is clear, the distinction between other weapons is not. However, this doesn't mean that it's easy to distinguish between people and other objects. National laws require a stricter and more rigorous distinction.

In the past, it has been debated whether a person's teeth bite should be considered an object, a limb, or a person, and the issue is still unresolved, requiring timely judgment by coroners and judges. In addition, if a person is wearing leather shoes or straw shoes when he or she kicks someone and causes an injury, whether the injury is caused by an amputated limb or a foreign object remains unresolved. However, if you were wearing soft shoes, it's generally accepted that the injury is more likely to be caused by water than by a foreign object. The reason these seemingly trivial distinctions are important is that the means by which an injury is inflicted can determine the sentence imposed. Hand injuries and tool injuries are not treated the same. Usually, the latter will result in a higher sentence than the former. In addition, bladed objects are categorized as persons and receive special treatment.

…(more)…….

If poisoning is suspected, use a silver scalpel as an autopsy instrument.

The silver hairpins used in the examination are genuine, one-hundred percent pure, and are made to the same standard through a very elaborate and rigorous process in which officials personally supervise the workshops. This is because there are so many fake silverware on the market that their performance is questionable. They are often referred to as "thirty-seven", meaning that only thirty pieces are silver and the remaining seventy pieces are copper fakes. There are also half-dollars that are only half real silver and half fake, but half-dollars are more popular than half-dollars due to the common sense profit and loss calculation that it is not necessary to lose money on fakes. Due to the prevalence of fakes, it is recommended that a forensic silver coin, which is a legal object for forensic examination, be made under direct supervision and used only for forensic examination.

…(more)…….

*Reference:新註無怨錄.