How to become a Taoist priest starting from a brothel

The human market in the capital was much the same as that in Qinhuai Prefecture. Even in the most prosperous and bustling cities, even with wide and clean official roads, and even though the people in the city seemed to be very wealthy, the human market was still filled with a sense of death.

Slightly different from the Qinhuai and Liangfu prefectures, the people market in the capital was cleaner. At least there were no people standing, lying, or sitting on both sides of the street, dressed in rags, selling themselves.

On just straw mats and simple platforms, rows of people stood or knelt.

Among them were those dressed in fine clothes and silks, those in cotton-padded clothes, those with delicate skin and tender flesh, and those with rough hands and feet.

Some resigned themselves to their fate, bowing their heads and letting others choose them; others refused to accept their fate, crying until they were completely out of it.

Unlike in Huaicheng, this time Liu Yin traveled by carriage as a daughter of the Liu family, witnessing the cruelest and most tragic dark side of the world.

This place evoked a complex mix of emotions in her; life is unpredictable, and here, both nobles' servants and nobles themselves were being sold off...

"The women of the Chen family are for sale..." The shout rang in her ears. Liu Yin looked up and saw two women being pushed to the front of the stage, tightly holding two children who had just grown their heads.

"The Chen residence?" Before Liu Yin could think further, someone nearby, who was buying the goods, inquired in detail with the person next to her.

"It's that Chen Shilong. Didn't he know that His Majesty confiscated his property a couple of days ago? So now all the women in his family have been sold off."

"Is that so? Don't his in-laws come to buy people?" The speaker wasn't making a baseless accusation, because this was an unspoken rule among the upper class, since no one knew when a family might lose power.

"How dare we? His Majesty has issued a decree that no one is allowed to buy anything except brothels in the red-light district," another person said in a low voice, sounding apprehensive.

"This is also..." The other person was about to say something when someone nudged his hand.

Liu Yin followed the other person's gaze and discovered that there were Imperial Guards guarding the area not far away.

Just then, the broker selling the goods noticed her, especially seeing the two young maids beside her. His eyes lit up, and he greeted her with a smile: "I wonder if this lady has found something she likes?"

Liu Yin knew, of course, that the other party had guessed her disguised identity. After all, she grew up in the red-light district and knew all too well the mannerisms, walking styles, and clothing habits of those madams.

"I am Mama Jin from Yihong Courtyard in Jixiang Town outside the city. I've come to our capital to select some promising young women," Liu Yin said, adopting a charming demeanor.

"Mama Jin of the Yihong Courtyard?" The broker was somewhat skeptical. "As far as I know, there is a Yihong Courtyard there, but the head madam's surname isn't Jin."

Liu Yin's heart skipped a beat. She hadn't expected there to actually be a brothel nearby. Of course, she wasn't afraid of being investigated, since she had no plans to buy the Chen family's property.

"You've already said it. I've just started my own household, which is why I'm here to choose people," Liu Yin continued calmly.

The other party actually believed this, since everyone knows that brothels in the red-light district rarely come out to select their clients themselves; most clients are sent to them, unless they are truly short of staff or have just opened.

"Would Mama Jin like to take a look at this shipment?" With that, the broker pulled the woman's daughter, whom she was holding tightly, from her arms.

"Ying'er!" the woman exclaimed in surprise.

"Look at this girl, Madam Jin. What do you think of her looks and figure? She'll be able to entertain customers in a couple of years." With a wave of his hand, the broker appeared, and two strongmen covered the woman's mouth and dragged her back. He then proceeded to introduce the little girl to her in a lengthy manner.

Liu Yin looked at the girl, whose face was full of fear. She was only ten years old, but she already had a charming and elegant demeanor. She must have been well-educated at home. If she hadn't had this experience, she would probably have become the mistress of some family.

"Has Mama Jin taken a liking to any of them? If not, there's a smaller one over there." The broker reached out to pull over another, even smaller girl.

"No need. I've already spoken with Zhou Yaren. Let's go check on him first." Seeing that he was being persistent and that the Imperial Guards were looking in their direction, Liu Yin was afraid that the other party would notice something was wrong, so she quickly declined.

Hearing this, the broker looked disappointed, but then his expression brightened: "Alright, take care. If you don't like it later, you can always come back to me."

This wasn't exactly polite; the broker genuinely hoped the Chen family would intervene on the spot. After all, when he took over, the emperor hadn't issued an edict yet, but after he did, the emperor decreed that it had to be a brothel and couldn't be sold to the government-run Jiaosifang.

This not only put the women of the Chen family in a difficult position, but also him. The brothels in the red-light district all had their own sources of female prostitutes, and even the brokers were acquainted with each other. Brothels like him, who only dealt in the sale of servants, had no connections. Brothels that came to the broker market to buy women were extremely rare in the capital. Now that he had found one, he wished he could just give it all to them, even if it meant losing money.

Liu Yin had neither the time nor the inclination to guess his predicament. She had her own tasks to complete today and naturally did not want to be involved.

They arrived at the so-called residence of Zhou Yaren with the maid in tow. Zhou Yaren smiled broadly as he saw them and said, "Please come in, please come in."

“Zhou Yaren, there’s no need to say more. I’m here to select some young girls to train properly. Just send over the ones with the best looks. Money is no problem.” Liu Yin put on an experienced air, making Zhou Yaren even more convinced.

"Don't worry, don't worry, please wait a moment." Zhou Yaren had been terrified since yesterday.

Yesterday, someone brought a girl over, telling her not to ask any questions, and that someone would come with a token to buy her the next day.

He had been in this market for over twenty years and had seen all sorts of people. Seeing that the girl was dressed in brocade and had a pampered air about her, he knew she must come from a prominent family. He was afraid of getting involved in the power struggles of the wealthy and powerful, so he dared not delay any longer and just wanted to get rid of this hot potato as soon as possible.

Before long, a dozen or so girls were brought in. Each of them was of excellent appearance, and their features suggested that they would surely become exceptional beauties in the future.

However, at this moment, all of the dozen or so girls looked terrified and their hearts were filled with fear, except for one girl.

Liu Yin couldn't help but look over. The girl looked to be only seven or eight years old, and there were faint resemblances between her and Liu Yin in her features. Although she was also trying to look frightened, the calmness and curiosity in her eyes betrayed everything.

Liu Yin didn't directly choose her, but instead chose two other maids. Finally, with a helpless look on her face, she pointed at her and said, "Let's add this maid to the list."

When Zhou Yaren saw that she had chosen the maid whom someone had instructed her to choose yesterday, he hesitated for a moment. He carefully took two steps forward before asking, "Guest, the maid you chose has already been reserved."

“I know.” Liu Yin smiled and put down her tea, taking out a small seal, no bigger than a fingernail, from her pocket. “Here, that’s me.”

Zhou Yaren took the seal, carefully took out a piece of paper from his pocket, checked it carefully, and then carefully handed it back to Liu Yin: "No problem, then I will prepare their indenture for you."

"No need," Liu Yin said, waving her hand. "The contracts in our brothel are all signed directly at the government office. I need to take another look. It'll save me trouble if I bring them over later. Just give me the contracts for those who sold themselves into slavery."

Seeing this, Zhou Yaren stopped trying to persuade him and hurriedly turned around to write the sales contract, and then went to look for the slave sales contracts of these children.