How to become a Taoist priest starting from a brothel

Time flies faster than expected. Several months have passed since Duan'an left, and now it is almost Mid-Autumn Festival.

After the uprisings and riots in various parts of the country were suppressed one by one, the emperor and his ministers turned their attention to the hermit who they believed had caused all the trouble.

After the emperor issued the decree, discussions about the hermit disappeared from the streets, and the two books written by the hermit were all collected and burned.

However, historical experience tells us that the more something is prohibited, the more public attention it attracts.

This time was not unexpected. Originally, the common people thought of the hermit as just a madman with a bold pen, but when the uprising met with the imperial edict banning books, the hermit became a mysterious, special, and unspeakable existence.

Some people hate his works for causing turmoil, some envy his impending place in history, and some are deeply shocked after reading his books and consider him a kindred spirit.

Because of this incident, the scholars who had started writing books with Liu Yin were also investigated one after another. For a time, everyone was in a state of panic, and no one dared to promote any new books on the market. Instead, they began to secretly hide or burn their manuscripts, for fear of arousing suspicion from the higher-ups.

The same goes for Liu Yin. Ever since Cui Heng warned her, she hasn't updated her blog for a long time, whether it's Liu Jianniang or the Hermit.

On this day, Liu Yin, as usual, recorded her daily inspirations but did not write anything down.

She looked at the somewhat empty courtyard and felt a little lost.

Three days ago, she had Cui Heng send Aunt Hui and several children away, and Madam Liu was also sent to the Liu residence. Zhu Mei and Aunt Qian accompanied her.

As for Lan Yan, she begged her to release her yesterday. Seeing that Lan Yan was determined, Liu Yin didn't want to stop her and risk being blamed, so she released her from her contract, gave her some money, and also sent the cook away.

At this moment, besides her, only Luanqin was in the courtyard. She looked at the quiet courtyard, a bitter smile on her face, and then walked to Luanqin's room.

"Miss, please take me to Qingyin Hall," Luanqin said to Liuyin.

"How is that possible?" Liu Yin frowned slightly as she looked at her.

“Miss, my health is only a burden. At least I can survive in Qingyin Hall.” Luanqin smiled with relief.

“Now that I’ve brought you out of there, I won’t send you back in.” Liu Yin shook her head as she looked at her. “Don’t worry, I’ve already spoken with my mother. We’ll leave you at my master’s house for now.”

"Madam An..." Luanqin hesitated, "Is Madam An not coming back?"

"I don't know." Liu Yin shook her head. "You should rest at your master's house for now. It's not convenient to take you away this time, but there will definitely be an opportunity later."

"Alright..." Luanqin had no choice but to nod in agreement.

No sooner had she finished speaking than Liu Yin heard a knock on the door.

She hurried over, and as soon as she opened the door, a girl covered in blood collapsed inside.

"What's wrong with you?" Liu Yin grabbed the girl, not caring that the blood had soaked her pomegranate skirt.

Blood gushed from the girl's mouth as she clutched Liu Yin's sleeve, murmuring repeatedly, "Run...run away...run away..."

Seeing that she had already fainted due to excessive blood loss, Liu Yin did not dare to delay and carried her on his back all the way to Luanqin's room.

Luanqin had already heard the commotion and was peering out with a worried expression.

When she saw Liu Yin carrying a girl with blood on her skirt, she exclaimed in shock, "What...what happened?"

Liu Yin carefully placed the person on Zhu Mei's bed opposite her. Without returning to Luanqin, she hurriedly ran to the cabinet and rummaged through the medicine box that Zhu Mei had prepared.

"Miss... what happened?" Luanqin watched with trepidation as she carefully bandaged the girl, feeling a sense of panic in her heart.

"I don't know, let me stop the bleeding first." Liu Yin didn't turn around, her hands moving continuously as she applied medicine and bandaged the girl.

It was only then that she noticed that most of the wounds on the girl's body were fine marks. Although she didn't know what wounds caused by cold weapons looked like, she could roughly guess that they were caused by swords.

With a furrowed brow, Liu Yin looked at the bandaged girl and turned to Luan Qin, saying directly, "Luan Qin, I'll send you away now."

"Miss!" Luanqin looked at her in surprise. "Didn't we agree to wait a couple of days?"

"It's too late." Liu Yin looked at the injured girl. "I recognize her. She is the daughter of a manager at the Shen Family Bookstore. The fact that she came to me with injuries means that something must have happened at the Shen Family Bookstore. Since you are not feeling well, you should leave quickly."

"Okay." Luanqin knew the situation was urgent and didn't dare to say anything more or delay, so she quickly nodded in agreement.

Liu Yin glanced at the girl, frowned, and said nothing more. She quickly went to the back door, looked around to make sure no one was there, and then went to the back door of the neighboring courtyard. She knocked three times long and once short.

A head immediately popped out from inside: "What are your orders?"

Liu Yin was somewhat surprised to see that the boy looked no more than seventeen or eighteen years old, but she didn't say anything. After handing over the token that Cui Heng had given her, she said directly, "Please take the two seriously injured women in the courtyard to the agreed place immediately."

The young man was somewhat surprised that she had suddenly changed the time to see him off, but he didn't say anything and quickly nodded in agreement.

Liu Yin didn't delay and quickly returned to her home. She went to her room, put away a stack of silver notes from the cabinet, and went to Luanqin's room: "Luanqin, these are silver notes for you to keep safe. Take them first."

Luanqin already knew about her preparations and knew that she might have to live alone for an unknown period of time in the future, so she did not refuse and nodded in agreement.

Liu Yin didn't say much, turned around and went back to her room, lit the stove, and put all the manuscripts related to the hermit into the stove.

Just as it was burning, a noise came from outside.

Liu Yin peeked through a crack in the door and saw the young man who had been arranged. She didn't go out to exchange pleasantries, but simply opened the door wider, nodded to the young man, and went back to continue burning things.

The young man didn't come over to say anything, and quickly picked up the person as planned.

The back gate of the Liu residence leads to a small alley, at the end of which lies the Huai River in Huaicheng. At this moment, two small boats are moored on the riverbank.

Without delay, the young man led his men to place the person on the boat, lowered the curtain, flicked the oar, and rowed into the numerous small boats, disappearing completely without a trace.

Liu Yin had just finished burning the paper when she heard footsteps outside the door. She quickly poured tea into the ashes and then opened the chamber pot to pour the ashes in.

After she finished her work, the door suddenly made a loud bang. She quickly walked to the door and carefully looked inside. The door bolt had been broken.

She looked down at the blood-stained clothes, quickly took them off, examined them carefully, pulled out all the clothes from the closets in the room, and then took out a box and pretended to pack things up before she felt relieved.

She carefully checked herself over, loosened her hair, and then tied the armband around her body before calmly calling out, "Who is it?"