How to become a Taoist priest starting from a brothel

"That's enough!" a furious shout rang out.

The crowd paused and turned to look. A middle-aged man, whose clothes looked cleaner and had fewer patches than the others, stepped forward.

Wang Laosan and Zhao Laowu, who had started the argument, dared not say anything more, only muttering, "Village...Village Chief."

Seeing that someone with influence had stepped forward, Zhu Mei breathed a sigh of relief and quickly took two steps forward: "Village Chief, I..."

Before she could finish speaking, the village chief raised his hand to interrupt her: "I know why you've come, young man. If you and your son don't mind, why don't you stay at my house?"

Upon hearing the village chief's words, disappointment was evident on the villagers' faces, but they dared not say anything.

Seeing the village chief's prestige, Zhu Mei was somewhat amazed, but she replied with a hint of joy, "That's naturally good. Please wait a moment, sir, I'll drive over and take you there together."

The village chief thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

Zhu Mei then quickly returned to the carriage, explained the situation in a few words, and then drove the carriage away.

Seeing the conflict breaking out over there, Liu Yin, who was about to go over, breathed a sigh of relief and got into the carriage with Wen Shuyun.

The village was small, and the carriage didn't travel far before arriving at the village chief's residence.

The village chief's house was indeed taller and cleaner than the other villagers' houses.

Especially when the group entered the courtyard, they saw six rooms located in the courtyard, with chickens, ducks and other livestock being raised on one side of the courtyard.

"This way, please." The village chief said smugly, leading the three of them straight to the two rooms on the west side.

He pushed open the door and said to the clean room, "These two rooms are where my two youngest sons live. They are apprentices in town now and don't live at home often, so they are both very clean."

"It's already very good, thank you very much, sir." Liu Yin looked him over and replied politely.

Seeing that the guests had no objections, the village chief smiled broadly.

While the group was still talking, the village chief's wife called for everyone to go eat.

When they arrived at the dinner table, Liu Yin saw that in addition to the village chief and his wife, there were three men and two women in the family.

The village chief hurriedly introduced them: "This is my eldest son and daughter-in-law, my second son, my third son, and my youngest daughter."

Liu Yin and the others nodded and smiled at the other party, only to find that the food on the table was quite plentiful. In addition to the common brown rice and a few decent pickles and salted vegetables, there was a stir-fried cabbage. The only meat dish was a chicken soup.

Although it looks simple, in this era, in a village like this, such a meal is already considered top-notch.

Liu Yin was cautious and dared not eat other people's food here, so she gave the two of them a wink.

Only after seeing the whole family start eating did he eat a few bites of the food that others had already eaten, and then he used the excuse of being tired to go back to his room.

The village chief and his family didn't stop them. They politely escorted the person back to their room before turning around and going back to their own.

Before going to sleep, Liu Yin gave Wen Shuyun a wink, and Wen Shuyun nodded gently.

Liu Yin closed the door and placed a basin of water on the windowsill.

They then placed another stool behind the door.

He then placed two teacups filled with tea on the bedside table, with a damp cloth inside each teacup.

He then took out a dagger and placed it under the pillow before the two of them lay down.

Fortunately, their preparations were not needed, and the night passed smoothly until dawn.

When it was still barely dawn, there was a loud knocking on the courtyard gate.

Liu Yin and Zhu Mei were woken up by the noise. Seeing that it was getting late, they got up immediately.

When they went outside, they found that Wen Shuyun had also gotten up and come out to see what was going on.

The village chief's youngest daughter, seeing them leave, timidly approached them: "I...my mother said...the guests are up, so we're going to have breakfast..."

"Okay, thank you very much," Liu Yin replied politely as she stepped forward.

Seeing her kind demeanor, the girl wore a strange expression, a mixture of bewilderment and pride.

Before Liu Yin could observe carefully, she quickly ran away.

After Liu Yin and the others made an excuse that they weren't hungry, they declined breakfast.

Seeing that the carriage hadn't been tidied up yet, Liu Yin asked the village chief's daughter curiously, "I saw your father leave in a hurry today, did something happen?"

The girl still had that strange expression on her face. After hesitating for a long time, she whispered, "Sister-in-law Wang is giving birth, and my father and the others are watching over her."

"Huh?" Liu Yin was stunned, her face full of question marks. It was the first time she had ever heard of a group of men guarding a woman during childbirth. "Is it a relative of yours?"

The girl shook her head: "No."

Liu Yin found it increasingly strange that this wasn't even a relative's wife giving birth.

The girl seemed to realize something, a hint of fear appearing on her face as she looked at Liu Yin's gentle yet puzzled handsome face.

He looked around carefully and could see his mother busy in the kitchen, while his sister-in-law was busy in the house.

She replied carefully in a low voice, "They want to see if it's a daughter or a son."

Liu Yin became increasingly puzzled. What did it have to do with him whether the other party had a son or a daughter? They weren't family members. Were all the people in this village so close?

Just as she was wondering if she had misjudged him yesterday.

The girl whispered, "Wang Si's sister-in-law is pregnant with her first child."

As soon as these words were spoken, two words immediately popped into Liu Yin's mind—"washing girl".

She felt a chill run down her spine.

But fearing she might be wrong, she quickly asked in a low voice, "Does it really matter whether the first child is a boy or a girl?"

The girl seemed to have thought of something and nodded vigorously: "Yes, Father and the others have gone to keep watch. If the girl wants to find an auspicious time..."

Auspicious time...

As soon as those two words were uttered, Liu Yin's suspicions were confirmed.

Her heart tightened as she looked at the girl. Her clothes, which were clearly visible during the day, were now tightly wrapped around her body. The neckline was so narrow that the buttons were about to burst open. The cuffs and trousers were more than an inch too short, revealing her slender, bony wrists.

She couldn't help but reach out and touch her clothes, her heart tightening even more.

"Jingyou," Wen Shuyun called out, using Liu Yin's current alias.

Liu Yin turned around and saw that he and Zhu Mei had already tidied up the carriage. She could only look at the girl and hesitated for a long time before taking out a seal no bigger than a fingernail from her purse: "If you have the opportunity to go to the city, if you hear about Zhang Jia Bao Wen Tang's bookstore or Sheng Yuan Trading Company, you can take this seal to their door and I can give you a promise."

After thinking for a moment, she said again, "Any promise is fine."

The girl looked bewildered, but instinctively knew that this seal was extremely important. She gripped the seal tightly and nodded deeply to Liu Yin.

"What were you talking about with the girl just now? You don't look too well." Wen Shuyun looked at Liu Yin with some doubt.

"Have you... heard of the Washing Woman?" Liu Yin came back to her senses and looked at him.