How to become a Taoist priest starting from a brothel

"This book seems to describe the customs of our area!" An old man in the teahouse, who was listening to the scholar reading the hermit's latest book, clapped his hands and asked curiously, captivated by the content.

The scholar was taken aback for a moment before he seemed to realize what he meant and said with a smile, "That's really true."

"So, people all over the country know about our local customs?" the old man continued curiously.

"Oh, so not every place holds a flower festival in May," the scholar said with a smile.

"That's wonderful! We're quite famous throughout the Li Dynasty now!" Another man next to him laughed and clapped his hands.

Everyone in the teahouse raised their glasses in celebration, praising the excellence of their own flowers.

"Hey, everyone, stop talking for now. Let's listen to the customs of other places first, and see for ourselves." The innkeeper saw that the scholar wanted to continue reading but was interrupted by the continuous conversation, so he quickly spoke up to persuade him.

Hearing the shopkeeper's words, everyone fell silent and listened as the scholar continued reading.

"This place has a custom of rolling on thorny beds. The local people will tie together thorny branches to make a bed, and the brave ones will take off their clothes and roll around on it..."

"Climbing the thorn bed, climbing the knife ladder, piercing the ropes, and setting off fireworks are all well-known local customs. During festivals, brave people take on these challenges to gain honor."

"In contrast, in the southwest, there is also a custom of climbing mountains of knives and walking through seas of fire. Trained people climb barefoot up pillars with knives standing upright, or walk barefoot into seas of fire with scorching hot coals burning..."

"Oh my, these customs are absolutely terrifying." Some of the more timid people were so frightened that their legs trembled.

"However, he truly deserves to be called a hero." Some of the bolder people clapped and cheered.

"The wedding customs here are quite unique. On the wedding day, the bride wears black clothes and black pants and carries a black umbrella. She is escorted to the groom's house by relatives and friends. The groom's family does not have the custom of welcoming the bride. The bride's room door is closed after she arrives at the door, and the groom has to kick it open."

"Three days after the wedding, the bride returns to her parents' home. She can only visit her husband's family for short periods during festivals throughout the year, and she cannot stay overnight. She can only stay at her husband's family permanently after giving birth to her first child..."

"This custom... what if they can't have a child after ten or eight years? Wouldn't that be the same as never having married?" The crowd discussed this peculiar marriage custom extensively.

"The birthing custom here is quite peculiar. Although the woman is the one giving birth, the cries of pain are all from the husband. Moreover, after the birth, relatives and friends celebrate the birth of a son, take care of the woman during her postpartum period, and even ask the woman who just gave birth to take care of her. This is called 'birthing elder'..."

When people hear about other customs, they just find them strange and watch the spectacle. But when they hear about the birthing ceremony, everyone looks at each other in bewilderment.

One of the impatient men couldn't help but scoff, "What a spineless man! He makes his wife, who should be in postpartum confinement, take care of him. I'm ashamed to be associated with him."

"Does that place really believe that if you do that, the child becomes your own?" More and more people were curious.

The scholar shook his head and said, "It is not written in the book, sir."

“Good scholar, please continue reading. We would like to hear about any other unusual customs.”

"That's it!"

Hearing the crowd urging him on, the scholar picked up his book and began to read only the interesting and unusual passages.

"It is a local custom that if a man dies, his estate will be left to his sisters' children, regardless of whether he has any children of his own..."

"Huh? Wouldn't this just let one's own family property fall into the hands of someone else? Foolish! Foolish!" Before the book was even finished, someone was already criticizing the customs described in it.

"Don't speak yet, listen to the reason. The book says at the beginning that we should respect customs you don't understand. They always have their reasons." The old man who clapped first stood up, looked at the man who was criticizing, and said.

The man looked ashamed and cupped his hands in apology, saying, "It was my fault for speaking out of turn. Young sir, please read it quickly, please read it quickly."

Upon seeing this, the scholar did not hesitate and continued reading: "I once asked the local elder why I came here. The elder said that I could not know whether the child in my wife's womb was of my blood, but I could be sure that the child in my sister's womb was of the same blood as me."

Upon hearing this, the men present all turned green, then red. One of the more forthright businessmen clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Well said!"

Someone asked him curiously, "What, could it be that you...?"

The scrutinizing gaze made the merchant's face turn green, and he hurriedly waved his hands, saying, "It has nothing to do with me! It's just a friend of mine!"

His explanation drew curious glances from the crowd, and even the scholar stopped reading.

Seeing this, the merchant knew that if he couldn't explain himself clearly today, it would probably become his own affair, so he quickly said, "I have a good friend who travels with me as a merchant. His wife is virtuous and has given him two sons and a daughter. A few years ago, he fell seriously ill and worried that his young wife wouldn't be able to hold onto their wealth, so he took his eldest son with him, intending to raise him well, but who knew..."

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" everyone asked.

"But who would have thought that when she returned home early one day, she would find another man sitting with her wife and children, and they were acting intimately with each other, with the two sons and one daughter all calling each other 'father'..."

"Oh dear, thank goodness! It's better to find out early than to die as a turtle!" someone exclaimed.

"So, it would be better to give it to his nephew. That boy is not only extremely filial to him, but also very intelligent," the merchant remarked.

After hearing his explanation, many people felt that the custom made a lot of sense. However, they thought that if it happened to them, their wives would probably turn against them. So they just listened to it as a story.

"This is a land of women, where women are revered, mothers are the elders in the family, and all men marry out..." the scholar continued reciting...

People heard about the legendary Kingdom of Women, about a foreign land where people wipe their bottoms with their left hand and eat with their right, about a foreign land where people marry within their own bloodline to maintain its purity, and about the southwestern ethnic groups who speak through songs…

Following Liu Yin's book, they accompanied her to various places in Li Dynasty, witnessing all sorts of customs and rules. In just over ten days, many of them were already talking about the customs and rules of a certain place.

Many people felt they weren't satisfied with what they heard, or that the reader's explanation was incomplete, so they began to learn to read and write. They then discovered that the hermit had actually written a book on literacy.

"Learning Characters Songs" is a short essay of just over three thousand words written by Liu Yin on a sudden whim. The content is nothing more than turning basic characters into a few children's songs, but it has never been a bestseller.

Now it's suddenly a bestseller, making many bookstores that regretted not being able to sell their copies after initially stocking the book extremely excited.

Generally speaking, for ordinary people, mastering 2,500 commonly used characters is enough to meet their daily needs, while mastering 3,500 commonly used characters is not only enough to meet daily needs, but also to meet basic reading and writing needs.

The first ten nursery rhymes in this book are composed of 2,500 commonly used characters...