How to become a Taoist priest starting from a brothel

The next morning, Xu's mother quickly washed up and rushed off to find Liu Yin. Upon arriving at the teaching location, she realized it wasn't Liu Yin's teaching day. She then took a carriage to the Liu residence, where Aunt Qian, the gatekeeper, had gone to the Fang residence. She then hurriedly took her people to the An residence, only to be told by the gatekeeper that Madam An had taken the Liu mother and daughter to shop.

After failing to find the person three times in a row, she stopped worrying and went straight into the An residence to sit in the courtyard and wait.

The An family's courtyard was small and exquisite. Since only one owner lived there, Madam An knocked down the west wing and transformed it into an inner garden. The entrance was a rockery in the northwest corner, leading across a stone bridge to a stone pavilion nestled in a bamboo grove. It was late summer, and the garden was filled with mosquito-repelling plants, while a small pond with flowing water brought a refreshing coolness.

Standing in the stone pavilion, Xu's mother felt the cool breeze, which dispelled the anxiety caused by not being able to find anyone. She calmly drank the tea served by the servants and even asked for some fish food to feed the fish in the pond.

After feeding the fish and turning to sit down, she noticed a stack of manuscripts covered in writing on the table. Since she was bored while waiting, she picked them up and began to read them carefully. She became completely absorbed in them, and didn't even realize it when Liu Yin and the others returned.

"Aunt Xu." As soon as Liu Yin and the others entered the door, they were told that Aunt Xu had arrived. She seemed a little anxious, so they put down the things they bought and hurried over to see her. But she was so engrossed in what she was looking at that she didn't hear them even when they got closer. Liu Yin had no choice but to remind her.

These words indeed startled Xu's mother from her writing. She looked up at the group of people, her eyes slightly red, filled with emotion and confusion.

"Aunt Xu, did you come here to see me?" Liu Yin was exhausted and thirsty from shopping with the two elders, so she didn't stand on ceremony with Aunt Xu. She picked up the teapot, poured herself a glass of water, and took a good breather before asking curiously.

After a moment's hesitation, Madam Xu glanced at Madam An, then at Madam Liu, before turning to look at Liu Yin. Madam An and Madam Liu naturally understood her meaning and, without waiting for Liu Yin to speak, made an excuse to leave.

Liu Yin naturally did not stop her. Although she and An Liu were now quite familiar and close, there were still some things she dared not trust so readily. After all, she had experienced the pain of betrayal in her previous life, and it was unforgettable enough.

Watching the two leave, Xu's mother briefly explained Cui Heng's request for her to find someone, but she also emphasized that the "father" who had brought her to Qingyin Hall was dead, and the village had been burned down by a wildfire a few years later. While saying this, she kept a close eye on Liu Yin's expression, seemingly trying to find evidence to support her theory.

Liu Yin was already filled with fear when she heard her words. After all, in her dream, everyone in the Anning Prince's Mansion had died long ago, and she rarely met anyone back then because of her health. In addition, so many years had passed that she thought no one would know what she looked like now.

Relieved by this thought, she still couldn't help but feel suspicious. Logically speaking, since the Prince of Anning's mansion had no descendants besides her, who would come looking for her? After much deliberation, she calmed herself down and made a decision in her heart. Without knowing whether the other party was friend or foe, it was best to pretend not to know. Thinking this, she smiled and said to Mama Xu, "Mama, you're joking. I remember my childhood very clearly. I am the daughter of Zhang Youmi from Zhangjiao Village, thirty miles outside the city of Huai Prefecture. My grandfather was named Zhang Fuyi, my grandmother was Zhang Wangshi, and my mother was Zhao Chunmei, the only daughter of Zhao Qianshi, a widow from the east end of Zhangjiao Village."

“Back then, my mother married my father and gave birth to me. Soon after, she became addicted to gambling. In less than two years, she lost all of the family’s wealth, which angered my grandfather to death. My grandmother, in a fit of anger, endured the illness for a year before also dying. Later, he sold my mother to a gambling den to pay off some of the gambling debts. He also stole my maternal grandmother’s belongings, which angered her to death. That’s why he brought me here to sell me.”

Liu Yin described Qing Yin's past, which she had always regarded as her true identity, in detail according to her memory. She also added many details based on her understanding of the countryside, making it difficult for Xu's mother to determine whether it was true or false.

"That's true, but this fits the bill perfectly." Xu's mother knew that there was no way to prove it now, but she still didn't want to give up. After all, if she could get hold of Qingyin's weakness, she could gain more benefits.

“There are plenty of people who meet the requirements. Besides, how can we be sure that the person he’s looking for is in a brothel?” Liu Yin didn’t care about the other person’s question at all and instead asked back.

“Of course they have their ways, but what you said is true. Compared to someone like you with a clear family background, there are naturally those with unclear family backgrounds. I’ll think about it slowly.” Seeing that the other woman was unyielding and she couldn’t do anything about it, Mrs. Xu caught a glimpse of the manuscript out of the corner of her eye and asked, as if changing the subject, “Where did this manuscript come from?”

Liu Yin looked at the manuscript she had left behind, smiled, and took it: "I wrote it, Mom, what do you think?"

"A wonderful story, but the writing is too rough." Xu's mother looked at Liu Yin with some surprise, and then continued as if she didn't believe it. "I have carefully trained you for more than ten years. If I can't say you are extremely learned, you should be quite eloquent. How come your word choice and sentence structure are so poor?"

"Who does Mom think the story should be read to?" Liu Yin asked with a smile.

Mrs. Xu was stunned for a moment, not quite reacting, then seemed to realize something and said with some surprise, "What? You actually wrote for those peddlers and laborers?"

Liu Yin, of course, knew the source of Xu Mama's surprise. In this time and space, which was remarkably similar to the Song and Ming dynasties of ancient China, although it shared similar Zhu Xi and Cheng Yi Neo-Confucianism and reached a near-peak of oppression towards women, strangely, no literary giants from the Song and Ming dynasties of ancient China appeared in this time and space.

It is important to know that in her previous life, Tang poetry and Song lyrics, as well as Ming and Qing novels, each had its own unique characteristics. Although her ancestors, like some emperors in her previous life, started as military generals, they did not suppress military power and value literature like those emperors. Instead, they had a long-term vision and valued both military generals and civil officials. However, this dynasty did not develop the imperial examination system of her previous life and still retained a model similar to the recommendation system.

As a result, the struggle between civil and military officials has continued from the founding of the country to the present day. The two sides fight each other, and the recommendation system, which determines people based on their literary skills, leaves no room for broader opportunities. The limited number of official positions in the court naturally attracts fierce competition. Against this backdrop, scholars who pursued literary careers hoped to write articles about policies to gain titles and become officials, while those who pursued military careers hoped to accumulate military merits in wars. Even when there was no war, they would write a few articles about war to gain praise.

This caused the entire Li Dynasty to pay no attention to anything else, treating poetry and songs as mere pastimes. For the gentry, writing a little story to tease each other was acceptable, but not a serious profession.

However, folk tales did not completely disappear. Compared to the elegant works written in the refined language of the gentry, folk tales were mostly passed down orally among the common people. Indirectly, some impoverished scholars wrote erotic stories about fox spirits, ghosts, and romantic encounters to earn some money, but they were not widely circulated in the market.