How to become a Taoist priest starting from a brothel

After thinking for a moment, Liu Yin decided to put the matter between the two of them aside for now. Revealing these things at this moment would not benefit her at all, as she neither knew the other party's purpose nor had any evidence, and the other party's most obvious purpose was naturally to win.

The most crucial aspect of the third round was the order of play. Whoever went first could determine the melody and lyrics that were most advantageous to them. Liu Yin suspected that they would definitely tamper with the draw. She watched as the other side quickly brought out the draw box, and as Madam Xue politely asked her a question before rushing forward to draw a lot without waiting for her clear answer.

She knew she had lost her chance to gain the upper hand, but she didn't care. For her, gaining the upper hand would be better than not, and losing it would only require some mental effort. She believed that her memories from her past life could provide her with endless imagination and material.

Liu Yin's speculations about the two were shared by others, especially the four shrewd individuals sitting at the head of the table. Naturally, they had their own ideas after Master Xu suddenly proposed changing the rules. However, they all looked down on Master Xu's methods and even thought that his master was a fool who could try to achieve his goals through such an uncontrollable scheme.

The prefect, in particular, was filled with annoyance, inwardly cursing, "Where did this idiot come from? Changing the rules on the spot! Why didn't he just declare the Xue family the winner! What an utterly stupid idea!"

But when he thought that this situation was designed by his master, he couldn't help but feel regret. He should have killed his stepfather when his mother passed away, so as not only to avoid bringing disaster upon himself, but also to bring such a fool into his life. He had really gotten on the wrong boat. The prefect, who was annoyed by his soft heart back then, had no idea that this regret would last for almost his entire life.

While they were secretly cursing the person who came up with the idea as an idiot, what they didn't know was that Master Xu was also cursing in his heart. He regretted it even more than the prefect, especially since the prefect was being held accountable, while he was simply implicated by his family.

He was originally the illegitimate son of the previous head of the Xu family. He was never favored and did not do well in his studies. His stepmother arranged a marriage for him at a young age. After he came of age and got married, his stepmother sent him back to his hometown, claiming that it would be more reassuring for his own family to look after the house. Since then, his contact with his main family has become increasingly distant, and they have almost become two separate clans. Until last year, his elder brother in the capital suddenly sent him a letter and gave him a token in his heart, telling him that if anyone came to him with the token in the future, he should obey their orders.

Although he didn't know who the other party was and didn't want to agree, he lacked the ability to do so. His current prestige was all thanks to his elder brother in the capital. If he didn't agree, he was afraid of angering his elder brother and being blamed. He had been operating in Huaicheng for many years and had offended many people. He was unwilling to push away his backer for these matters, so he readily agreed at the time.

But he never expected that his elder brother would be involved in the struggle for the throne. Not only that, but he had also chosen a master early on. He knew that the master was the current emperor's third son. Moreover, as far as he knew, this third son was not favored by the emperor and had a rather shabby background. His maternal family was even more disreputable. He couldn't understand why his elder brother would choose this man, and of course, he didn't dare to offend him. That's why this whole thing happened.

He didn't know who came up with this idea today, nor did he know whose person that girl was. He just wanted to end it all quickly. Once it was over, he would give away his family fortune and hide away with his wife, children, and elderly parents. This struggle for the throne was something that a small family like his couldn't afford to get involved in.

The third round started rather slowly, not for any other reason than that some decorations needed to be removed first, and the prefect also needed to come up with a topic.

But they didn't have to wait long. The prefect wrote a note and handed it over. Xu Yuanwai's face was already filled with undisguised relief as he looked at the note.

"The questions for the third round have been presented. Please draw lots, both of you." Master Xu gestured for someone to bring up the lot-drawing container.

Madam Xue glanced at Master Xu, then looked at Liu Yin with a lowered gaze and smiled, saying to Liu Yin, "How about we let Instructor Liu draw the first lot?"

Since Liu Yin already knew about Master Xu and the others' plan, she naturally had no interest in pursuing the so-called order of draws, so she smiled and replied, "No need, this round should have been played by Master Xue first, Master Xue please go first."

"Then I shall respectfully accept your offer." Madam Xue smiled gently, no longer declining, and stepped forward to draw lots.

"Congratulations, Master Xue, on making the first move," Master Xu announced with a smile.

Liu Yin smiled gently, her indifference to the outcome catching the eye of those who were paying attention, especially Prince Cui, who was already quite interested in her. He murmured to himself, "A clever woman, interesting..."

A calculating glint flashed in the eyes of the prefect standing nearby, but the headmaster of Wenyuan Academy smiled as if he hadn't heard anything. Only Governor Qian glanced at Prince Cui and then at Liu Yin, and said, "This Liu Jianniang is a thoughtful person, a good person."

He didn't mean anything by speaking out; he simply felt that he should protect anyone who was good to the soldiers.

However, Prince Cui ignored him and looked at Liu Yin, saying, "I still think highly of this one, Liu Jianniang." He spoke Liu Yin's name with such tenderness and detail, as if he wanted to swallow her whole. Then he looked at Governor Qian and asked, "What does Governor Qian think?"

Governor Qian looked at him, about to say something, but then saw the gloom in his eyes. After a long pause, he smiled and said, "It is the young master's good fortune to have taken a liking to this Instructor Liu. I suppose she thinks so too."

Hearing his words, Prince Cui revealed a smug smile, then looked at Liu Yin with eyes full of determination.

The lawsuit here did not affect the stage. Madam Xue and Liu Yin on the stage were both surprised when they heard the question, after all, the question set by the prefect was indeed quite unusual.

His title is a line of poetry, "The Master did not speak of disorder, strength, disorder, or spirits." Normally, this means that Confucius did not discuss strange phenomena, strength, rebellion, or ghosts and spirits. It is also generally used to emphasize that Confucianism values ​​humanism and issues of the real world, rather than delving too much into supernatural or unverifiable things.

But Liu Yin always felt that the question was not as simple as it seemed. She glanced at Madam Xue and saw that she was just as surprised as she was. Moreover, the other party's surprised expression did not seem to be faked. She was full of doubts. She really did not understand why they would let the prefect set the question if the prefect was not one of their people, and why they would set such a neutral question if the prefect was one of their people.

Before she could continue pondering, Madam Xue had already taken the pipa from her apprentice and begun to play and sing...