How to become a Taoist priest starting from a brothel

As the sounds behind her faded into the distance, Liu Yin, escorted by the yamen runners, first went to the prison god temple to pay her respects before being pushed into the women's prison.

Before entering, she glanced into the deeper part of the prison and saw a doorway, only one person wide and one person high, with a tiger's head and the words "Tiger Head Pass" carved above it. She knew that was the legendary death row.

'Strange, literary inquisitions are supposed to be capital offenses. If they really want to use this against me, they should put me in a death row.' Before Liu Yin could figure it out, she was shoved into a dark cell.

She looked around. This prison wasn't like the ones in TV dramas, where large and small cells were separated in a dark room. Instead, it was a long, narrow corridor with about a dozen small huts on either side.

She glanced around a few more times and realized that the outermost five or six cells were the women's cells, while the innermost ones were the men's cells. She could still hear voices coming from over there. After looking at the surroundings, she then looked at her own cell.

The room she was in was about the same size as the other rooms, no more than three or four square meters in total. There was a platform made of adobe bricks, no more than half a foot high, with a tattered straw mat on it. The platform took up almost half of the room's area.

Using the sparse light filtering through the tiny windows next to the door, Liu Yin carefully examined the room. She was the only one there. Through the windows and the bars on the door, she looked across to the opposite cell, where several dirty faces were crowded together, staring at her strangely.

She found the expressions of those people to be really strange, and she couldn't help but shudder before looking away. She then turned around and found a relatively clean spot in the room to sit down.

She clutched a handful of gold beads that Madam Liu had slipped into her sleeve before she left, and hesitated for a moment whether to bribe the jailer to send a message home.

After all, the current situation is really strange. She was brought in for no reason under the pretext of literary inquisition, but she was neither interrogated nor thrown into a death row cell. It's as if she was being deliberately taught a lesson...

The news of Liu Yin's imprisonment had already spread throughout the city after the constables escorted them into the government office. The rumors became increasingly chaotic, from Liu Yin being dragged by Xu Mama to answer questions before the master, to Liu Yin's involvement in the rebellion of the Prince of Anle's mansion, and then to Liu Yin being imprisoned and then being sentenced to death in the autumn for treason. It was a series of twists and turns, with rumors as fierce as tigers.

This incident not only frightened Madam Liu so much that she rushed to the Zhang residence for help, but also alerted the Guining Escort Agency.

Although the people in the escort agency were unaware of Liu Yin's true identity, they had been instructed by Yuan Mingyou to report to him if anything happened to Liu Yin, and this was the case on this day.

"Young Master Escort, the brothers just received news that Liu Jianniang was taken to prison early this morning." A bodyguard rushed in from outside, barging directly into the hall where the conversation was taking place.

"What!" Yuan Mingyou, who was chatting with his master, paid no attention to his recklessness. Instead, he was so frightened by the news that he stood up.

"What a sight!" The old man beside him gave him a reproachful look, then said gently to the镖师 (bodyguard/escort) who delivered the message, "Thank you for your hard work, Zhihe. Go out and find out the specific reasons first. I still have some things to discuss with your young镖头 (bodyguard/escort leader)."

The bodyguard known as Zhihe solemnly replied, "Yes, head bodyguard." He then turned and left.

After he left, the old man looked at Yuan Mingyou and scolded him, "How many times have I told you to be careful, not to be rash, and not to reveal your thoughts casually? You are still so impatient. How can I entrust the escort agency to you in the future?"

"Yes, Master, it was my fault." Yuan Mingyou quickly lowered his head to admit his mistake. "But Master, little..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the old man's gaze, and he said hesitantly, "Miss Liu... what should we do about Miss Liu now?"

"What can we do but wait? We'll talk about it when we get more concrete information. What, are you planning to break him out of prison?" The old man looked at him with a face full of disappointment.

"I...I didn't..." Yuan Mingyou tried to explain, but how could the old man not know his disciple's stubbornness? He only regretted that he had made a mistake back then, only looking at his martial arts genius and forgetting to look at his character. As a result, he was always driven half to death by this silly disciple.

“Alright, I understand what you mean. It’s not the right time to expose her identity. We still haven’t found any clues about how she was stolen from the Prince’s mansion and how she was transferred to Huaicheng. If her identity is exposed and the person behind it finds out, the old master’s bloodline will truly be cut off.” The old man sighed deeply before slowly explaining.

"Yes, Master." Hearing his master say this, Yuan Mingyou had no choice but to sit obediently on the stool and wait for news. Fortunately, the matter had caused quite a stir, and the news was sent in quickly.

"Literary inquisition..." The old man frowned as he looked at the book "Biographies of a Hundred Flowers" in his hand, full of confusion.

"Master, is there a problem?" Yuan Mingyou looked at him blankly.

Seeing his dazed look, the old man became even more furious, but since he was his beloved and only disciple, he had no choice but to explain it to him in detail.

Just as Liu Yin had guessed, the old man also found it strange. However, compared to Liu Yin's simple guess due to her being involved and having limited sources of information, the old man's thoughts were more complex.

“This Prefect Sun is no ordinary person. On the surface, he is the Third Prince’s man, but it is unknown who he actually works for. He has no reason to suddenly send Miss Liu in at this time for such a far-fetched reason.” The old man looked at the book with deep eyes.

“If it weren’t for news from the capital that Li Linfeng wasn’t in charge of overseeing all the written records, could it be that Prefect Sun deliberately…” Yuan Mingyou thought of the news he received yesterday and couldn’t help but raise another hypothesis.

"No, firstly, although we don't know which faction this person belongs to, he seems to care about the people, so he wouldn't do such a treacherous thing. Secondly, he doesn't really want to do this. This matter is actually a power struggle among the princes, and everyone is watching. To do this so rashly would not only not bring any benefits, but would probably also annoy those in the capital. He's not that stupid." The old man shook his head.

"Then... what exactly is the reason?" Yuan Mingyou scratched his head, unable to figure it out.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes." The old man thought for a moment before saying, "Have someone keep an eye on things, and while you're at it, find someone to pay off the road and make sure the girl has a comfortable environment, so she doesn't suffer any injustice."

"Yes, Master." Yuan Mingyou stood up with a happy expression and was about to make the arrangements.

"Wait." The old man quickly called out to him, and only after seeing him turn around did he carefully instruct him, "Remember, you must use the name of an admirer of Master Liu, understand? Don't make up any excuses, keep yourself well hidden, and it's best to go through a few wealthy merchants. Do as I say, like this..."

As Yuan Mingyou listened to his master explain the process step by step, Yuan nodded vigorously, as if he were pounding garlic.