How to become a Taoist priest starting from a brothel

Liu Yin found her behavior somewhat strange, but seeing that Nan Ruiniang immediately resumed her respectful demeanor, she said nothing.

“Miss, we can’t go home. We were thinking of following you, but since that’s the case, why don’t you just find a place to drop us off?”

“Then…” Liu Yin hesitated.

Nan Rui Niang immediately understood, and she said nonchalantly, "I know what you mean, young lady. We don't need those parents anymore."

Her attitude surprised Liu Yin and the other two. After all, in this era, if children dared to say such things to their parents, they could be sued by their parents and sentenced to prison.

However, after hearing what Nan Ruiniang said next, Liu Yin understood.

It turns out that the reason why Nan Rui's mother and brother ended up in such a state was mainly due to the responsibility of their parents.

When the Nan family announced that they were looking for a child whose birth date and time matched the Nan family's, their parents, upon hearing this, disregarded the fact that they were also part of the Nan family and directly sent Rui Niang's birth date and time to their door.

The Nan family was initially unwilling, fearing that their ancestors would be offended by using their own family members as sacrifices, but the parents insisted on making their daughter go.

"My mother even said back then, 'Please, Master, take pity on our poor lives and look at the birth dates of the maids in the house. If they are suitable, we don't need the hundred taels of silver the family gives us; seventy or eighty taels would be enough.'" Nan Rui's mother mimicked her mother's words from that day, her face full of sarcasm.

Nan Yuanshi sadly took his sister's hand. Nan Ruiniang took a deep breath and looked at him reassuringly before continuing, "The Nan family looked at my birth date and time and thought it was a perfect match. Later, they asked my parents some questions before finally deciding on me."

As she finished speaking, the sneer on her face became even more obvious: "But they don't know that the hundred taels didn't just buy my life, but also... my brother's."

She turned to look at her brother, seemingly saddened by his plight. Nan Yuanshi couldn't help but smile reassuringly: "That's alright, I can still protect you."

“No wonder…” Liu Yin thought of the expressions on the parents’ faces that day and finally understood what she felt was wrong. They had been calling out for their son the whole time, and their eyes were fixed on Nan Yuanshi.

"Mei Wu, go and ask the Li family where the ship will stop next," Liu Yin instructed Mei Wu before explaining to the Nan siblings, "I think you'd prefer to be further away from there."

Nan Rui Niang's eyes suddenly reddened, and with tears in her eyes, she said gratefully to Liu Yin, "Miss, if only we could be placed at the ends of the earth. I have never been liked by my relatives and friends, nor loved by my parents, and I never expected to meet such a kind-hearted person as you..."

"Alright, you won't look good if you cry." Liu Yin said, standing up and handing her a handkerchief.

Seeing her wiping her face with a handkerchief, and glancing at Nan Yuanshi who was nervously watching his younger sister, Liu Yin thought for a moment before saying, "If you don't mind, how about I take you to the vicinity of the capital?"

Although Nan Rui Niang didn't understand why she chose the capital, she didn't ask any further questions. She simply nodded affirmatively and kept thanking her.

After seeing the brother and sister off, Liu Xuemei asked with some curiosity, "Miss, why did you bring them to the capital? Wouldn't it have been easier to just leave them somewhere along the way?"

“Now that the day of returning to the capital is just around the corner, I don’t think we’ll have to stop the ship halfway through…” Just as she finished speaking, Mei Wu came in. The information she had gathered was indeed the same as Liu Yin’s guess.

“Miss…” Liu Xuemei frowned.

"I know what I'm doing," Liu Yin said reassuringly before continuing, "Xuemei, you don't need to worry. I have my own plans for letting that brother and sister go to the capital with me."

She didn't say what she was going to say next, and Liu Xuemei didn't ask, but just stood at the door with disapproval.

What Liu Yin didn't say was quite simple: from beginning to end, she felt that Yuan Mingyou and his group were pushing her to go to the capital because they needed her to show her face for some reason, and because she had no memory of it, she didn't really trust Yuan Mingyou and his group.

Even Liu Xuemei was arranged by the other party. There were some things she couldn't let Liu Xuemei do, nor dared to let her do. If she let Mei Wu go, she wouldn't feel at ease letting Liu Xuemei follow her alone. The best thing was to gather some people who could do things for her.

Most of the people she could come into contact with were those bought from human traffickers. Considering that although she worked diligently at home, Lan Yan realized that she had lost some of her closeness with them, she knew that these people were not very loyal.

The arrival of the Nan siblings was exactly what they wanted: young, intelligent, loyal, and without any prior connections...

Li Linfeng was also informed of what was happening on his end by his servants.

"I understand, you may leave." Li Linfeng looked at the scroll in his hand indifferently.

"My lord, what about Lady Liu..." Fu'an asked, puzzled.

"It's nothing, just another act of kindness." Li Linfeng chuckled sarcastically before saying, "What great things can a woman's compassion accomplish? How's the information I asked you to gather?"

"The master just sent a message." Fu'an hurriedly took out the letter that his servant had brought up early that morning from his pocket and handed it over.

Upon opening the letter, Li Linfeng tossed it aside and said helplessly, "I was overthinking it. She's just a woman."

Fu'an glanced down at the letter that had fallen to his feet. The letter contained only one sentence: "Gunpowder placed in a crevice in the cliff cannot be ignited underwater."

"You can go now. Let her do as she pleases. Anyway, once she's in the capital, she'll just be a sparrow in my hands..." Li Linfeng continued reading his book, seemingly unconcerned.

Fu'an bowed his head in agreement, threw the letter into the brazier beside him, and then retreated.

Li Linfeng didn't care about Fu'an's self-determination; in his view, Fu'an's actions were simply his duty to serve him.

Fu'an went out the door and came to the servant who was tidying up the small boat. He took out a silver ingot from his pocket and stuffed it into the servant's hand: "Alright, well done. This is a reward from the master. You can go back and rest now."

After everyone left, he looked around before reaching into the cabin of the small boat. He pulled out a letter wrapped in oil paper from a crack in the plank, but didn't open it. Instead, he casually stuffed it into his pocket and turned to leave.

Unbeknownst to him, his actions were witnessed by a pair of eyes...

In the capital, the magnificent imperial palace, which should have been solemn and dignified, now exuded an air of despondency and decay.

In a corner of the palace, in a dilapidated courtyard that seemed out of place in this magnificent setting, a girl was staring intently at the only tree in the yard.

"Princess." A maid dressed in old clothes hurried over, interrupting the girl's actions.

"Aunt Ran, what's wrong?" The girl looked at the maidservant serving her with some curiosity.

"Princess, a letter has arrived." The maidservant cautiously looked around before taking a letter out of her bosom.

The girl carefully opened the letter, and when she saw its contents, a look of surprise flashed across her face, which then turned to delight.

"Aunt Ran... Aunt Ran..." She excitedly tugged at the maid's sleeve, carefully lowering her slightly raised voice, "Aunt Ran, we... we can go out now..."