Chapter 60: Maintaining Profits

When the woman heard Qi Xuansu's name, a look of surprise flashed across her face: "So you are the famous Master Qi recently."

Qi Xuansu said: "I haven't asked you who you are yet?"

After Taoism gained the world, on the one hand, it advocated equality, intending to use the principles and rules of Taoism to impact the ethical hierarchy of Confucianism. On the other hand, it vigorously promoted the emerging School of Mind, provoked the contradiction between the School of Mind and the School of Principle, and divided and disintegrated the Confucianism so that it could not be a monolithic entity. With such a two-pronged approach, the ritual system that Confucianism had painstakingly maintained for a thousand years could not be said to have collapsed, but it was also shaky and had already collapsed halfway.

So in today's world, men and women meeting, exchanging names, giving and receiving gifts, etc., are not considered treasonous, but can only be said to be common, and will no longer be pointed at and gossiped about like before.

Before the woman opened her mouth, the old man had already answered for her: "My master is the third daughter of the emperor, Princess Chiying."

The emperor's daughter was given the title of princess, with the same status as a prince. The daughter of a prince is given the title of Princess, which is the same as the Prince of a County. The daughter of a Prince of a County is given the title of Princess of a County, which is the same as the Duke of a State.

The Princess of a County chooses a place from the counties in her father's fiefdom as her title. The Princess of a County chooses a place from the prefectures in her father's fiefdom as her title. On the contrary, the Princess is not given the name of a state like the Prince, but a two-character title with a beautiful meaning.

Chiying, from the Five Thousand Words of the Supreme Taoist Ancestor, Chi and Yingzhi.

Qi Xuansu was surprised. The third daughter of the emperor is the daughter of the emperor. She is obviously a member of the royal family. Moreover, the princess has her own ceremonial guards when she travels. Why does she use the carriage of the royal family?

As if she saw Qi Xuansu's doubts, Princess Chiying took the initiative to explain: "This is the carriage I borrowed from my friend. After all, the palace is not allowed to use this kind of Western carriage."

Qi Xuansu immediately understood that although the royal family has a noble status, there are many rules to abide by. At the same time, Qi Xuansu also figured out the origin of the old man, Xuanhuiyuan.

This can explain why the dignified celestial beings are willing to be slaves and servants, because the eunuchs of Xuanhuiyuan are originally slaves of the royal family. Without the royal family, they are rootless duckweed and have no way to make a living. Naturally, they cannot be as free and easy as other celestial beings.

However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. In front of the royal family, they are slaves, but in front of others, they are the emperor's confidants, people who can speak in front of the emperor, and are "all-powerful". The seventh-rank official of the prime minister's door is the same reason.

As the saying goes, accompanying the emperor is like accompanying a tiger. Although there is the danger of being eaten by the tiger at any time, from another perspective, as long as you are next to the tiger, you can use the tiger's power to bully others, and no one dares to rashly step forward to provoke.

Qi Xuansu read a storybook a few years ago, called "The Years I Was a Taoist Child", also called "Chief Taoist Child" and "The World's No. 1 Taoist Child", which talks about being a Taoist child for the Grand Master. Although the protagonist is just an insignificant Taoist boy, not even a ninth-rank Taoist priest, because he follows the Grand Master, many real people have to be polite to him, and the Canzhi real people want to get information from him. He has become a hot celebrity in Zifu and a big shot in the eyes of ordinary Taoist priests.

Later, he grew up and was no longer a child, and he could no longer be a Taoist boy. The Grand Master, grateful for the friendship of many years, gave him a chance. He turned into a fourth-rank Taoist priest. Although he was not by the Grand Master's side, he was still doing well in Yujing with the Grand Master's name and many years of connections.

The gentle and lovely Ziwei Hall Master, the cold Fengxian Hall Deputy Master, the strong and domineering Duzhi Hall Master, the considerate Zixiao Palace Assistant, and the arrogant and delicate first-rank spiritual official were all entangled with him. He was promoted to a real person again, left Yujing and went to the local Taoist temple, became a brother with Zhang's Tianshi, and slapped the Western Holy Court in the face in various unreasonable ways. At the same time, his peach blossoms remained the same. The moody eight demon women, the mysterious witch of Zhiming Sect, the princess of the court, the granddaughter of the cabinet elder, the noble lady of the Li family, the female master of Confucianism, the female warrior like a "female leopard", etc. were all taken in by him. Even the legendary Wu Luo and the female Bodhisattva of Buddhism had some unclear ambiguity.

Later, this book was banned by Taoism.

Qi Xuansu felt that the first half of the book was quite rigorous, but the second half of the book started to be nonsense, with a tiger's head and a snake's tail.

Anyway, Qi Xuansu was just a wild Taoist at that time, and he was so excited when he read it, and he only hated that he was not a Taoist child beside the great headmaster.

So, the old man is a hermaphrodite. No wonder he is so fast. Qi Xuansu always heard that hermaphrodites are strange. It's nothing after getting familiar with them, but if you meet them for the first time, you will inevitably suffer a great loss. Today, he has learned a lesson.

Knowing that the other party is a member of the royal family, Qi Xuansu intends to keep out of the water and let it go.

But the woman called Qi Xuansu again: "Master Qi, are you going to Taiping Inn?"

Qi Xuansu hesitated for a moment and nodded: "Yes."

"I'm going to the inn to visit an elder, but I just happened to be on the same road with Master Qi." Princess Chiying said.

Qi Xuansu was stunned for a moment.

Elder?

Then he reacted, Li Changge.

There have been eleven emperors from Daxuan to the current emperor. Although the current emperor corresponds to seven generations of disciples of Taoism, even if we include the great-grandfather emperor who is one generation higher than Xuansheng, there are only eight generations. But in between, there were several times when the emperors had no descendants. Some were because the emperors' cultivation was too high and it was really difficult for them to give birth to bloodlines. Some emperors left home to pursue Taoism. Some emperors died early. In short, there were several times when the throne was transferred from elder brother to younger brother, so there were eleven emperors in eight generations.

Of these eleven emperors, six of their queens were from the Li family. The current empress dowager was from the Li family and was the niece of the Great Taoist Master of the Great Peace. The current emperor's late Empress Yuan was also from the Li family and was the great-grandniece of the Great Taoist Master of the Great Peace.

The national teacher is of the "Chang" generation, and the grandchildren are of the "Tian" generation, which is actually a senior generation. Li Tianlan and Li Tianyue are both of this generation, but Li Changge's generation is too high. In this way, Princess Chiying is Li Changge's great-grandchild, but judging from the age, Princess Chiying is actually older.

Qi Xuansu thought about this and suddenly felt that he had nothing to boast about being a cousin, because they were all ancestors. Compared with Li Changge, he was inferior to Li Changge in every way, which made people discouraged.

"Is it Li Dai, the deputy hall master?" Qi Xuansu said without showing it on his face.

Princess Chiying nodded: "If Master Qi doesn't mind, I will take the carriage with you. It's my small apology."

Qi Xuansu wanted to refuse, but then he thought, he didn't do anything wrong, what was there to be afraid of? It was just right to find out the details of the royal family from Princess Chiying. After all, they would have to confront each other sooner or later. It's better to know each other than to be in the dark, so he nodded and agreed.

The old man from Xuanhuiyuan continued to act as the coachman. The carriage was covered with a Western carpet. Qi Xuansu and Princess Chiying sat opposite each other, with a small table in the middle. On the table was a set of high-quality tea sets, even a small stove, all fixed with buckles. There was also a set of Xuansheng cards, which was the collection version given to him by Qi Niang. There was also a wine cabinet under the table, which contained various yellow wines and red wines, as well as wine glasses of various materials, such as rhinoceros horn, ivory, jade, crystal, and porcelain, but no white wine.

】

This is just a carriage.

Wealth and honor are dazzling.

If Qi Xuansu still had a heart, he would definitely twitch a few times.

Unfortunately, he only had a heart of stone, dead silent.

Qi Xuansu couldn't help thinking, no wonder so many Taoists in the Imperial Capital Daofu were rotten, they were corroded. Sometimes, people who can't be killed by swords will easily fall in front of gold and silver.

It's almost the same in Jinling Prefecture, otherwise there wouldn't be two major cases in a row.

In fact, Qi Xuansu was also tempted, but he had a strength, that is, he could distinguish the importance. He would not blindly use his conscience to resist temptation, which is a very inefficient and dangerous behavior, and the key is to torture himself. He would use a broader prospect to resist the temptation in front of him, such as the future. Think about the bright future of being a real person, what are these things in front of you? If it doesn't work, just think about the honor of the Grand Master. As long as you are not afraid of thinking blindly, just think hard, you can always resist the temptation in front of you. Or think about the consequences, the same reason.

In fact, you can also use faith and ideals to strengthen your heart, but Qi Xuansu is lacking these things now. It's just a seed, but it hasn't grown into a towering tree. Naturally, it can't shelter him from the wind and rain. If you are not careful, it will be uprooted and the gain will be greater than the loss.

Qi Xuansu thought about this and said, "As soon as Deputy Hall Master Li Dai arrived in the capital, Her Royal Highness came to visit. I think she has a good relationship with Deputy Hall Master Li Dai."

Princess Chiying hesitated for a moment and said, "Speaking of which, the last time I met this elder was five years ago. Five years have passed. I wonder if the old friend is still the same?"

When Princess Chiying said this, her tone and expression were a little indescribably complicated.

Qi Xuansu's heart moved. Could they be childhood sweethearts?

He had an urge to share with Zhang Yuelu.

However, Qi Xuansu remained calm and said, "I don't have much contact with Deputy Hall Master Li Dai, but many people praise Deputy Hall Master Li Dai for his legacy of Xuansheng."

"Really?" Princess Chiying also realized her own loss of composure and coughed lightly, "The legacy of Xuansheng, that's a great compliment."

Qi Xuansu said, "That's right."

Princess Chiying didn't mention Li Changge anymore, but asked about Yao Pei and Zhang Yuelu instead.

It seems that she had similar thoughts and wanted to get some information from Qi Xuansu.

It's true that the court has its own intelligence channels, but few people can really contact Zhang Yuelu and Yao Pei, and many news can hardly be called detailed.

Qi Xuansu naturally couldn't say that he didn't know, but he also had some reservations.

Compared to Yao Pei, Princess Chiying was more interested in Zhang Yuelu. As expected of the legendary Zhang Yuelu, her prestige among women was so high that even Her Royal Highness the Princess could not escape the prestige.

However, Qi Xuansu did not gain nothing. He also learned some royal secrets from Princess Chiying, such as Li Changge had lived in the palace for several years.

Li Changge's return to the capital this time was actually almost like going home.