Chapter 184: Night Talk on Board

The layout of the Heavenly Master's ship is similar to that of the State Master's ship, except for some minor differences in details, and the location of the study is naturally the same.

When I arrived at the Heavenly Master's study, I saw that the Heavenly Master was reviewing official documents, and Tang Jiaohua immediately went forward to make tea for the Heavenly Master.

It is true that the Heavenly Master is fasting, but drinking tea is a hobby.

The details of Tang Jiaohua's tea making are quite clever. It is not how dazzling the tea making techniques are, but how accurate he is in grasping the various preferences of the Heavenly Master, which is amazing.

Tea can be hot or cold. The cold tea here is not the medicinal tea of ​​Lingnan. It is essentially green tea. It is just that the hot tea is cooled down, because the water temperature has to cool down naturally, so the amount of tea leaves is very important.

If there is too little tea leaves, there will be no taste after the water cools down. If there are too many tea leaves, because it needs to cool down, it takes a long time to brew, and the taste of the tea leaves will be all brewed, which will be very bitter.

Tang Jiaohua can not only accurately grasp the measure, but also make sure that there is not more or less tea leaves each time. He can stay by the side of the Heavenly Master for a long time, relying on countless such details.

The Heavenly Master was still kind, motioned the two to sit down, and then took a sip of hot tea. There was no reason to serve tea to the guests as soon as they sat down, so the Heavenly Master's move was to show that this was not a formal conversation, but just an ordinary chat between elders and juniors, everything was casual, don't be polite.

Hot tea and cold tea are two kinds of tea. The hot tea leaves are all from Kunlun Cave Heaven. Compared with ordinary tea, it has the effect of improving cultivation. If an ordinary innate person only drinks tea every day for a few years, he can also enter the stage of returning to the true nature. However, the Heavenly Master's realm is too high, and this effect is almost non-existent.

It is the way of man to take away from the insufficiency and give to the surplus. People who need this kind of tea to improve their cultivation may not drink a sip in their lifetime. People who can drink this kind of tea every day do not actually need the special function of this tea. They may just like its taste or use it to show their status.

Tang Jiaohua made tea for the two again, all hot tea.

Qi Xuansu still had to make some gestures and took the initiative to refuse. Zhang Yuelu just sat still, calm and at ease.

The Heavenly Master put down the teacup, leaned back on the chair, and asked: "Xuansu, how do you feel about being promoted to the deputy head of Ziwei Hall this time?"

Qi Xuansu was about to stand up to answer, but the Heavenly Master raised his hand and pressed down, and a gentle force made Qi Xuansu sit down again, and then he heard the Heavenly Master say: "Don't talk while standing, I said, no need to be polite."

Qi Xuansu could only sit down and reply: "I just arrived at Ziwei Hall, and I don't have much contact with other colleagues. But Deputy Head Lei was my former boss, who helped me a lot, and Master Donghua also took good care of me."

The Heavenly Master nodded. Nodding, this was just the beginning, not that the Heavenly Master intended to interfere in the affairs of Ziwei Hall, so he quickly jumped to another topic: "I remember that before you went to Ziwei Hall, you worked in Tiangang Hall and were Yuelu's subordinate."

Qi Xuansu was a little nervous, but it didn't show on his face. He nodded and said, "Yes, I was the secretary of the deputy hall master Qingxiao at that time."

Zhang Yuelu, who was drinking tea, choked a little. I don't know if the title of "deputy hall master Qingxiao" was too formal, or the so-called "secretary" touched her. In short, her face was a little strange.

The Heavenly Master had a smile on his face: "Later, it was a shocking thing. Because of this opportunity, you were transferred to Ziwei Hall and transferred from Zhengyi Dao to Quanzhen Dao."

Qi Xuansu didn't know how to reply.

The key point is not that he was transferred from Tiangang Hall to Ziwei Hall, nor that he was not dead. Such things cannot be hidden from the Heavenly Master. The key point is that he transferred from Zhengyi Dao to Quanzhen Dao. The old man in front of him is the leader of Zhengyi Dao. It is difficult for him not to think of the word "traitor", and he is also a little worried about whether it will affect his marriage with Zhang Yuelu.

After all, he went all the way to Yunjin Mountain to celebrate the Lantern Festival. The so-called shocking those who looked down on him in the past is secondary. It can be treated as a joke. The key is to make some substantial progress in their marriage. The formal marriage of Taoist couples can be delayed. It is best to get engaged first. Even if it cannot be engaged, it is necessary to feel the attitude of the Zhang family and seek a more clear verbal commitment.

In theory, such things should be handled by the elders, and it is not the turn of Qi Xuansu, the person involved, to participate. However, Qi Xuansu did not have a clear elder, did not know who his parents were, and his master was dead. Qi Niang is considered an elder, but there is no clear adoption relationship between the two. After all, when Qi Niang met Qi Xuansu, Qi Xuansu was already very old and had the ability to take care of himself. He was not an ignorant child. Moreover, Qi Niang's status made it difficult for her to openly go to the Yunjin Mountain Great Zhenren Mansion.

As for other people, such as Lei Xiaohuan and Donghua Zhenren, let alone the relationship is not that high, even if it is, it is not legitimate. How can a superior come to propose marriage?

So in the end, Qi Xuansu can only arrange it himself.

It is also very sad to think about it. There is no such thing as parents' orders and matchmaker's words. It is not that Qi Xuansu is open-minded and brave enough to break the tradition, but that he does not have the conditions at all.

When Xuansheng and his wife got married, it was a marriage between Qin and Li. The scene was so grand that the entire Taoist sect went to congratulate them. Zhang Yuelu may not be comparable to Xuansheng's wife, but as long as the Tianshi expresses his support, at least the Zhengyi sect will give this face. Qi Xuansu is different. He can't be compared with Xuansheng anyway.

Just imagine, if it really comes to the final step, with a grand banquet, the woman's side will have a huge crowd of relatives and friends, while the man's side will only have three or two people. Qi Xuansu doesn't have many friends, and he can't let Qi Niang be both the parent and the guest. Only Qi Xuansu himself can understand the embarrassment and desolation of this.

In addition, Qi Xuansu was also worried about another thing. As one of the three great families in the world, the Zhang family would definitely have many rules for marriage. Although the Taoist sect advocated frugality, it was completely unnecessary to talk about the peace money when marrying a Taoist couple. The two of them could just go to the City God Palace and be done with it. They could even save money by hosting a banquet in the Phoenix Tower. Zhang Yuelu would definitely agree, but if Qi Xuansu did so, he would really be known as the son-in-law of the Zhang family. Moreover, he did not want to wrong Zhang Yuelu or let people gossip about her behind her back. As for the so-called human relations, few people can be completely indifferent.

Now the key is the betrothal gift and dowry.

The Zhang family can naturally afford the dowry. It is not difficult to give a dowry of a large house in Taishangfang plus some land and industry, but Qi Xuansu cannot afford the betrothal gift.

If he really follows the traditional rules, Qi Xuansu will ask the elders to go to the Zhang family to make the decision, and it will be divided into two times. The first time is when the female elders on Qi Xuansu's side go to the Zhang family to make the marriage, also known as "small decision". The second time was when Qi Xuansu and other male elders sent betrothal gifts and set the wedding date, which was the "big decision".

Let alone where Qi Xuansu could find elders to come forward, the amount of betrothal gifts must be equal to the dowry. Some people in the Zhang family would probably make trouble for him in this matter, deliberately giving him a huge dowry, and on the surface, they would say that this was to value Zhang Yuelu, leaving him speechless.

But where could he find so much Taiping money? He thought about it and realized that in addition to "making money" in an unruly way through his own power, he could only ask for help from Qi Niang. Qi Niang always said that she was saving money for him to marry a wife in the future, but he didn't know how much she had saved.

Whenever he thought of this, Qi Xuansu was very worried, but he couldn't discuss it with Zhang Yuelu, because Zhang Yuelu would definitely agree to keep everything simple, but it seemed that he was morally blackmailing Zhang Yuelu, and because Zhang Yuelu was conservative and reserved, she had never said anything about marrying Qi Xuansu. The two of them only maintained a subtle tacit understanding. It was too abrupt for Qi Xuansu to suddenly ask her about betrothal gifts and dowry.

In this matter, the Heavenly Master is an important person who cannot be ignored.

Now that the Heavenly Master suddenly talked about the issue of Zhengyi Dao and Quanzhen Dao, Qi Xuansu naturally had to think about it, but he was speechless.

The Heavenly Master seemed to see Qi Xuansu's concerns and waved his hand: "Whether it is the Zhengyi Dao or the Quanzhen Dao, they are all disciples of the Dao. You should not feel any burden to serve the Dao. To put it another way, the unfulfilled wish of Xuansheng was to abolish the three Daos, or to merge the three Daos into one, so there is nothing wrong with the disciples of the three Daos going from one Dao to another."

Qi Xuansu suddenly understood why Zhang Yuelu looked strange, after all, she had also thought about leaving the Zhengyi Dao.

However, the Heavenly Master's words were so profound that they were beyond reproach.

Qi Xuansu then said: "I was born in the Wanxiang Dao Palace, and I did not have a clear Dao lineage. Later, I followed my master into the Zhengyi Dao. However, my master was originally a disciple of the Quanzhen Dao, so because of this origin, Donghua Zhenren transferred me back to the Quanzhen Dao."

Qi Xuansu still explained that it was not his "rebellion" but "return", and it was not his initiative, but the degree was different.

The position of Heavenly Master allows one to do whatever he wants, and since it is a private occasion, he directly reveals the secret: "It is reasonable. If Master Donghua does not transfer you back to Quanzhen Dao, how can he use you and promote you with confidence?"

Qi Xuansu was speechless again.

Fortunately, the Heavenly Master did not force him to respond, and continued: "You also saw it when you went to Zixiao Palace. There are four palaces around the lake. The Taoist sect is like a big family. There are too many people, and the food can only be eaten in separate pots. Now that Biyou Palace and Yuxu Palace are closer, the fire is a little short, and there is a lack of new firewood in the stove."

Qi Xuansu understood.

Since ancient times, marriage has been the simplest and most direct way to form an alliance. In many cases, because of the offspring, it is even more reliable than blood oaths and brothers of different surnames.

Now the alliance between Zhengyi Dao and Quanzhen Dao is indeed a little lacking. We can't let Cihang Zhenren and Donghua Zhenren become Taoist couples at such an old age. The two have equal status and enough weight, but they are too involved. How those disciples, juniors, and family members get along is a problem. After all, the Cihang lineage, the Su family, the Donghua lineage, and the Pei family are not small families. Suddenly, there is a master and a master's wife, which will make the people below feel at a loss.

It's too obvious to do so. It's better not to say a word and enjoy the romance. It's better to find two juniors with less involvement.

Qi Xuansu really wanted to tell the Heavenly Master directly that Qingxiao and I are willing to be the new firewood. At the same time, he was a little glad that Yao Pei was a girl, not a man. If Yao Pei was a man, he would become his number one enemy.