Cross the river pawn

The sheep cart stopped in front of the gate of Nanhuafang. Qi Xuansu got off the sheep cart and walked into Nanhuafang.

Although Yujing imitates the ancient city structure, it does not implement the city system, so the traffic between the houses is unimpeded. There is no curfew and no checkpoint guards are set up at the gates.

Qi Xuansu entered Nanhuafang, asked around along the way, and soon came to Sun Yongfeng's residence.

Nanhuafang is one of the eight upper lanes. Every inch of land is worth the same price as gold. If you want to own a single-family courtyard here, you must at least be a third-grade Taoist priest. As for the residence that you can enter, that is only qualified by real people.

Sun Yongfeng is just a Taoist priest of the fourth grade of wine sacrifice, so his residence is a two-story building facing the street. The two doors of the living room are close to the street in Fangzhong, and the bedroom is on the second floor.

Qi Xuansu took out a second-hand pocket watch that Qiniang had transferred to him at the original price, opened the cover, and looked at the time.

It's already midnight, and the chief should have returned from Tiangang Hall.

Qi Xuansu put away his pocket watch, walked up the three steps in front of the door, and pulled the string connected to the bell.

After a while, the door opened from the inside, and a girl with a double bun appeared in front of Qi Xuansu. She looked at Qi Xuansu up and down with a careful look and asked, "Who is your Excellency?"

Qi Xuansu presented his famous thorn with both hands and said: "Qi Xuansu, I have come to see Master Sun. I wonder if I can pass the petition on my behalf?"

The honorific title of the fourth-grade Taoist priest who offers wine is "Master", just like the honorific title of the second-grade Taiyi Taoist priest is "Zhenren".

The maid glanced at the famous thorn, which was made of ordinary locust wood, and did not move.

Qi Xuansu understood it and took out another small round and gave it to the maid's hand.

"Please wait a moment." The maid then took the famous assassination and went to report it.

After a while, the maid came back, opened both doors, and said sideways: "Master, please come in."

Qi Xuansu walked into the two-story building. The maid closed the door again, and then led Qi Xuansu through the entrance hall and into the living room.

After all, it is the residence of a fourth-grade Taoist priest. The living room is not small. There is a rosewood tea table inlaid with marble on the north wall. There are two rosewood carved armchairs on each side. There are four chairs running east and west. A rosewood chair with a coffee table.The most rare thing is the ground, which is made of marble of the same color, with marble stars inlaid on each piece.

At the same time, a man in regular clothes was coming down the stairs from the second floor.

The head of Tiangang Hall looked like he was only about 40 years old because of his long-term pampering. He was holding a closed folding fan in his hand.

Of course, there are strict requirements for the clothing of people in the Taoist sect, which is mainly reflected in three aspects: crown, clothing and shoes.

The clothes are mainly Taoist robes in the style of crane cloaks.The ancient crane cloak, also known as the immortal Taoist priest's clothing, was made of crane feathers.Today's crane cloak has evolved into a large coat with wide sleeves and double-breasted laces. It is no longer made of crane feathers, but is instead made of various common clothing materials. It is used to keep out the cold in spring, autumn and winter. It is also the preferred clothing of the noble gentry.

Because the crane's cloak reaches to the ankles, the toes of the cloud shoes are turned upward to form a cocked head, holding up the hem of the clothes to avoid tripping.The raised toe of men's shoes is a square toe, while the raised toe of women's shoes is a round toe.

The most important thing is the crown. After the Taoist sect was revived, various previous traditions were canceled and explicit rules were formed.

The great master of Quanzhen Dao wears a fishtail crown, the great master of Zhengyi Dao wears a hibiscus crown, and the great master of Taiping Dao wears a Ruyi crown.

The rest of the great masters and masters wear lotus crowns, which look like a blooming lotus.

Third-grade Taoist priests wear the Five Mountains Crown, also known as the Five Mountains Spiritual Picture Crown, which is in the shape of a bucket and has "the true shape of the Five Mountains" engraved on it.

In addition, the fourth-grade Taoist priest wears Chunyang scarf, the fifth-grade Taoist priest wears Hunyuan scarf, the sixth-grade Taoist priest wears Nanhua scarf, the seventh-grade Taoist priest wears Xiaoyao scarf, the eighth-grade Taoist priest wears Haoran scarf, the ninth-grade Taoist priest wears Taichi scarf, and the Taoist boy wears Wrap.

However, because it was not an informal occasion, neither Sun Yongfeng nor Qi Xuansu wore a crane cloak or crown. Qi Xuansu even wore a pair of flat-toed boots.

"I entered Qi Xuansu at the end of my studies and met the Master." Qi Xuansu nodded.

In ancient times, Jishou was the most solemn kneeling ceremony among the nine worships. However, among Taoists, Jishou was just a common etiquette. It was neither solemn nor necessary to kneel down.

Sun Yongfeng nodded slightly, walked to the living room, sat on the chair on the left side of the center, and asked knowingly: "Do you want to enter Tiangang Hall?"

"Yes." Qi Xuansu replied standing.

Sun Yongfeng leaned back on the chair, slowly unfolded the folding fan in his hand, and said nonchalantly: "I already know your situation. You are now at a fatal age, and where you can go in the future depends entirely on these two years. "Qi Xuansu has gone through great changes and ups and downs, and has long learned to be flexible and flexible. At this time, he restrained all his sharp edges and said: "What the Master said is absolutely true. The younger generation was stupid in the past and wasted time."

Sun Yongfeng gently shook the folding fan: "The Taoist sect has always valued young people. If you are still a seventh-grade Taoist priest after 30 years old, Jiutang will not want you. You can only find a job in the local Taoist government. People of the same period as you will You are so popular in the ancestral court, but you are still hanging around in the local Taoist government, can you be willing to do so?"

Qi Xuansu said: "Of course I am unwilling to do so. I have thought about getting a job in the ancestral court before, but unfortunately I couldn't find the temple gate with a pig's head."

Sun Yongfeng closed the folding fan in his hand with a "pop" sound and said with a faint smile: "Headless flies are bumping around everywhere. What results can be achieved? There must be key people who can say the key words for you at the critical moment. Otherwise, Even if you carry a whole pig on your back, you still won’t be able to cross the threshold of the ancestral court.”

Qi Xuansu knew that the real drama was coming, so he quickly took out the two official tickets he had prepared from his sleeve pocket, stepped forward, and placed them on the marble-topped rosewood coffee table next to Sun Yongfeng.

Then Qi Xuansu said softly: "That's why I came to pay homage to you, the true god."

Sun Yongfeng glanced at the two official tickets on the table with the corner of his eye, nodded slightly, with a smile on his face, and pointed to the position below his head: "Okay, young man, please sit down."

Qi Xuansu, who had been standing, sat down on the chair on the upper left side.

Sun Yongfeng patted his palms gently with a folding fan and said calmly: "Young man, I dare not say that I am the key person, but if I can't solve the problem with my words, then you can only consider yourself unlucky."

Qi Xuansu echoed: "Yes, yes."

Sun Yongfeng continued: "This time Tiangang Hall has added a new deputy hall master. Correspondingly, two principals, six deacons and other people will be added. The candidate for the deputy hall master will be decided by the great master himself. ; The candidate for the principal is decided by the real person in charge; the candidate for the deacon is decided by the deputy hall leader; further down, it can be decided by the principal. This is an opportunity for you, first occupy the position, what to do specifically, Don’t worry about whether it’s internal affairs or external affairs, and you can adjust it slowly in the future.”

Qi Xuansu cupped his fists and said, "Then I'll leave it all to Master Sun."

"Since you came to beg me, I will take care of you if I can, but I can't give you a guarantee. Whether you can pass the test of deputy hall master depends on yourself." Sun Yongfeng said without saying anything. Looking straight at Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu deliberately pretended to be frightened and said: "This is natural, this is natural."

Sun Yongfeng took out an envelope from his sleeve and handed it to Qi Xuansu, saying: "This is your voucher. You can use this voucher to report to Tiangang Hall on August [-]th."

Qi Xuansu took the envelope with both hands and nodded in agreement.

At this moment, the maid walked lightly to the back of the coffee table and set out the tea sets. Then she carried a shiny copper kettle and opened the tureen. The copper kettle tilted, and a line of steaming water poured into the tureen.

The green bud tips slowly floated up to the surface of the tureen, floating there vertically.

Sun Yongfeng put down the folding fan in his hand and picked up the bowl, but did not drink.

Bring tea to see off guests.

Qi Xuansu stood up and said goodbye: "Then there is Master Laosun. I will take my leave first."

Sun Yongfeng sat on the chair without getting up, but nodded slightly.

Of course, Qi Xuansu is not self-taught with these unwritten rules. They were all taught to him by Qiniang. Although they are not a good thing, they are indeed very useful and prevent Qi Xuansu from running into obstacles everywhere.

Qi Xuansu left Sun Yongfeng's residence, opened the envelope, and pulled out a piece of hard paper with Qi Xuansu's name and relevant information written on it. Apparently, Manager Sun had also been prepared.

Some people may not be able to help you succeed, but it is very easy to ruin your affairs, so there is nothing he can do about these two hundred Taiping. Why would he want to hand over the hard-earned money that he fought for with his life to such people? ?
But Qiniang was right. Now he is in a difficult situation, and no matter how hard he looks at it, he can only endure it.

Furthermore, the key this time is not Qi Xuansu, but Qingpinghui.For a seventh-grade Taoist priest, two hundred Taiping is not an unbearable amount, but the problem is how to make a fourth-grade Taoist priest accept the two hundred Taiping with peace of mind and do things with money. This is The role of the Qing Ping Association.

Qingpinghui knocked on the temple door, and Qi Xuansu had the opportunity to enter the temple, burn incense and worship the gods.From this point of view, the second reward is indeed far better than the "Dragon Hand Gun" that comes with twenty fixed rounds of engraved talismans.

From a young age to a big one, the power of the Qing Ping Hui is so huge.

Although Qi Xuansu wanted to leave the Qingping Society, he had to admit that the Qingping Society did play a role as a backer, making him more confident than an ordinary seventh-grade Taoist priest.

Now, Qi Xuansu has to think about a very realistic problem, that is, there is still one month until August [-]th. Considering the high price of flying a flying boat, he cannot leave Yujing, but the expenses in Yujing are also extremely high. Da, if he remembers correctly, the inn in Yujing costs one taiping money a day. This is just for accommodation, there are other expenses. If he stays in the inn for a month, Qi Xuan, who only has less than [-] taiping money left. Generally speaking, it is still a bit too expensive.

Qi Xuansu stood on the roadside and pondered for a long time, and finally made up his mind to go to Haichanfang, where he once lived.