Cross the river pawn

Friendship in Taoism, invisible and intangible, seems to be empty talk, but the truth in the world has never been so simple.

Thousands of words from a small person are not worth one or two words from a big person. The friendship of ordinary people is worthless, but the favor of a big person is something no one can wish for.

There is a wise and safe saying in the officialdom, which is called: "Don't make great contributions to the country, but must have small favors to the emperor." Don't make great achievements for the country and society. This will arouse the emperor's suspicion, but you can have small favors to the emperor. , so that you will be favored by the emperor.

If Ellie chooses to help the Taoist sect, then in a sense she has a small favor to the Taoist sect. The Taoist sect will not give her anything on the surface, but she will get many invisible benefits.For example, if you have the same treatment as a Taoist priest, you can enter Yujing and take a flying boat; for example, the Taoist will give priority to her caravan for the same goods.

This is only a relatively low-level treatment. If you can make great contributions to the Taoist sect, you can even become the guest of the real people, be awarded "real person background", have the title of ordinary real people, and be equivalent to the second-rank Taiyi Taoist priest.

As the lord of a city, Ai Li naturally understood the truth, and asked in a deep voice, "Is this true?"

"I can make the decision." Zhang Yuelu took out a blank ultimatum from Sumeru and placed it on the coffee table between the two of them.

Ai Li glanced at the ultimatum, and all the seals on it were complete, but the place for the name was left blank.

Zhang Yuelu said: "This is a talisman for a fifth-rank Taoist. It is the quota given to me by the real master of the hall. As long as you fill in your name, you can enjoy the treatment of a fifth-rank Taoist. It is also not subject to the restraint of high-ranking Taoist priests, there are only benefits and no harm."

Ai Li was silent for a moment, then she smiled like a flower in a blink of an eye, and told the maid: "Quickly go and invite the other guests from the Taoist gate in."

She looked at Zhang Yuelu again: "Just do what the mage tells you, the little girl will definitely do her best."

Zhang Yuelu is also not polite: "Okay, I would like to ask City Lord Ai to order a search for any suspicious outsiders recently, especially people from Western countries."

"No problem." Ellie agreed very happily.

Zhang Yuelu looked at Qi Xuansu again and winked.

Qi Xuansu immediately understood that this was making himself feel bad, so he had to say: "I also want to remind the city master that if you step on the same boat, you will be safe, but if you step on two boats, you will be unstable. going to fall."

Ellie's expression remained the same, she smiled and said, "It's natural."

Qi Xuansu stopped talking.

Ai Li got up and said: "Everyone has come from afar, rest in my mansion for the night first, I will give an order now, and we will discuss it slowly tomorrow morning."

"That's fine." Zhang Yuelu didn't refuse either.

Ellie clapped her hands, and immediately a maid walked into the living room, and a female officer saluted Zhang Yuelu: "My lord, please follow me."

At night, Ai Li hosted a banquet for Zhang Yuelu, Lingquanzi and Zhou Bai. Qi Xuansu didn't go, but had dinner with other Tiangang Taoist priests.This is the stay-at-home system of Tiangangtang. If something unexpected happens, Zhang Yuelu, Lingquanzi and Zhou Bai are not there. Qi Xuansu is the leader of many Taoist priests of Tiangangtang. It can also be seen that Zhang Yuelu trusts Qi Xuansu.

Ordinary Taoist priests can't enjoy the dinner reception of the city lord, and the treatment is not ambiguous. The servants of the city lord's mansion specially prepare meals of the Central Plains for everyone. Each person has four small dishes, half and half of meat and vegetables, and one big dish for every four people, which is lamb leg. In addition, there are special wines from the Western Regions.

Daomen has a special drug testing device, which looks like a thin needle and is about half a foot long. It is installed under the barrel of the handgun, parallel to the barrel, and can be pulled out when in use.

After the non-toxic inspection, everyone began to eat and drink with confidence.Although the taste is not as good as the restaurants in Yujing, in the past half a month, everyone has either gnawed dry food and drank cold water, or ate "Xingjun Pills" that tasted like chewy wax.

Qi Xuansu, Cao Liyou, and Shangguan Dun sat at the same table, but they didn't pay much attention to eating and sleeping.

Shangguan took a sip of the chicken soup and said: "I thought the food in the City Lord's Mansion is so good, and I can go out to brag about it to others in the future, but this is the result."

"That's right, this dish seems to have spices added, which is weird and not authentic." Cao Liyou nodded in agreement.

Qi Xuansu listened to the complaints of the two, and scolded with a smile: "It's good to eat some, but you are also picky and picky. Ordinary people cut a catty of meat to make dumplings and it is New Year's Eve. Don't be dissatisfied."

Having said that, Qi Xuansu still gave the two of them the most delicious leg of lamb.

Cao Liyou was a little embarrassed: "Deacon Qi, you can eat some too."

Qi Xuansu said: "Don't worry about me, I see that you haven't eaten much dry food these days, you should take this opportunity to eat more."

"Deacon Qi, there is a word 'vegetarian' in your name, so you don't mean you are a vegetarian?" Cao Liyou couldn't help asking. Among Taoist sects, there are not a few monks who are vegetarians and don't marry, such as Lingquanzi.

Qi Xuansu said: "I still have the word 'Xuan' in my name, should the Taoist sect assign me a three-entry mansion in Xuandu? My surname is 'Qi', so the imperial court can just seal me up as king of Qi, The whole Qizhou is mine."

Cao Liyou smiled shyly, stopped talking, and concentrated on eating the leg of lamb.

In the end, there was no waste at all, Shangguan also gnawed clean the tendons of the leg of lamb.

After dinner, a servant came to clear away the cups and plates, and brought hot tea.

Qi Xuansu took a sip of hot tea and asked, "Brother Shangguan, do you think this City Lord Ai will be related to the monster from outside the territory we are looking for?"

"It's hard to say." Shangguan Dun was picking his teeth and said vaguely, "The Ai family is very powerful, and the real people in power are hidden behind the scenes. They pushed the young girl out. When the girl saw Master Zhang , and pretending not to know, there are some... how do you say that word? Want to cover, want to cover something." "Want to cover up." Cao Liyou said.

"Yes, I want to hide it." Shangguan finished picking his teeth, and his voice became clear, "They must know the existence of this group of people. It's hard to say whether they are from the same way. Let me say, the Ai family is not those who have no roots and no roots. A lonely ghost, with a big family and a big business, can escape the monk but not the temple, so he dare not make an enemy of the Taoist sect."

Qi Xuansu nodded and said, "Brother Shangguan is right."

Shangguan looked left and right, no one else paid attention to them, so he lowered his voice: "Deacon Qi, I see that you have little relationship with that mage Zhang, please give me a letter, what is the relationship between you two? "

Qi Xuansu asked back: "Brother Shangguan, what are you doing asking about this?"

Shangguan said with shameful brows, "Didn't I see that Master Zhang had some kind of 'beginning with a Taoist priest' document? I was thinking, I also have credit for leading the Taoist sect, can you get me one too?" , I don’t want to be high, a ninth-rank Taoist priest will do.”

Qi Xuansu was angry and funny and said, "You didn't dare to ask Master Zhang, so you came to me."

Shangguan coughed suddenly: "Without a ninth-rank Taoist priest, a Taoist boy can become a Taoist boy, just with the word 'Tao'."

"Do you want to be a Taoist?" Qi Xuansu said, "In the Taoist sect, children who are underage are called Taoists. If you become a Taoist at an early age, you won't be afraid of being laughed at."

Shangguan tugged at his beard: "Daomin...it's okay, at least there is a word 'Tao'."

Qi Xuansu couldn't laugh or cry: "I have nothing to say about this matter, but I heard that there are fixed quotas for 'beginning with Taoist priests', which are determined by the Ziwei Hall every year, and the approval is extremely strict. I would rather void it than grant it randomly. I said, Master Zhang will not agree, unless you can make a contribution in besieging monsters from outside the territory."

Shangguan sighed: "Desperate things, hey... I'll forget about this old bone."

While talking, Zhang Yuelu came back, her face was expressionless, making it difficult to see whether she was happy or angry.

Everyone got up.

Zhang Yuelu waved his hand to signal to everyone that there is no need to be too polite, and then met Qi Xuansu who was in charge of staying behind.

Qi Xuansu got up knowingly, and walked out with Zhang Yuelu.

After the two left, there were whispers in the room, most of which were guesses about their relationship.

The two came outside the house, the night was like water, and there was a chill in the wind.

Qi Xuansu took the initiative to ask, "Is the wine for the dinner good?"

"I don't have much research on wine. It's sweet with bitterness and bitterness with sweetness. It has a special flavor." Zhang Yuelu smiled. "I'm not used to this kind of dinner party.

Qi Xuansu turned to the main topic: "Is the Ai family reliable?"

"Let's say it's reliable." Zhang Yuelu didn't know if it was because he drank too much, and rubbed his temples with his hands, "After all, the Ai family dare not offend the Taoist sect in the open."

"This is the same as what Shangguan Dun said." Qi Xuansu roughly recounted the conversation between himself and Shangguan Dun.

Zhang Yuelu smiled and said: "He wants a ninth-rank Taoist background? It's not impossible, as long as we can successfully wipe out this group of demons, I will give him a ninth-rank Taoist background, but the subsequent three hundred Taiping money will not Yes, if he asks again, you can answer him like this, whether you want money or identity, it is up to him to choose."

"Okay." Qi Xuansu nodded in response.

Then there was a moment of silence between the two.

In the end, it was Zhang Yuelu who broke the silence: "Tianyuan, you seem to have something on your mind?"

Qi Xuansu did not deny it: "There are some."

"Are you thinking about revenge?" Zhang Yuelu asked.

Qi Xuansu didn't expect that Zhang Yuelu would still remember this episode, a lie often needs to be covered by more lies, so he had no choice but to say: "Yes."

Zhang Yuelu looked at Qi Xuansu, and said seriously: "If you need my help, just ask, you're welcome."

The moonlight was desolate, and the moonlight poured on the woman's body like a water curtain, making her figure blurry, as if she would ride the wind and go away at any moment.

Qi Xuansu was absent-minded for a moment, then came back to his senses, nodded and said: "Thank you."

"You're welcome, I told you we are friends." Zhang Yuelu said softly.

Qi Xuansu was startled, put away his disapproval, and said with a smile, "Okay, Miss Tantai."