Chapter 15: Clear Accounts
Qi Xuansu asked: "What opportunity?"
Qiniang softly uttered three words: "Tiangang Hall."
Qi Xuansu was startled again.
The structure of the Taoist sect is similar to that of the imperial court. In addition to the "official offices" in various places, there is also the central "imperial court", which people in the Taoist sect call it the ancestral court.
The imperial court has always had the saying of "six ministries and nine ministers". In the previous dynasty, "six ministries" and "nine ministers" had their own meanings. However, in the Daxuan court, the six departments and the nine ministers were combined. Nine high-ranking officials, including the Minister of the Six Bubu, the Minister of General Affairs, the Minister of Dali Temple, and the Yushi of Zuodu, are the head of the public ministers, and are collectively known as the "Six Bujiu Qing".
The Taoist ancestral court followed the example of the nine ministers of the imperial court and set up nine halls, which were run by nine real people who were directly subordinate to the Grand Master. The "Ziwei Hall" mentioned by Qiniang before was the head of the nine halls, which corresponded to the official department of the imperial court and was in charge of personnel assessment. , Taoist priests' grades are promoted and lowered through the hands of Ziweitang.
Tiangang Hall is also one of the nine halls, and its status is probably equivalent to the military department of the imperial court.
Although Tiangang Hall does not have the thousands of troops of the Ministry of War, it is the most populous hall among the nine halls. It specializes in patrolling the four directions and suppressing the heretics that oppose the Taoist sect, the evil spirits and ghosts that cause trouble in the world, and the secret associations without the Taoist sect's permission.
Although the Qingping Society does not oppose the Taoist sect, it is a secret association without the permission of the Taoist sect and is also the target of suppression by Tiangangtang.
Qi Xuansu couldn't help but said: "Qiniang, if you ask me, a member of the Qingping Society, to go to Tiangang Hall, isn't this a sheep entering a tiger's mouth?"
Qiniang said earnestly: "As the saying goes, wealth can be gained through danger. If you want to go further, you must either have resources or merit. Personal connections, basic qualifications, and beauty are all considered resources. The problem now is that you have no resources. Qingpinghui can be regarded as your resource for the time being, but it cannot be shown openly, so you can only rely on merit, but merit does not fall from the sky. If you want to make contributions, going to Tiangang Hall is the best choice. "
Qi Xuansu pondered for a moment, but still said in disbelief: "How many people want to enter the nine halls of the ancestral court, but they don't have this way. Even if they want to pray to the gods with a pig's head, they may not know which way the temple door opens. Qiniang, you... With just one word, I can enter Tiangang Hall?"
Qiniang laughed and said: "Yes, with just one word from me, you can enter the Tiangang Hall, but you have to strive for your own success. The rules of the Tiangang Hall are innate people and seventh-grade Taoist priests. These two are indispensable, otherwise you will be considered a real person. It’s impossible to become a disciple.”
"Tiangang Hall..." Qi Xuansu pondered, "When you enter Tiangang Hall, you have the opportunity to make meritorious deeds. With merit, you can be promoted to a sixth-grade Taoist priest. After being promoted to a sixth-grade Taoist priest, you can be cultivated by the Taoist sect. With cultivation, You can improve your level of cultivation and strive to leave the Qingping Society as soon as possible.”
"That's the truth." Qiniang was still smoking a long cigarette, "It would be good to have peace, but it can be seen that if you don't get the glory, fighting and killing is not a long-term solution. To get ahead in the Taoist sect, that is the bright road. I am still waiting for you one day. Where's the 'Puihui Sword'?"
The so-called "Sword of Wisdom" is not a three-foot long sword, but a ribbon ornament that can only be used by Taoist practitioners. It is about three feet long and has an arrow-shaped lower end. Its meaning is "but with the power of the Sword of Wisdom, one can escape from the five suffering gates of sinking." , meaning the first is to cut off worries, the second is to cut off lust, and the third is to cut off greed and anger. Therefore, people often use "Pei Huijian" to refer to the real people of Taoism.
Qi Xuansu sighed: "I don't dare to think about it."
Qiniang is indeed the person who knows Qi Xuansu best, and she hit the nail on the head: "If you really don't dare to think about it, why are you sighing?"
Qi Xuansu was speechless. From a seventh-grade Taoist priest to a second-grade Taiyi Taoist priest, the gap is like going from a seventh-grade county magistrate to a minister, which is difficult to reach the sky.
Qi Xuansu put aside these unrealistic thoughts for the time being and asked: "Qiniang, how do you plan to arrange for me to enter Tiangang Hall?"
Qiniang said: "You asked the wrong person about this. I just reported your situation and let others take care of it. How exactly it will be handled is not something we can know, but I have already said that Qingping will Qingpinghui has vast magical powers, so you can rest assured.”
After Qi Xuansu heard this, he stopped asking any more questions.
After saying this, Qiniang dropped her businesslike face, blew her cigarette, and said: "After talking about business, it's time to talk about our private matters. The one who opened the house was fifty ruyi coins, and the other one hundred peace coins. When will the life-saving money be settled?”
Qi Xuansu coughed lightly: "Qiniang, given our friendship, what is life-saving money? Isn't it natural for you to save me?"
Qiniang followed the good example: "Okay, let me put it another way. When will the commission for hiring me to kill someone be settled? In short, every time I kill someone, I can't return empty-handed."
Qi Xuansu touched his shoulder bag and said, "I didn't earn the one thousand Taiping money from the 'Inn'. The total of all my belongings now doesn't even amount to one hundred Taiping money."
Qiniang said lightly: "Didn't you pick up a flying sword?"
Qi Xuansu's face froze: "Qiniang, have you looked through my satchel?"
Not only did Qiniang not feel guilty at all, but she said confidently: "What else? I didn't look into your bag, but the prescription flew in by myself? With our friendship, you won't mind, right?"
Qi Xuansu could only surrender and said: "My good sister..."
Qiniang interrupted: "Brothers and sisters must also settle accounts clearly. This rule of mine is not for you alone. You should know it."
Qi Xuansu sighed helplessly.
This is really not a rule for him alone. Qiniang was good at everything, but she was greedy, stingy, stingy, and stingy. She was also famous in the Qingping Society. If it had been anyone else, Qiniang would have dared to ask for three hundred peace coins. For Qi Xuansu, it would have been an "extralegal favor".
Qi Xuansu had no choice but to take out the flying sword named "Green Snake" from his bag and put it on the table: "I was thinking of keeping it for my own use."
Qiniang glared at him: "The flying swords of the Li family all have special marks. You still want to keep it for your own use. Aren't you afraid that the Li family will come to your door?"
As she said, she picked up the flying sword and began to examine it carefully.
After a moment, Qiniang put down the flying sword in her hand and said: "The flying sword is in good condition and has no damage to the bottom. It can be sold for about 1,500 Taiping coins on the black market. However, because it has the unique mark of the Li family, a sword-making master is needed to erase the mark, so the price will be halved and can only be sold for about 800 Taiping coins."
Qi Xuansu took the initiative to say: "Qiniang, you are more familiar with the black market, why don't you sell this flying sword for me? I'll give you half of the commission."
Qiniang nodded, took out a small golden abacus from the Xumi treasure, fiddled with it a few times, and said: "If it were someone else, I would have to 10% commission, for the sake of our friendship, I only want half of it this time, plus the commission of 100 Taiping coins, plus the 130 Taiping coins you borrowed from me last year. We agreed on an annual interest of 1%, plus the interest for 11 months, and the 50 Ruyi coins for the room this time, to make it an even number, I will take a total of 300 Taiping coins, leaving you 500 Taiping coins. "
The more Qi Xuansu listened, the more depressed he became, and finally he said weakly: "That's it."
Qiniang put away the abacus and flying sword quickly, and took out five "short sticks" wrapped in red cloth from the Xumi treasure and neatly stacked them together.
This is of course not a short stick, but a hundred Taiping coins stacked together and wrapped in red cloth, similar to the ancient times when copper coins were strung together to count as one string, because the silver coin has no square hole in the middle and cannot be strung with a rope, so it can only be wrapped in cloth.
One Taiping coin weighs 7 qian and 2 fen, containing 6 qian and 4 fen of pure silver, 89 silver, and 11 copper. In terms of quality, it is much better than the loose silver coins that were circulated in the market in the past, and is almost equivalent to one or two taels of silver.
One stick is one hundred Taiping coins, and five sticks are five hundred Taiping coins.
Five hundred Taiping coins were not a small amount in the previous dynasty, but in this dynasty, maritime trade is booming, and a large amount of gold and silver from overseas have flowed in. The price of silver has depreciated slightly, and the price of copper has risen. The previously uncommon gold has become common, and even the court has specially issued the gold yuan worry-free coins, so five hundred Taiping coins are not that much.
Of course, more and less are relative concepts and cannot be generalized.
For Qi Xuansu, five hundred Taiping coins are not too much, but for ordinary people, it is a large amount.
Nowadays, the annual expenses of a family of three are only ten Taiping coins, which is one hundred Taiping coins in ten years. Five hundred Taiping coins are enough for an ordinary family of three to spend half a lifetime.
Qi Xuansu only took one of them, and then said: "The other four hundred Taiping coins were exchanged for official notes, three large notes, one medium note, four small notes, and ten loose notes."
Strictly speaking, official notes are not currency issued by the court, but a voucher for depositing and withdrawing money. It is just that many merchants like to use light official notes to replace the huge amount of cash that is difficult to carry in large transactions, so that official notes gradually have some monetary functions.
Qiniang put away the cash of four hundred Taiping coins, took out a stack of official notes, and quickly counted out a few of them and put them on the table, three 100-yuan Taiping coins, one 50-yuan Taiping coins, four 10-yuan Taiping coins, and ten 1-yuan Taiping coins. The denomination of one thousand is a very large one, which is not in this category.
They are all brand new official notes, and you can even smell the fragrance of ink faintly, which is fascinating.
Qi Xuansu stretched out his hand to gather the official bills together, and looked at the jade bracelet-like Xumi treasure on Qi Niang's wrist with some envy. He first put the 100 Taiping coins in the bag, then put a few large official bills close to his body, and finally put a few small official bills in the sleeve pocket for easy access at any time.
It is not uncommon to put things in the sleeves. There are usually pockets sewn in the wide sleeves. The direction of the pocket opening is opposite to the sleeves, and the pockets are in the shape of a closed trapezoid. In this way, if you put silver, letters and other things in the pockets, even if your hands hang down or bow, the things inside will not fall out. It is precisely because sleeves are often filled with money that "two sleeves of clean wind" is used to describe integrity.
Qi Niang took out another IOU, and after confirming that it was Qi Xuansu's handwriting, she rubbed her hands and turned it into ashes, which was considered to be a debt.
Qi Xuansu asked: "Should I go to the ancestral temple?"
Qi Niang said: "Get ready to leave, and try to get to the ancestral temple before August 15th."