Chapter 22 The Past

Generally speaking, no one can really buy a house in Yujing. Because in name, all the houses and palaces in Yujing belong to the Taoist sect, which is managed by the Tianji Hall among the Nine Halls, and the Tianji Hall corresponds to the Ministry of Works in the court.

Including the Great Immortal, they only have the power to use, not all the power, so everyone is renting, but the lease term is very long, the longest can be up to a hundred years, and the Taoists habitually call this kind of lease of hundreds of years as buying a house and buying a property.

This is somewhat similar to the "one field, two owners" in the secular world. A piece of land can be divided into the bottom of the field and the surface of the field. The bottom of the field and the surface of the field are held by two people respectively. The bottom of the field and the surface of the field are two parts that do not interfere with each other and can be bought, sold, pawned, and gifted at will.

The holder of the bottom of the field cannot farm, but can only collect rent. If he wants to farm himself, he must buy back the surface of the field from others. The holder of the surface of the field can farm, but he has to pay rent. At the same time, he can buy and sell the surface of the field at will, and even build a house or repair a tomb on the surface of the field, and the holder of the bottom of the field has no right to interfere. If the owner of the land owes rent, the owner of the land can find ways to collect the debt and use other things to pay off the debt, but cannot drive the person off the land, unless the owner of the land sells the land himself, which is one field with two owners.

Similarly, the residents of Yujing do not have the ownership of the house, but can transfer the lease period of their house at will. If the Taoist sect wants to take back the house, they must return the corresponding rent.

At the beginning, Qi Xuansu's master rented a small courtyard in Haichanfang, spending 1,000 yuan in Taiping money for a period of 20 years. Now there are still 10 years left, and it has not been taken back by the Taoist sect.

Qi Xuansu can stay there temporarily for a month. Although it is a sad place, Qi Xuansu is obviously not qualified to be sad now. The pressure of survival forces him to temporarily put aside these emotions and concentrate on solving the things in front of him.

As for one month later, if he successfully enters Tiangang Hall, then Tiangang Hall will issue a resettlement fee to help him settle down in Yujing. If something unexpected happened, such as being rejected by the new vice-chairman at the last minute, then there was no need for him to stay in Yujing and he could go home. He didn't even need to take the flying boat. He could just go back slowly by land and enjoy the scenery along the way.

Qi Xuansu wanted to go to Haichanfang. The shortest way was to pass Taiqing Square and then go southeast, that is, from the upper left corner of the "田" pattern to the lower right corner.

This time, Qi Xuansu did not take a sheep cart or an ox cart, but walked slowly, enjoying the scenery along the way that seemed to be the same, familiar and strange.

The sky soon entered dusk, the sun set, and a large piece of fire clouds burned at the end of the sky. The blood-red sunlight was no longer falling from the top of his head, but seemed to be shot horizontally, along the east-west Yuqing Street, falling on Qi Xuansu, stretching his back behind him.

Qi Xuansu suddenly felt a little lonely.

In the past, Qi Xuansu would deliberately suppress this emotion, because he believed that the feeling of "loneliness" was the beginning of weakness. The truly strong would not care about loneliness, let alone feel lonely. They would even enjoy loneliness and refuse others to approach them.

However, today Qi Xuansu did not deliberately suppress this emotion, and let himself immerse himself in this emotion that was always linked to a bit of sadness. Correspondingly, the memories buried in his heart began to pour out and fill Qi Xuansu's mind.

Qi Niang once said that after leaving the Wanxiang Taoist Palace, which unified the teaching of the law, and entering the Taoist sect, the identity automatically changed from a Taoist child to a ninth-grade Taoist priest, and then there would be a three-year probation period.

Before talking about the three-year probation period, we have to talk about what the Wanxiang Taoist Palace is.

This place was originally the Wanxiang Palace built by the Empress Mingkong, and was later rebuilt into the Wanxiang Academy by the Confucian sect. After Xuansheng led the Taoist sect to defeat the Confucian sect and became the orthodox sect in the world, the Confucian sect ceded the Wanxiang Academy, and the Taoist sect rebuilt it into the Wanxiang Taoist Palace.

Wanxiang Dao Palace has two palaces, the upper and lower palaces. The lower palace has two functions. The first function is to adopt orphans and abandoned babies, and raise them to adulthood without charging a penny, which is considered to be a good deed.

Many people cannot support their children, or for other reasons, do not want or cannot keep their children with them, so they send their children to Taoist temples in various places, and the Taoist temples then send these children to Wanxiang Dao Palace.

From this point of view, Wanxiang Dao Palace is actually a place similar to Puji Hall or Nursery Hall.

Because of this, many people in the Taoist sect are fatherless and motherless. They were born in the Taoist sect, grew up in the Taoist sect, and most of them died in the Taoist sect in the end. They have been Taoist sect people all their lives.

Qi Xuansu is also one of these people.

So Qi Xuansu can't quite understand what parents mean. Since he can remember, he has been playing, living, and studying with other peers in the Wanxiang Dao Palace. Only an elderly female nun is responsible for their daily life.

To be fair, the nun was a good person and a loving mother, but unfortunately she was responsible for fifty children alone, and her love was already very thin when it was distributed to each child.

The second function of the lower palace was to train these orphans and abandoned babies into talents and become the fresh blood of Taoism.

The Wanxiang Taoist Palace adopted a unified teaching method, generally one teacher taught dozens of children, similar to the private schools in the past, but on a larger scale.

Before the age of ten, the most basic breathing and breathing techniques, as well as literacy, arithmetic and other courses are taught. After the age of ten, there will be an assessment. Children who pass the assessment will obtain the status of Taoist children and begin to study hundreds of classics such as Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Mohism, and Dharma. Elementary courses on astronomy, geography, organs, and talismans have been added, as well as Be taught more profound methods of cultivation.

Children who fail to pass the assessment will become Taoists and begin to learn various craftsmanship skills.

When they reach the age of eighteen, there will be a second assessment. After the Taoist boys pass the assessment, they will leave the Wanxiang Taoist Palace, enter the Taoist sect, and become ninth-grade Taoist priests from Taoist boys. Taoist boys who fail to pass must continue to study in the Wanxiang Taoist Palace until they pass the assessment, and these Taoist boys will lose their qualifications for the three-year assessment period, and it will be difficult for them to become fourth-grade Taoist priests in this life.

The difference is like the difference between Jinshi and Juren. Both are regarded as official status, but Jinshi is extremely noble. The first rank to be released to the outside world is the seventh-grade county magistrate. On the other hand, if you look at Juren, you will not be able to join the cabinet in this life. Even if you are promoted to an official position, you can only start from the eighth grade county magistrate. There is a huge gap.

Qi Xuansu is the former, considered a "jinshi" in the Taoist sect. He left the Wanxiang Taoist Palace and entered the Taoist sect with excellent results and became a ninth-grade Taoist priest. Then he was favored by the master during the three-year assessment period and became a fourth-grade wine-sacrifice Taoist priest. disciple.

With the help of his master, he soon became an eighth-grade Taoist priest. He has a bright future, but it is going smoothly.

Until the master died.

Every time Qi Xuansu thinks about this, he feels a dull pain in his chest. This is not an emotional or psychological feeling, but a real pain, a real feeling from the body.

Qi Xuansu, who was walking on Yuqing Street, reached out and pressed his chest, skipping this memory and returning to his youth.

His master's surname is also Qi, or in other words, he follows his master's surname.

Because many people in the Taoist sect were adopted and raised by the Taoist sect, for them, the Taoist sect is home, and the concept of a personal family is very weak. Over time, a culture of "master and apprentice are father and son" has been formed in the Taoist sect. Many people in Taoist sects do not get married or have children, but instead take in a disciple to train as a son and pass on the mantle. The reason is also very simple. The son cannot choose, but the apprentice can.

Qi Xuansu's master was such a person. He had no parents, no children, and no wife. He was alone. When he was forty years old, he accepted Qi Xuansu as his disciple and named him "Xuansu".

The word "Xuansu" has many different meanings. The meaning of Qi Xuansu's name is very simple, which is "black and white". Xuan means black and Su means white. The difference between Xuansu and black means the difference between black and white.

The master also gave him the nickname "Tian Yuan", which sounds very domineering, but the meaning has nothing to do with domineering. "Tian" means the sky, and "Yuan" means the abyss, which means the difference between the sky and the abyss, corresponding to the difference between Xuan Su, black and white. The difference.

During those days, Qi Xuansu and his master lived in the small courtyard of Haichanfang. For Qi Xuansu, this small courtyard is undoubtedly more home than the Wanxiang Taoist Palace, but it is a pity that this home is no longer there.

When Qi Xuansu recalled these things, he was not angry at all, but more sad.

Because the revenge had been avenged, Qi Xuansu took matters into his own hands, and in the name of Qingpinghui, Qiniang cleaned up the mess.

The price was that Qi Xuansu became a member of the Qingpinghui and had to obey the orders of the Qingpinghui and do things that Qi Xuansu didn't like very much and couldn't refuse.

From the day he entered the Qingpinghui, Qi Xuansu was like a pawn and could never look back. Fortunately, after crossing the river, the pawn can not only move forward, but also swing left and right. Maybe in the end game, it can also walk sideways?

In any case, this caused Qi Xuansu to gradually deviate from his original trajectory and embark on his current path.

In fact, whether it was when his master was alive or before taking revenge, Qi Xuansu had a clear goal, but after taking revenge, he was a little confused.

During this time, Qiniang gradually took over the master's position, teaching him and guiding him. Qi Xuansu cheered up again. After all, life would continue to go on. He was still young and had a long road ahead, so he began to think about how to leave the Qingping Society.

The Qingping Society did not embarrass him, and nine thousand meritorious deeds were regarded as two clearings.

Merit is a unique accounting method of the Qingping Society. It depends on the difficulty of the task. The higher the merit, the greater the risk. Take the recent trip to Fengtai County as an example. Qi Xuansu recorded 300 merit in one go. , is the sum total of Qi Xuansu’s small fights in the past few years, but Qi Xuansu almost died under Zhuge Yongming’s fist.

Even if Qiniang's appearance was inevitable, it was Qi Xuansu's luck that the fourth-grade Taoist priest Qiniang said did not take action. If the fourth-grade Taoist priest had taken action in person, Qi Xuansu would have been a corpse.

It is precisely because the Fengtai County incident involves Qingluan Guard, Taiping Dao, and Quanzhen

With the four forces of Taoism and Zhengyi, as well as a fourth-grade Taoist priest who was born in Taiping Dao, and even a real person standing behind this fourth-grade Taoist priest, the Qingping Society gave a high price of three hundred meritorious deeds. If it was just A Zhuge Yongming may have less than a hundred meritorious deeds.

At this moment, Taiqing Square arrived.