A night of spring rain fell as fine as silk. When Yulou stepped out of his room, the crisp, fresh air brushed against his face.
"You must be Young Master Yulou?"
The female shop hand from yesterday was drawing water from the spiritual well in the back courtyard of Fortune Source Residence. Seeing Yulou co out, she greeted him with a touch of timidity.
"I am. Yu'an and I will be troubling you quite a bit in the future. How should I address you, Fellow Daoist?" Yulou asked with a smile.
"Bailu. You are noble young masters of the Wang Clan, so it is no trouble at all. I will deliver this water to the front first, and then I will fetch so washing water for you."
The female cultivator nad Bailu lifted the water bucket, lowering her head nervously as she replied.
"No need, there is no need to trouble yourself over such a small matter. It is just... are you employed by Fortune Source Residence, or are you considered an external disciple of the Wang Clan?"
Yulou only knew that the Wang Clan would send disciples with lesser aptitude to work in the family's various external businesses. He was not entirely sure whether this female cultivator nad Bailu belonged to the Wang Clan.
"This..."
Bailu hesitated for a mont, as if Yulou's question was difficult to answer.
"What is it? Is there so hidden difficulty?"
Seeing Yulou knit his brows slightly, Bailu reacted like a startled little animal and replied hurriedly.
"I was picked up by Uncle Tang, and I took him as my godfather. Because the season I was found happened to be White Dew, he nad Bailu. I am not considered an external disciple of the Wang Clan.
I just do what I can to repay Uncle Tang's kindness, so I am not exactly a formal employee of Fortune Source Residence either."
Good grief. Yulou had not expected that a casual question would unearth such a massive secret.
Tang Nianqiu had taken a goddaughter, and the goddaughter, out of gratitude for her adoptive father's care, worked for free at Fortune Source Residence. This sounded perfectly normal on the surface.
According to the progression of storytelling novels, this Bailu might even have a romantic interlude with a Wang Clan disciple like Yulou or Yu'an.
But...
The difference between a few ounces and a thousand kilograms sotis depended entirely on whether it was placed on the scale.
If Bailu was Tang Nianqiu's goddaughter, she should have first returned to the Wang Clan as an external mber to receive cultivation training during the Qi Induction stage. Afterward, she would be dispatched to an appropriate location under the Wang Clan's unified managent system.
If Bailu was a rogue cultivator hired by Fortune Source Residence in Clear Stream Market, then she should be formally employed by Fortune Source Residence and regularly receive spirit stones—and Tang Nianqiu's accounting books had to be audited by the Wang Clan!
Bailu clearly did not understand the inner workings of these matters. She had accidentally exposed Tang Nianqiu's sche of using a godchild relationship to pocket a ghost employee's salary!
"Doing what you can... So, how many spirit stones do you receive as compensation each year?"
Yulou suppressed the turbulence in his heart and asked gently.
As a goddaughter in na but a black-market laborer in reality, she had never been told about the managent model of the Wang Clan's external businesses by Tang Nianqiu.
Therefore, this silly girl replied directly.
"Compensation? I am only at the fourth layer of Qi Induction right now. For rogue cultivators like us, having a peaceful place to cultivate is already a great fortune.
Helping out at Fortune Source Residence is entirely to repay my godfather's kindness. Young Master Yulou, I must hurry and deliver this spiritual water to the front."
Watching Bailu's departing figure, Yulou felt a bit conflicted.
Old Tang, oh Old Tang. Clan Uncle Rongyuan just said a couple of days ago that you were reliable.
Yet in the blink of an eye, I have caught you red-handed.
Taking advantage of the Wang Clan's trust and heavy reliance on you to pull petty tricks within the Wang Clan's property was no small matter.
The reason the Wang Clan of Anbei Kingdom prefixed their na with "Anbei Kingdom" was because the Wang Immortal Clan had been passed down for a thousand years and also managed a mortal dynasty—the Anbei Kingdom.
If one viewed the Wang Clan as a kingdom ford by cultivators, Tang Nianqiu's behavior was akin to a provincial governor transforming into a military governor—the kind who secretly raised sworn squads and used the Wang Clan's spirit stones to covertly fund a private army!
You are rely an external surna, yet you dare to secretly pocket a ghost salary?
No, it might not necessarily be a ghost salary. What if Tang Nianqiu's accounting books did not include Bailu at all?
Only if he listed Bailu as a hired rogue cultivator and drew spirit stones for her compensation from the accounts would it count as pocketing a ghost salary.
Standing at the doorway, Yulou fell into deep thought.
Should he investigate? If he did, where should he begin?
Forget it, it was better to keep a low profile. He should focus on his studies first and wait until he reached the Qi Refining stage before discussing these things.
The covert struggles between the clan's direct line and the external surnas were things for the Patriarch to consider. Yulou did not believe that his level, combining two lifetis to total less than fifty years, could surpass those clan elders who were over a hundred years old.
Moreover, the Wang Clan still had a Patriarch at the Foundation Establishnt stage above them. If the sky fell, the Foundation Establishnt Ancestor would hold it up!
Speaking of which, the Patriarch and Yu'an's father, Elder Rongwen, would be arriving at Clear Stream Market very soon.
—
"Hmph, so people are just favored. They can already eat spirit rice during the Qi Induction stage."
"Sigh, pitiful , Wang Yu'an. I also possess dual spirit roots, and my aptitude is even slightly better than so people's, yet I don't get to eat spirit rice."
While eating an ordinary breakfast, Yu'an grumbled and complained, showing none of the open-mindedness he had displayed last night.
Yulou was quite speechless. He looked at the spirit rice in his bowl, then looked at Yu'an, and said, "How about this, we split it half and half."
"Who exactly are you referring to? Why not make it clear?"
Did Yu'an actually want the spirit rice?
No, he simply wanted to mock Yulou with a few words!
"No way, this is Elder Uncle Rongyuan's earnest expectation for you. How would I dare to eat it?
Yulou, you must cultivate diligently and achieve Foundation Establishnt early to support a new sky for the Wang Clan.
Do not waste this half-kilogram of spirit rice, and absolutely do not fail Elder Uncle Rongyuan's expectations of you.
Do you understand?"
Yu'an swayed his head back and forth, putting on the airs of an elder, which thoroughly exasperated Yulou.
If you said he was malicious, he simply wanted to gain a verbal upper hand.
If you said he wasn't malicious, his smug face when gaining that upper hand was truly detestable.
"I have spirit stones, so on what grounds am I forbidden from staying? Is this how your Fortune Source Residence conducts business?"
A noisy commotion echoed over, drawing Yulou's gaze.
At the counter of the Fortune Source Residence lobby, Bailu was anxiously explaining things to several rogue cultivators.
"Fellow Daoists, our Fortune Source Residence has been open for business for decades. Normally, it is three spirit stones for a month's stay, fair to young and old alike. But the situation is different now.
The rit Hall branch of the Red Lantern Illumination Sect is about to arrive at Clear Stream Market. Because of this matter, the Town Guardian Cultivator just collected a Unity Fee.
Our recent price hike is a matter of sheer helplessness. If we don't raise prices, we will be forced to close down soon!"
Bailu had grown up in Fortune Source Residence. Having honed her interpersonal skills for so many years, she knew exactly how to deflect conflict.
'Fellow Daoists, we don't want to raise prices either. It is entirely because that Town Guardian Cultivator is too corrupt!'
'If you have complaints, go take it up with the Town Guardian Cultivator!'
In any case, people like Gao Jian and Jiang Baobian would not co to trouble Fortune Source Residence over a few words—they had indeed collected the Unity Fee, and a substantial amount at that!
"Fine, I understand your price hike. But I have already stayed for half a month. Is it really not possible to renew for another half month at the original price?"
The rogue cultivator causing the scene knew that anyone capable of opening a shop in Clear Stream Market was no ordinary figure, so he did not dare to truly cause a riot.
His only demand was to renew his room at the pre-hike rate, nothing more.
"I cannot make the decision on this... Why don't you return after the Red Lantern Illumination Sect's rit Hall leaves?
By then, our prices will definitely return to normal."
Wanting to stay at an inn without enough money? You certainly have beautiful dreams!
Bailu was polite to Yulou and felt nervous talking to him because Yulou was the prodigy of the Wang Family.
Having just completed his spirit root testing, he was directly escorted to Clear Stream Market by Elder Rongyuan, spending a vast sum to enter the tutelage of Householder Redbrow, who could converse as brothers with the Town Guardian Cultivator Jiang Baobian.
If this wasn't a Qilin child, what else could it be?
A bottom-tier cultivator working like an ox or horse for a sect?
What a joke!
The resources a direct descendant of the Wang Clan obtained before Foundation Establishnt were far better than those of ordinary disciples in the Red Lantern Illumination Sect!
Toward a rogue cultivator attempting to take advantage, Bailu naturally would not show any deference.
At this mont, the shop hand who had gone to inform Tang Nianqiu returned. He lifted the curtain of the lobby's back door, and Tang Nianqiu, a Qi Refining cultivator dressed in a purple robe, strode out with powerful steps.
Qi Refining cultivators all possessed divine sense. Old Tang imdiately nodded toward Yulou as a greeting.
Only then did he look toward the rogue cultivator at the counter, speaking in a deep voice.
"Are you the ones causing trouble here?"
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