The fine rain of spring drizzled all night, and when Yu Lou emerged from the room, the fresh air rushed straight at his face.
Are you Yu Lou, the young master?
The girl servant from yesterday was fetching water in the spirit well in the backyard of Fuyuanju. When she saw Yu Lou coming out, she hesitated and greeted him timidly.
"Yes, and I will continue to trouble you and Yu An in the future. What is your name, friend?" Yu Lou asked with a smile.
"Bai Luo, you are the noble son of Wang's family, it is not a bother. I will first bring the water to the front, and then fetch some water for washing your face."
The female cultivator named Bai Luo picked up the bucket of water, nervously bowing her head and replying.
"No need, it's such a small matter, there is no need to trouble you. Just... Are you employed by Fuyuanju, or are you considered a surname child of the Wang family?"
Yu Lou knew that the Wang family would send the slightly worse-off children to work in different external industries of the family. He wasn't very sure about this female cultivator named Bai Luo, whether she was a surname child of the Wang family or not.
"Hmm..."
Bai Luo hesitated for a moment, as if Yu Lou's question was difficult to answer.
"What? Is there something difficult to say?"
Seeing Yu Lou's light frown, Bai Luo seemed like a frightened animal, hurrying to reply.
"I was found by Uncle Tang, and I took him as my adoptive father. Since the time I was found was during the White Dews, I was named Bai Luo. I am not considered a surname child of the Wang family."
"It's just doing some things I can do to repay Uncle Tang. It's not even a servant at Fuyuanju."
Darn, Yu Lou hadn't expected that a simple question from him would lead to such a juicy scoop.
Tang Nianqiu adopted a dry daughter, and the adopted daughter is grateful for her adoptive father's care, so she works for Fuyuanju for free. This sounds like it's no big deal.
According to the development in storybooks, this Bai Luo may still have a romantic past with other Wang family offspring, such as Yu Lou and Yu An.
But...
The difference between four ounces and a thousand catties can sometimes be just about whether it's on the scale or not.
If Bai Luo is the adopted daughter of Tang Nianqiu, then she should first return to the Wang family as an outsider to receive training in the cultivation period of Qi, and then be sent to the place she should go under the unified arrangement of the Wang family.
If Bai Luo is a freelance cultivator hired by Fuyuanju in Qingxi Fang, then she should be employed by Fuyuanju and receive payment in spiritual stones. Tang Nianqiu's account book is something the Wang family would have to investigate!
Bai Luo clearly doesn't understand the ins and outs of this and inadvertently revealed that Tang Nianqiu had used the adoption scheme to take advantage of the position without actually doing any work!
"Doing what I can......So, how much spiritual stone compensation do you receive each year?"
Yu Lou suppressed the waves in his heart and asked gently.
As the adopted daughter in name but a black worker in reality, Tang Nianqiu had never explained the management model of Wang's external industries to her.
So, the silly girl replied directly.
"Pay isn't a concern. I'm currently at the fourth layer of Qi Refinement, and it's lucky for us freelance cultivators to have a place to live and practice."
"I'm helping out at Fuyuanju entirely to repay my adoptive father's kindness. Yu Lou, I must rush to bring the water to the front immediately."
Looking at Bai Luo's back for a moment, Yu Lou felt a bit confused in his heart.
Old Tang, Old Tang, Uncle Rongyuan said a couple of days ago that you were reliable.
Results turned out, your little son's footprints have been caught by me.
Taking advantage of the Wang family's trust and heavy use of you, pulling strings in the family's enterprises is no small matter.
The reason for adding "Anbei Kingdom" before the Wang family is because the Wang family's immortal line has a history of a thousand years and also operates an empire in the secular world — the Anbei Kingdom.
If we look at the Wang family as a kingdom composed of cultivators, Tang Nianqiu's actions would be like a county governor turning into a military governor, or even a hidden patron of assassins and a secretly trained army using Wang family spiritual stones!
As an outsider, you dare to secretly create a ghost payroll?
That's not it, and it might not even be a ghost payroll. What if Tang Nianqiu didn't include Bai Luo on his account book at all?
If he considers Bai Luo an independent cultivator and pays her spiritual stone wages from the account book, then it could be considered embezzlement.
Standing at the door, Yu Lou fell into deep thought.
Should I investigate? If so, where should the investigation begin?
Never mind, I'll keep a low profile and focus on refining my cultivation. Once I've achieved Qi Refinement, I'll deal with these issues.
The covert conflicts between the family's main line and outsiders are something the clan head needs to consider. Yu Lou doesn't believe that his combined age of two lifetimes, less than fifty years, is on par with the hundreds of years of experience of the clan elders.
Moreover, there are clan heads at the Foundation Establishment level above the Wang family, and when the sky falls, it's the Foundation Establishment elder ancestors who bear it!
Speaking of which, the old patriarch of the Rongwen family, Yu An's father, is about to come to Qingxi Fang.
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"Hmph, some people are favored indeed, even at the Qi Refinement stage, they can enjoy spiritual rice."
"Alas, even my Wang Yuanan has dual spiritual roots and is better qualified than some people, yet he doesn't even have spiritual rice to eat."
Eating a normal breakfast, Yuanan complained huffily while saying, showing no enlightenment from last night.
Yu Lou was also at a loss for words. He glanced at the spiritual rice in his bowl, then at Yuanan, and said.
"Then, let's split it in half."
Yu Lou: Who are you talking about? Can you please explain?
Is it spiritual rice that Yuanan wants?
He just wants to insult Yu Lou a bit!
"No, this is the ardent expectation of Uncle Rongyuan. How could I dare to eat it?"
Yu Lou, you should cultivate well, strive to reach Foundation Establishment as soon as possible, and raise a new sky for the Wang family.
I must not disappoint this half-pound of spiritual rice and even more so, the expectations that Uncle Rongyuan has in you.
Do you know that?”
Yuanan shook his head and ears, acting the part of an elder, which really irritated Yu Lou.
He's not bad, he just wants to take some advantages with his words.
If you say he's not bad, his expression of taking advantage is really annoying.
"Why can't I stay in a hotel if I have spiritual stones? Isn't that how Fuyuanju does business?"
A loud clamor came from somewhere, diverting Yu Lou's attention.
At the counter of the Fuyuanju hall, Bai Luo was explaining to several freelancers in a hurry and flustered manner.
"Dear cultivators, Fuyuanju has been in business for decades, and usually it's three spiritual stones for a month's stay, no deception of the young or old. But now the situation is different."
The Red Lantern Grand Hall branch is about to arrive in Qingxi Fang, and just for this matter, the guardians have recently received a fee for unity.
"We recently raised prices, it's also out of necessity! If we don't raise prices, we're about to close down!"
Bai Luo grew up at Fuyuanju and has been honing her skills in dealing with people for so many years that she's quite adept at shifting the blame.
Dear cultivator, we don't want to raise prices either, but it's all because that guardians are too greedy!
If you have any issues, go to the guardian monk and report them!
After all, people like Gao Jie and Jiang Bao are unlikely to cause trouble for Fuyuanju with just these words—they did indeed receive the fee for unity, and it wasn't a small amount!
"Alright, I understand if you're going to raise prices. But I've already stayed for half a month, can't you just renew my stay at the original price for another half month?"
The troublemaking cultivators knew that anyone who could open a shop in Qingxi Fang isn't an ordinary person, and they dared not cause a real disturbance.
His demand is simply to continue the room at the original price before the increase, that's all.
"I'm not in charge of this......Why don't you wait until the Red Lantern Grand Hall branch leaves before coming back?"
By then, our prices will definitely go back to the original."
"Can't afford to stay here and yet you want to? You think that's cute!"
Bai Luo is being polite to Yu Lou and chatting nervously with him because Yu Lou is the king of Wang's house.
After the spiritual root test, he was directly escorted by the elder of the Rongyuan family to Qingxi Fang and paid a heavy sum to join the Redbrow Elder, who can be on good terms with the guardian monk Jiang Bao.
This isn't a Unicorn Prince, what else could be a Unicorn Prince?
A grass-bottomed cultivator doing the bidding of a sect?
Laughter!
Unbelievable! The resources that the direct descendants of the Wang family receive before reaching Foundation Establishment are much better than those given to disciples of the Red Lantern Grand Hall!
Bai Luo would naturally not give face to those who wanted to take advantage.
At this moment, the apprentice who went to notify Tang Nianqiu returned. He pulled back the curtain at the back door of the hall, and Tang Nianqiu, a Qi Refinement cultivator dressed in a purple robe, strode out with a dignified and resolute manner.
Qi Refinement cultivators have spiritual awareness, so Lao Tang nodded in the direction of Yu Lou's seat first as a greeting.
After that, he looked towards the scattering cultivation practitioners at the counter, and spoke in a deep voice.
"Is it you guys causing trouble?"
