God Weird Fairy

Chapter 382: Changes in the Ministry of Rites
Luo Ziqing wrote down Qiu Changsheng's reserve price with a stroke of his pen.

Dan Pavilion charges a commission of 11% for auctions. As long as Qiu Changsheng is confident that he can sell it, Luo Ziqing doesn't care how Qiu Changsheng sets the price.

Afterwards, Qiu Changsheng was too lazy to look for another place to stay outside, so he just stayed in the tea room of Luofu Dan Pavilion to rest for a while, waiting for the auction of elixirs to be completed the next day before leaving.

Luo Ziqing had no objection.

Some independent cultivators who have been practicing in the wilderness for many years occasionally come to the city to sell pills. If they don't want to go to the inn, they will rest directly in the Alchemy Pavilion for a few days.

He was already accustomed to running the Luofu Dan Pavilion.

Later, Luo Ziqing called several maids to his room to accompany him to test the elixir, but there is no need to elaborate on the process.

On July 28, the day before the auction, Luo Ziqing, who had personally experienced the effects of the "Nine-Turn Spiritual Treasure Pill", updated the introduction of the "Nine-Turn Spiritual Treasure Pill" on the auction item information display board at the entrance of the Dan Pavilion.

However, Luo Ziqing wanted to buy a few "Nine-Turn Spiritual Treasure Pills" at a low price, so when introducing the pills, he emphasized the effects of removing toxins and healing injuries, but was vague about the side effects.

——Luo Ziqing could see that Qiu Changsheng was just testing the waters this time, and was ready to sell the pills at a high price next time; he wanted to take advantage of this first auction to buy a few pills at a low price. After all, cultivators spend money like water, and children from noble families also have to save money.

However, neither Qiu Changsheng nor Luo Ziqing expected that the "Nine-Turn Spiritual Treasure Pill" was actually not without people's attention.

However, when Nan Yi returned from the capital, he was wary of Huagui Pavilion and did not return directly to Luo's house. Instead, he found an inn to rest while hiding himself.

But Nan Yi was suspicious and no matter how cautious he was, he never thought of Emperor Li. After all, Huagui Pavilion promoted the proposal of selecting concubines, which was obviously a plot against Emperor Li. Normally, it was impossible for them to be in the same group with Emperor Li.

Li Huang can sense the location of the "Eternal Life Ring" and thus know the location of Nan Yi.

However, Kong Qian's death made Emperor Li suspect that Nan Yi had some unknown means of obtaining intelligence. Fearing that he would be exposed by alerting the enemy, he did not immediately send people to spy near the inn.

Until Qiu Changsheng left the inn and arrived at Luofu Dan Pavilion.

Li Huang could only sense the location of the "Eternal Life Ring" and thought that Qiu Changsheng was Nan Yi - although this was not wrong, Nan Yi's true identity had escaped Li Huang's attention.

Seeing Nan Yi running to Luofu Dan Pavilion, Li Huang guessed that Nan Yi wanted to use the sale of elixirs to test the attention that Huagui Pavilion paid to him.

Having said that, Emperor Li didn't care at all and still asked Hu Qianque to come and find out the truth - the "indenture" not only forced Mingluan and others to obey Emperor Li's orders unconditionally, but also allowed Emperor Li to communicate with Mingluan and others remotely.

He hid behind the scenes to make Huagui Pavilion and Nan Yi secretly entangled. Not only that, on the surface, Li Huang was also preparing to put some pressure on Nan Yi's true qi martial arts.

In short, after signing the "indenture", Zhongli no longer planned to participate in the selection of concubines. Hu Qianque, who was in a depressed mood, had to disguise himself as Zhuang Chun, who was in charge of the selection of concubines, to deal with the aftermath.

Hu Qianque, who had just cleaned up his mess after receiving the remote order from Emperor Li, found a chance and transformed himself into a mortal servant, and came to the outside of Luofu Dan Pavilion to look at the display boards.

The latest elixir added to the display board is the elixir suspected to be the one that Nan Yi sent to bid, the "Nine-Transformation Spiritual Treasure Pill".

"I'm afraid there's something wrong with this pill? Using the side effects as a selling point..." Hu Qian muttered in his heart.

Luo Ziqing's vague words could not fool Hu Qianque. She saw that the "Nine-turn Spiritual Treasure Pill" was not a serious elixir, and immediately looked down on it, pointing fingers from a moral high ground.

If Nan Yi knew what Hu Qianque was thinking, he would definitely retort, "I started a business from scratch. Even if I sell some shady pills, it's still normal income from labor. Although it's not as much as someone who took advantage of his magical powers to take money from other people's homes, at least I have a clear conscience."

However, although he was staying in the tea room of Luofu Dan Pavilion at the moment, his mind was not on the people who were coming and going outside the pavilion to learn about the information of the elixirs to be auctioned on the display board.

Nan Yi came to sell elixirs in the identity of Qiu Changsheng, using himself as bait and acting in the open.

But secretly, Su Guang was also mobilizing his connections to secretly pay attention to Huagui Pavilion and the selection of concubines. As a result, today, the Ministry of Rites changed.

Su Guanglingxi sent a message to Nan Yi: "Zhuang Chun is dead."

Nan Yi pulled Su Guang into the Wuling Realm and asked, "Who is Zhuang Chun?"

"Zhuang Chun, a doctor in the Ministry of Rites, is a female cultivator in the Ministry of Morality who is in charge of the selection of concubines for the Emperor Li."

"On July 26, Emperor Li summoned Zhuang Chun to the palace and gave him secret instructions. It is unknown what exactly Emperor Li told Zhuang Chun to do. But Zhuang Chun seemed to be acting in secret after leaving the palace. That afternoon, he entered the palace again in the name of Emperor Li's secret decree and had a secret talk with Emperor Li."

"I asked a friend in the Ministry of Rites to look into the matter of selecting concubines. He said that since entering the palace for a secret discussion, Zhuang Chun has been increasingly hasty in handling the selection of concubines. In the past two days, he has visited many of the concubines' homes to learn about the situation."

"It's just that everything was normal yesterday. But today, Zhuang Chun neither asked for leave nor reported to the Morality Department. The head of the Morality Department was worried and rushed to Zhuang Chun's house at noon today, only to find that Zhuang Chun was dead."

"His body is still intact, but his soul has been destroyed and he has died."

"When the news reached the palace, the Emperor Li became furious and asked the Wu'an Division to thoroughly investigate Zhuang Chun's death."

“However, the magic formation in Zhuang Chun’s courtyard is intact and has not been damaged. Moreover, there has been no unusual movement since last night. I really don’t know how Zhuang Chun lost his soul.”

Su Guang told Nan Yi in detail about the latest changes in the Ministry of Rites.

Without knowing why Emperor Li summoned Zhuang Chun to the palace, Nan Yi couldn't make a conclusion.

He frowned and thought for a moment, then asked, "Will the matter of selecting a concubine be abandoned because of this?"

Su Guang shook his head: "Sima Qianyuan, the Minister of Rites, insisted on continuing the selection of concubines, thinking that if they gave up, the Emperor Li might not agree to the proposal of selecting concubines next time."

"At present, the selection of concubines has been personally taken over by the Director of the Morality Department, and it is still proceeding according to the original plan. The selection must be completed in early August, and before the mid-month ceremony of offering sacrifices to the heavens, the proper person will be officially selected and canonized as a concubine."

"However, due to Zhuang Chun's accidental death, some noble families may have felt that something was not right and withdrew the women from their families who had originally sent out to participate in the selection."

August corresponds to "August Si Mu", that is, Chi Yun is the minister of Wei Dingyue.

As the descendants of Si Mu Yue Zai's mortal bloodline, the Dali royal family naturally respects August. Not only have they designated the entire month of August as the National Day month, but they will also try to schedule many activities of great political significance in August.

For example, enthroning concubines.

Every year on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, the Emperor Li would lead important officials of the court to the top of Junshan Mountain - the top of the present-day Junshan Mountain, not the Junshan blessed land halfway up the mountain - to hold a ceremony to offer sacrifices to the heavens, praying to Chi Yun, the secretary and guard Ding Yuezai, for peace and prosperity in the country, good weather, and then summarizing the merits and demerits of this year's administration and looking forward to next year's plans.

For things like enthroning concubines, if they could be done before August 15th, and then the concubines could go along and participate in the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven together, their identities would appear more formal invisibly.

However, if the concubine who was canonized after the ceremony was not certified at the ceremony, it would seem a bit empty.

Therefore, even though Zhuang Chun died unexpectedly, the Minister of Rites Sima Qianyuan still insisted on continuing the selection of concubines.

——The Ministry of Rites is mainly responsible for the selection of beauties and background checks on them. Then they can come up with a ranking of the beauties, clearly marking the strengths and weaknesses of each one. However, the final selection of the beauties as concubines will mainly depend on the Emperor Li's preference at that time.

Before the selection is completed, those who wish to change their minds and withdraw can still do so; but once the selection is completed, even if they are not chosen by Emperor Li, they can only stay in the palace.

(End of this chapter)