From street beggar to high-ranking official

After paying his respects, Lu Li returned to the Imperial Palace and sat in meditation in his room, flipping through books.

The "Inner Landscape Technique of the Netherworld" cultivates true qi, and the "Five Senses and Five Methods" opens the seven orifices. As Lu Li cultivated according to the technique, he suddenly felt faint snores not far away.

"Our cultivation is so fast?" Lu Li was surprised and looked for the source of the sound, only to find that it was coming from a pile of water vats outside the house.

Hearing the sound, they approached and moved aside the half-closed water vat, only to find a young eunuch sleeping there.

"Huh? Who's disturbing our peace and quiet?" The little eunuch opened his eyes groggily, and when he saw it was Eunuch Lu, he hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed: "Eunuch Lu, please forgive me! Eunuch Lu, please forgive me! I'm just too tired, please let me off the hook."

This young eunuch actually looked older than Lu Li, appearing to be in his twenties. However, even within the clan, there were instances of strong men in their thirties calling young children "brother" or "uncle," let alone the stricter rules of hierarchy in the palace.

"What's your name? Which foreman are you?" Lu Li's lips curled up as he watched the other person hurriedly kowtow.

The little eunuchs don't seem to feel anything when they kowtow. In my opinion, it's when it's Eunuch Lu, the Palace Attendant, kowtowing to me that I truly find it interesting.

"My name is Xiaoyuzi. I'm the head eunuch Luo, and I work in the Eastern Palace area."

Eunuch Luo, or Little Luo, was one of Eunuch Zhao's adopted sons. He was in charge of the Fengxian Hall and Ciqing Palace area, which was the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace.

As Lu Li was pondering, he caught a glimpse of Xiao Yuzi straightening up and presenting fifteen taels of silver with both hands.

"I rarely get to speak with Eunuch Lu, but I am fortunate to be alone with you today. This silver is my way of showing my respect to you, and I wish you a successful promotion and great wealth."

Xiaoyuzi's tone was sincere, as if she were not being fake.

Lu Li looked at Xiao Yuzi with a serious expression. These palace eunuchs were truly talented; they spoke eloquently and with great eloquence.

I've only been here for two days, how could it be considered a rare occasion? Besides, I was the one who discovered Xiaoyuzi secretly sleeping, and after saying a few words, it became an honor for me to be in the same place.

"Promotion and wealth, Xiaoyu is right." Lu Li was quite pleased to see the silver: "Of course one should get rich after being promoted."

Holding the silver in his hand, the heavy feeling was comforting, and even his gaze towards Xiaoyu softened considerably: "Xiaoyu is very respectful, and we would never wrong you for no reason."

The implication was that if she didn't receive the money, Xiaoyu would go to the Incense Purification Office that very day.

"Eunuch Lu has a discerning eye," Xiao Yuzi flattered.

"However, there is something I am curious about in our family." Lu Li changed the subject.

Xiao Yu's heart immediately jumped to her throat.

"Since it's already called Ciqing Palace, why is it still called East Palace?" Lu Li asked in a calm and steady tone.

Xiao Yuzi looked puzzled and secretly glanced at Lu Li. Seeing that his expression was hard to fathom, she assumed he was testing her: "The emperor sits facing south, and his left is the place of honor. Therefore, the crown prince usually resides in the Eastern Palace."

Lu Li nodded in satisfaction.

After sending Xiaoyuzi away, he put away the silver and returned to his room to continue his cultivation until the time of Shenshi (3-5 PM) when the palace supervisors would hand over their duties.

The next day at the hour of Yin (3-5 AM).

Lu Li led his team to the Eastern Six Palaces, the palaces where the emperor and his concubines lived. Consort De lived here. To the south was the Fengxian Hall, the imperial family temple where the imperial family worshipped their ancestors. Further south was the Eastern Palace.

Looking at the neatly arranged eunuchs in front of him, Lu Li couldn't help but feel a little pleased. He then imitated his godfather, Eunuch Chen, in his manner and tone, issuing orders.

"The Qixi Festival is just one day away. We don't want to find any filth or dirt at this crucial moment. If we find out, you'll get thirty lashes first, and then you'll have to go to the sanitation department to wash your chamber pot."

At this point, Lu Li recalled the past with a slightly nostalgic expression: "My classmate Xiao Chi is still suffering in the Jingxiang Division. It's been so long since I've seen him."

The eunuchs under his command secretly cursed Lu for being hypocritical. If he really missed his classmate, he could have transferred him out of the Jingxiang Division with a single word. But no matter how much they cursed him in their hearts, their expressions remained respectful as ever, and they even sent him red envelopes to congratulate him on his new post.

A new broom sweeps clean, and with a royal holiday approaching, no one wanted to offend Eunuch Lu.

"Congratulations on your promotion, Lord Lu! May you prosper!" Among them, Xiao Fuzi, who had been Lu Li's classmate, also gave money.

Lu Li, holding the few coins in the red envelope, immediately smiled broadly: "It's my classmate Xiao Fuzi! Come chat with me sometime in the future and continue to discuss the cultivation techniques."

The sly-looking Xiao Fuzi immediately bowed and flattered Lu Li, his words laced with a few newly learned compliments.

The scene of classmates meeting again and again filled the other eunuchs with envy, and no one cared that Lu Li and Xiao Fuzi actually saw each other every day; they also secretly cursed that although they had agreed to give Lu Gonggong ten taels of silver as a tribute, Xiao Fuzi had stuffed at least twenty taels into the cloth bag.

In reality, none of the red envelopes that Lu Li received contained ten taels of silver.

"There's no time to lose, get to work." Lu Li waved the crowd away, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction as he watched them obey orders. Perhaps this was what it felt like to be a superior person?

The eunuchs took their tools and left. Lu Li roughly counted the money by touch and was satisfied. On his second day on duty, he had already earned back all the money he had sent out before, and even multiplied it several times.

"Indeed, one can only get rich by getting promoted; the ancients were right."

Lu Li found a quiet spot and counted the silver on his person, clicking his tongue in amazement: "These guys are really shrewd. They not only put silver in red envelopes, but also slip in silver notes."

He led a group of over fifty people, and after counting them, he had made a profit of nearly nine hundred taels of silver.

He secretly guessed that these people must have discussed it privately, and that they would give about ten taels of silver in cash, but someone was playing dirty tricks and secretly put in foldable silver notes.

Lu Li accepted the gifts without feeling guilty. He couldn't quite remember who gave more or less, but he had already figured out more than a dozen ways to make things difficult for or frame those who gave less.

After taking inventory, he began to wander around, checking on any eunuchs he encountered, inquiring about cleaning matters and techniques, and even setting an example by wiping the ground with his sleeves.

If there was even the slightest dirt on his sleeve, Lu Li would unleash a torrent of abuse, even if he cleaned it himself, it would probably be worse than this.

After years of begging, what Lu Li learned best was not kowtowing and chanting for good fortune, but rather the kind of tantrums and shouts of abuse from idle men on the street and old women in the fields.

"If we swept your mother's face with a broom, we could probably sweep up two ounces of dust. Your father, when he was your mother, must have had no idea how he could bear to look at that face. If we find out again, you'll have to lick your own tongue clean!"

The key is to have a strong voice and a powerful tone, to bring up your grandparents, parents, siblings, and so on, and to finish your insults no matter how the other person talks back, so that you drown out their voice. That is the way to win.

Moreover, since eunuchs are physically disabled after entering the palace, using "shaogen" (a vulgar term for a eunuch) to curse someone is even more insulting.

Lu Li dared not let his voice carry too far in the deep palace, but the eunuch on duty dared not refute him at all. If he dared to say even half a word of dissent, not only would the silver he had sent earlier be wasted, but he would also be directly resented by Eunuch Lu. It was a case of losing both his wife and his army.

However, Lu Li didn't just scold; he would come back a while later, this time quite amiably: "That's more like it. If you clean it properly, there won't be so many problems, right?"

They even spoke softly and personally straightened the other person's collar, suggesting they go to a secluded place to rest for a while.

Following his godfather's example, Lu Li was bewildered by the alternating scolding and praise of the young eunuch. At first, he bowed his head and diligently mopped the floor while being scolded, but now he happily went to rest.

Even though some eunuchs knew that Eunuch Lu was using both a stick and a carrot, they still felt a strange sense of closeness to him after experiencing it.

When Eunuch Lu scolds you, it's because he cares about you.

A beating is a sign of affection, a scolding is a sign of love!

However, Lu Li's unpredictable personality had become well-known among the lower-ranking eunuchs. In private chats, they would inevitably say a few words about it. Lu Li, who was practicing the "Five Senses and Five Methods" Listening Ear Technique, could hear everything clearly, but he didn't care at all.

Even Eunuch Chen wouldn't deliberately target the junior eunuchs in his spare time, so Lu Li, following suit, naturally wouldn't do the same.

He thought to himself, "I wonder how much of my family's 'tit-for-tat' approach to kindness and severity has actually been learned from our godfather."

It was 3:45 AM again, and as usual, Lu Li was on duty in front of his godfather, Eunuch Chen's, office.

Even though he already knew Eunuch Chen's daily routine and that waiting for an extra quarter of an hour at the door would be completely futile, Lu Li did not dare to be negligent in the slightest.

Today, I waited for two quarters of an hour and my godfather still hadn't gotten up. Tomorrow, will I only wait for a quarter of an hour? And the day after that, will I arrive just in time to wait for my godfather when he leaves the house?

This is unfilial!

Eunuchs with such petty schemes won't be happy in the palace for long!