I have the best bloodline

Even if you're just trying to make easy money, this is outrageous. Knowing they're an agency under the Ministry of Rites, how could they possibly approve such a petition and post it at the main city gate?

"What? Something happened there too?"

My aunt took out a communication jade slip and told the Vice Minister of Rites about her situation, asking if she could directly impeach the Minister of Revenue in this case.

But the message returned by the communication jade stunned Auntie and everyone present:

"What does 'also' mean?"

On the other end of the communication channel, the Vice Minister of Rites said with a wry smile, "Rumors are circulating about the Imperial Music Bureau and some individual brothels. We're currently cleaning up the mess for the other brothels."

"However, this is the first time we've heard of a situation like yours, Senior Insect. We will contact the Ministry of Revenue to have the report removed."

"You don't need to worry about that side. The Grand Tutor took the Minister of Rites to question him this morning, and they haven't returned yet. They'll likely be blamed for mismanagement or something else."

The incident at the Ministry of Rites' brothel was not an isolated case, but the way my aunt's incident happened was very unusual.

They simply posted a big-character poster on the city gate.

Aunt & Su Yan: "."

The ladies in the brothels: "."

"Great-grandmother! Open the door! What do you need me for?"

Just as the atmosphere in the brothel was unusually silent, there was a sudden, urgent knocking on the door. The young master, panting heavily, pounded on the door and asked his great-grandmother if there was anything she wanted to do so urgently.

His great-grandmother contacted his father first, and his father relayed the message through a jade slip.

The gist of it is that your great-grandmother seems very angry right now, and if you don't appear in front of her within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, she might break your legs.

"It's nothing, I just want to deduct a year's worth of your monthly allowance because I'm worried you'll use it to go crazy."

The young master outside the door: "???"

Even through the brothel gates, Su Yan could almost see the question mark and black lines on that young master's forehead.

"So, does that mean we're going to have to close down again?" Auntie said, rubbing her forehead.

The responsibility has been clearly defined; the report was not caused by children fighting over a girl, but by problems within the imperial court.

Although the responsibility has been clearly defined, the women outside the gate who were clamoring to taste the fox are still there. In fact, because of the women's gathering, there are more men on the road outside the brothel courtyard who are peeking in.

"Auntie, you never mentioned before that you could receive a salary from the Ministry of Rites, did you?"

When Su Yan heard her aunt talking about business, she breathed a sigh of relief and remembered that when her aunt was explaining the official brothels to her, she mentioned that she could receive thousands of catties of spirit stones from the Ministry of Rites every month.

"It's just a matter of two or three days of breathing exercises," my aunt waved her hand and said, "The salary is fixed, but if a brothel is managed properly, the income can be no less than that of a salary. If you can open a business, why not open one?"

Official brothels had tax exemptions, while private brothels paid taxes that accounted for 40-50% of their revenue, while the Ministry of Rites brothels paid only about 0.5%. Although Chun Yuan's turnover was not very high in the past, its overall earning power was no less than that of those brothels.

"Since there's nothing else, we'll take our leave and head back."

Seeing that the matter was settled, the ladies had no intention of staying in the brothel any longer.

"The New Year is approaching, and we'll be quite busy lately, so we won't be able to gamble for the time being. We'll get together properly after the New Year."

It seems there are some problems with the Ministry of Rites, and things may not be very stable at the Spring Garden recently.

It's not hard to investigate how such power could infiltrate the imperial court and disrupt the power of the six ministries of the Xia Yu Dynasty, at least not hard to guess in the central prefectures. Earlier, there had been assassinations of the Minister of Revenue and the Minister of War, and subsequently, the Demon Suppression Division began a large-scale expansion, even increasing the number of the three town magistrate positions to four.

The newly appointed town magistrate is not responsible for internal or external affairs, but only for the large-scale training of new recruits in the Demon Suppression Division.

Immediately following this, a crisis of ritual and music broke down within the Ministry of Rites.

It has to be said that the Xia Dynasty was truly in chaos. The ladies, sensing that things were not going well, decided to stop wandering around and instead stay at home to observe the Xia court's reaction.

Three of the six ministries of the imperial court have already run into trouble, and the Demon Suppression Division has begun recruiting soldiers.

As Su Yan listened to the ladies' parting words, he truly felt a sense of impending storm.

He had always thought that the blood feud between the imperial court and the Nightmare Town sect was far removed from his own life.

As a result, while eating hot pot and singing songs in the evening, and enjoying his wife's caresses, an accident happened that night.

Even though the Ministry of Rites' entertainment district was practically a retirement home, it still attracted the attention of the Nightmare Suppression Cult.

It is easy to imagine how intense and heated the struggle between the two sides had become.

This time it was just a close call, almost causing Ruchun Garden to go bankrupt.

"Hey, why don't we just cancel that license? Anyway, we're not running a brothel. Besides brothels, we also have a horse racing brothel, a fox spirit temple, and an engineering department. Maybe we can develop some new things in the future."

Before having a late-night snack, Su Yan mentally grumbled about what had happened that night as she walked back to her dorm room, intending to take a shower to relax.

Su Yan went to the bathtub and turned on the water. Thinking about something, he slowly took off his coat, transformed into a fox, and plunged into the bathtub to start swimming.

Su Yan likes to transform into a fox when bathing and sleeping.

In this way, the bathtub, which was not originally very big, became like a swimming pool for Su Yan, as did the bed.

"Sister Xi'er!?"

Su Yan plunged into the tub and swam around. As she was about to swim back, she suddenly noticed a slightly ethereal figure sitting on her dorm bed, looking surprised and asking, "What brings you here?"

Sister Xi'er fell silent for a moment, then said with slight disappointment, "We've been here for a while now. I was originally quite interested in using the recording crystal to record the fox cub undressing and bathing."

"I didn't expect you to be so sassy. You turned back into a fox and went swimming halfway through taking off your clothes."

Su Yan stared at Xi'er with a dumbfounded expression, completely unexpected that Xi'er would do such a thing.

"Isn't this a normal thing? Elders record scenes of babies being bathed, and when they grow up, they reenact these scenes with a mischievous grin."

Although Xi'er's face was covered with a white cloth, Su Yan could sense that she was grinning mischievously.

"By the way, I happened to be passing by the Ministry of Revenue and checked the applications for notices and announcements for you. The applicant's name was Wu Yu."

“One of the four hall masters of the Nightmare Town Cult in the Central Province, it was his subordinate who tried to possess you.”

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 82 Xia Yu's Leisurely Stroll

"Wu Yu, the Hall Master of the Nightmare Suppression Sect?"

The little fox pawed at the edge of the bathtub, its legs submerged in the hot water, kicking and splashing. It looked at Sister Xi with a shocked expression and exclaimed, "Are they really this arrogant? They even register their real names when they frame others, and right here in the Xia Yu Dynasty, their mortal enemy?"

In the Xia Dynasty, the Ministry of War, which was in charge of military power, and the Ministry of Revenue, which was in charge of finance, were attacked and assassinated by the Nightmare Suppression Sect. Later, the Ministry of Rites, which was in charge of rituals, culture, and diplomacy, experienced a breakdown in the system of rites and music.

The person behind the chaos in the Ministry of Rites actually dared to register their real name in the Ministry of Revenue. This unconventional move completely stunned Su Yan.

“There are countless people in the world with the same name. When Wu Yu went to the Ministry of Revenue to fill out the form, he was wearing the fur of another creature, which caused a huge change in the fluctuations of spiritual energy within his body,” Sister Xi’er said.

Wu Yu was extremely confident on this trip, so much so that he made no attempt to hide himself. After causing a disturbance in the Ministry of Rites, he did not flee Xia Yu immediately, but instead went to the Ministry of Revenue to leave his name and also to cause some trouble for Ru Chunyuan, who had wronged his subordinate.

Xi'er had fought with that person before, so she naturally had some understanding of Wu Yu. When she saw the name on the application form, she roughly guessed what had happened.

"Moreover, the Ministry of Revenue is currently in a state of chaos. They are mainly in charge of land and taxes. With the death of the Minister of Revenue and the struggle between the Left and Right Vice Ministers for the position of Minister, and with the year-end closing and settlement of accounts approaching, they simply have no time to attend to other unimportant matters."

Sister Xi sighed softly and told Su Yan about the chaotic situation in the Ministry of Revenue. The Nightmare Town Sect had devised a complete plan against the Xia Yu Dynasty, first eliminating the leaders of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue, and then using the Xia Yu vacancy filling mechanism to trigger a power vacuum struggle within the departments.

Each department has a structure of one head and two deputies. The second deputy is not selected by the emperor or directly appointed by him. Instead, the two deputies need to use their abilities to select the most powerful person in the department, and then the emperor will personally appoint him.

In the world of cultivation, the Wusheng Emperor is not worried about any threat to her rule. If she is unhappy, she can even directly block the territory of the Xia Yu Dynasty. Therefore, if a vice minister wants to secure his position as Minister, he must have absolute authority over his department.

Only after selecting such a person could the Emperor Wusheng personally test and authorize him.

"The reason why the Lord of the Nightmare Town is so arrogant is because he knows everything about the Xia Yu Dynasty. He is familiar with all the rules, both overt and covert. The Xia Yu family is so powerful and capable of exploiting many loopholes that they cannot adjust their enormous power structure because of a single incident."

"This is a matter that will have far-reaching consequences, and many people may starve to death as a result."

Although the Six Ministries of Xia Yu appeared to be just six departments with only a few thousand officials, it was the center of power. Any reforms by the Six Ministries would affect the whole country, and many institutions or folk organizations and groups that were dependent on the Six Ministries would experience short-term chaos due to changes in the upper structure.

Many people will lose their jobs in that time.

"So, you'll be on guard against thieves for a thousand days?"

Su Yan didn't swim in the bathtub. Instead, he jumped out of the tub with the help of his forelegs, shaking his whole body to shake off all the water droplets. Finally, he didn't forget to lift his feet and shake them to get rid of the water on his paws.

"It's not that bad. Apart from the sisters who died in the battle, everyone in the Nine Netherworld has returned, and His Majesty has also sent three commanders, the chief and deputy commanders, of the Demon Suppression Division." Sister Xi'er smiled and said, "From now on, Xia Yu's main city will be quite safe until the New Year celebration."

The Nightmare Town Cult has already reached its limit in terms of its current status.

The fact that the Grand Tutor has stepped down from his position as an assistant and taken the lead in presiding over the affairs of the court means that Emperor Wusheng has delegated power, and the order of the court is now entirely managed by the three tutors of Xia Yu.

The Grand Tutor, Grand Preceptor, and Grand Protector were the true managers of the Six Ministries, and also the emperor's mouthpiece, hands, and feet.

Having broken free from all shackles, Emperor Wusheng can abandon the Xia Yu Dynasty at any time and launch a full-scale purge of the Nightmare Town Cult. Before locking down the emperor, the Nightmare Town Cult will not waste any more of its strength.

Any force that confronts the Emperor of No Life will perish, and splitting the court is meaningless.

The Emperor Wusheng could simply abandon the current court.

As long as Emperor Wusheng is still alive, she can build countless Xia Yu dynasties, only requiring the lives of ordinary people in Xia Yu as the price.

"Other spirits of the Nine-Tailed Fox?" Su Yan looked at Sister Xi'er with curiosity, his tail behind him wagging excitedly because of the news about the Nine Netherworlds.

"Look at my face."

Sister Xi raised her hand, pointed to the white cloth covering her face, and then touched the large red "囍" character, saying:

"I am a spirit embodying the joy of marriage, therefore my personality is that of the most lively and cheerful spirit. Besides me, there are also anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, desire, and life and death. What kind of personalities do you think they would have?"

Although her face was covered by a white cloth, Sister Xi'er's words were full of teasing and banter.

Of the nine ghosts, apart from Xi and Sheng, the other seven ghosts belong to the Great Pit.

It's best to avoid contact with ordinary creatures. If Su Yan insists on searching for ghosts despite all the advice, then Sister Xi can only wish that he finds either 'love' or 'desire'.

This way, at least they can save their lives. As for the other ghosts, their deaths varied in severity.

"I will always love Sister Xi'er!"

Su Yan muttered a complaint under his breath, "No wonder so many people have witnessed the Nine Netherworld, yet no one can describe what kind of existence it is."

I feel lucky that I unexpectedly encountered the kindest ghost in the Nine Netherworlds.

"It's enough that I know how good Sister Xi'er is!"

Xi'er stood up from the bed, went to Su Yan, picked him up from the ground, raised her hand and slapped the spot on Su Yan's body that had been stamped, and said with a smile:

"Looks like Wuxi is quite fond of you, isn't she? She's already given you her stamp of approval. From now on, you can practically walk around with your butt sticking out."

"Oh right! I still have a quarantine stamp on my butt. Sister Xi'er, could you help me remove it? It looks weird on my butt."

Please allow me to refuse.