My daily cultivation progress is calculated.

Chapter 61 Master Qi Xuan!

Shen Yan stared at the pile of official documents on his desk, his brows furrowed, his mind blank.

He began to think about suitable candidates for his life.

After much thought, the only person I was most familiar with was the jailer in the imperial prison.

However, it's impossible to hire a jailer as a bookkeeper; it's likely that the entire share of the profits would be lost to the casino before the end of the month.

Having spent so long in the prison, Shen Yan understood the gambler's mentality all too well.

Once they lose their temper, they won't care about the consequences at all.

Suddenly, he thought of Qi Xiu.

It's been a while since I've had a drink with him, so I thought I'd ask him about it.

In the evening, Shen Yan left the prison.

The document on the table was untouched.

We arrived at Master Qi's house.

I saw him drinking Shaoxing wine from Old Huang's house at the alley entrance, with two peanuts in his hand.

Suddenly, he heard someone climbing over the wall and entering the courtyard. Master Qi was startled, and the peanuts in his hand fell to the ground.

Master Qi looked up and saw that the person who came was Shen Yan, and breathed a sigh of relief.

He said irritably, "You brat, why are you acting like a江湖草莽 (jianghu caomang, a term referring to outlaws or江湖 ...乐剛)?"

Upon seeing the wine and roast chicken in Shen Yan's hand, his eyes lit up instantly.

"Come quick, come quick!"

He pulled out a chair and let Shen Yan sit down.

"You're such a busy person these days, how come you have time to come here?"

Shen Yan rubbed his temples, sighed, and began to tell Master Qi about his recent affairs.

Master Qi was greatly surprised upon hearing this and said:

"What?! You've become an official?"

Shen Yan said, "It's only a ninth-rank official. What I'm here to ask is, do you want to come with me to work in the Heavenly Prison?"

"Tsk tsk, as expected, as people get older, their eyesight deteriorates. Not long ago, I was advising you to leave the prison, saying you would surely be able to get an official position. I never imagined that in just a few days, you would already be wearing official robes."

Master Qi took a sip of wine and continued:

"This peach blossom wine smells wonderful! My old bones won't go to the prison with you. If you need anything, I can introduce you to someone."

"Who is it? Is it reliable? Most importantly, keep your mouth shut."

"He's my nephew from the same clan. He's almost forty this year and still holds an official title; he's a scholar. In a way, he's in the same profession as you."

"Also a jailer, from the Imperial Prison? Or from the Court of Judicial Review?"

Master Qi rolled his eyes: "Those who work as accountants in trading companies are often a bit too straightforward and don't know how to think outside the box."

"Being straightforward isn't a problem, the key is to keep a tight-lipped mouth. Don't worry, Lao Qi, I won't mistreat him."

"I'll bring him to meet you in a few days. What do you think?"

Shen Yan shook his head and said, "Why wait a few days? I'll have him come to the prison to see me tomorrow."

Master Qi hadn't expected Shen Yan to be in such a hurry, so he had no choice but to agree.

Little did he know that Shen Yan would feel dizzy and lightheaded as soon as he entered the cell and saw the documents on the desk.

He couldn't wait to take his nephew to the prison tonight and deal with him overnight.

Having not visited Master Qi for half a month, he was also curious about the current situation of the Duke's mansion.

After several inquiries, it was learned that Shen Moxuan was indeed seriously injured, just as the rumors had said.

He has rarely appeared in public recently, as he has been recovering from his injury.

However, since his return from the war, the Duke's mansion has been much more peaceful.

Even a sick tiger retains its power.

The mere mention of Shen Moxuan was enough to deter the Second Master and the Third Master from making the slightest move.

As he was leaving, Shen Yan suddenly thought of something.

"Old Qi, a lot of martial arts masters have come to Bianjing recently. With your old arms and legs, you shouldn't run around."

"What could possibly happen to me? This area around the Duke's mansion is perfectly safe!"

Master Qi, remembering that Shen Yan was also a martial artist, said a few more words.

"Don't you dare follow their example and fight over that so-called 'Longevity Secret.' They say it's a Taoist classic, but I've studied for years and never even heard of it. In my opinion, it's definitely a scam. How can a person live forever?"

Shen Yan laughed and said, "Don't worry, why would I fight over that thing? Remember, have your nephew come to the prison to see me tomorrow."

He thought to himself, "Even the teacher who usually teaches at the school knows about the 'Longevity Manual.' It seems someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes, but I wonder what their purpose is?"

Shen Yan returned home and chatted with Master Qi until late at night.

Heavy snow was still falling from the sky, and the cold wind was howling.

"It's freezing cold outside, we might as well stay at our old home for the night."

The gate to the neighboring widow Wang's courtyard was tightly shut, and there was not a sound coming from inside.

Shen Yan guessed that they must have already moved away.

Pushing open the gate, the courtyard was already covered with a thick layer of white snow.

The peach tree in the corner had its branches bent under the weight of the heavy snow.

I walked quickly past, the snow already reaching above my ankles.

Shen Yan saw that the door was open and the furnishings inside the room had been disturbed.

"Sure enough, other people came by after us, so we'll just have to make do for the night."

The next morning, Shen Yan woke up.

The snowstorm stopped and the weather cleared up.

The sun felt warm on my skin.

As Shen Yan walked down the street, the city's servants had already begun clearing the snow.

When Shen Yan went to the street, there was not much snow left on the street.

The vendors have already set up their stalls and started doing business.

Upon arriving at the prison, although Shen Yan, the prison warden, held the title of deputy warden.

However, none of the jailers took it seriously, because Zeng Wenyuan had completely stopped paying attention to prison affairs.

In the Heavenly Prison, Shen Yan is Heaven itself.

In addition, he was well-liked, and the prison guards respected him from the bottom of their hearts.

However, Shen Yan did not move to the prison guard's cell; he remained in his original cell in cell number A.

Despite the pile of documents in front of him, he felt no urgency.

He calmly sipped his tea, waiting for Master Qi's nephew to report to the prison.

Soon, Chen Xiaoshuan ran in.

"Lord Shen, there's a scholar looking for you outside the prison."

Shen Yan's eyes lit up: "A scholar!? Let him in quickly."

soon.

A middle-aged man dressed in a plain-colored long gown was ushered in.

His face looked somewhat stern, with a scruffy beard, and his clothes were faded and looked rather shabby.

Shen Yan smiled and said, "You must be Old Qi's nephew, right?"

"Reporting to Lord Shen, my name is Qi Xuan, and Qi Xiu is my uncle."

"Indeed, I heard you worked as an accountant for several years. I wonder if you are skilled in drafting official documents?"

Qi Xuan said calmly, "Although I failed the imperial examinations, drafting official documents is no problem for me."

Qi Xuan's words also revealed a hint of arrogance.

Shen Yan nodded inwardly after hearing this.

Drafting official documents is a skill; it's not something you can just make up a few sentences on the spot. The wording and format of official documents cannot have the slightest error.

This is not a job that can be done simply by being literate.

Qi Xuan's ability to draft official documents demonstrates his skill, and it's understandable that he might be a little arrogant.

Serving in the imperial prison is indeed a bad job, and if Shen Yan were not an official, Qi Xuan probably wouldn't even consider it.

Shen Yan spoke up:

"The clerk isn't a prison official position; I'm a private employee. Let's say the monthly salary is twenty taels of silver!"

He waited a long time but Qi Xuan didn't reply, so he frowned and said:

"What?! Still not enough?"

"Ah! No, no, no! Sir, isn't this giving too much?"

Shen Yan laughed and said, "Too much?! Don't worry, it's not much. Let's get started! It's all yours! Consider this ten taels of silver an advance payment to you so you can buy yourself some new clothes."

He pointed to the mountain of documents piled up on his desk, then left Qi Xuan alone in the cell.