I Reaped the Benifits Chapter 1

On a midsummer night, the moon was high in the sky. Birds flew through the night sky mottled with thin clouds, leaving behind a series of echoes of flapping wings over the capital city under curfew.

On the Zhanghua Terrace, the smooth bluestone slabs were coated with a layer of silver frost by the moonlight, revealing a few light-colored dark lines. Looking down from mid-air, the lines were complicated and not very clear.

The Imperial Master, wearing a silver-threaded, cloud-patterned robe with wide sleeves, stood in the center of the Zhanghua Terrace, reciting with his eyes closed. Behind him stood the seven princes, all with their heads down, not daring to look around.

"The gods are coming, princes, please come in." The imperial teacher did not turn around, but just gave a faint order.

Behind the Zhanghua Terrace is the Zhanghua Hall, where the gods that the dynasty has relied on for generations are enshrined. There are several cushions on the ground, and the princes enter one after another, sitting on the cushions in an orderly manner, waiting for the miracle.

Legend has it that when the gods descend, Zhanghua Terrace will be as bright as day, and can be seen from most of the capital. The emperor and his ministers waited eagerly under Zhanghua Terrace, waiting for the moment when the gods would descend upon them.

After a stick of incense burned off, the moon was bright, the stars were sparse, and the sea was calm.

Half an hour passed, the breeze blew on my face, and the night kites cried.

An hour passed...

Nothing happened.

The emperor could no longer sit still, and climbed up to Zhanghuatai, holding up his clothes, and asked, "Master, what's going on?"

The Imperial Master was silent for a while, and glanced at the silent Zhanghua Palace: "The royal bloodline is incomplete, and the gods will not come." That is to say, the gods are unwilling to make a choice, and can only show miracles by finding the other princes who are stranded among the people.

Hearing this, the emperor's face turned green and red, and he grumbled for a long time: "I'll ask someone to look for it."

No miracles appeared, and the princes looked at each other awkwardly in Zhanghua Palace. To put it nicely, it was because of their different bloodlines; to put it bluntly, it was because the gods looked down on them.

No one noticed that in the shadow on the beam, there stood a chubby red-feathered chicken, with its eyes drooping, looking at the princes with boredom.

Southwestern fortress, Jiuru Town.

This place is a hub connecting all places, with people coming and going all year round, and it is very prosperous. However, it is located in a remote area, without any jurisdiction, and all kinds of people are mixed together. On the street, fortune tellers, medicine sellers, and fights are everywhere.

"Bang, dang---" With a series of crisp noises, someone fell from the sky and knocked down the fortune-telling stall.

"Brother, be careful." A gangster-like man nearby immediately stepped forward and helped the person who fell up.

"Thank you!" The man bowed, gritted his teeth and rushed out again, fighting fiercely with the big man who pushed him.

The gangster and the fortune teller looked at each other, smiled and weighed the money bag he had just stolen, curled his lips at the man who was fighting, and secretly called him a fool. The two quickly packed up their stalls, and the fortune teller took off his coat, wearing the same brown shorts as the gangster.

Two hooligans were leaning on the street. One was staring at the gate of the "Hongshangyuan" opposite, and laughing and making eye contact with the girls in bright clothes waving handkerchiefs to welcome guests in front of the gate; the other kept looking at the other end of the street, and when he saw a small figure appear in the crowd, his sneaky green eyes suddenly lit up.

"Xiao Qi!" The gangster ran over in two steps and met the child who looked only five or six years old.

The child was very good-looking, with pink lips, a beautiful nose, peach blossom eyes, and even though he was wearing coarse clothes, he still looked exquisite. He lived in the suburbs of Jiuru Town. His father was unknown, and he took his mother's surname Chang and lived with his uncle's family. His uncle gave him the name "Chang Qi", which was not auspicious at all.

"Brother Chen." Seeing the gangster running over, Chang Qi took a few quick steps, suddenly jumped up, and patted the gangster's shoulder as a greeting.

Xiao Chen reached out to catch him, dragged Chang Qi into the alley, and took out a piece of brocade children's clothing from his arms, "Hurry up and change into it, the man surnamed Ma will be out soon."

"This ba5tard, he's getting married the day after tomorrow, and he still dares to play around. Wait for me to go... Tsk, the material is good, where did it come from?" Chang Qi quickly put on the gorgeous clothes, with a snow satin plum blossom pattern lining and a bright red outer coat with gold sprinkled on it, which looked very rich. But the hem was a little long, so he would step on it when walking.

"Just got it from Yunjinzhai," Xiao Chen was a little proud, squatting down to straighten his clothes, "The family he's engaged to is surnamed Wang, and Miss Wang's maiden name is Wanrong, remember that."

"Got it, Wanrong." Chang Qi winked, raised his chin, put his hands behind his back and walked out of the alley with a proud look on his face.

The two hooligans followed Chang Qi, and the three of them walked into Hongshang Courtyard in a swagger. The girl at the door looked at them and smiled. Chang Qi reached out and pulled the girl's skirt, and greeted her with his mouth: "Sister Xiaoru."

Xiaoru tapped his head gently and quietly gave him two candies.

Chang Qi put the money into his sleeves without changing his expression, stepped over the threshold, looked around, and looked at the table of clients in the lobby.

There was a fat man sitting at the table, drinking and hugging people. He was the young master Ma they were looking for. Young master Ma had just been engaged to a wealthy family in the town, but he dared to spend his time here.

Chang Qi walked over quickly and slapped the fat back: "Brother-in-law!"

"Who?" Young Master Ma was startled. He twisted around and looked for a long time before he finally saw the short and stocky child. "Who are you?"

"I am Wang Wanrong's younger brother. I saw you when you came to my house two days ago!" Chang Qi laughed and learned all the etiquette from the ignorant young master.

Mr. Ma looked at the delicate child, then at the two followers following behind him, and his heart skipped a beat. He knew Wanrong had a younger brother, but he had never seen him. It was normal for a naughty child to see him somewhere. They were all relatives, and they would meet sooner or later, so it was nothing. But the problem was that it was really embarrassing to meet his future brother-in-law in a brothel.

"Hey, brother, how did you get in here?" Young Master Ma was very scared and looked around, fearing that Master Wang was also nearby.

"I came out to buy something and forgot to bring money. I happened to see you here," Chang Qi smiled innocently, "Brother-in-law, lend me five taels of silver. I want to buy...well, lend it to me."

When Master Ma heard this, he rolled his eyes, thinking that his brother-in-law was going to buy something shameful. He was relieved and pulled Chang Qi to whisper, "I don't have that much money, so I can only give you three taels, but we have to agree that you must not let your parents know that you saw me here today. If they tell them, I will tell them about your reckless purchases."

Chang Qi frowned and thought for a while: "Deal!"

Mr. Ma took out his purse quickly, took out the remaining three taels of silver, and stuffed it into Chang Qi's pocket. Chang Qi smiled and said, "Thank you, brother-in-law. I'll return it to you some other day."

"Go ahead." Master Ma raised his eyebrows and exchanged a "knowing" look with his brother-in-law.

Chang Qi turned his back and rolled his eyes. Who told you that it was a tacit understanding, you idiot?

Chang Qi walked out of Hongshang Courtyard with a haughty look, and exchanged glances with the two hooligans. Xiao Chen picked up Chang Qi, ran away, and quickly hid in the alley.

"Hahahaha, this idiot!" The three of them laughed. Chang Qi took off his gorgeous clothes and threw them to Xiao Chen, then took out some change to split the money.

.

"Have you pawned your clothes?" Chang Qi took out the candy given by Sister Xiaoru and put one into his mouth.

"Why pawn it? If I pawn it, people will find out and throw it back to Yunjinzhai." Xiao Chen picked up the clothes and shook off the dust.

"Yes, this is called the code of conduct for thieves!" another gangster, Da Chen, echoed.

"Oh." Chang Qi nodded. So this is called "The Thief Has His Own Code". He learned a new word. After bidding farewell to Da Chen and Xiao Chen, Chang Qi stuffed the one or two ounces of silver he had just received into his socks, put on his shoes again, and went home with a harmless look on his face.

It was still early, and the streets of Jiuru Town were still bustling.

"Little brother, where are your family members?" the old lady with wrinkles on her face asked him with a smile.

"It's behind you." Chang Qi said seriously.

The old lady was startled and turned around quickly, but there was nothing. When she turned around again, the beautiful child was gone. She stamped her feet in anger, thinking that Jiuru Town had a bad feng shui, and it was very difficult to kidnap a child.

"Walk around, have a look, and think about it. Feeding a pig or a sheep is better than feeding a rat..." The shouts of the rat poison seller could be heard from afar. Chang Qi walked past the stall and turned back.

"Medicine seller, do you have any medicine that can cause mouth ulcers in people?" Chang Qi picked up a packet of rat poison and took a look at it.

"Hey, I don't have this harmful thing." The bearded man selling medicine sneered.

Chang Qi threw down the rat poison and turned to leave, but he heard the medicine seller whisper: "But there are some that are harmful to animals."

Chang Qi, who had just taken two steps, immediately turned back and said, "I'm going to kill the beast."

"Two cents." The bearded man took out a yellow paper bag the size of a copper coin from his bag.

Chang Qi took the yellow paper bag and gave the bearded man two cents.

"Rat poison is not expensive, only two cents for a packet. Mix it with water or rice. If a rat touches its mouth, it will be dead." The bearded man looked at Chang Qi and smiled in confusion.

Chang Qi lived in the outskirts of town, where there was a farm with a large chicken farm and farmland, belonging to a martial arts sect called the Vajra Sect. His uncle Chang Sheng was also a disciple of the Vajra Sect, but because of his poor qualifications and low status, he was thrown into this farm to guard the sect's property.

There are guards everywhere in the farm and ordinary people cannot get close.

Chang Qi lay on the fence, watching the chickens jumping around inside, and swallowed his saliva. Every morning, he came here to pick up eggs and do odd jobs, and his wages were one egg.

"Xiao Qi, you've made some money." The keeper of the chicken farm was killing chickens. They would kill a few chickens every day and send them to the tavern in town.

"Dad Qiu, I want to buy half a chicken, is that okay?" Chang Qi took out some money from his socks.

"Okay, of course," Old Man Qiu reached out and touched Chang Qi's head, "I heard your mother is sick."

"Well, let's go back and give her some chicken soup to nourish her body." Chang Qi said obediently, his bright big eyes were misty, which made people feel distressed.

Old Man Qiu gave him half a chicken, and also gave him the chicken intestines and gizzards. Chang Qi thanked him and went home with the half chicken. As soon as he arrived at the gate of the courtyard, he was stopped by a chubby child.

"Chang Qi, you stole something again." This little fat boy is Chang Qi's cousin, named Chang Jiabao. Although he is Chang Qi's cousin, he is half a head taller than Chang Qi and looks about seven or eight years old.

"Oh, our little Qi got rich today!" The aunt, who was also a little fat, walked out with her waist twisted and stood with the cousin, "Here, give it to your aunt."

"My mother is sick, I need to make her some soup." Chang Qi hid the chicken behind him and stared at his aunt warily. There was a black mole at the corner of his aunt's mouth, which was not very good-looking on normal days, but it looked particularly hateful today.

"You dare to hide the stolen chicken! Take it out, or I'll tell my dad!" Chang Jiabao stood beside his mother, full of confidence.

Neighbors came out to watch the fun. There would be a quarrel in the Chang family every few days, and there was always an endless show to watch.

Chang Qi pursed his lips, reached out to grab the chicken intestines, held the sticky lump in his hand, and said seriously: "I didn't steal it. Father Qiu cleaned it up and gave it to me. If you don't believe me, try it." As he said that, he stuffed the raw chicken intestines in his hand into his cousin's mouth.