Midsummer night, the bright moon hangs high. Birds passed under the mottled night of thin clouds, leaving a string of echoes of flapping wings over the curfewed capital.
On the Zhang Hua stage, the smooth and identifiable bluestone slab was coated with a layer of silver frost by the moonlight, revealing a few light-colored dark lines. Looking down from the air, the lines are complex and not very clear.
The national teacher, wearing a cloud pattern wide-sleeved costume woven with silver thread, stood in the center of Zhanghuatai and recited with his eyes closed. Behind him stood seven princes, all of whom lowered their heads and did not dare to look around.
"Gods are coming, princes, please." The national teacher did not look back, but gave a light command.
Behind the Zhanghua Terrace is the Zhanghua Hall, where the gods that the dynasty has relied on for generations are enshrined in the hall. Several futons were placed on the ground, and the princes filed in, sitting on the futons in a proper manner, waiting for a miracle.
Legend has it that when the gods came, Zhanghuatai was as bright as day and could be seen from most of the capital. The emperor and all the ministers were looking forward to the moment under Zhang Hua's stage, waiting for the moment when Shen Guang joined him.
A stick of incense passed, the moon was bright and the stars were thin, and the wind was calm.
Half an hour passed, the breeze was blowing, and the night kites sang.
An hour has passed...
Nothing happened.
The emperor couldn't sit still, and climbed up to Zhang Huatai with the hem of his clothes: "National teacher, what's going on?"
The national teacher was silent for a while, and glanced at the silent Zhanghua Hall: "The blood of the royal family is not uniform, and the gods will not come." That is to say, the gods are unwilling to make a choice, and the other princes who have been exiled to the people can only be revealed. Miracle.
Hearing this, the emperor's face turned blue and red, and he murmured for a while: "I asked someone to look for it."
No miracle appeared, and in Zhanghua Hall, the princes looked at each other awkwardly. To put it nicely, it means that the bloodlines are not uniform; to say it badly, it means that the gods do not look down on them.
No one noticed, in the shadow on the beam, stood a chubby red chicken, staring at these princes with drooping eyes.
Southwest fortress, Jiuru Town.
This is a hub connecting all parts of the city. People come and go all the year round and it is very prosperous. However, it is located in a remote place, no one has jurisdiction, and the three religions and nine schools are mixed. On the streets, fortune-telling, drug-selling, and fighting are everywhere.
"Bangdangdang-" A series of crisp sounds, someone fell from the sky and knocked down the fortune-telling stall.
"Brother, be careful." A gangster-like person next to him immediately stepped forward and helped the fallen person up.
"Thank you!" The man saluted, gritted his teeth and rushed out again, fighting with the big man who pushed him.
The gangster and the fortune teller looked at each other, smiled and weighed the money bag that had just arrived, pouted at the person who was fighting, and cursed a fool. The two quickly cleaned up the stall, and the fortune teller took off his jacket, which was wearing the same brown bunt as the gangster.
The two thugs were leaning on the side of the street. One stared at the opposite door of the "Red Clothes Courtyard", and laughed with the brightly dressed girls in front of the door who greeted guests with handkerchiefs; In the crowd, the thief's mung bean eyes suddenly lit up.
"Xiao Qi!" The bastard ran over in three steps and two steps, meeting the child who looked only five or six years old.
The child was extremely good-looking, with pink lips and peach eyes, even in coarse clothes, it was difficult to hide his delicacy. He lives on the outskirts of Jiuru Town. His father doesn't know who he is. He takes his mother's surname Chang and lives with his uncle's family. The uncle named "Chang Qi", which is not auspicious at all.
"Brother Chen." When Chang Qi saw the gangster running over, he took a few steps, jumped up suddenly, patted the gangster on the shoulder, and said hello.
Xiao Chen stretched out his hand to catch him, dragged Chang Qi to the alley, and took out a child's clothes woven from brocade from his arms, "Quickly change, the one surnamed Ma will come out in a while."
"This turtle grandson will get married the day after tomorrow, and he still dares to play. I'll go to the young master... Tsk, the material is good, where did it come from?" The outer coat of the big red and gold is very rich. It's just that the hem is a little long, and you can step on it when you walk.
"Just from Yunjinzhai," Xiao Chen was a little proud, and squatted down to adjust the hem of his clothes, "The family name he got married to is Wang, and Miss Wang's boudoir's name is Wanrong, remember?"
"Got it, Wanrong." Chang Qi winked, raised her chin, and walked out of the alley arrogantly with her hands behind her back.
The two thugs followed behind Chang Qi, and the three swaggered into the Red Dress Courtyard. The girl at the door looked at them and pursed her lips and smiled, Chang Qi stretched out her hand to pull the hem of the girl's clothes, and said hello with her mouth: "Sister Xiaoru."
Xiaoru tapped his head lightly and quietly gave him two candies.
Chang Qi tucked his face into his sleeve without changing his face, raised his foot over the threshold, looked left and right, and looked at a table of whores in the lobby.
There was a man with a fat head and big ears sitting at that table, drinking flower wine hugging from side to side. It was the Ma Gongzi they were looking for. Ma Gongzi has just made an engagement with a big family in the town, and he actually dares to spend his time here.
Chang Qi walked over quickly and slapped the fat back: "Brother-in-law!"
"Who?" Ma Gongzi was startled, he turned left and right, and after searching for a long time, he finally saw the short and stout child, "Who are you?"
"I'm Wang Wanrong's younger brother. You went to my house two days ago, and I saw you!" Chang Qi laughed and learned ten percent from a young master who didn't know how to behave.
Ma Gongzi looked at the child who was carved in pink and jade, and then looked at the two followers behind the child, and his heart skipped a beat. He knew that Wanrong had a younger brother, but he had never seen it before. It was normal for a child to be naughty and see him wherever he went. We are relatives and we have to see each other sooner or later, which is nothing. But the problem is, seeing the future brother-in-law in the brothel Chu Pavilion is really embarrassing.
"That, brother, why did you come in here?" Ma Gongzi was very frightened and looked around, for fear that Master Wang was also nearby.
"I went out to buy something and forgot to take the money, and I happened to see you here," Chang Qi smiled innocently, "Brother-in-law, lend me five taels of silver, I want to buy... um, lend me."
When Ma Gongzi heard this, he rolled his eyes and thought to himself that this little brother-in-law was going to buy something shameful, right? In his heart, he pulled Chang Qi and said in a low voice, "I don't have that much money, so I can only give you three or two, but we can agree that if you see me here today, your parents are not allowed to know. If you missed it, I'll tell them about your random shopping."
Chang Qi frowned and thought for a while: "Deal!"
Master Ma quickly took out the purse, took out the remaining three or two pieces of silver, and stuffed it into Chang Qi. Chang Qi smiled and said, "Thank you brother-in-law, I'll pay you back another day."
"Go." Ma Gongzi raised his eyebrows and gave his brother-in-law a "tacit" look.
Chang Qi turned his back and rolled his eyes, who is "unspoken" to you, fool.
Walking out of the red dress courtyard arrogantly, Chang Qi and the two gangsters looked at each other. Xiao Chen picked up Chang Qi, ran away, and quickly hid in the alley.
"Hahaha, this stupid pig!" The three of them laughed, Chang Qi took off his Chinese clothes and threw it to Xiao Chen, and took out the broken silver to divide it equally.
"Did you take the clothes as a pawn?" Chang Qi took out the candy given by Sister Xiaoru and threw one into her mouth.
"What to do, when you take it as a pawn, it will be seen by others, and it will be thrown back to Yunjinzhai." Xiao Chen picked up the clothes and shook the ashes.
"Yes, it's called a thief!" Another gangster, Da Chen, echoed.
"Oh." Chang Qi nodded, it turned out that this was called "thieves also have the Tao", and he learned a new word. After saying goodbye to Da Chen and Xiao Chen, Chang Qi stuffed the one or two pieces of silver he just got into his socks, put on his shoes again, and went home with a harmless face.
It was still early, and the streets of Jiuru Town were still lively.
"Little brother, where's your family?" The wrinkled old lady asked him with a smile.
"It's behind you." Chang Qi said seriously.
The old lady was startled, she turned around quickly, there was nothing, and then she turned her head to see that the beautiful child was gone. I stomped my feet in anger, this Jiuru Town is really bad in feng shui, and it is especially difficult to abduct a child.
"Take a walk, take a look, and think about meat. Feeding a pig or a sheep is better than feeding a mouse..." The shouting of the mouse medicine seller could be heard from a distance, and Chang Qi passed by the stall again. Turn back.
"Seller of medicine, do you have any medicine that makes people eat mouth sores?" Chang Qi picked up a pack of rat poison and looked at it.
"Hey, I don't have this harmful thing." The bearded drug seller sneered.
Chang Qi threw down the rat medicine and turned to leave, but the medicine seller whispered, "But there are some that harm animals."
Chang Qi, who had just taken two steps, turned back immediately: "It will harm the beasts."
"Two pennies." The bearded man took out a yellow paper bag the size of a copper coin from his jacket.
Chang Qi took the yellow paper package and gave the bearded two pennies.
"Rat medicine, it's worthless, a pack only costs two cents. Mix it with water, mix it with rice, and the mouse will be finished if it touches its mouth." Bearded looked at Chang Qi and smiled.
Chang Qi lives on the outskirts of the town, where there is a farm with a large chicken farm and farmland, belonging to a Jianghu sect called Jingangmen. His uncle Chang Sheng was also a disciple of King Kong Sect, but because his qualifications were too poor and he had no status, he was thrown into the farm to guard the sect's belongings.
There were guards everywhere in the farm, and ordinary people could not approach.
Chang Qi was lying on the fence, looking at the lively chickens inside, gulping. Every morning, he comes here to pick up eggs and do chores, and the wages are one egg.
"Xiao Qi, have you made any money?" The guards of the chicken farm are killing chickens. They kill a few chickens every day and send them to the tavern in the town.
"Father Qiu, I want to buy half a chicken, okay?" Chang Qi took out some money from his socks.
"Okay, why not?" Father Qiu reached out and touched Chang Qi's head, "I heard that your mother is ill?"
"Well, go back and give her some chicken soup to replenish her body." Chang Qi said obediently, her bright big eyes were misty, which made people feel distressed.
Father Qiu gave him half a chicken, as well as chicken intestines and gizzards. Chang Qi thanked him and went home with half a chicken. As soon as he arrived at the gate of the small courtyard, he was stopped by a chubby child.
"Chang Qi, are you stealing something again?" This little fat man is Chang Qi's cousin, and his name is Chang Jiabao. He was obviously a cousin, but he was half a head taller than Chang Qi, and he looked seven or eight years old.
"Yo, today our little Qi has made a fortune!" The aunt, who was also a bit fat, came out, twisting her waist, and stood with her cousin, "Come on, give it to aunt."
"My mother is sick, so I have to make soup for her." Chang Qi hid the chicken behind her and stared at her aunt vigilantly. Aunt has a black scorpion on the corner of her mouth, which is not very good-looking on weekdays, but it looks especially disgusting today.
"How dare you hide the stolen chicken! Take it out, or tell my father to go!" Chang Jiabao stood beside his mother, full of confidence.
Neighbors came out one after another to watch the fun. The Chang family was going to be noisy every three days, and there were always dramas to watch.
Chang Qi pursed his lips, stretched out his hand and grabbed the chicken intestines, holding a sticky lump in his hand, and said seriously, "This is not stolen, it was given to me by Father Qiu. If you don't believe me, try it." Saying that, he put the raw chicken intestines in his hand into his cousin's mouth.
The author has something to say:
small theater:
Birdie: The old rule, the first to play is to attack
Qiqi: There are so many people in front of me, how do I know who they are
Bird Attack: Chirp!