At this moment, everyone in the room watched in disbelief as Erhuzi collapsed to the ground as if his bones had been pulled out, his limbs convulsing uncontrollably.
At first, they were all dumbfounded, as if they had seen a ghost, then an uproar erupted, a chaotic cacophony of gasps and curses.
"Damn it! What...what happened?"
"How did Erhuzi get down in the blink of an eye?"
"Strange! Really fucking strange! Is Qingchen a martial arts expert?"
However, the pockmarked man at the head of the group reacted differently from the others; instead of being angry, he was delighted, his fleshy face twitching with his wide grin.
He put his hands on his hips, threw his head back, and burst into laughter: "Good! Good lad! I never knew you had this kind of skill! Ruthless and efficient!"
He strode up to Qingchen and scrutinized him carefully:
"Looks like you really did what happened last night, taking on three people at once. Looking at your ruthlessness, you're born to be a bandit. I like you!"
He then glanced sideways at Qingjie, who was hiding behind the crowd, and curled his lip:
"Damn it! Your brother is as skinny as a bamboo pole, barely grown any hair, what good is he!"
Qingchen beckoned Qingjie over and calmly said, "Big brother has a good eye. My brother is young, and he's really not good at fighting.
But he doesn't want wages. He can just follow me around, do errands, be my servant, that should be fine, right?"
He had his own plans.
The brothel's clientele was diverse, and gossip was plentiful. He desperately needed someone to gather information.
A servant was undoubtedly more suitable for gathering intelligence discreetly than a thug.
Upon hearing this, the pockmarked man's eyes darted around, and he quickly calculated in his mind.
A free servant, plus a favor to this guy—it was a win-win situation.
He immediately waved his hand and decided, "Alright! For your sake, let him be a servant, with two meals provided. As for you..."
He looked Qingchen up and down, increasingly satisfied. "Exceptional skills, a real talent. Your monthly wage will be increased to four hundred copper coins!"
These words immediately sparked a murmur among the surroundings.
You see, in Jing Kingdom, silver was expensive and copper was cheap. One tael of silver could be exchanged for at least a thousand copper coins;
And one copper coin could buy one or two large meat buns at the market, enough to feed a person.
This reward was already excellent, especially in this year of great disaster; it was enough to sustain a family of five.
Qingchen immediately feigned great joy, patting his chest and loudly proclaiming,
"Brother, you appreciate my talents! I, Qingchen, will serve you faithfully and diligently!"
"Good! Good!"
The pockmarked man nodded in satisfaction.
This was exactly the effect he wanted; after all, he wasn't the one paying.
"All of you, stop crowding around! Go do what you were doing!"
At his shout, the crowd scattered like birds, each busy with their own tasks.
...
Time flies, and two months passed quickly.
In the western part of Tianjin, in the Qing family's three-courtyard residence.
"Brother Chen, look at this... what should we do?"
The speaker was a woman nearing thirty. Though dressed simply, her voluptuous figure was still undeniable.
While her face bore the marks of time, her features remained delicate, retaining a captivating charm.
Over the past three months, her fear of her nominal son had grown daily.
At this moment, Qingchen wore the coarse linen clothing characteristic of the Red Sleeve Gang's 'high-level thugs,' the collar wide open, revealing his muscular chest.
A black leather belt tightly bound his waist, a short knife gleaming coldly at its hilt.
"Don't go out weaving anymore. Those ruffians from the Twin Eagles Society dare not bother me anymore!" Qingchen's voice was steady.
Now, he was not only formidable in martial arts, but also thriving within the Red Sleeve Gang.
Speaking of the Twin Eagles Society, a chill ran through Qingchen.
In his memory, his adoptive father had hired these thugs as thugs before the incident, but now they'd become the source of his troubles.
A while ago, these men even came to the Qing family claiming several people had died, demanding compensation and trying to make a hefty profit.
"Life and death are predestined, wealth and honor are determined by fate. It was agreed upon when we hired them; a contract was signed in black and white. They can't do anything about it."
Qing Chen snorted coldly, glancing impatiently at his stepmother beside him.
His stepmother lowered her head weakly, unsure what to do with her hands, and dared not say anything more.
Qing Chen shook his head. If it weren't for the fact that he was weak at the beginning of his transmigration, and this woman had taken good care of him for some time,
he wouldn't have bothered with her at all.
Just as the atmosphere in the room became slightly tense, an urgent voice suddenly came from the corner of the courtyard: "Big brother, big brother, there's news!"
The person who came was Qing Jie.
He walked hurriedly, his expression filled with excitement, his face flushed.
Qing Chen frowned, his face instantly darkening as he watched Qing Jie barge in.
He abruptly stood up, grabbing Qing Jie's arm before he could regain his footing, and strode towards a side room.
Qing Jie stumbled along, but dared not resist in the slightest, only muttering pleas for mercy:
"Brother, be gentle, be gentle..."
Qingjie's behavior during this time was passable.
Qingchen had also taught him some basic martial arts, enough to give him some self-defense skills.
And using his identity as a brothel servant, he spent his days moving between the brothel's kitchen, as a handyman, as a guard, and even among the courtyards of the various girls;
He mingled with the other servants in the building and the beggars on the street, thus broadening his sources of information considerably.
"Bang!"
The wooden door to the side room was slammed shut by Qingchen.
The cramped space instantly darkened.
"Speak, or you'll regret it!" Qingchen stood still, arms crossed.
"B-Big Brother, as you instructed, we actually found something!" Qingjie swallowed, calming himself, and continued:
"Those thugs from the Double Eagle Society broke the limbs of the beggars to make it easier to collect money. There was one beggar in particular that I think is perfect for you, Big Brother."
Qingchen's eyes flickered slightly: "Oh?"
Qingjie quickened his pace, "He's a refugee, and he has an older sister outside the city. So those thugs always bully him, trying to force his sister into submission so they can have their fun."
After the flood, fortunately, the city lord was kind-hearted and opened a soup kitchen, even sending troops to guard it. That's how the siblings survived until now; otherwise, they would have died long ago.
Upon hearing this, Qingchen's eyes flashed with calculation.
After a moment's thought, he instructed, "Qingjie, go find Erhuzi. He's also a refugee, living in a dilapidated shack outside the city.
Tell him to rob that little beggar of all the copper coins he's received today, and then give him a good beating, but don't cripple him.
After it's done, have Erhuzi wait for me under the big locust tree outside the city. There's a reward of thirty copper coins for hi