The God of Wealth and Zhang Xiaosi Become Sworn Brothers

Zhang Xiaosi is a street-corner peddler selling odds and ends. His heart is as warm as an iron pot on the stove, and whenever his neighbors fall on hard times, he wants to lend a hand. But the loose silver in his own pocket is barely enough to save his family. Then one night, he comes across a strange man squatting in a corner and gnawing on a flatbread. It turns out to be the God of Wealth, banished to the mortal world and stripped of much of his power for "miscalculating a corrupt official's fortune."

Under an oil lamp, the man and the god hatch a plan together. The city's salt merchants are hoarding goods and driving up prices, while officials are pocketing disaster relief funds. This ill-gotten wealth will only bring more suffering if left alone. Why not use the God of Wealth's powers to seize the dirty money? They can send food to the starving and freezing, help an embroiderer trapped by loan sharks buy back her freedom, and help an old craftsman rebuild his shop after it burns down.

But this business of "robbing the rich to help the poor" is no easy task. The salt merchants' hired sorcerers are watching them, and the officials are searching the whole city for the "demon who steals money." Gripping the copper coin the God of Wealth secretly gave him, one that can tell good from evil, Zhang Xiaosi grins and pats the golden-robed god on the shoulder. "Just point me where you want me, and I'll strike. That oath we swore wasn't for nothing!" One lantern, two copper coins, and a partnership between god and mortal: together, they'll turn all the city's ill-gotten wealth into money that warms hearts and saves the suffering.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.