A Gambling Dog Deserves a Bad Death!

"Wuwu... Amei, Mother is sorry..." "Amei, it's your father who's useless..." "Amei, I..." Qin Erniu and his wife, and the newly awakened A-Long, each wore a different expression and spoke in a different tone. Watching them, Liu Xiu felt the ghost-catching gourd in his hand was about to split. He meant nothing else by it. He had simply, all at once, gotten the feeling that this Zhang San would turn into a lawless fiend and slaughter the Qin family of four until only Qin Amei was left. "Forget it. I am an orthodox cultivator, after all..." Expressionless, Liu Xiu looked at the bright, sunny weather outside, drew a deep breath, and turned to the weeping Qin Amei. Face as white as paper, spirit drained clean away—Qin Amei, who did not want to marry, and yet had no way out. "Where is everybody? Get out here! Are the lot of you dead or what—cough, cough, cough. Ah... Daoist Liu is here too!" The vicious man who had reached the kitchen doorway, the instant he saw Liu Xiu, smoothed the viciousness off his face and spoke all mild and pleasant. The few followers behind him, ruffian-faced a moment before, turned amiable as well, though their eyes held some scorn and some respect. At the same time they wondered why Liu Xiu was here. Thinking it over, they swallowed, traded glances, and somehow felt this Qin household didn't look very clean. Nothing for it. A man's name goes before him like a tree's shadow. Who didn't know by now that Liu Xiu had taken as his master that Daoist Shi, elusive as a divine dragon showing its head but never its tail? For a moment, even the business of fetching Qin Amei went unmentioned. Liu Xiu paid their looks no mind. To the ghost-catching gourd in his hand, from which a faint retching came now and then, he said to Qin Erniu, "The ghost—I've caught it..." He said no more, only rubbed his fingers together. Qin Erniu immediately turned to his wife. "Quick, quick, quick! Why aren't you getting Daoist Liu his money!" ??? ×6 No way—this Qin household really was unclean! The men who had come to fetch the bride—Huo Laosi and his party—exchanged a look, swallowed, and backed off again, straight into the sunlight, as if only the sun could give them a little warmth. In little more than ten seconds, Liu Xiu took the two silver dollars Qin Erniu handed over, hefted them, confirmed the weight was right, raised a brow, and put them away. Then he looked at the gambling den's enforcers, Huo Laizi and the others. "Your Third Master is past sixty and still taking a wife?" "This... hehe, Third Master and Amei are a perfect match... This is... a romance in one's twilight years. Yes—twilight years..." Huo Laosi's eyes darted, an awkward smile on his face. Meeting the scorn in Liu Xiu's chuckling gaze, he took no offense. He only looked at A-Long, whom Qin Erniu and his wife were untying in the kitchen, and asked curiously, "Daoist Liu, this of yours is..." "Catching a ghost. A-Long got tangled up with a gambling ghost!" Liu Xiu did not tell the truth. He only pointed at A-Long, who could not even stand steady and was being helped out by Qin Erniu and his wife. At the sight, Huo Laosi and the others backed away again. Huo Laosi even slapped his thigh, understanding dawning in his eyes as he spoke. "Damn, I knew it. I was wondering how that kid's luck was so good last night. Turns out a ghost was helping him..." "You think a ghost helps people for free? One bit of help, and he nearly lost his life..." Liu Xiu said. Only, he found it strange. A-Long had clearly won big on every side yesterday. Why was he still selling his sister today? Could he owe more than one gambling den! "Hiss—ghosts are that vicious?" Huo Laosi and the others drew a sharp breath, and the thought of later finding a ghost to help them gamble died in their hearts. Liu Xiu glanced at Qin Amei and said to them, "The way I see it, this marriage ought to be put off. Talk about it later... Who knows whether this ghost still has kin..." "This..." A bitter smile crossed Huo Laosi's face. Just as he was about to tell this young man—who had seen an injustice and drawn his blade to set it right—that the decision was not his to make, Liu Xiu had already turned and waved a hand. "I've got things to do. Bye!" ??? No— Why won't you let me finish! And what do you even mean! Huo Laosi's thoughts churned on. Qin Erniu and his wife hurried forward to keep Liu Xiu, begging him not to go and to stay for a meal. Liu Xiu politely declined the courtesies. He showed no anger, or anything of the sort, and simply left, leaving Huo Laosi's group and Qin Erniu's family staring at one another. "This... Boss, what should we do?" A follower asked Huo Laosi under his breath. Huo Laosi's brows locked tight—and just as they locked tight— Whoosh— A faint wind, chill as yin, sprang up out of nowhere. With it came a scream from A-Long as he collapsed, crying out without stop. Huo Laosi and the others shouted that there was a ghost, turned, and ran. "Daoist, save us..." Qin Erniu stared at the things flying wildly about the courtyard, terror on his face, and shouted as he stumbled off to find Liu Xiu. Half an hour later. Leaving the Qin household for the second time, Liu Xiu walked down an empty alley. He said to the ghost-catching gourd in his hand, "Nicely done. Later I'll put in a good word for you with Master!" "...Thank you, Daoist!" From the ghost-catching gourd came Zhang San's voice, utterly aggrieved. That's right—the sudden haunting at the Qin household just now had been its doing. In truth, it had not wanted to. But at one line from Liu Xiu—"You still have family living, don't you?"—it had fallen silent, and done it. Nothing for it. It really did have family still living! "Say, didn't you help him win big all around last night? How come he still has to sell his sister?" Liu Xiu asked, puzzled. "This kid owes more than one gambling den. Last night was another gambling den, and the money he won was only enough to pay that den's debt..." Zhang San told it straight. When Liu Xiu did not answer, it was silent a while, then could not help speaking. "Daoist, I know you're kindhearted, but you can help him once. You can't help him a second time. He can't sell his sister this time, but what about next time? You can't help every time!" "There won't be a next time for him..." Liu Xiu said. He had stepped in to spoil the business mainly because that Third Master of the gambling den hardly seemed like a ren—a person. Not a matter of looks, but that the man's heart did not seem like a human heart. Thinking of the inhuman things that Third Master had done, he looked curiously at the ghost-catching gourd in his hand and asked, "Why do I feel as if you know A-Long awfully well?" "It's not that I know him..." "Hm? Got it. You're a rotten gambling ghost yourself!" Liu Xiu said, understanding. Then he looked at the ghost-catching gourd, which had fallen silent and made no further sound, and shook his head. "Where's your home? Don't misunderstand. I just made an extra two silver dollars this time, and I've nowhere to spend them. I want to spend them." "I... I don't have a home anymore..." "Tch!" In his heart Liu Xiu said that a gambling dog deserves a bad death, and then he said nothing more. He only headed for the Yizhuang to wait for someone from the gambling den. No sooner had he arrived and sent Zhang San into the Ghost-Sealing Vault than the gambling den's Third Master sent Huo Laosi and the others to invite him to a Western restaurant for foreign tea. "This Third Master of yours is surnamed Ren?" Having left the Yizhuang and boarded the carriage, Liu Xiu asked curiously of Huo Laosi, who had gotten in with him. Huo Laosi, just seated, shook his head with a strange look. "No. Our Third Master is surnamed Zhou, not Ren!" "Oh, oh..." "Right—that Qin household..." Huo Laosi began to ask, or rather to sound him out. He wanted to know whether the Qin household haunting again was Liu Xiu making trouble in secret, or a real haunting. "Do too many wicked deeds and the son you father will be born without an asshole..." Seated, Liu Xiu gave Huo Laosi a sidelong look and said it coolly. An awkward smile rose on Huo Laosi's face, though anger stirred underneath. The anger had only half risen when he heard Liu Xiu, who did not turn his head and spoke while looking out past the carriage curtain. "Take a man who's been tilling a field for four years and three months, and not a single seed has sprouted, and he still blames the field..." "Four years and three months? Huh, Boss, I remember you've been married exactly four years and three months, haven't you?" said Huo Laowu, who was driving. With a thud, Huo Laosi dropped to his knees on the carriage floor, clutched Liu Xiu's thigh, and said, "Great Master, save me! My Huo family has always passed on through a single son..." ??? No way—I'm really not his own flesh and blood? At those words, Huo Laowu, driving the carriage, stared wide-eyed...