Chapter 133

Chapter 133

"Is there really a little immortal in this place?"

"Absolutely true."

The backyard of the Sui residence was just as dilapidated as when he had left. Tang Liu scanned the area and thought that if there really was a minor deity here, it must be living in quite a cramped and wretched place.

"Be careful, don't bump it." Yin Mei directed two porters carrying a waist-high wooden crate. After surveying the area, she finally had them place the crate in the relatively clean stone pavilion, then settled their payment on the spot and sent them away.

The crate was uniquely crafted. Its four side planks were independent, fastened to the four edges of the top board with toggle clasps. Yin Mei unfastened the clasps one by one, and the planks fell away, revealing a clay statue sitting cross-legged with its head bowed. Its posture and expression were vaguely discernible, but the rough surface made it look more like a half-finished clay figure.

Yin Mei stepped out of the stone pavilion and said to Tang Liu, who was silently examining the statue, "This is the clay statue of that little immortal. If you sincerely make offerings morning and evening, silently praying for what you desire, it might just come true someday."

Tang Liu nodded.

Yin Mei waited a moment, but seeing he remained silent and lost in thought, she took her leave.

Tang Liu nodded. Only after she left did he look at the statue and murmur, "This is ridiculous..."

"Clay statue, oh clay statue." He stood there blankly for a while, then finally clasped his hands together and bowed several times. "If you truly have power, please ensure my wife no longer appears in my dreams."

If you truly have power, please let me and my wife meet outside of dreams.

After saying this, he gazed at the statue a while longer before turning and leaving the backyard.

The rooms in the main courtyard had long been neglected. Opening the door released a cloud of dust. Tang Liu coughed a few times, waved the dust from his face, walked to the inner room to retrieve the old, cracked ceramic bowl he had used for years, then left the residence directly through the back door, locking it behind him.

He begged along the streets all the way back to Bigou Alley. As the sun set in the west, Liu Que was sitting in his usual spot counting coins. Tang Liu walked over and said, "Take me with you tonight."

Liu Que was greatly surprised and looked up at him. "Did you see Doctor Liu? What medicine did he give you that's so effective?" His gaze involuntarily drifted downward.

"Who's talking about that?" Tang Liu said irritably. "I mean going to the gambling den."

Liu Que caught on, then winked mischievously. "It's fine, the gambling den is a good time too."

However, once inside the gambling den, Tang Liu only watched from the sidelines. After finishing a round, Liu Que noticed Tang Liu clutching his pitiful four copper coins, pushed to the outskirts of the crowd, unable to even reach the gambling table. "Aiya!" Liu Que exclaimed, stretching his arm to forcefully drag Tang Liu in. "Come on, place your bet!"

Tang Liu's lips moved a few times. Liu Que said, "What did you say? Speak up!"

"I said," Tang Liu raised his voice, "what are we betting on?"

Someone nearby heard and sneered, "Where did this greenhorn come from? Daring to enter without even knowing what's being bet on?"

"Big or Small," Liu Que said, hooking his arm around Tang Liu's shoulder and pulling him aside. He briefly explained the rules of the game, then urged Tang Liu to place a bet. The dealer behind the table shook the dice cup with a clattering sound, then slammed it onto the table with a final flourish. His other hand hovered over a copper bell as he scanned the crowd and called out, "Bets are closed! Any last bets?"

Liu Que frantically slapped Tang Liu's arm. "Quick, quick, bet now! If you don't, you'll have to wait for the next round."

Tang Liu separated one coin and placed it on Big.

The next instant, the dealer slammed the copper bell and simultaneously lifted the cup lid with his other hand. He glanced and announced, "Three threes! Triples!" Then he scanned the table. "No bets on the triples. House wins, takes all!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a croupier's stick swept all the money on the table over to the dealer's side.

Amidst a chorus of boos, Tang Liu asked, "What's a triple?"

"It's when all three dice show the same number," Liu Que explained.

The dealer had already started shaking the cup for a new round. Tang Liu watched for a while, his expression gradually turning peculiar. The gambling den was a cacophony of noise, yet the sound of dice tumbling and colliding inside the cup was clearly audible to his ears. Until the curfew, Tang Liu didn't place another bet.

Liu Que lost all his money and walked out of the gambling den dejectedly, not even in the mood to talk to Tang Liu. Early the next morning, he was back on the streets begging with renewed vigor.

Tang Liu used his last three coins to buy incense and a fire starter. He slipped into the alley behind the Sui residence, entered through the back door, went to the backyard, and stopped in front of the stone pavilion. He lit three sticks of incense, bowed to the clay statue, and silently prayed: Immortal, oh immortal, please return my wife to me.

The clay statue sat alone between the wooden planks. Tang Liu, holding the incense, looked around but couldn't find a place to stick them. In the end, he settled for the next best option, inserting the incense into the muddy ground at the base of the stone pavilion steps, directly facing the statue.

After doing this, he rolled up his sleeves and jumped into the large pit in the center of the yard.

Perhaps winds had blown over the past months, as loose soil from the edges had been swept into the pit bottom. The skull he had discarded was mostly buried in the dirt. Tang Liu scooped it up with both hands, blew off the soil, tried to tuck it into his robe, but it wouldn't fit. After a moment's thought, he took off his upper garment, spread it on the ground nearby, and placed the skull on it.

The pit bottom was uneven and difficult to stand in. Besides this skull, there were many pitch-black fragments. Tang Liu, bare-chested, squatted down to pick them up. He examined each piece carefully in his hand, tossing the charcoal pieces back and placing the non-charcoal ones on his garment. After picking and sorting for most of the day, the sun grew fierce. Tang Liu wiped the sweat from his brow, gathered up the corners of his garment, and climbed out of the pit carrying a bundle of bones. Lifting his head, he found himself directly facing the bowed face of the clay statue.

Tang Liu walked into the stone pavilion, poured the bones out beside the statue, shook out his garment and put it back on, then sat down in a shady spot within the pavilion to doze off. After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he woke up and jumped back into the pit to continue sorting.

The gambling den opened at Xu hour. Tang Liu arrived a quarter of an hour late, and it was already packed. Halfway through Xu hour, Liu Que entered while fastening his belt. He spotted Tang Liu by the gambling table immediately and squeezed next to him. "So you came early. I wondered where you'd gone. So, having fun?"

He only had two coins tonight. Seeing Tang Liu had come empty-handed, he made a move to give him one. Tang Liu shook his head and refused. He spent the whole night just watching again. Three days passed. Tang Liu spent his days at the Sui residence, his evenings in the gambling den, and the latter half of the night sleeping in Bigou Alley. He dug through the pit in the small courtyard again and again, finally confirming he had retrieved all the bones from it.

He tried to piece them together, but the bones were too fragmented. Several attempts ended in failure, so he gave up. He piled all the bone fragments in the stone pavilion, stacking them with a mischievous sense of humor into a pointed mound. Then he placed the skull on the very top, took a few steps back to admire his handiwork, and nodded with satisfaction.

Exposed to wind and sun in the stone pavilion, Tang Liu thought it wasn't good to just leave them out like that. So he found a piece of red silk, covered the pile, and weighed down the corners with stones. He took the opportunity to bow to the clay statue again, then went to the main house to fetch a silver ingot. After leaving the Sui residence, he first went to a pawnshop, exchanged all the silver for copper coins, then headed to the gambling den with a bulging money pouch.

He arrived late. Liu Que, Laizi, and others were in the midst of their gambling fervor, shouting and yelling around the table. Tang Liu poured out a handful of coins, squeezed next to Liu Que, and followed his bets. After several rounds, he lost more than he won. "Why is everyone betting on Big or Small? No one betting on anything else?"

Liu Que turned his head, saw Tang Liu's handful of coins, and his eyes lit up. "Where'd you go today? So much money?"

"Ran all over the city. My knees are bruised purple from kneeling," Tang Liu said, pursing his lips. "You still haven't answered me. Why is no one betting on the other options?"

"The odds are too high. One to one hundred and fifty."

"That's no fun."

The dealer was shaking the cup. After a few moments, he placed it on the table, signaling for bets. Liu Que hesitated for a second, then placed three copper coins on Small. He immediately looked at Tang Liu and saw his eyes darting back and forth between the empty betting areas. The dealer raised his hand, poised to strike the bell. A bad premonition had just begun to rise in Liu Que when, in the next instant, Tang Liu placed all the money in his hand on Triple Fours.

Liu Que gasped sharply and grabbed Tang Liu's hand, but it was too late. The bell sounded. Bets were closed.

"Are you crazy? If you lose this, your life won't be enough to pay it back."

"If I lose, I lose," Tang Liu said nonchalantly, shaking off Liu Que's hand, his eyes fixed intently on the unopened dice cup on the table. "If you're going to gamble, gamble big. What's fun about one-to-one odds?"

Only then did Liu Que smell a strong odor of alcohol. "Have you been drinking?"

His voice was loud. After a few shouts, most people at the table heard and turned to watch the spectacle. Liu Que broke out in a cold sweat. "Wait!" he said to the dealer. "We placed the wrong bet—"

"What wrong bet? 'Bets closed' means bets closed, understand?" someone nearby said. "Cripple, if you can't handle it, don't play. It's rare for the little blind man to play big. Don't spoil the fun."

This person was a local ruffian who frequented the Bigou Alley area and had also squeezed into the alley to drink with Tang Liu and the others. Tang Liu ignored him completely and said to the stunned dealer with dissatisfaction, "Open it or not? What, is the house afraid to gamble too?"

"Yeah, open it or not?" the ruffian chimed in.

The surrounding gamblers began to jeer. The dealer gritted his teeth and lifted the cup lid. All three dice showed four dots facing up. Liu Que was instantly dumbfounded. After a brief silence, Tang Liu burst into loud laughter, planted one foot on a stool, slapped the table, and declared, "I won! Pay up!"

The dealer, face livid, pushed the winnings over to him. Tang Liu gathered them in front of himself. The large pile of silver coins formed a small hill, making the onlookers' eyes turn red with envy. Tang Liu grabbed another handful from the pile and brashly placed it on Small. "Continue."

Late at night, the streets were quiet. Tang Liu came out of the gambling den with his arms slung over the shoulders of Liu Que and Laizi, a bulging money pouch hanging from each hand.

"Luck was really good today," Tang Liu said, his cheeks flushed, seemingly not yet recovered from the earlier frenzy. "Come on, I'm treating you guys to drinks."

Liu Que and Laizi stared at him dumbfounded. Tang Liu had gambled non-stop tonight. His luck was exceptionally good on the first hand, but afterward, he lost more than he won. Most of what he won on the first bet was lost later. Even so, a significant amount remained. Neither of the two had seen so much money in half their lifetimes, and they were green with envy, but Tang Liu's crazed demeanor had also somewhat frightened them.

"Tang Liu, you're still drunk," Liu Que said. "No taverns are open at this hour."

Tang Liu clicked his tongue in annoyance and withdrew his arms. "Boring."

For several nights after that, Tang Liu haunted the gambling den, reeking of alcohol, still losing more than he won. But whenever he did win a hand, it was enough for him to stride out with a full money pouch. Everyone in the alley knew he had won money and dropped hints to him now and then, but Tang Liu, unlike his former free-spending self, clutched the money pouch tight to his body, refusing to give a single coin.

One night, a beggar finally couldn't hold back and stealthily reached for the waist of the soundly sleeping Tang Liu, only to have his wrist clamped by the latter. Gritting his teeth, the beggar made a full-on grab for Tang Liu's money pouch. Tang Liu turned vicious, beating him until he couldn't even crawl, then shouted at the other beggars awakened by the commotion.

"My money's mine to give. If I don't feel like it, nobody better get any ideas."

He was tall, his whole body lost in the shadows, his ferocious appearance making the beggars somewhat fearful. Tang Liu swept a glance around, picked up his begging bowl, and strode out of the alley. Before long, Liu Que and Laizi caught up to him, asking where he was going.

"I'm not going to be a beggar anymore," Tang Liu said after a moment's thought.

Liu Que's jaw dropped. "Then what are you going to do?"

"Buy a house, find a wife, and start some business."

Laizi looked at him with a mix of emotions. "Well, you did win so much money. Of course, you don't have to squeeze with us in that smelly, filthy alley anymore."

"You can too." In the whole alley, only these two had any real friendship with him. Tang Liu untied two money pouches and handed them over. "Don't go to the gambling den anymore. The dealers there are crooked through and through; every few rounds, they rig a dealer-win hand. You can't win."

Laizi didn't believe it. "Then how did you win?"

Tang Liu pointed to his ears. "Being blind for so many years has to be good for something."

Liu Que was stunned speechless, while Laizi cursed, "Son of a bitch!" "We should've dragged you there sooner."

Tang Liu smiled, turned around, and waved a hand. "Goodbye." Then he disappeared into the night along the long street.