Now that I am the shopkeeper, I naturally cannot damage my own reputation in front of customers.
I need to project an image of strength.
From now on, the sign of No. 81 on the Path to the Underworld must be made known.
This man named Wu Jing, after hearing my words.
Calmed himself, but still appeared somewhat anxious.
Clearly, he had also heard about our shop's capabilities from Wang Kai.
He extended his hands, a little shaky, and picked up the water cup, then took two large gulps.
"Gulp, gulp..."
After he put down the cup, he looked at me hopefully again:
"Daoist Priest Qin, I, I think I’ve encountered a ghost..."
Hearing him mention "encountering a ghost," I nodded slightly.
But remained outwardly composed.
Having been in this line of work for so long, encountering ghosts was commonplace.
Many guests came to our shop seeking statues, peace charms, and town-warding artifacts because they had encountered spirits.
I didn't act surprised, merely gesturing for him to continue.
Wu Jing paused, then fearfully went on:
"Daoist Priest Qin, I, I was playing cards with ghosts.
And I almost gambled away my life, and I owe a large sum.
Now, with interest, I'm thirty years in debt.
They, they said if I don't repay the debt or win it back tonight.
They will ensure I don't live past tonight.
Tonight, I will die and become their slave down below.
Daoist Priest Qin, I, I'm so scared, I, I don't want to die, don't want to die.
Please save me, save me..."
As Wu Jing spoke, tears streamed down his face, and his emotions became incredibly agitated.
My expression shifted from calm to somewhat grave.
Playing cards with ghosts and losing one's life was something I had never heard of before.
Moreover, the other party threatened to kill Mr. Wu tonight, which was no laughing matter.
So, I asked him in a deep voice:
"Mr. Wu, tell me the whole story, from beginning to end.
Don't leave out a single detail."
Seeing my serious demeanor, Wu Jing nodded repeatedly:
"Okay, okay.
This, this has to be traced back to about a month ago.
That day I went to the southern suburbs for some casual fishing..."
Wu Jing began to recount the story, bit by bit.
Perhaps due to nervousness, his telling was a bit jumbled.
Incoherent, jumping from one point to another.
It took me about twenty minutes to piece together the cause and effect.
The whole affair began a month ago when Wu Jing went fishing in the southern suburbs.
This Wu Jing also worked at my previous unit.
But this fellow had a hobby of casual fishing.
He would go to deserted places to fish whenever he had free time.
One night last month, after fishing, he was preparing to go home.
Suddenly, a torrential downpour started on the road.
And there was also strong "whooshing" wind.
In the middle of the deserted countryside, Wu Jing suddenly saw a house with lights on not far away, so he thought he'd go there to shelter from the rain before leaving.
When he got closer, he realized it was a mahjong parlor.
The place was filled with smoke, and the sounds of revelry were constant.
He was wondering why there was a mahjong parlor in such a desolate area, and how the business could be so good.
When a man who claimed to be the owner of the mahjong parlor invited him in to play cards and have tea. There were card tables of all sizes.
And their mahjong parlor had a rule.
For any newcomer, the first ten games lost would be covered by the parlor.
Seeing the heavy rain outside, Wu Jing knew he couldn't leave.
Plus, he did have a habit of playing mahjong, and the parlor's offer to cover the first ten losses was a good rule.
So, he decided to play a couple of rounds and leave after the rain stopped.
He went up to the second floor and played mahjong with two men and one woman.
As it turned out, Wu Jing had exceptionally good luck that night.
It wasn't that he won every hand, but it was close.
Whatever tiles he wanted, they would appear.
And his fellow players were all very patient.
All night they were calm and smiling...
Even when Wu Jing saw that the rain had stopped outside, he didn't think of leaving.
After all, with such good luck, who wouldn't want to win more?
It wasn't until four in the morning that the three strangers said they wouldn't play anymore and wanted to play again tomorrow night.
Wu Jing couldn't say much, as he was the only one winning money.
When he went downstairs, he found that all the players on the first floor had left.
So, he picked up his fishing gear and prepared to leave.
But the owner of the mahjong parlor told him that if he wanted to come back and win money, he should come at eleven o'clock at night.
Their mahjong parlor only started receiving customers at eleven o'clock every night.
Wu Jing felt a sense of strangeness.
But then, he smugly thought he had figured out the reason.
He assumed this mahjong parlor was a kind of underground gambling den, playing for high stakes.
Fearing investigation by the authorities, they opened late at night and set up shop in such a remote location.
He chuckled and left with his belongings.
Upon returning home, he felt tired and lacked energy.
He didn't pay much attention to it and didn't go to work.
He slept for a day in his room.
After two days like this, all the more than 8,000 yuan he had won was spent.
He then remembered the mahjong parlor.
So, after work that day, he went to play cards again that evening.
The teahouse still had good business, with people coming and going.
Besides playing mahjong, there were also people playing Pai Gow and Baccarat.
Seeing this, he once again confirmed that this was an underground gambling den.
Fearing investigation by the authorities, they opened in the desolate outskirts.
But he had little money, so he still only dared to play small stakes mahjong.
The owner of the teahouse opened a table for him on the second floor again.
As a result, his luck was very good that night, and he won over 10,000 yuan.
After playing, although he was tired.
Holding the money he had won, he was happy.
Thus, he went back and forth, visiting the southern suburban mahjong parlor for more than twenty consecutive nights.
He also played for increasingly larger stakes, winning at least two to three hundred thousand yuan in recent days.
He bought the latest mobile phones, trendy branded clothes and shoes, treated female colleagues to meals, and topped up his game accounts.
He showed off and flaunted his wealth to his colleagues, feeling happy every day.
However, his body grew thinner and thinner, and he became increasingly lethargic.
He would get out of breath just walking...
He didn't pay much attention to it, attributing it to staying up late.
The thought of winning money every day made him feel cheerful.
So, he reported to the southern suburban mahjong parlor punctually every night.
However, until the evening five days ago, he started losing money.
For four consecutive nights, not only did he lose a lot of money, but he also became more and more engrossed.
He gambled for increasingly larger stakes.
In the end, he couldn't control himself anymore.
It was as if he had been possessed.
He was blinded by greed and lost all the money he had previously won.
And in the last hand, he owed more than 5,000 yuan.
Wu Jing was desperate to win back his losses.
Coupled with the subtle encouragement from the owner of the mahjong parlor, Wu Jing was made to write an IOU.
He borrowed 30,000 yuan.
At that time, he hadn't seen the content clearly and just signed it.
In less than two hands, it was all lost again.
Wu Jing continued to borrow, and the owner of the mahjong parlor continued to lend.
Until the last hand was played.
When Wu Jing wanted to borrow again.
The owner of the mahjong parlor said with a faint smile, "You've lost your life and luck, what else do you have to borrow?"
Wu Jing didn't understand at first.
He even asked the owner of the mahjong parlor, "What do you mean by lost life and luck?"
The owner of the mahjong parlor did not answer, only chuckling.
And that laughter echoed around like a demonic sound.
In the next second, the atmosphere of the mahjong parlor drastically changed, as if the colors had faded.
The once clean and tidy room suddenly became covered in mildew.
The windows were also filled with cobwebs.
It looked like a dilapidated building that had been abandoned for a long time...
And his fellow players who were gambling with him had all transformed into ghosts wearing burial clothes, with pale faces, grinning creepily at him.
The mahjong parlor owner, moreover, sat with his legs crossed on a broken chair, extended a long red tongue, and wagged it by his mouth.
He was continuously laughing with a "cackle, cackle" sound...
Wu Jing was terrified and shouted, "Ghosts!" before scrambling down the stairs.
When he reached the first floor, he found the surroundings even more dilapidated.
Those fellow players were all ghosts with pale faces, or faces covered in blood, or with guts spilling out.
All of them stared up at him expressionlessly...
Wu Jing, having never seen such a terrifying scene, fainted on the spot.
When he woke up the next morning, he was still in the dilapidated building.
However, in his hand, there was an IOU with his birth date, his signature and thumbprint, and a note stating a lifespan of thirty years...