I was totally annoyed by Niu Xiao’er.
I just wanted to let him go quickly when I finished the Yin and Yang Tattoo…I really didn’t want to have any connection with him.
At the same time, since we were classmates, I just wanted to persuade him to give up gambling.
I was in a complex mood.
After about half an hour, Liu the Sixth came in.
When he came in, he gave me a look and looked at Niu Xiao’er who was sleeping on the tattoo bench, and then he called me out.
The moment I went out, Liu the Sixth said to me with a straight face: “Shui, you said you were doing a favor. Well, it was for your friend there, right?”
“Yes”, I replied.
Liu the Sixth said with a scornful look: “Shui, you shouldn’t help him; I know this guy well.”
“You know him?” I was a little surprised.
Liu the Sixth said: “I had a small…under my name, and one night one year ago, I was there with my friends, and your brother was also there.”
“Oh, yes, he likes gambling.” I said with a smile.
Liu the Sixth gave a brittle laugh: “Only ‘likes’ that? He wants nothing but gambling. At that time…he lost all of his money…Then…this asshole knelt down to plead to the dealer, saying that he wanted to gamble on his fingers. Did you know what I did then? I thought that I just wanted to teach a lesson to such a person who didn’t even know his mother when he was gambling. Well, he wanted to gamble on his fingers, right? Ok, let him go. Then I told my staff to speak to the dealer…One finger cost thirty thousand Yuan, and only for two fingers, no more than that. Then my staff cut two of his fingers in order to let him think about the things left to him rather than cutting all of his fingers, so that he wouldn’t live a bad life.”
I raised my eyebrow: “Mr. Six, don’t you think you were too cruel?”
“Cruel? Did you know what he said after we cut his two fingers?” Liu the Sixth asked me.
I shook my head.
Liu the Sixth said: “He said…he could gamble on the fingers again, the rest eight fingers, it would be ok at twenty thousand per each…He is not an ordinary gambler, he is addicted to it like it’s his life…”
Ah!
I just sighed.
Then Liu the Sixth continued: “Well, forget it. You wanted to give him the Yin and Yang Tattoo to help him to earn money, right? But in our field of this Yin business, there are five things that we can’t help with.”
“What are they?” I had only just come in to this field and didn’t know what the five things that we couldn’t help with were.
Liu the Sixth said directly: “Simple. The five things that we can’t help with are defrauding, cheating, abducting, deceiving, and stealing. The ghost business, though it is scary, is still normal business, and we can’t help these illegal elements.”
“So it is, but I have to help him.” Then I told Liu the Sixth: “Actually…he saved my life before, and then he threatened me to help him with this Yin and Yang Tattoo, so now I have to comply.”
Liu the Sixth stared at my face. After a while he sniggered and said: “you have such a heavy sense of righteousness… Well, you can do it, but I have to tell you, it is not a good thing to help an asshole like that.”
“I don’t know. Let me do it first, and I’ll see what will happen,” I said.
Liu the Sixth gave me the bamboo jar filled with the new soul: “Go ahead as he wanted.”
I took the jar and went into the tattoo studio. After I prepared the dye, I went out and woke up Niu Xiao’er.
Niu Xiao’er was having a sound sleep there. He glanced at me with squinting eyes when I woke him up, then he closed his eyes and asked me directly: “So, Brother Shui, ready now?”
“Yes,” I said.
Then Niu Xiao’er rolled over and got up, asking me: “So when I get this tattoo, isit true that l would win in gambling?”
“Yes, but it might not be so good at the beginning. It will take a long time to have a better effect and change your life.” I said to Niu Xiao’er.
Hearing this, Niu Xiao’er became very happy: “Good, good, very good, just do it now.”
I nodded, and told to Niu Xiao’er as a rule: “You have to choose the pattern carefully since there are different meanings to the patterns. Once you are given the tattoo, it is hard to remove, so just consider it well beforehand…So Brother Niu, you need to consider it well; are you sure you want to have this Yin and Yang Tattoo?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Now Niu Xiao’er was just thinking about winning the money. He insisted I give him the tattoo, so I followed him.
I told Niu Xiao’er; “There are both Yin and Yang tattoos inYin and Yang Tattoo, and the pattern for your tattoo is a “Yin and Yang fish”, which belongs to the Yang Tattoos. Yin and Yang fish could be used to collect money; it uses the method of “twine”, which means the yin fish on the left hand and the yang fish on the right hand. So are you sure you want to do it?”
“Just do it.”Niu Xiao’er opened his two hands.
I had no choice and gave him the tattoo.
I wore the “Wu Sa”, and after the process of “the ghost knowing its master”, I began to draw the tattoo for him.
The yin fish on the left hand and the yang fish on the right hand, both on the wrist.
The pattern was not so big. After one hour, I finished it.
Then came the coloring.
It was easy to mix the new soul with the dye.
I poured out the dye onto the tattoo, and it colored by itself.
After the coloring, the “Yin and Yang fish” tattoo was finished.
Actually, if I had wanted to earn money, I wouldn’t only include the slow-working Yang Tattoo, but also the fast-working Yin Tattoo.
And the similar Yin Tattoo could be called “the ghost hands catch the money.”
The Yin Tattoo had a good effect. Even though Miao Weiwei hadn’t died due to the Yin Tattoo yet when I was tattooing Niu Xiao’er, I instinctively thought that it was too scary, so I was not willing to tell Niu Xiao’er about it.
After the tattooing, Niu Xiao’er bent over to put on his shoes and was going to leave the tattoo studio.
I asked him: “Brother Niu…what about going for supper together tonight?”
“No, no, I have to prove it, to check whether it is effective for gambling,” Niu Xiao’er laughed.
Because the tattoo couch was so high, Niu Xiao’er had to bend over rather low so that he could put on his shoes.
At that moment, a stack of red one-hundred dollar bills slipped out from his collar band and dropped to the ground.
This stack of one-hundred dollar bills was worth ten thousand Yuan, sealed by abank note.
Obviously, it was not opened yet.
Niu Xiao’er picked up the ten thousand Yuan quickly and stuffed them back in his pocket. He smiled to me in embarrassment and then scurried out.
When he left, I kicked the tattoo couch: “Damn you!”
I treated Niu Xiao’er as my brother and gritted my teeth to treat him to French Cuisine. I also didn’t ask him for any money for the tattoo, but when I asked him for two thousand Yuan for the new soul he said he didn’t have money, so I didn’t force him to pay.
But this man only gave me one hundred Yuan for food while he actually had ten thousand Yuan in his inside pocket.
“Humans’ hearts change so easily.” I looked at the crooked tattoo couch I kicked. I shook my head and straightened it.
Forget it, just pretend I never knew him before.
But was it true that Niu Xiao’er could earn money from gambling after he was given that Yin and Yang Tattoo?
I really had no idea.
Maybe he would turn to me again.
Watching Niu Xiao’er’s back as he left, I thought of the words Liu the Sixth had said: “It is not a good thing to give a Yin and Yang Tattoo to such gambler.”
I pushed back the tattoo couch and continued with my daily business.
That day there was no more business about Yin and Yang Tattoos, it was all about common tattoos.
I worked till seven or eight in the evening.
After I finished the last tattoo for the customer, I pulled up the roller shutter and was about to go home.
I met Mimi just as I went out of the floor.
Mimi waved to me: “”Hi, Brother Shui, I’ve been waiting for you for so long and I didn’t call you upstairs. Come on, today is Mr. Zhang’s birthday, and I told him to invite you too. Let’s have fun together.”
“Where is it?” I asked Mimi.
Mimi replied: “Happy Carols. Mr. Zhang has reserved a private room for us, and we have some sisters there too, so let’s go.”
“No business tonight?”
“No, forget it.” Mimi said: “It is more important to join Mr. Zhang’s party.”
Mr. Zhang was Mimi’s boss, he was both a good and a bad person. He always chatted with me and I had to join for the sake of him, because I might need to rely on this “great master” in the future, once I had a good business with the Yin and Yang Tattoos.
…
Happy Carols was a relatively luxurious KTV in our city. I heard that there was aminimum consumption there, and a large private room would cost a minimum of thirty thousand Yuan for five hours.
I had just eaten French cuisine that afternoon, so I didn’t feel so constrained when I came there. I just followed Mimi upstairs.
When we entered a private room on the third floor, Mimi opened the door, where some sexy women were getting close to Mr. Zhang and other friends of his to do a lap dance to the music.
Seeing me coming, Mr. Zhang waved to me: “Shui, you are also here! Just come, dance now. You are joining my birthday party for my sake…Just make yourself at home.”
I nodded quickly and replied: “Thank you, Mr. Zhang.”
Then Mr. Zhang pulled me out by himself.
He took me to a group of sexy women and laughed: “Dance, dance… no needed to say thanks to me, you are here, just feel free as you like. Later, I will give you a big gift.”
“Haha”, I laughed and danced.
Actually I couldn’t dance well, and just twisted there on the spot.
But there were sexy girls everywhere, they were wearing one-step skirts, package hip skirts and low-cut blouses, which might easily produce a physiological reaction inme since I had “no related experience” in this as a man.
The secretion of hormones and the loud music made me less reserved than usual, now I was just being crazy.
I didn’t restrain myself, rubbing those soft hips and even rubbing again and again those chests on my face.
Anyway, I could describe it in one word-crisp.
Everyone was there rubbing and rubbing in high spirits, producing a higher and higher sense of sexual relations.
Just when I was getting a lap dance there, Mr. Zhang’s friends came to him one after another: “Oh, no, damn, l can’t stand it any more, Mr. Zhang. Can I go and do it?”
“Go ahead, go, go. I have reserved all the rooms on this floor, so just choose an empty room and enjoy.” Mr. Zhang was very generous.
I also wanted to…but I was embarrassed to say so.
Mr. Zhang seemed to realize my problem, then he came to me and said: “You helped Mimi, so you can take her and enjoy.”
“Enjoy…enjoy what?”
“Oh, come on, Shui, don’t play dumb. Or else, I will kick your ass.” Then he called Mimi: “Mimi, just go and enjoy with your Brother Shui.”