Zhou Zishu thought that his own movements were very light, but the man in the room seemed to have already noticed him a while ago; he raised his head so brazenly, and happened to meet his gaze head on.
Taken aback, Zhou Zishu paused, only to see the man smile at him. It would thus have been impolite of Zhou Zishu to be reticent, so he flipped off the roof, knocked on the window lightly, and announced, "We guests have arrived uninvited. May the master of this house pardon us."
The window was pushed open from within. Inside the room, a man in white inner robes stood, holding a bowl of tea. His gaze roamed over Zhou Zishu's face, and swept over Wen Kexing once. He smiled, then asked in a soft voice, "If these two gentlemen had wanted to watch as well, you could knock on the door and enter. Why the stealthiness?"
His voice was almost insubstantial, especially gentle and soft, as though he feared startling something if he spoke loudly. He was of refined and courteous appearance--with monolids, and a nose that was fleshy at the tip but narrow at the wings, he did look very much like a decent person on the surface. Based on his features alone, one really could not tell that he was in fact that Poisonous Scorpion chief who was lacking in eight lifetimes' worth of morals.
Naturally, Zhou Zishu was thick-skinned; upon hearing this, he did not feel the slightest bit uneasy. He said graciously, "Many thanks for your great generosity--but that won't be necessary. Truth be told, we came here to request a matter of you."
This head Scorpion cast a glance at them, and mused, "Most of the people who seek me out come for only two things. Either they come to order my children to commit heinous crimes, or they come to ask who has ordered my children to commit heinous crimes. With your skills and capabilities, I am afraid that you are the latter?"
Zhou Zishu spoke candidly, "Indeed."
The Scorpion set the tea bowl aside. Crossing his arms, he regarded him closely with interest. "What can you give me?"
"Name your price," Zhou Zishu boasted.
Seeing that he was very magnanimous, his demeanour bold as though he was backed by a fat purse, the Scorpion smiled slightly--usually, people like this were usually too full of themselves, and thought that there was nothing in the whole world--heaven and earth included--that they could not accomplish, or could not offer. Either that, or…they had already made their decision to renege on this deal.
State a selling price as outrageous as you wish, but I won't be haggling it with a low buying price--I'll simply not pay up at all.
The Scorpion drawled, "Even if I ask you to spend a night in my bed, you'll agree?"
Zhou Zishu regarded his face fastidiously. His gaze surveyed the Scorpion's waist, flank, and thighs next, then he reluctantly agreed, "Sure."
Wen Kexing, who had been listening with relish to one side, immediately protested. "No way! We've shared a bed for so long, and I've never seen you agree this breezily!"
Zhou Zishu flicked him a look and countered, "Do you have the answers to what I'm about to ask?"
Wen Kexing choked.
On the other hand, the Scorpion laughed and licked his lips, his gaze shuttling fiercely between the two of them. Then, he took out a small jar from his robes, shook it twice, and tipped two dice out from it. Holding them in his palm, he said softly, "How about this? Gamble with me. Win a round on me, and I'll tell you a piece of information. Lose a round to me…"
Wen Kexing whispered to Zhou Zishu, "I finally understand why he's so eager to earn quick money. With this addiction, no matter how great his properties and fortunes, they aren't enough for him to ruin. Haven't you heard of, 'The single-minded pursuit of winning money causes a man's two eyes to burn red, turns his three daily meals tasteless, saps his four limbs of energy, he'll abandon his work, neglect his family, be easily infuriated, borrow money from all around…"
Zhou Zishu stepped on his foot.
The Scorpion smirked and said, "There's reason to it, when you put it that way. However, isn't life a grand game with high stakes too? So many people want to kill me; if I die, they win. If I don't die, they'll be uneasy all the time, not knowing which day the collector of souls will come collecting. Don't you think it's too boring if one's whole life proceeds peacefully and smoothly?"
Zhou Zishu decisively cut off these two youths' deep discussion about life, and asked, "What happens if we lose a round to you?"
The Scorpion slanted a gaze at him, and said leisurely, "Worry not. I don't want your money, and neither do I want your life. If you lose a round, the two of you will put on a show for me, until I feel refreshed by watching you two go at it--though you two gentlemen should think it over, and take only what you can handle. If you lose too badly, it won't be easy to wrap this up either."
Without a word, Zhou Zishu said resolutely, "I'll see you another time."
At the same moment, Wen Kexing, who could not have asked for anything better, shouted, "I think these stakes are rather good!"
Zhou Zishu pretended that he did not know him, and walked away apathetically. Behind him, the Scorpion said, "Just like that, and you're afraid. You even told me to name any price earlier."
Zhou Zishu did not stop walking, and only said, "I'm already an old man, forget the provocations."
To the side, Wen Kexing smiled apologetically, "That…Scorpion-xiong, please excuse him, my spouse is good in all other aspects, but is shy, and thin-skinned…"
Before he had even finished his sentence, he saw Zhou Zishu turn back around expressionlessly and ask the Scorpion, "Name your terms, what do we gamble on?"
Sometimes, whether methods of provocation were useful or not depended on who the person employing them was.
Just as the Scorpion had raised the small dice jar in his hand, Zhou Zishu scoffed coldly and said, "These are merely trivial games--I'm afraid that even if we do this for a whole night, we will still be unable to decide on a winner."
The Scorpion's brow furrowed. He thought for a moment, then turned around and walked further into the room. Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu jumped in through the window, only to see the Scorpion produce a pouch of small needles as thin as ox hairs. Zhou Zishu's brow furrowed--he had fallen victim to these things before.
The Scorpion pinched a needle between finger and thumb, licked at it lightly with the tip of his tongue, and said, "These have not had the chance to be coated with venom. Why don't we gamble on who can eat more of these?"
Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing glanced at each other. In that instant, they shared the same thought, their separate minds as one--Why isn't Ye Baiyi here?
The Scorpion narrowed his eyes, opened his mouth and bit down. Unbelievably, that needle was like a noodle strand--he chewed it into segments, then swallowed the needle just like that. Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing looked at each other. Neither of them had thought that this head Scorpion would have teeth of iron.
Smiling, the Scorpion asked, "Will the two gentlemen gamble, or undress?"
Wen Kexing looked like he very much wanted to choose the latter. Zhou Zishu abruptly picked up a wine cup from the table, uncorked his own flask, and filled the cup to the brim. Reaching out to pinch two needles, he ground his fingertips together once, and those two thin needles turned into a heap of powder, dissolving into the wine in the blink of an eye. He raised his head and glanced at the Scorpion. Contrary to expectation, the Scorpion was very courteous, gesturing for him to go first. Zhou Zishu finished the wine in his cup with a frown, and flashed the empty bottom of it at him. Observing Zhou Zishu's countenance as he stood by, Wen Kexing felt that the wine probably did not taste any better than if it had a walnut in it.
The Scorpion smiled as he said, "This brother here, do not blame me for not reminding you--drinking it with wine as you are doing occupies more space in your stomach than eating it dry as I am doing. Can it be that you two gentlemen want to take me, a single person, on together?"
Wen Kexing immediately waved his hands and said, "No, no, no, I don't have the refined interest or the teeth for this. You two go ahead, go ahead."
Suddenly, Zhou Zishu smiled, and said, "I've eaten two needles, and you've eaten one. I think that's enough to score victory over you."
Immediately executing an underhanded tactic, he slammed his palm on the table, and those slim needles as thin as ox-hairs scattered through the air, their cold light glinting in all directions. The Scorpion sensed a force hurtling at him, gave a low shout out of reflex, and ducked it. When he looked back again, he saw that all the ox-hair needles on the table had barely missed him as they hurtled past, and were embedded into the wall. Astonishingly, they were stuck inches deep; if he wanted to retrieve them, he could not do so.
Wen Kexing could not help but give a shout of approval, inwardly musing that this move of A-Xu's was indeed incomparably shameless, much like his own way of doing things. Truly, it was like that saying: when someone sang, the other followed.
The Scorpion frowned, then his brow slowly relaxed once more. Still placid, he asked, "May I ask this brother for his surname?"
Zhou Zishu said, "My surname is Zhou."
The Scorpion nodded. "Zhou-xiong has good martial ability, and a good mind for tactics, but…"
He uncurled his fingers. A thin needle lay flat on his palm. As he brought it to his mouth, the Scorpion smiled and said, "I'm afraid that it's a draw this time."
Yet, Zhou Zishu uncurled his fingers unhurriedly too, and revealed a needle that he too had secretly hidden in his palm at some point in time. He did not eat it, only brought the needle in front of the Scorpion, and measured it against his--the Scorpion's expression changed abruptly. Only now was he discovering that the needle in his own hand was a segment shorter; at some point in time, it had been shorn into half by the force of this person's palm strike.
Zhou Zishu ground the thin needle in his hand into fine powder, and said, smiling, "Two needles to one and a half, what do you say?"
The Scorpion glared at him acidly. Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu thought he was going to raise trouble, but while this head Scorpion's character was unremarkable, his gambling manners were rather decent. A beat later, he turned his gaze away impassively, and said, "All right. One must be willing to admit defeat if he is willing to bet. What do you want to ask about?"
Zhou Zishu said, "Other than Sun Ding, who paid to have Zhang Chengling killed?"
The Scorpion paused, then looked at them again, and as though he realised something, he said, "Zhang Chengling? Oh, I know who you two gentlemen are now...my men lost track of you in Dongting. I had not thought that you have already found this location, you are omniscient indeed--come with me."
While he spoke, he ripped the bed boards out, and wormed into the opening. Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing followed closely behind.
The two men followed the Scorpion down a secret tunnel--the exterior of this place was all rouge and beauty, but its interior was extraordinarily gloomy and sinister. The Scorpion led them on a journey of twists and turns, down innumerable stairs, before they finally reached the bottom. Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing glanced around, only to find that this place was a dungeon. Repressed growls that sounded human, but also inhuman rang all around them, and the two of them instinctively went on their guard.
The Scorpion retrieved a torch from the wall, stood in front of a cell, and said with the ghost of a smile, "You gentlemen can come over and look at this thing, you should be old acquaintances."
It might have been aggravated by the light; while he spoke, a tragically pale shadow lunged at the Scorpion. It was held back by the cell door, and so fearsomely bared its teeth at them. Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing had a clear look at it; astonishingly, there was a creature locked in there, one exactly the same as that humanlike, yet inhuman creature they had encountered in that mysterious underground cave that year!
They watched the Scorpion gaze at that creature warmly, as though it was a peerless beauty. He said softly, "These are our poisoned men. They used to be human before one year of age, but after they turned one, we continue force feeding them toxins until today. They've grown impenetrable skin and tough bone, and are brimming with killing intent. They're very good children, really...but they're just not very obedient. Perhaps the toxins used have harmed their brains. The toxins will still need to be improved on in the future."
The smile was gone from Wen Kexing's face. Voice low, he asked, "You were the one who set up that underground cave, and the buyer was the Long-Tongued Ghost?"
The Scorpion said, "Indeed."
Wen Kexing cut him off, "Bullshit, I've killed the Long-Tongued Ghost. Who were the people that came after Zhang Chengling's life at Dongting afterwards?"
A sly smile appeared on the Scorpion's face. He said, "I only said that the buyer was the Long-Tongued Ghost. I did not say that there was no one else instructing him to do so from behind the scenes."
Zhou Zishu said, "Ah, this is yet another question. Are you implying that if we wish to obtain this answer, we have to gamble a second time?"
The Scorpion bowed slightly, and said, "Indulge me, Zhou-xiong."
Zhou Zishu flicked his sleeve, annoyed. "Name your terms, what do we gamble on?"
The Scorpion smiled, and said,"My gongfu is not as good as Zhou-xiong's, nor my mind as nimble as Zhou-xiong's when it comes to tactics. If we gamble on those little games, I'm afraid that I will have to lose again. How about we leave it up to fate? We'll head up from here, out to the end of the street. Between the two of you, one will be blindfolded. From the moment this person's hand touches the stone lion at the end of the street, we'll see if the twentieth person to pass before our eyes is a man or a woman. How's this?"
Wen Kexing couldn't help but say, "This gamble is very pointless, I can't see how it benefits you."
The Scorpion said serenely, "It does not matter what we gamble on. For me, what is important is the act of gambling. It can be compared to how others must eat when they are hungry, and drink when they are thirsty; if you don't let me gamble, I won't be able to keep living...what do you say?"
Wen Kexing sighed, feeling that he was running into especially many odd happenstances this year. He pointed at Zhou Zishu and said, "Blindfold him, lest he thinks that I have nefarious intentions."
Zhou Zishu glanced at the Scorpion, and did not object. Wen Kexing felt around in the front of his own robes for a long time, fished out a handkerchief, tied it over Zhou Zishu's eyes, grabbed his arm, and said to the Scorpion, "After you."
The three people made their way back onto ground level like so, and reached the entrance of the pleasure district in this fashion similar to playing hide-and-seek. The Scorpion said, "Zhou-xiong, upon lifting your hand, you will be able to touch that lion. Guests first--please place your bet."
Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing said unanimously, "Male."
Though there were courtesans among those thronging here too, there were more pleasure-seeking guests roaming around. Since this Scorpion chief was generous, they accepted this courteous invitation. A vague excitement flashed across the Scorpion's face. His eyes lit up, and he licked his lips as though he couldn't wait. "All right."
From the instant Zhou Zishu lifted his hand, the Scorpion began to count--eighteen, nineteen…
His actions were making even Wen Kexing anxious. Zhou Zishu had already plucked his blindfold off a long while ago, and was watching unblinkingly. The twentieth person passed, in long robes and hair up in a crown--it was a man!
A smile slowly surfaced on Zhou Zishu's face. He was just about to speak, but as this person came closer, his smile froze on his face. On the other hand, the Scorpion swept a smug glance over the two of them, and abruptly stepped forward to stop this passer-by, frightening the passer-by. They heard him say in a gentle voice, "This place is a brothel, and it will be highly inconvenient for this miss to enter. A maiden's virtuous reputation is precious, so please turn back."
That pale and smooth face of that 'man' started to purple. The Scorpion apologised, "Pardon me," and, in a move as quick as lightning, abruptly ripped the shawl from around 'his' neck. The passer-by gave a short shout of surprise--'his' throat was astonishingly smooth, with not a single bump in sight.
The Scorpion turned around, all smiles. Putting his hands together in his sleeves, he said leisurely to Zhou Zishu, "Zhou-xiong, what do you say about this?"