Shui Miao thought to himself, “This Huo Yuanliang really is incorrigible. As the pillar of the family, a grown man should be responsible, yet he’s obsessed with gambling. Even if I help him now, there’s no guarantee he won’t fall back into his old ways!”
“It’s rare for his wife to be so virtuous and his daughter so understanding.”
“This kind of person deserves help, but I must find a way to make him quit gambling for good.”
After thinking for a while, Shui Miao asked Huo Yuanliang, “Uncle, if you’re not afraid of death, why are you afraid of living?”
“…”
Hearing this, Huo Yuanliang was momentarily stunned and didn’t know how to respond.
Shui Miao smiled slightly and whispered to Huo Yuanliang, “Uncle, do you want to know why you always lose? I can tell you, but first, you must answer me: why can’t you quit gambling? Judging from your appearance, you should be a person blessed with good fortune. Is it that you especially love gambling, or is there some unavoidable reason that drives you to it?”
Shui Miao wanted to understand Huo Yuanliang’s mindset.
Huo Yuanliang hugged his head with both hands and said, “I never liked gambling originally. But three years ago, when my wife moved here to run a business, I suddenly changed. I started thinking about gambling all day long. My heart always itched for it. I even suspect whether I’ve been bewitched!”
“Oh… is that so?”
Shui Miao’s mind stirred and he immediately understood where Huo Yuanliang’s problem lay. He then changed the topic, “By the way, Uncle, I’ve been looking around but couldn’t find any gambling place. Can you take me there? If I win money, I’ll give half to you.”
“You want to gamble! No, no, no… I can’t let you do this. Gambling is addictive. The Chinese character for gambling (赌) contains the radical ‘贝’ (shell), which sounds the same as the word for misfortune (背). ‘者’ represents people. So the structure of ‘赌’ implies that people who gamble will inevitably encounter misfortune!”
Huo Yuanliang earnestly advised Shui Miao, speaking with conviction.
“Uncle, you sure sound like a learned person! Knowing all this, why do you still gamble?” Shui Miao smiled. “But don’t worry. I’m a Daoist practitioner who understands the Dao of nature and fortune. My gambling is completely different from yours.”
“Daoist… practitioner…”
Huo Yuanliang was startled and suddenly noticed that this young man indeed had a certain spiritual aura.
Shui Miao glanced at the sky. It was almost noon, and his stomach was starting to rumble with hunger. He urged, “Uncle, hurry up and take me there. After we win money, you have to treat me to lunch at your home.”
“Then, how much money are we going to take with us?”
Huo Yuanliang was still a bit uneasy.
Shui Miao patted his pocket, and the sound of coins clinking could be heard, “Not much, thirty yuan will be enough.”
“Thirty yuan!”
Huo Yuanliang was taken aback. He had brought three thousand yuan, which wasn’t even enough to cover his losses. What could thirty yuan possibly accomplish?
“Come on, stop wasting time! Let’s go already! Don’t you want to earn tuition for your daughter!?”
Shui Miao grabbed Huo Yuanliang and started walking.
Huo Yuanliang pointed to a mansion across the river, “That’s where the gambling house is. We’ll take a boat over.”
Shui Miao turned his head and saw a lush, verdant mountain across the river. The river made a sharp bend, its water flowing gently but with an ominous sense that once you crossed, there would be no turning back. Vaguely, the mansion exuded an air of depth and mystery.
“Uncle, do you know the history of this mansion?”
Shui Miao took a couple of glances and then followed Huo Yuanliang toward the dock where ferries were available.
Hearing Shui Miao’s question, and fitting with his Daoist persona, Huo Yuanliang didn’t think much of it and answered directly, “When I was little, I heard that a group of river bandits used to live there. They fought against the officials but never robbed the common people, often selling them fish. Ten years ago, someone surnamed Zhou from outside bought the place and turned it into a gambling house. Rich people from big cities often come to play here, and no one dares to investigate. The business has always been good.”
“Is that so!”
Shui Miao licked his lips, asking no more, and carefully began observing the mountain and river formations.
Behind the small restaurant, there was a small boat specifically ferrying people to the gambling house. Shui Miao followed Huo Yuanliang onto the boat and crossed the river. Upon landing, Shui Miao noticed that this mansion was very particular in its design. In front of the mansion stood no fewer than fifty or sixty stone lions of various sizes. The smallest was knee-high, while the largest pair stood over three meters tall, creating a very impressive sight. All the lions faced the river in a fan-like formation. Shui Miao observed closely and was surprised to find that the colors and materials of these stone lions varied, representing the five elements of Yin and Yang!
He had encountered a master of feng shui!
A chill ran through Shui Miao’s heart, and he stopped in his tracks.
Lions are the kings of beasts, surpassing even tigers. With so many stone lions gaping their mouths open, they were devouring all sources of wealth. Regardless of one’s fate or birth chart, anyone who came here would be doomed to lose everything!
“Little brother, why did you stop walking?” Huo Yuanliang thought Shui Miao had just never seen so many stone lions before.
But Shui Miao asked, “Uncle, are all the people who come here always losers? Has anyone ever won?”
“Mo… more or less. Why do you ask?” Huo Yuanliang, unfamiliar with feng shui, naturally couldn’t see the hidden principles.
Shui Miao looked around and suddenly said, “Uncle, help me out. Go and blow on those earth-yellow lions. Blow on each one, or at least spit on them. For the big earth-yellow ones, you can even urinate on them. If you want to win money, don’t ask why. Just do it now.”
After saying that, Shui Miao walked toward the nearest stone lion by the riverside. He reached out and touched the lion’s teeth. With a little pressure, his finger was pierced and started bleeding. Then Shui Miao used his own blood to smear the lion’s eyes. He continued all the way to the main gate, covering the eyes of every lion along the right-hand row.
Then, Shui Miao looked toward Huo Yuanliang, who was now urinating on a large stone lion nearby.
“Good thing no one saw us, or else we’d be in trouble.” Shui Miao licked his lips and looked back at the river and the sky. It probably wouldn’t rain, but there were too many stone lions here. For safety, he decided he should also smear blood on the eyes of the big lions on the left.
Shui Miao quickly climbed onto a large stone lion. Just as he finished smearing the blood, a woman dressed fashionably in black leather pants and a red short jacket came out. She called out to Shui Miao, “Hey kid, don’t play around carelessly or you might fall!”
Shui Miao quickly climbed down and walked to Huo Yuanliang’s side. He whispered, “Uncle, your last task is to somehow make this woman take off her red clothes. Just don’t let her wear red at all.”
Huo Yuanliang was taken aback and immediately grabbed Shui Miao.
He was an honest man. He couldn’t imagine any way to make the pretty gatekeeper girl take off her clothes. This was just too difficult.
Shui Miao gave Huo Yuanliang a stern look, suddenly had an idea, and said, “Pretend to vomit and dirty her clothes!”
Without waiting for Huo Yuanliang to react, Shui Miao strode straight into the house.
The young woman recognized Huo Yuanliang. As she entered the house, she casually cracked sunflower seeds and asked Huo Yuanliang, “Old Huo, who’s this kid? He doesn’t look like your son!”
“He, he is my nephew from my elder brother’s family. He’s from the city, rich, and has nothing to do. I told him there are gambling machines here, so he insisted on coming.”
Huo Yuanliang made up a story.
Seeing that Huo Yuanliang had brought someone to play, the young woman was happy and cheerfully handed him a handful of sunflower seeds.
Huo Yuanliang suddenly had an idea. After cracking two seeds, he suddenly put his hand into his mouth, pretending that a seed was stuck in his throat. With his other hand, he grabbed the young woman’s clothes. Seeing that Huo Yuanliang was choking, the young woman hurriedly turned to get him some water. Just as she turned back, Huo Yuanliang “urgh”ed and vomited, not only splattering the young woman’s clothes but also getting into the deep cleavage of her chest. The young woman cried out in alarm, stomped her feet in frustration, pushed Huo Yuanliang away, and rushed off to change clothes.
Seeing this, Huo Yuanliang quickly rinsed his mouth with water and went to find Shui Miao.
From the outside, the mansion looked like an ordinary large house, but once inside, Shui Miao discovered it was a world of its own!
Inside were massive gambling machines you’d only find in a casino city.
However, the gambling machine room had also been manipulated by a Feng Shui master. Standing in the center of the room, Shui Miao looked around and discovered that the gambling hall had been set up in a “Tiger’s Mouth Formation”!
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