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Standing in the little village square, Xie Lian stares at the ghost and the ghost stares a little dumbfounded back.
He opens his mouth and closes it again. Opens his mouth and closes it yet again.
“Hello,” Xie Lian offers with a smile. “My name is Xie Lian, what is your name?”
“Gege may call me San Lang.” San Lang says, slightly hysterical.
“San Lang, are you the one to collect the debt the mayor has accrued?”
Again, he nods a bit dumbly.
Mh, what a weird ghost, Xie Lian thinks.
You may ask yourself now, how Xie Lian came into such a situation.
It all started an evening before, when he set foot into a tiny village and the village mayor approached him, in a hurry.
“Daozhang, Daozhang please! You must help us.” he had said.
And as he spun a tale of a demonic gambling den and loaded dice, all Xie Lian could think of was ‘If you just hadn’t gambled in the beginning, you wouldn’t be in this mess now!’
But he agreed on meeting the ghostly envoy, who would come to the village the very next day to claim the debt.
“What do you owe them?” Xie Lian asked curiously.
“My greatest treasure.”
So the next day, Xie Lian stands patiently in the village square and waits. And when he sees a man approaching, he is a bit stumped. After all the big and glamorous tales of the mayor, the ghost looks more down to earth than he expected. He looks young and has a pretty face. His red clothes are in a very good condition but less fancy than he expected. But his face - his face bears an arrogant expression, that falls the second he spots Xie Lian, turning into one of utter shock and then confusion.
And that’s how he got here, into this situation.
San Lang still looks utterly out of it and confused, so Xie Lian keeps going.
“The mayor says that he was coaxed into the bet and then lost because the gambling den gave him loaded dice.”
This pulls a reaction out of San Lang. He sneers, an arrogant little thing.
“That’s what they all say, when they lose,” he says before he schools his face into a more neutral expression.
“People who come to our gambling den usually have very special requests and have to bet high in order to be able to get what they want. Nothing is really off limits.”
At that the door of a nearby house slams open and the mayor comes out, yelling.
“It’s a depraved and cheating place, I refuse to pay this debt!”
Xie Lian lets out a tired sigh. So much for leaving the discussion to him.
San Lang’s sneer is back in full force now.
“If you knew it was such a depraved and evil place, what were you doing there? He asks and the mayor snaps his mouth shut.
“I can tell you what.” San Lang fiddles disinterested with his sleeve.
“You came to ghost city to bet for the death of a new neighbouring village’s population.
They only started out two years ago and have drawn away able bodied people and possible merchants.”
Xie Lian’s eyes go wide. He did what?
“And since something like that is not in your power, you came to the only place that could fulfil such a depraved wish. The gambling den in ghost city.”
“And they can fulfil a wish like that?” Xie Lian asks a bit faintly.
San Lang’s smile becomes a bit less mean as he looks at Xie Lian..
“If the price is right.”
“I wanted to bet my life.” the mayor mumbles and San lang looks back at him, any gentleness that had been in his smile drops.
“Your life is worth nothing. If this village dies, you will die with it, so that was just a convenient way out for you.”
It makes the mayor flinch.
San Lang looks back at Xie Lian with a smile. “So what does gege think he used for the bet?”
Xie Lian rests his chin on one hand and thinks, as dread creeps up his back.
There wasn’t much he could bet and he remembers the mayor’s words the evening before.
‘My greatest treasure’ he had said. Material treasure wasn’t worth enough for such a high bet, so either his wife or child. Xie Lian’s face grows dark as he looks back at the mayor, who’s grown whiter and whiter in the face now.
“I see gege has come to the right answer. It was his daughter's life.”
San Lang brushes past the mayor, who has fallen to his knees now, into the doorway of the house.
“Come out miss,” he calls out, not in an unfriendly manner but not friendly either.
San Lang turns around again and walks out and a young woman, barely out of her teens follows behind him. She’s just as white as her father and her body is shivering.
San Lang turns around and looks at her.
“As your father lost his bet, your life now belongs to Hua Cheng of ghost city. Please come with me.”
And what can the poor woman do but follow?
San Lang walks up to Xie Lian and lowers his voice.
“Nothing bad will befall her. Does gege want to come along and see for himself?”
A bit numbly, Xie Lian nods and with one last scathing look at the mayor, he follows the mayor’s daughter and San Lang.
On their way out of the village the ghost stops in front of a cottage’s door and retrieves two red dice from his sleeve, shakes them lightly and throws them to the ground.
Xie Lian looks a little disbelieving at the pair of sixes, before San Lang scoops them up again and puts them back into his sleeve. Then he opens the door.
“After you,” he says with a charming grin at Xie Lian.
Xie Lian steps through the door and the woman is very close behind him. San Lang comes through as the last but Xie Lian is too much in awe to notice anything else after stepping into a wide street.
He’s never been to ghost city before and if the people talking about it could be believed, it’s a disgusting and evil place.
It’s not. It’s dark and everything is bathed in the soft light of red lanterns and it’s so alive. If the people roaming the streets wouldn’t have looked so blatantly inhuman, Xie Lian would’ve believed they were humans.
Xie Lian is so focused on taking in all the new sights, that he barely notices San Lang walking past him until he stops with his back to him. Suddenly there’s another man in front of San Lang.
Huh, Xie Lian hadn’t seen him coming.
“This lady is the one from the mayor’s bet from a few days ago - it’s the usual.”
The mayor’s daughter shivers even more as the unknown man grabs her arm and gently guides her away.
Xie Lian, who had watched the whole thing with concern, couldn't help but ask. “What will happen to her now.?”
Again, San Lang smiles at him.
“We have a lot of cases of people betting their own family away. Usually they’ll be put to work in something they’re good at. We give them a place to stay and fair wage for their work. And after five years, they’re either free to go their merry way, or they decide to stay at a place that treats them fairly.”
Xie Lian looks at him in surprise. That is unexpected.
“But I must admit something.” San Lang says as his smile gets bigger.
“Ah?”
“Gege has noticed that my luck is very good, yes?”
Xie Lian nods, remembering the two sixes from the travelling array.
“For a long time now, if I want to win, I will win.” his smile grows wicked.
“You never intended to have him win something awful like that.”
“No.” San Lang agrees with a delighted smile.
“The one who had the biggest loss is the mayor, because now he needs to live with the knowledge of what he did to his daughter and the disdain of the whole village.”
“Yes.” There’s a twinkle in San Lang’s eyes now.
“The daughter will know by now that her life won’t be bad. The only one who truly lost anything is that disgusting father.”
Xie Lian lets out a sigh and rubs his forehead.
“There was never a need for me to come after you.” he laughs lightly and San Lang joins in.
“But gege! You’ve never been to ghost city before, no?”
“No, I haven’t. It’s.. beautiful.” Xie Lian lets his gaze wander again and misses the way San Lang’s own smile gentles into something different and softer.
After a moment San Lang offers his hand to Xie Lian.
“Shall I give you a tour?” he asks with a cheeky grin which morphs into surprise when Xie Lian takes his hand.
“I’d love that, San Lang. Ah.. should I call you Hua Cheng now?”
Despite standing, San Lang - no, Hua Cheng seems to stumble on nothing.
Hua Cheng looks at him a bit dumbly again, just like he did at the village. ‘Cute,’ Xie Lian thinks and blushes a little.
A moment later he seems to remember the question.
“I think San Lang sounds best from you.”
He says it like Xie Lian might reject it, but when Xie Lian nods his head and smiles, he smiles back.
“San Lang then. So. What evil deeds has San Lang planned with me?”
Hua Cheng laughs and they start walking towards the busy street.
“The most evil! ..how does dinner sound to you?”