Trials of the Mortal World

Three days later.

Beiyang Prefecture, Taixing County.

Shen Gui chose the largest gambling den in the county, with a signboard that read "Hongyunfang" and a red curtain at the door. It was unclear whether this symbolized good fortune or a complete loss.

Lifting the curtain and stepping inside, the air was filled with the smells of sweat and alcohol, hot and stuffy, like a pot boiling people.

Shen Gui was sitting at a table with scattered tables.

There are no entry requirements for the individual tables; anyone with money can join.

Across from me was a middle-aged gambler with dark circles under his eyes and chapped lips, clearly having lost quite a bit. He was tapping his fingers on the edge of the table, very impatiently.

The two parties made their purchase and then proceeded with the transaction.

The dice rolled in the bowl, showing six.

Shen Gui lost and pushed the copper coin forward.

The gambler opposite him licked his lips, clutched the money to his chest, his fingers trembling with excitement. He felt his luck was about to change, and he was sure he would win the next round.

Shen Gui continued betting, and lost again, lost again, lost again.

I lost very slowly, almost losing every round.

If the die lands on a four, he bet on big; if it lands on a two, he bet on small.

The gambler across from me had already won six rounds, with a small stack of coins piled up in front of him. He was slumped over the table, his eyes shining terrifyingly.

"Come on, let's do it again!"

The dealer rolls the dice.

Shen Gui pushed the last few copper coins onto the "big" side. The dice spun in the bowl, hitting the rim with a clattering sound.

Stopped, three o'clock, small.

"ha--!"

The gambler across from him clutched the money to his chest, laughing so hard his shoulders shook. The man next to him patted him on the back, saying he was lucky tonight and that he should buy him a drink.

Shen Gui looked at these people.

Greed almost spilled from the gambler's face.

The winners clutched their money tightly to their chests, while the losers licked their lips, their eyes fixed on the dealer's hand.

Some people borrow money from the dealer, and the interest compoundes, but no one asks how much the interest is.

Is asking about interest rates still gambling? Asking about interest rates means you've already lost.

In the corner was a young gambler, in his early twenties, wearing decent clothes, but they were already wrinkled beyond recognition.

There was no space in front of him. He knelt on the ground, his knees hitting the blue bricks, and looked up at the crops.

"Lend me some more, just one last time."

The dealer was a tall, thin man with a mustache that would twitch when he smiled. He looked down at the young gambler without saying a word.

"I still have things at home, things I can pawn."

"What is it?"

"My wife."

The dealer raised an eyebrow, and some people around laughed and whistled.

The dealer whispered something in his ear, and the young gambler's face turned red, but only for three breaths. After three breaths, he nodded.

He looked at these people's faces; the winners' eyes were burning with desire, and the losers' eyes were burning with desire too. Everyone in the gambling den had burning eyes.

So many intense desires...

Shen Gui held the stone pendant and sat there until the afternoon.

The fragments did not react.

He then got up and left.

As he lifted the curtain to leave, the dealer was counting his share of the day's winnings. The young gambler had signed the IOU for betting his wife, affixing his fingerprint, his fingers still stained with ink. He folded the IOU and put it in his pocket, then wrote another promissory note, his hands trembling, his face full of regret, muttering, "If only I had known..."

Shen Gui walked out, pondering his next direction.

The entrance to the alley.

A woman holding a child stood in the wind.

Her face was pale from the night wind. The child was asleep, his head resting on her shoulder. The woman stared intently in the direction of the gambling den, her eyes unwavering, waiting for her husband to come out.

Shen Gui paused for a moment as he walked past her, then continued walking.

As I walked to the street corner, I passed a brothel.

The heavily made-up woman waved to Shen Gui. Her features were actually quite nice, but the thick makeup completely obscured her natural charm, turning her into a gaudy, frivolous persona. Her voice was cloyingly sweet.

"Young master, please come in and have a seat."

Shen Gui stared at her for three breaths.

The woman's smile was stiff. Shen Gui had seen this kind of smile before; it was the kind of smile that had been around for so many years that the face had become so used to smiling at everyone that it had forgotten what it looked like when it wasn't smiling.

Her eyes were scanning him, not looking at his face, but at his clothes, how bulging his purse was, and whether he was willing to spend money.

Shen Gui went inside and spent all the money the bandits had given him.

When he came out, the madam's smile was incredibly sincere, and behind him was a group of women shouting and cheering, hoping he would come again next time.

Shen Gui didn't reply with a single word; the stone pendant remained pressed against his chest, motionless.

Whether it was lust, greed, or fear, even when it was extremely intense, the stone pendant did not react.

Was Bai Xingjian wrong in his judgment?

Shen Gui walked down the street, head down in thought.

Or did I choose the wrong person?

After all, Bai Xingjian is a ghost, so shouldn't he go find a ghost to absorb his seven emotions and six desires?

There are ghosts in this world. If a person dies but their obsession remains and no one claims their body, there is a very small chance that they will become a ghost if blown by a cold wind.

Weak ghosts have no intelligence, but they have emotions and obsessions.

Even more so, the obsession of ghosts is stronger, more intense, and purer than human emotions.

You can try.

Shen Gui stopped at an intersection.

Now that he had decided on his direction, he had to go find the ghost, but ghosts are actually not easy to find.

First, the probability of it taking shape is too low; second, it was cleaned up by people from the imperial court or Taoist and Buddhist sects, so it is extremely rare.

Therefore, Shen Gui cannot blindly go for it; he needs information and to know where there have been haunted sightings nearby.

The government will keep records of this kind of information.

The government office was located not far away, and a row of blue brick and tile houses was very conspicuous.

Two guards stood at the entrance of the mansion, their eyes fixed ahead. As Shen Gui walked over, one of them yawned, and the other scratched his neck.

No one was looking at him, or rather, no one could see him.

Shen Gui inspected the houses in the front yard as if he were strolling through his own garden, and finally walked to a tiled house in the back yard.

The door was unlocked, and the plaque above it read "[County Study Room]".

The characters are in regular script, and there is a seal engraved in the lower left corner with the three characters [寻烬司] engraved on it.

Shen Gui pushed open the door and entered. The room was not large, with shelves covering three walls.

The shelves were piled high with files, some wrapped in blue cloth, some loose, some with insect-eaten corners, and there was a musty smell in the air.

Shen Gui walked toward the bookshelf filled with tales of the strange and supernatural. He wasn't in a hurry, going page by page, scroll by scroll.

There are few records of "ghosts and demons causing trouble," and all of them have been closed.

Shen Gui stopped when he flipped to the third bookshelf.

It was a new file; judging from the paper color, it was probably only two or three years old. The file stated that it was from Guhuai Village, Changluo County, Beiyang Prefecture.

A small line of text was written in vermilion ink beside it: [Strange Tales of Guhuai Village]

[Haunted house, woman's crying, old locust tree]

He closed the file. It was already pitch black outside the window. Moonlight filtered in through the window, casting a thin layer of silvery-gray on the ground. He tucked the file under his arm and walked out of the study.

The jujube tree in the yard swayed in the wind.

The two guards were still standing at the door. Shen Gui walked past them, left the yamen, and left the county.

The moon climbed into the sky, illuminating the official road with a white glow.

In the distance, a crow cawed, adding to the eerie atmosphere.