After Dai Jieying left, I had planned to rest in the tattoo shop with Xiaozi Xing, but just then, a drunk staggered into the alley. He leaned against the wall as if about to vomit.

If there were any disgusting vomit in the alley, the trouble would fall on our shop. Xiaozi Xing quickly went over to shoo him away, but the drunk, fueled by alcohol, tried to start a fight. Xiaozi Xing wasn’t his match, so I rushed over to help.

But when I saw the drunk’s face clearly, I froze.

“Chen Gou?” I exclaimed.

Chen Gou was a childhood friend from my village. After graduating high school, his family moved to Zhonghai City, and we hadn’t been in touch since. I never imagined I’d run into him here.

The drunk had had a bit too much to drink and didn’t recognize me at first. It wasn’t until I slapped him across the face for the tenth time that he started to sober up a little.

“Haoxi, is that you?” Chen Gou was just as surprised. It had been years since we’d seen each other, and to meet here, of all places.

I helped him inside, and after a few cups of tea to sober him up, Chen Gou’s drunkenness cleared up quite a bit. Earlier, he could barely open his eyes.

I told him that alcohol was best consumed in moderation—it was bad for your health, especially when you got so drunk you ended up vomiting in some alley. That could get you killed.

At that, Chen Gou frowned deeply and said he was drinking to drown his sorrows. He’d been in a bad mood, so he drank more than usual, got dizzy, and ended up here, vomiting against the wall.

As the saying goes, "Old friends are like old relatives," but instead of guns, we shared tears. Chen Gou seemed to have something on his mind, so I decided to ask what was troubling him.

He sighed and said he had always been a gambler. Recently, he got into stock trading, but things had gone terribly wrong. He’d lost so much money that his pockets were empty, racking up huge debts. To make matters worse, his girlfriend ran off with someone else. He was in real trouble.

He couldn’t even go home anymore because people were chasing him for money, and his family had threatened to sever ties with him.

I sighed. “Gambling is a deep hole. Once you’re in, it’s hard to get out. You’ll ruin your whole life if you’re not careful.”

Chen Gou waved his hand dismissively. “I just had some bad luck. And trading stocks isn’t the same as gambling.”

Technically, he was right—stocks aren’t gambling. But many people have been led to ruin by it.

Suddenly, Chen Gou stood up and started looking around at the tattoo shop.

“Not bad, Haoxi. You’ve opened a tattoo shop in Zhonghai City? Must be doing well. You’ve probably made a lot of money, huh?” he said.

“Eh, it’s okay,” I replied humbly, scratching my head.

If this were a normal tattoo shop, it’d probably have gone bankrupt already. I made money because of the ghost tattoos, which are a type of dark art. But Chen Gou knew about ghost tattoos too. He said he’d heard about them from the people in the village.

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“Hey, Haoxi, I heard your grandfather taught you some really mystical tattoos. Can you help me out? Do you have any tattoos that can improve my luck? I’m in a really bad spot lately.” Chen Gou pleaded.

I told him there were such tattoos, but they weren’t cheap.

There are two types of luck-improving tattoos: one is the "Five Paths to Wealth Talisman" (五路财神符), and the other is more sinister. The second type is called "Five Ghosts Bring Wealth" (五鬼运财).

The "Five Ghosts Bring Wealth" tattoo is dangerous. According to my grandfather, it should not be done lightly. It’s a tattoo where you trade your life for one night of wealth. If you get this tattoo, you’ll have to repay it in double later. The consequences of getting it wrong could be disastrous.

This tattoo is for people in desperate situations who need money to survive. If someone is dying, losing a few years of life doesn’t matter as much.

On the other hand, the "Five Paths to Wealth Talisman" is simpler to tattoo and doesn’t have such strong effects, but it can still improve your luck. The cost for one is about ten thousand yuan.

Chen Gou laughed bitterly when he heard the price. “I barely have a few dozen yuan on me. How can I afford ten thousand?”

I thought for a moment and said, “You can pay me later. Given our friendship, I’m not worried you’ll skip out on me. Back in the day, we shared clothes and ice lollies, so money isn’t worth breaking our bond. But I want to help you out now.”

However, there was one condition: if your luck turns around and you make some money, you need to pay back your debts. And you must stop gambling—no more stock trading.

Chen Gou swore right then and there that if he paid back everything, he would never trade stocks again. If he did, he’d end up worse off.

Seeing how sincere he was, and knowing our strong friendship, I decided to help him out just this once and gave him the tattoo for free.

The "Five Paths to Wealth Talisman" should be tattooed on the hand because the hand is the one that holds wealth—money comes from your hands.

I took Chen Gou to the tattoo room and started the tattoo, using the needle and ink to create the Five Paths to Wealth Talisman on his hand.

It was a relatively simple design, and it only took about two hours to complete—a basic talisman symbol.

“Will it actually work?” Chen Gou asked skeptically, looking at the symbol on his hand. Can this little talisman really improve his luck?

I said, “You probably won’t become a billionaire overnight, but if it’s just small money, that should be fine.”

“Small money? How small? A few yuan?” Chen Gou said with a bitter smile, clearly unimpressed.

I said, “I’m not sure. It depends on your fate. Some people are born poor, and no matter how much the gods try to help, they can’t give you much.”

Chen Gou nodded as if he understood, and after a few more words of casual conversation, he said he was going to leave. I asked him, “Aren’t you afraid to go home? You can stay here for a few nights if you want.”

Chen Gou refused. He said he would stay at a friend’s place and not disturb me. If the debt collectors found out where I lived, they might trash the shop. After saying that, he left.

After Chen Gou left, Xiaozi Xing shook his head and sighed.

I asked him what was wrong.

Xiaozi Xing said, “You’re trusting a gambler? If Chen Gou could quit gambling, he wouldn’t be in this mess. And what’s this about staying at a friend’s house? That’s just nonsense.”

Maybe Xiaozi Xing was right, but I just wanted to help him this one time. If he didn’t change, then I couldn’t do anything about it. Our brotherly bond would be over.

After finishing the Five Paths to Wealth Talisman, it was already past 2 AM. I quickly washed up and went to bed with Xiaozi Xing.

Around 5 AM, there was a knock at the door. When I opened it, I could barely keep my eyes open. I was about to get angry—how dare someone disturb my sleep before dawn? Even God wouldn’t have the nerve to do that.

But when I saw who it was, my attitude changed instantly. It was Su Qing. This girl was scarier than God, and I didn’t dare mess with her.

“Grandma, it’s only five o'clock! Don’t you have class today? Why are you knocking on my door so early? You’re killing me. I didn’t fall asleep until after two!” I complained.

“大哥, you think I wanted to come here so early?” Su Qing yawned, obviously as tired as I was. “Look at today’s date.”

I checked my phone and instantly snapped to attention.

The 15th! Today was the 15th, the day for collecting morning dew.

With the morning dew and the corpse-removal talisman, we could finally start working on Xu Meng’s Corpse Fetus!

But after the ghost woman’s threat, Xu Meng’s mood seemed off. I wasn’t sure how she was doing now.

“Let’s go, let’s get the morning dew from Xu Meng,” I said, pulling Su Qing as we headed straight for Xu Meng’s house.