Chapter 29:Cannibalism

This ring, I knew it... This was Niu Xiao’er's ring. On that day, before he went to the gambling boat, he showed me the ring.

Now, the hand with Niu Xiao’er's ring appeared in the show window of his room. I thought Niu Xiao’er's story wasn’t as simple as Zhang said.

But I dared not say anything, because when I saw this hand, I knew Zhang was not to be trifled with.

So, I went out of the hotel in silence so as not to arouse suspicion from brother Zhang.

I felt that Zhang lied to me, so I found other people to ask about Niu Xiao’er.

The most powerful person I knew, except Zhang, was Liu the Sixth.

So, I took a few cigarettes and a red envelope of three thousand Yuan, and asked him to help me inquire about Niu Xiao’er.

He refused my cigarettes and red envelopes on the spot, and told me with righteousness, "Niu Xiao’er was a gambler. In order to gamble, he even sacrificed his fingers. For such people, death is a mercy, so why bother asking about him? It’s a waste of time and effort.”

Liu the Sixth was not willing to help me. I could only put the red envelope back in my pocket and leave his home.

After I went back to the tattoo room, he phoned me and warned me about two things.

First, not to worry about Niu Xiao’er. Such a person would end up dead anyway, sooner or later.

Second, to stay away from brother Zhang. No matter why Niu Xiao’er's hand appeared in the display window of his house, he was not kind, and dealing with such a person, I might one day end the same way as Niu Xiao’er's hand.

I sighed, also did not intend to continue to ask about Niu Xiao’er. After all, I was benevolent to him, I did my best, but couldn’t find anything. I couldn't do anything. After all, I was just a small tattoo artist, just like a worm walking in the city. At any time I could be crushed to death by those kinds of people.

I decided not to know why Niu Xiao’er had died. However, a watched flower never blooms, but an untended willow grows.

About six months after this thing happened, a guest came to my shop for a tattoo. When he saw the design of the "ghost hand catching the money" tattoo hanging in the tattoo shop, his face changed. Pointing at the "ghost hand catching the money" design, he said, "This tattoo, I have seen a person with this tattoo. He died very miserably.”

I knew immediately that the guest had seen Niu Xiao’er.

I invited him to drink. At the table, I asked clearly about Niu Xiao’er's death.

It turned out that most of Zhang's story was true. At the time, Niu Xiao’er was actually framed by the boat people and was locked in a cage.

He said to all the people on the boat, including the guests, that he had the "ghost hand catching the money" tattoo, so he couldn’t possibly cheat.

After that, he touched several gambling cards, and each gambling card had the largest number of points on the spot inside.

He shocked a lot of people.

But it was useless. A man took an axe to cut off his hand.

A vicious gambling boat boss wanted to kill Niu Xiao’er. He told the others, “Eat the meat of Niu Xiao’er, gamble later. His luck is absolutely good, and his hand is the symbol of luck.”

The guest who had been drinking with me said, "We gambling people are superstitious; we can't lend someone a light while playing a card. We did not know what to think, and really started to eat that person's flesh."

Then he added, “Not only to eat the meat, but also to bid for it.”

The boss on the boat auctioned Niu Xiao’er's meat. A finger-weight of meat went for a price of more than four thousand Yuan.

The gamblers were unwilling again.

As a result, the boss began to incite them and said, "This guy won by luck. Can you see that person's winning vibe was so good that he could win tens of millions of Yuan and never lose? Can’t you? This guy has absolutely amazing luck."

The people on board, had lost their minds for the money, and they listened to these inflammatory words. One by one they all bought Niu Xiao’er's meat to eat, and his "ghost hand" was bought by a rich man, and after several circulations came into Zhang's hands. Zhang had the hand preserved and put it in his hotel as a luck charm.

Niu Xiao’er was buried in the belly of the gamblers that night.

Finally, he was eaten into an empty skeleton and thrown into the sea.

All the things that really happened, I couldn't believe it was true. I felt this plot only appeared in horror films. I never thought someone would eat human meat. My best friend from my student days was indeed eaten alive by others.

As I talked with the guest, he picked up a piece of raw beef and put it directly into his mouth. After chewing for a while he spit it out. With a mouth full of blood he said to me, "Beef is really unpalatable. That night, I also ate a piece of meat of that brother, and it tasted more delicious than pig, cattle or sheep.”

My skin was crawling with goose bumps.

......

This was the story of Niu Xiao’er. From then on, I almost never gave anyone Yin tattoos.

Time to go back to Niu Xiao’er that afternoon on the boat.

He went out of my tattoo room, but I had more business with a Yin and Yang Tattoo.

This time, the one in need of a Yin and Yang Tattoo was my next-door neighbor's girl.

My neighbor was a poor man. His daughter, Bai Ling, finished studying the year before. She no longer went to school, and directly went out to work.

In just half a year, Bai Ling sent home one hundred thousand Yuan.

A woman with no diploma, no craft, who looked very good, went out for half a year and sent home one hundred thousand Yuan.

We all knew what happened to her, but her father did not react about that. When he saw others, he said his daughter had skills. In half a year she earned one hundred thousand Yuan.

However, a few days later, a variety of rumors came to the village. Then her father also knew exactly what was going on, holding his tail in silence.

On one occasion, her father went out to drink, built up a temper at the bar and said he went to the city that day, and broke the legs of Bai Ling, a woman who became a prostitute and lost her family's face.

However, at the end of last year, Bai Ling drove back home in a GTR.

In my hometown, few people knew what this GTR was.

But even if they didn't know, with the appearance of a GTR there, they said Bai Ling made a lot of money.

Some young people said this GTR cost more than two million.

Suddenly her father picked up his face, because he felt a prostitute could only earn a few hundreds a night, so how could she afford to buy a two million Yuan car? Absolutely impossible.

Therefore, her father said everywhere that his daughter was really capable, while the villagers said Bai Ling was lucky. She probably bought a few lottery ticket sand won the prize.

Others said Bai Ling was married to a tycoon in the city.

Until one night when Bai Ling's parents and relatives gathered in their own, when they found out that Bai Ling was really rich, and also had a business. They heard that she had a very successful hotpot restaurant. Bai Ling was really capable.

Then, Bai Ling suddenly became the inspirational idol of the village. A rural girl went to the city, and relying only on herself, opened a large hotpot restaurant, earning millions of Yuan.

...... But was it really that simple?

I did not know how complicated it was until Bai Ling told me. I just knew; the truth of the matter was often cruel.

On that afternoon, I sat in the tattoo room waiting for customers. The phone rang with a WeChat call from someone called ‘White Lotus’.

White Lotus was her WeChat ID.

When Bai Ling was in grade two of junior school and could not apply for QQ, I had helped her apply.

Thus, when I used WeChat later, her account was automatically added to my contacts.

Her WeChat had been silent and the circle of friends had not been updated, like it was dead.

She said to me: "Brother, are your Yin and Yang Tattoos really effective? Rich, whether alive or dead, and safe when going out? It seems like it settles lots of evil things."

I immediately replied to her: “As long as it is a problem of evil, you can find me. A Yin and Yang Tattoo can solve it... You're my neighbor. I'll give you a discount.”

"OK." She asked me about the exact location of the tattoo room and said she will cometo see me in the afternoon.

I said OK, and waited for her in the studio.

It was strange, but that afternoon, the first person who came to my tattoo room was not Bai Ling, but a beggar.

The beggar, dressed in rags, had a white skin with an iron plate in one hand, and a steel rod in the other hand. He started clanging on the iron plate.

“One two, one two three”

The beggar knocked on the iron plate and shouted at me: “There is a person among the Yin people. He is good at Yin and Yang Tattoos. He helps others by using Yin and Yang Tattoos, but brings misfortune to himself.”

I was not going to pay attention to the beggar.

In my neighborhood, there were always some beggars who sat at your door and sang, disturbing the business. If you didn't give them money, they wouldn’t go, and you couldn't make them leave otherwise.

But I was not afraid, I operated tattoo parlor and a lot of the customers had reservations. Usually no one came in randomly off the street. If he sang one afternoon, I may not lose one penny. If anyone came, I would close the door and do the tattoo inside.I didn't care what he sang outside.

But when this beggar sang, I knew something was wrong.

‘Inside, yin people, Yin and Yang Tattoo, be good at the criminal life, related to the cause, one day to the night harm to the evil’. I felt the beggar seemed to point directly at me.

I walked to the door with haste and reprimanded the beggar: “Why are you singing in front of my shop? I do business seriously.”

"Do business seriously? Ha!” The beggar listened, smiled, and began to knock on the iron plate, babbling: “Yin and Yang Tattoos, separate Yin and Yang, related to ghosts, harm life....”