59 Chapter 57-The Gambler

Zhou Zishu thought his footwork had been light enough. He didn't expect the man in the room to raise his head and meet his gaze straight-on. His presence had been detected a while ago already.

Startled, he gaped at the man, who smirked at him.

So, unwilling to appear entirely petty, Zhou Zishu flopped down from the rooftop and rapped lightly on the window.

"Greetings to the owner of these lodgings," he announced himself in a clear voice. "Do forgive the intrusion of your uninvited guests."

The window opened. A man in white inner robes stood to the other side, a teacup in his hand. He examined Zhou Zishu's face for a moment before giving Wen Kexing a quick once-over. A sly smile stretched his lips.

"If these two sirs wished to watch together, they should have knocked and come in," the man said in a silky tone. "What need was there to skulk around?"

The man's voice was so soft, it was almost insubstantial; like a whisper uttered in fear of startling someone. It came with a face that resembled that of a genteel scholar: with single eyelids and a thin nose that was only

slightly bulbous at the tip1, the fellow appeared a decent enough character judging from looks alone. You would never have guessed he was the leader of the ruthless Scorpions.

Zhou Zishu was unfazed; he didn't show the faintest sign of embarrassment as he replied in a casual tone, "Thank you for the grand hospitality, but nothing of the sort will be necessary. Truth to be told, we came to inquire about something."

The Scorpions' boss threw a glance at Zhou Zishu before looking away again.

"People who seek me out only ever want one of two things," he said as if muttering to himself. "They either wish

for my children2 to commit murders and arsons, or they wish to know who hired my children to commit murders and arsons. Seeing how skilled these two gentlemen are, I'd guess they are the latter. Am I correct?"

"You are," Zhou Zishu answered in an even tone.

The Scorpions' boss set his teacup aside, crossed both arms in front of his chest, and eyed Zhou Zishu appraisingly.

"Well, what can you give me in exchange?" he asked.

"You only have to name your price," Zhou Zishu replied without hesitation, his tone so assured you'd have thought he was rolling in it.

A faint sneer curled the Scorpions' boss' lips at that. In his experience, people who answered with the brand of swagger Zhou Zishu was displaying were either so full of themselves, that they thought nothing in the heavens or on earth existed that they couldn't acquire with a mountain of silver or gold...

... Or they were people who had already made up their mind on not paying up at all: Name a price as high as the sky, and I won't haggle for a copper. All I'll have to do is not give you the money after the deed.

When the Scorpion spoke again, it was in a drawl.

"What, then, if my price were for you to sleep with me tonight? Would you agree to that too?"

Zhou Zishu made a fussy moue as he surveyed the Scorpion's face. He glided his gaze downwards to inspect the other man's waist, thighs, and butt. It was only after a full tour that he said in a reluctant tone:

"Sure."

Wen Kexing had been listening with amusement to the side. He went up in arms at once.

"Not!" he shrilled. "We've been sharing the same bed and blanket for ages and you've yet to agree to anything! And so easily too!"

Zhou Zishu rolled his eyes at him. "Do you have the answers to the questions I wish to ask?" Wen Kexing choked up.

The Scorpion laughed. He licked his lips as he swiveled his gaze wickedly between the two men before fishing out a small tube from his breast. After shaking the container twice, he tipped out two dice from it, letting them roll onto his palm.

"How about this?" he said in an airy tone. "You two will gamble with me. Win a round, and I will tell you one thing. Lose a round and..."

"Now I know why the dude's so desperate for money he exhausts himself murdering people," Wen Kexing whispered loudly to Zhou Zishu. "With a vice-like that, no fortune is large enough for him to flounder away. Ever heard of the saying, ' A heart turned to gamble; two eyes red from waking; three meals losing their taste; four limbs going to waste; five duties discarded; six relatives disregarded; seven apertures sprouting smoke; to borrow

money, in eight directions he croaks...'"3 Zhou Zishu stomped on the guy's toes.

The Scorpions' boss merely smiled as he turned to Wen Kexing. "Well, if you'd like to put it that way, you wouldn't be entirely wrong," he said. "But then, when you think about it, isn't life itself a big gambling game? So many people want to kill me: they win if I die. But if I don't die, they, as well as I, spend every waking second on tenterhooks, not knowing on which day the reaper will come to a-knocking... Tell me, don't you think a lifetime spent uneventfully would be quite the bore?"

"What if we lose the round to you?" Zhou Zishu asked, cutting short the profound debate on life's meaning between the two young'uns.

The Scorpions' boss cast Zhou Zishu a sidelong glance. "Don't you worry, I don't want your money, or your lives," he said in an unhurried voice. "If you lose a round, all you two will have to do is to put on a show for me: play nug-a-nug with each other in front of me until I'm content and refreshed from watching. Though, do consider my proposal carefully as, if you lose too many rounds... it may get hard to keep up your end of the bargain."

Zhou Zishu didn't need to think twice. "Farewell," he replied at once and with finality.

"Those stakes are excellent if you ask me!" Wen Kexing shouted at the same time, looking like he couldn't wait to lose.

Zhou Zishu pretended he didn't know the guy and turned to leave in silence. The Scorpion spoke from behind him:

"Afraid already. Ha. And there he was, telling me to name any price I wished not a minute ago."

Zhou Zishu huffed but didn't stop walking. "I'm not some child," he shot back. "So let's do without the reverse psychology, shall we?"

Beside him, Wen Kexing giggled. "Ah but... Brother Scorpion, please pardon him," he said. "My mister here is brilliant in every other aspect, but his only fault is being a little shy. That skin of his is quite tender, you see. And he is a bit timid; a smidgen bashful even, I daresay..."

Before Wen Kexing could finish his sentence, Zhou Zishu had spun around to face the Scorpion.

"What game are we gambling on? Your call," he said, face expressionless.

— It appeared that, sometimes, whether reverse psychology worked depended upon the person using it.

The Scorpion held up the small dice cup in his hand, and Zhou Zishu gave a wintry smile.

"That would only require paltry tricks," he said. "I'm sure we could play the entire night away and remain unable to distinguish a winner."

The Scorpion's brows knitted as he mulled over Zhou Zishu's words. After a brief pause, he whirled around to walk further into the room.

Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu climbed through the window, in time to see the Scorpion rummage out a small pouch containing tiny needles which were the width of an ox's hair.

Zhou Zishu scowled: he had fallen victim to those things once before.

The Scorpion plucked out one of the fine metal pins and licked it with the tip of his tongue.

"I haven't had time to coat these with poison yet," he said. "How about we make the gamble on who can eat more of them?"

Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing glanced at each other. At that moment, the same thought crossed their mind: Why isn't Ye Baiyi here?

The Scorpion narrowed his eyes. He opened wide to bite down and gnawed the needle into small segments like it was a strand of noodle. Then, he swallowed everything down in one gulp.

Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing glanced at each other again, in dismay this time. That a scorpion should also come equipped with fangs of steel was an unpleasant surprise.

The Scorpions' boss grinned.

"So. Should the two sirs take on the wagger, or shall I help them take off their robes?"

Wen Kexing appeared eager to opt for the latter. Zhou Zishu, however, abruptly picked up a cup from the table. Uncorking his own wine jug, he poured from it until he filled the cup to the brim. Next, he reached out to grab two needles and rolled them between his fingers. The needles were ground to a fine powder that was promptly dissolved in the wine.

Zhou Zishu glanced up at the Scorpion. The latter proved to be gallant: he lifted his hand in a polite salute, inviting Zhou Zishu to proceed.

Zhou Zishu furrowed his brows and drained the cup in one go. He turned the cup over to show that it was empty when he was finished.

As he watched the scene from the side, and at the expression on his companion's face, Wen Kexing reflected that the cupful couldn't have tasted any better than wine flavored with walnuts.

"Why, Brother," the Scorpion said, a grin creeping to his face. "Don't blame me for not having warned you: drinking them down with alcohol will occupy much more space in your stomach than eating them dry the way I did... Or am I to assume that the both of you are to take on me together?"

Wen Kexing hurried to wave his hand. "Oh no, no, no, no. Your humble servant, here, has neither interest in such a refined hobby nor the teeth for it. Please, you two go ahead."

Zhou Zishu chuckled. "I've eaten two of them. You've eaten only one," he stated. "Isn't that amply sufficient to declare me the winner of this round?" And before he had finished speaking, Zhou Zishu struck the top of the table with the flat of his palm. The needles flew up into the air, their cold shine flickering by candlelight.

The Scorpion felt a gust of energy rush at him; he emitted a low grunt and bent back to dodge. When he twisted around to look again, he saw that every ox-hair-thin needle had flown past him to implant themselves into the wall. They had been driven several inches deep into the mortar and retrieving them would prove impossible.

Unable to resist, Wen Kexing let out a cheer. He mused that A-Xu's trick was underhanded indeed. Completely

shameless, and completely fitting of his style. As the saying went, a good husband made a good wife! 4 Or was it the opposite in this case?

The Scorpion scowled. But then his face relaxed again.

"Brother, may I ask for your esteemed name?" he drawled.

"The name's Zhou," Zhou Zishu replied. "And the 'esteemed' isn't necessary."

The Scorpion nodded a few times.

"Brother Zhou is as clever as he is skilled," he said. "Only..."

As he spoke, he extended his palm, exposing the single needle that rested upon it.

"... Only, I fear that this round would have to count as a draw," he said, finishing his sentence with a smile before he made to bring the needle to his mouth.

Zhou Zishu, however, appeared wholly unperturbed. He merely extended his arm in turn, revealing that he too had concealed a needle within his palm. He showed no sign of trying to eat the thing, though, and only pushed his splayed hand closer to the Scorpion's. For comparison.

The Scorpion's expression changed at once. He saw only then that the needle in his palm was shorter by a good chunk than it had been before: the other man had snapped and done away with half of it without his noticing.

Zhou Zishu closed his fist and turned his portion of the needle into dust.

"Two. Against one and a half. So, what do we do now?"

The Scorpion's glare was so evil, that both Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing thought he was about to lash out. But even though the fellow's moral character was more than a little questionable, his gambling etiquette turned out to be irreproachable. After a moment's pause, the bested man averted his gaze and said, "All right, then. A wager is a wager, and the terms must be honored. What is the question you wish to ask?"

"Sun Ding aside," Zhou Zishu said, "who has paid you to end Zhang Chengling's life?"

The Scorpion started at that. He examined his two guests anew, an air of comprehension dawning on his features.

"Zhang Chengling? Ah, now I know who you two gentlemen are... My men lost track of you in Dongting, and here you are, at my doorstep already... Well, follow me then."

Whilst he spoke, the fellow hoisted up the bedboard and swooped into the entrance that was revealed beneath. Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing promptly followed suit.

The two of them dove after the Scorpion into a secret tunnel where the air was dank, dark, and uncannily sinister, standing in stark contrast to the bawdy but bright atmosphere of the brothel room left behind. With the Scorpion in the lead, they followed a spiraling passageway, climbing down innumerable flights of stairs before reaching the end of their descent at last. When they examined their surroundings, they saw they had arrived in an underground gaol where muffled howls that sounded human, yet didn't, echoed from all directions.

The two companions tensed up as one.

The Scorpions' boss retrieved a torch from the wall and went to stand before a cage, a faint smirk floating on his lips.

"Why don't you approach to take a closer look at this?" he asked. "It should be an old acquaintance of yours."

As he spoke, the silhouette of a deathly pale creature emerged from the shadows. Doubtless reacting to the sudden source of light, it pounced toward the Scorpion. But its charge was stopped by the cage's bars, and it glowered malevolently; hissing and seething with teeth bared.

Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing got a clear view then. The monster in that cage was identical to the humanoid fiends they had encountered in the mysterious underground cavern all those months ago!

The Scorpion gazed at the creature with eyes full of tenderness as if it were the most beautiful woman on earth.

"These are my drug-men5," he breathed. "They were normal human toddlers before the age of one, but after they reached their first anniversary, I've raised them on a diet of force-fed medicines. And now, look at them: they've grown bodies with skin as tough as iron and bones as hard as steel. They are ferocious in killing and are wonderful children indeed... The only thing is, they aren't quite obedient. Unruly, you may say. Because the drugs have damaged their brains, I'm sure. Something I'll have to perfect in the future."

All traces of his habitual, playful smile disappeared from Wen Kexing's face. "The trap in the cavern, were you the one who set it up?" he asked in a low voice. "Is the person paying you the Long-Tongued Devil?"

"You're correct," the Scorpion said.

"Bullshit," Wen Kexing retorted. "I killed Long-Tongue myself. Who paid for the assassins who hunted Zhang Chengling in Dongting afterward?"

A smirk stretched the Scorpion's lips.

"I've only said that the person who paid me was the Long-Tongued Devil. I've never said that nobody was behind him, pulling at the strings."

"Oh, I see," Zhou Zishu said. "That would be the answer to another question. And you mean to tell us that to get it, we'll have to make another wager. Is that it?"

The Scorpion gave a slight bow.

"I hope Brother Zhou can forgive me."

"Name your terms," Zhou Zishu replied, flipping his sleeve with impatience. "On what do we gamble?"

"Little games like the one we've already played won't do," the Scorpion said with a smile. "My kung-fu isn't as good as Brother Zhou's, nor am I as crafty, so I'd lose again for certain. How about we leave it in the hands of fate instead? We head up from here to the street outside with one of you in a blindfold, and we start counting from the moment that person touches the stone lion at the end of the street. The bet is on whether the twentieth passerby is a woman or a man. What do you say?"

"But that's quite a boring wager, isn't it?" Wen Kexing couldn't refrain from saying. "And I don't see how it would be to your advantage."

"The game we play is inconsequential," the Scorpion replied in an even tone. "What matters to me is the act of gambling itself. Just like how people need food when they are hungry and need water when they thirst, I need to gamble and couldn't keep on living if that rush was taken away from me... So, what do you say?"

Wen Kexing sighed, noting that although strange events occurred all the time, this year was one that kept on giving. "He's the one getting blindfolded," he said, pointing at Zhou Zishu. "Lest he accuses me of having ulterior motives."

Zhou Zishu cast an appraising glance at the Scorpion but didn't protest. So, Wen Kexing reached into his robe

and rummaged around for quite a while, before fishing out a long sash6 with which he covered Zhou Zishu's eyes. Then, he took hold of the blinded man's arm and said to the Scorpion:

"Please, you first."

The three of them thus fumbled their way out looking like a cluster of kids playing hide and seek. They tottered along until they reached the end of the wide street leading into the red-light district.

"Brother Zhou," the Scorpion said. "If you raise your hand, you'll feel the stone lion. Be my guest: lay your bet." Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing spoke in unison:

"Male."

Streetwalking ladies flourished in the area, but pleasure-seeking patrons thronging along were yet more numerous. And since that Scorpion fellow was magnanimous with his chances, it would have been impolite not to humor him.

As soon as the wagger was placed, a hard-to-describe expression of excitement came over the Scorpion's face. "All right," he said in an eager voice while his eyes shone and as he licked his lips.

The instant Zhou Zishu raised his hand, the Scorpion started counting the passersby. "... Eighteen... Nineteen..."

The man's antics were so infectious, that even Wen Kexing felt keyed up with suspense. Zhou Zishu, who had taken off his blindfold long ago, watched on with unblinking eyes as the twentieth person walked up.

The approaching silhouette wore long robes and their long hair... was crowned by a topknot — it was a man! 7

A grin slowly spread to Zhou Zishu's face. He was about to speak when, as the person came closer, the smile froze on his lips.

The Scorpion swept a smug gaze at his two gambling opponents before he leaped forward to stop the passerby, making them jump in fright.

"This is an area of ill repute8," the Scorpion said to them in a gentle voice. "Miss, for you to enter would be inopportune, as a young lady must be mindful of her reputation. Please retrace your steps."

A blush of scarlet color bloomed across the "man's" face at that, and the Scorpion only muttered a faint "apology" before he reached out as fast as lightning to tear away the silk scarf wrapped around their neck.

The passerby emitted a startled gasp — "his" throat was perfectly smooth and didn't present the smallest hint of a bump.

All smiles, the Scorpion turned back. He burrowed both hands into his sleeves and said in the breeziest voice: "So, Brother Zhou, what shall we do now?"

Notes

1. He is described as having a "gallbladder nose" in the text.

2. The Scorpions' boss calls his underlings his "children", which is creepy. Note that it was changed in the web series: in WoH, it's Long Xiao (the guy in the wheelchair) who calls his creatures his "children". Overall, "Scorpion King" is weirder/creepier in the novel.

3. This is a( "ten lines rhyme"). They are composed by using idioms that comprise the numbers 1 to 10, in order. The two remaining lines to the rhyme WWK cites are ( Which I would translate as, "nine-foot deep into quagmire he sinks; tenfold is the hardship that on the self he brings".)

4. humorous variation on "the wife follows when the husband sings".

5. The monsters are called, translated literally. As far as I can tell, they are a creative variation

on modern horror lore.

6. WWK fishes out a length of fabric that serves as a belt. The

the implication here is that WWK took off the belt from his underpants to blindfold ZZS with it.

7. Both men and women kept long hair in ancient China because cutting them would be considered equivalent to butchering the body. The topknot, or bun, men wore is associated with hairpieces/hair ornaments made of jade dating back to the Hongshan culture (3500 BC).

8. The expression he uses is "place of smoke and flowers" (prostitution).

This chapter is very wuxia in the sense that it shows the protagonists applying their extraordinary talents to trivial matters for comedic effect. This reminds me that humor in the narrative resonates differently in Chinese literature than it does in the western literary tradition where, centuries after the invention of the modern novel, the notion rooted in classical theatre that tragedies are nobler than comedies, that gravitas is more "high-brow" than levity, still endure as an unconscious norm.

What I mean is, that Tolkien would never write about Legolas winning at darts in a pub, while every Jin Yong character has at least a sense of humor.

To draw a more serious parallel, wuxia as a genre derives influences from Chinese opera: Wuxi or "martial plays" is a type of theatre/opera that has integrated acrobatic traditions to a degree that remains unequaled in western scenic arts. The physical prowess found in these plays centered on actions was oftentimes successfully combined with situation-based comedy because such plays were openly targetted at a wider audience that included the illiterate and kids, while still receiving enthusiastic upper-class patronage. This particular blend of comedic and acrobatic spectacles culminated in the role of the wuchou the "martial clown". (The who is also the archetype behind Jackie Chan or Stephen Chow's cinema, for example.)

Literati who chose Sophocles over Aristophanes are many in the West. But, in the East, only a fictional snob (and angsty teenager) like Jia Baoyu would dare resent martial clowns for being too garish. And even then, Cao Xueqin did not forget to tenderly depict Grandmother Jia's candid enjoyment of the Monkey King's stage stunts.

Because, fundamentally, the dichotomy of what we might call art/literature vs the rest is otherwise resolved in Confucian China: any work that is not part of the Classics is pulpy garbage, anyway.