Chapter 58: Top Lottery

That slip was red, its tip sharpened to a point; the red‑skirted girls fought over it with too much force, and when the slip flew out it shot toward me like a small arrow.

Li Qingying instinctively moved to block it, but the two girls were so competitive that they both lunged forward, each trying to grab the slip.

The ash‑gray girl knocked Li Qingying aside, and the red‑skirted girl seized the slip.

But she pulled too hard, lost her balance, and the instant she gripped the slip her whole body lunged toward the sitting clock.

Around the sitting clock lay incense, its surface rough, and wooden plaques hung all over it.

With that lunge, she was bound to draw blood.

In this sacred Buddhist place, seeing blood where incense is offered is surely bad.

What's more, she was wearing a red dress!

Those who sincerely worship Buddha pay attention to their attire and would not wear skirts into the temple, since bowing and kneeling would be improper otherwise.

Moreover, it was such a bright red dress, its hem lifting in the wind, exposing her underwear—utterly disrespectful.

In that situation I had no choice but to intervene, grabbing the red‑skirted girl.

The red‑skirted girl had just steadied herself when she eagerly looked at the slip, then burst out laughing: "Top lottery! Look, I got the top lottery!"

She was so overexcited she didn't notice me beside her, and as she raised her hand the slip sliced my arm.

I felt a sting right away, lifted my hand to look, and saw a small cut on the side of my forearm, oozing a bead of blood.

Li Qingying saw it too, grabbed the red‑skirted girl, and made her apologize to me.

At that moment I got a clear look at the slip in the red‑skirted girl's hand.

Very strange.

That slip had no header, verse, or interpretation, nor was it numbered; it bore only three large characters in blood‑red gold outline: "Top Lottery."

The red‑skirted girl had obtained the long‑dreamed‑of top lottery, and she ran off excitedly to share the joy with her friends.

The ash‑gray girl stamped her foot, eyes welling with tears of anger.

If it weren't for the red‑skirted girl, that top lottery would have been hers.

Li Qingying still wanted to seize the red‑skirted girl and reason with her, but I pulled her back and shook my head.

People like that have no manners; I don't want to cause trouble in a temple.

Fortunately the wound was neither big nor deep; after a few drops of blood it clotted.

We didn't let that little incident bother us; we went down the mountain together and each drove off in our own car.

On the way back, Li Qingying drove while I sat in the passenger seat chatting; I kept feeling something odd about my neck—cool and empty when I reached up, but found nothing.

Back at the pawnshop, after dinner Li Qingying and I huddled behind the counter folding gold ingots and the like.

Folding while we talked.

Li Qingying asked, "Xiao Jiu, you said you had something to tell me on the way back from Jiyu Si—what is it?"

My folding motion paused, I hesitated, then said, "Senior Li, that girl came looking for me."

Li Qingying was bewildered: "Who?"

"The one beside the Fox Lord at Gui Shi." I said.

Li Qingying frowned: "What does she want with you? Do you know her?"

I shook my head: "I can't say for sure—do you remember the girl wearing a mask in the painting Tang Xun gave me?"

Li Qingying thought for a moment, then her eyes widened in disbelief: "You mean…?"

I hummed in affirmation and asked, "Is she very much like her?"

That day Li Qingying also saw the girl's profile; comparing the two, the answer became clear.

Li Qingying nodded: "You're right, she does look very much like her… but so what?"

"Liu Junyan hides someone in his heart." I said, "He calls her Xiao Huoli."

Li Qingying was even more shocked: "You mean that girl is Xiao Huoli? She came to you for the Seventh Lord?"

Before I could answer, Li Qingying asked again: "Have you told the Seventh Lord about this?"

I shrugged helplessly: "I didn't say it outright; I hinted at it indirectly."

"Xiao Jiu, why don't you just tell the Seventh Lord directly?" Li Qingying exclaimed in frustration, "What are you afraid of? That he'll drop you for that girl?"

"At first I did have a little concern along those lines…"

"You're stupid!"

Li Qingying pleaded earnestly: "That painting was a gift from Feng Wu to Tang Xun; it shows her and her master. I ask you, who is Feng Wu's master?"

Feng Wu's master is me.

Feng Wu is a spiritual artifact; as my bound magic item, she has acknowledged me as her master.

So I might not be Xiao Huoli, but I am certainly the masked girl in the painting.

Adding the later dreams, I actually harbor many doubts as well.

"It's a fake!" Li Qingying declared decisively, "Maybe the Fox Lord brought it to mess with the Seventh Lord—he's done this sort of thing before! Xiao Jiu, you should explain it to the Seventh Lord."

Li Qingying harbors a deep‑seated prejudice against the Fox Lord.

But I've been thinking more: "Senior Li, I don't confront Liu Junyan directly because I want to protect him."

Li Qingying: "?"

I told Li Qingying about the girl pulling a bow on me: "Liu Junyan can't leave the pawnshop yet; I don't want this matter to push him into rash action—he's already taken two risks for me."

Once, by the river, he bore heavenly punishment and extended his serpent tail to save me.

Another time was to help me retrieve Feng Wu.

I don't know what price Liu Junyan paid the second time, but Li Qingying knows better than anyone.

So when I said that, she understood.

She fell silent for a while, then said, "Xiao Jiu, be more confident, and also trust the Seventh Lord."

I gave an "hmm".

Just then, the wind outside the door suddenly rose.

That wind came very suddenly; I and Li Qingying both felt something odd, and in unison we looked toward the doorway.

Upon seeing that, we both jumped in fright.

At some point, a girl stood at the doorway.

The girl wore a white shirt, paired with a red little vest, blue cloth work pants below, and a pair of blue cloth shoes on her feet.

Both the little vest and the work pants had patches sewn on……

This outfit…… clearly is the style of the 1960s‑70s.

However, I wasn't frightened because of that; after all, during this period, all kinds of attire have come into my pawnshop.

I'd long since gotten used to it.

What startled me and Li Qingying was that the girl had a red…… wooden tag thrust horizontally across her mouth!

That tag was shaped like a small arrow, entering from the left corner of the mouth and exiting from the right corner, its body lying across the lips, and on it were three blood‑red gilt‑lined large characters: "Upper Upper Lot"……

That tag was exactly the same as the one I saw at Jiyu Si earlier today.

Under our gaze, the girl stepped step by step into the pawnshop.

As she walked, she raised her hand, gripped one end of the tag, and forcefully pulled it out from her mouth!

Black blood flowed down along the tag, leaving two ferocious bloody holes at the corners of the girl's mouth.

She held the tag and walked up to the counter, placing the tag on it.

She strained to open her mouth, wanting to say something, but her throat felt as if gripped by an invisible hand, making it hard to produce a gurgling sound.

The tag sealed her mouth; she could not speak.

I was very nervous then, but I forced myself to stay calm and asked: "Do you want to pawn this Upper Upper Lot?"

The girl nodded vigorously, two lines of blood tears streaming down her cheeks unstoppably.

I asked: "Pawn it while alive or while dead?"

The girl raised her hand, extended a finger, dipped it in her blood tears, and slowly wrote a character on the counter: "Death!"