It seemed as if I’d heard about “Nine dragons drag the coffin.”

Actually, in the tattoo circles, we could usually see the half nail tattoo and the full back tattoo in the ‘nine dragons drag the coffin’, but according to my master, it was just the ‘nine dragons drag the coffin’ in the Yin and Yang Tattoos.

I didn’t care what Feng Chunsheng said and went inside the room to get my master’s notebook.

It took me a long time to find the sheepskin book covered with a layer of dust in the cabinet, which contained the many notes I made when I was learning the craft.

I had written some key words and they just reminded me of the things my master told me.

I turned the book and found the key words as expected: ‘nine dragons’, ‘riches’ and ‘death’.

Seeing these words reminded me about what my master told to me.

At the time, he was enjoying the cool air on the bamboo chair outside.

I helped him shake the fan.

My master closed his eyes and said: “‘Nine dragons drag the coffin’ didn’t turn to me.. so I could live a few years longer.”

I was curious about what I had heard, and asked him what ‘nine dragons drag the coffin’ was.

My master then sat upright, took my hands, and said: “Shui.. As the successor to the Yin and Yang Tattoos, there will be a person with the ‘nine dragons drag the coffin’ tattoo coming to you continuously for several generations. He might bring you wealth, or disaster, or even death.”

“Your master’s master had a good relationship with ‘nine dragons drag the coffin’ and enjoyed a lifetime of wealth, and he really had a good reputation in the Shili Yangchang of Shanghai Tang; but your master’s consultant didn’t have such a good relationship with it, so he was driven to ruin, and now I’m like that, too.”

This was all of the information my master told about the “nine dragons drag the coffin.”

Then I thought about this, feeling that this might be unusual. Might Chen Yuhao be the person mentioned by my master who was given the ‘nine dragons drag the coffin’ tattoo?

What a coincidence.

I wasn’t sure about it, but I could feel Cheng Yuhao was someone unusual.

He left the message of “The room skills all around the world are from the five elements theory,” but I couldn’t understand it at all.

‘Room skills’? That sounded filthy.

Then I had some vague idea in my heart, but I could tell Feng Chunsheng that it was not because I didn’t trust him since it was so urgent that I couldn’t hide it any more.

When I went out of the door, Feng Chunsheng was holding that paper and reading: “The room skills all around the world are from the five elements theory.. What does it mean? Damn!”

“Well, don’t always study those old and bad things,” I told him.

He stood up and chuckled: “Shui.. that Chen Yuhao is a great master and what he said must be useful one day. And it was not all a hideous mess, especially the things that he had deposited.”

I grabbed that notebook and asked him: “Let me ask you, do you know that Chen Yuhao? Who is he?”

“I don’t know him at all!” Feng Chunsheng said with a smile: “I just took your money and went to Shanghai to drink with my old friend there.”

“You took my money to go to Shanghai to drink with him?” I got confused. He was not an easy man to deal with.

Feng Chunsheng then said jokingly: “Well, Shui, don’t be so sad. The ghost business is not like other common businesses when you search for customers.. Just imagine it. When you ask someone if he wanted to have the tattoo on the street he might ignore you, but he might slap you on the face if you ask him whether he wanted a Yin and Yang Tattoo.”

Then he continued: “So.. if you want to promote yourself, you need more contacts, and my brother has very many contacts. He is a fortuneteller and he also believes in Yin and Yang Tattoos, so I turned to him and I managed to get some customers. Well, the future will be great.”

“Then?” I asked him.

He said: “I told my old brother that I would go and he also told others, so last night, he called me out for tea, so I went there and met Chen Yuhao.”

“My brother told me that Chen Yuhao wanted a Yin and Yang Tattoo.” Feng Chunsheng continued: “My brother also told me.. we could be safe in this Yin and Yang business for five years if we had this successful business with him.”

I asked: “Did you brother promise what he said?”

“Hey, hey.” Feng Chunsheng giggled: “My brother has the same status as Liu the Sixth has in Fujian, so could you tell if he was telling the truth?”

Then he said: “My brother served him well, even prepared the tea.. So I guessed Chen Yuhao must have good and high status in the ghost business, which even made my brother admire him so.”

“Ok.” Then I remembered what Liu the Sixth said: “You’ll get rich by taking risks.”

Maybe it was a good chance to make a fortune from Chen Yuhao.

“All right, I will go home now. See you tomorrow.” I took that note and turned to leave.

Feng Chunsheng said: “Shui, you can go and sleep at home, but what about me?”

“You can rest in the tattoo studio.”

“No, help me to rent a house.. with spring mattress too. You can remove the money from my salary.” Feng Chunsheng shouted.

Damn, Feng Chunsheng had been a beggar for so many years, but now he wanted to have it all and eat my food.

I yelled: “Ok, it depends on your behavior.”

..

I went home and searched for a house for him. In any case, he was actually a reliable person.

I didn’t know whether it was good or bad that he brought Chen Yuhao to have a tattoo, but he was really helping me with my business and I needed to give him some benefits as his boss.

I was in my home, looking up flats for Feng Chunsheng, when Liao Min called me.

“Hello, Mr. Yu.” Liao Min said: “I had the same problem in the afternoon.”

“Do you want to tell me the truth?” I asked him.

Liao Min told me: “It is not because I don’t want to tell the truth, I just don’t want to offend the person behind me. So please, give that “half emperor snake” Yin tattoo for me. Please save my life.”

I sighed, shook my head and told her: “Liao Min, I don’t care what business you were doing, nor whether you are a sales girl or not, but I have to show mercy to you, so let me tell you something. Actually these Yin and Yang Tattoos are not for general purpose usage and they each have their definite target. You have a different situation and it must be tackled via different methods with different patterns. You will die an even worse death if I give you that tattoo hastily based on incomplete facts, do you understand?”

“Oh..”

“Please don’t be like that. You just tell me the truth if you want, or you can never tell me if you like.” Then I hung up the phone.

What exactly happened to this woman?

I shook my head and continued to look for the house.

It was not easy to find a single-bedroom flat. The rent was eight hundred Yuan per month. I paid three months’ rent and an extra month for a deposit and went back home.

When I arrived home, I looked up “room skills” on the computer.

I was very surprised at the results, because we had assumed these were “romance skills” to explain romantic things for men and women.

“Room skills” meant the matter of building houses.

“The room skills all around the world are from the five elements theory,” so this sentence also had some relationship with house building?

I lay on the bed, thinking about it for a long time, then I remembered one thing.. Liao Min was selling houses, so she must have some relation with house building.

Maybe Chen Yuhao was reminding me about Liao Min?

Forget it.

I couldn’t figure it out. I lay on the bed thinking about the money I had earned through these two businesses.

I earned forty thousand from Miss Green when I helped her lose weight with the Indra tattoo.

I earned forty thousand from Li Muzi, too.

Combined, I earned eighty thousand Yuan, and this was one tenth of the medical costs for my mother.

I was really happy. I took the phone and gave it a few hard kisses. It was all money that could save my mother’s life.

Then Miss Green called me and said: “Hello, Brother Shui. Your tattoo is really effective. I couldn’t lose weight, but I can restrain myself from eating too much.”

“That’s good, you just come tomorrow to get the color.”

“Ok.” She smiled and asked me: “By the way.. Shui, it was a Yang tattoo, so there also must be Yin tattoos, right?”

I suddenly sat up and asked her: “How do you know about that?”

She told me there was a grandmother in the gym. She was a witch and had heard about Yin and Yang Tattoos long ago.

That night, the female members invited her home and that witch told them clearly that there was every Yang tattoo had a corresponding Yin tattoo. There was an Indra Yang tattoo to lose weight, but there was also a relevant Yin tattoo.

Yin tattoos had a better effect.

Damn, Miss Green wanted to get a Yin tattoo, too?

I shook my head: “Don’t talk nonsense, that’s impossible.”

“It’s true.” She said: “Last night, I went everywhere to get an answer. Some time ago there was a woman who was given a Yin tattoo for marital fidelity, right?”

“Yes.” How could I say no? How did she know all this?

Miss Green smiled and said: “Well, you just give me that Yin tattoo to lose my weight, or else, you will be breaching the contract.”

“Oh..” I persuaded her: “Girl, don’t be such a fool. Yin tattoos are very evil but Yang tattoos are good.. Now you can lose weight with that Yang tattoo, so why do you want to have a Yin tattoo?”

“But it’s too slow.” Miss Green said: “I heard that Yin tattoos are very effective for losing weight. You must give me back the money for breaking the contract if you don’t do it for me.”

“Why do I have to accept the penalty?” I was a little confused.

Miss Green hung up: “I will get my lawyer to talk with you tomorrow.. You have to pay me back and the liquidated damage is two hundred thousand if you don’t give me that Yin tattoo.”

I.. I didn’t know what to say. Liquidated damage of two hundred thousand? Are you joking?

And how did I breach the contract?

I was very angry at her, and I would talk to her tomorrow.

She didn’t want that Yang tattoo, but the Yin tattoo. It would just bring about one's own destruction.

Early the next morning I rode my electric bike to the studio and wanted to have a talk with Miss Green.

When I went upstairs, I found that fat Miss Green was already waiting for me at the gate with a man in a black suit.