Chapter 2: Dad, I Lost to Dragon Two on Purpose!

Fengxia called out happily, “Mother, Grandma, Father is awake!”

Jiazhen and Madam Xu hurriedly turned around at the sound, then rushed over at once. Madam Xu seized her son’s hand and looked him over from head to toe, her eyes filled with concern.

“My son, are you feeling unwell anywhere? You frightened us half to death. Come, lie back down. You still have a wound on your head.”

“Mother, Jiazhen, I’m fine now,” Xu Fugui said. “I’ve been lying down for so long that my body’s gone stiff. I want to get up and walk around a little.”

Seeing that her son was unharmed, Madam Xu finally let out a breath of relief.

“Fugui, don’t blame your father. You truly drove him to it, and that’s why he struck you. He actually worries about you more than anyone. You understand that, don’t you?”

“Mother, I know.”

Xu Fugui spoke remorsefully. “I know I was wrong. I was a complete bastard, not fit to be called a man. I ruined a perfectly good family. I wronged Father and Mother, I wronged Jiazhen, and I made Fengxia suffer too. I’m nothing but a beast…”

As he spoke, he began slapping his own face. Each blow landed heavily, without the slightest restraint. He truly hated himself. Two days earlier, while gambling with Long Er and the Pan family’s young master in a brothel in town, Jiazhen—heavily pregnant—had walked more than ten miles to persuade him to come home. Not only had he refused to listen, he had even shoved her aside. He had no idea how she had managed to return in the middle of the night. She must have been utterly heartbroken.

He really was a worthless piece of trash.

Jiazhen was frightened by the sight and hurried to stop him.

“Fugui, have you gone mad? Why are you hitting yourself? It’s enough that you know you were wrong. As long as you never gamble again and we live properly from now on, everything will get better.”

That was simply the kind of person Jiazhen was—soft-hearted and kind. Her husband had committed such a grave wrong and squandered the entire family fortune, yet she did not utter a single word of reproach.

Gamble again? Where would he find the money for that? The brothel madam probably would not even let him through the door anymore.

“Fugui… Fugui…”

At that moment, his father’s somewhat feeble voice came from inside the house. Xu Fugui entered the adjoining side room. His father had fallen ill from the anger his son had caused him and was now lying in bed with a towel over his forehead, his expression weak and drained.

Xu Fugui came to the bedside and called softly, “Father, are you… are you all right now?”

Afraid that her husband might lose his temper again, Madam Xu tried to placate him.

“Master, our son knows he was wrong. He was just slapping himself outside, you know. Look, his face is already swollen and red. Please don’t get angry again.”

Xu’s father spoke faintly. “You two go outside first. I have a few words to say to Fugui. Go on.”

“But don’t hit our son again,” Madam Xu said, still somewhat uneasy. Then she reminded him, “Fugui, don’t anger your father anymore, either.”

“I know, Mother.”

Once they had left, only father and son remained in the room. Xu’s father removed the towel from his forehead, struggled up from the bed, and leaned against the headboard. He patted the edge of the bed beside him.

“Fugui, come and sit here.”

Xu Fugui sat down beside him.

“Long ago, our Xu family’s ancestor raised a chicken. When the chicken grew large, it became a goose. When the goose grew large, it became a sheep. When the sheep grew large, it became a cow. That was how our Xu family built its fortune.”

Xu’s father spoke to Fugui, though he sounded almost as if he were talking to himself.

“When it came into my hands, that cow became a sheep, the sheep became a goose, and when it reached you, the goose became a chicken. Now even the chicken is gone.”

As he spoke, he gave a dry little laugh and extended his left hand. The tip of his little finger was missing. That too was one of the disasters his son had caused. In the past, his father had chopped off part of the finger to make him quit gambling. He had settled down for a while and stayed peacefully at home, but it had not lasted long. His addiction had returned, and he had gone back to town to gamble.

Raising two fingers, Xu’s father sighed.

“Our Xu family has produced two wastrels—you and me—and together we’ve squandered the entire fortune our ancestors built. Fugui, your mother and I are old now. We won’t be able to help you much in the future. You’ve started a family, you have children, and Jiazhen is pregnant again. From now on, you’ll have to rely on yourself.

“Gambling debts are debts all the same. I’ve mortgaged the family houses, the land deeds, and all the more than a hundred acres of tribute fields outside town. I exchanged everything for cash. Someone will bring the money tomorrow. You must take it into town yourself and repay your gambling debts.

“This is all your father can do for you. From now on, you’ll have to depend on yourself. On yourself…”

His father’s dark, wrinkled palm gently patted his hand, while his voice grew weaker and weaker.

Xu Fugui’s heart jolted. After they had moved out of their old residence and gone to live in a crude hut at the foot of the mountain, his father had once fallen from the top of the privy into the cesspit while using the toilet—and died.

In truth, Xu Fugui knew that his father had simply lost the will to live. He had grown old, only to see the family’s enormous fortune vanish in an instant. What would become of the whole family? How could he face their ancestors in the afterlife? His father’s health had actually been quite good. He had been strong and vigorous, and could easily have lived another ten or twenty years.

Having been given another chance at life, Xu Fugui could not repeat his former mistakes. He immediately said, “Father, I’m an unfilial son. I’ve made the whole family suffer because of me. I swear I’ll never gamble again. If I do, may Heaven strike me dead, and may I die a horrible death.

“Father, didn’t you just say that our Xu family began its fortune with a single chicken? I’ll work hard from now on. I’ll raise a chicken, then turn it into a goose, and raise that into a sheep and then a cow. You must live well. I still have to serve you properly and fulfill my duty as a son.”

Xu’s father nodded in satisfaction.

“Fugui, hearing you say that puts my mind at ease. But turning a chicken into a cow is no simple matter. The fortune our Xu family built was accumulated through the hard work and perseverance of several generations. It’s enough that you have the intention.”

Xu Fugui knew very well that he had spent his days eating, drinking, and amusing himself, living a life in which food was brought to his mouth and clothes were held out for him. Even when he walked, he had Long Gen, a servant of the household, carry him. He was weak as a chicken, idle and good for nothing. With what ability could he possibly rebuild the fortune the Xu family had lost?

There was no time to worry about all that. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Father, I have something to tell you. You must never mention it to anyone—not even Mother or Jiazhen.”

Seeing how serious his son was, Xu’s father nodded.

“Go on.”

Xu Fugui lowered his voice. “Father, I actually lost that gambling match against Long Er a few days ago on purpose.”

“Fugui!” Xu’s father’s voice sank at once. “You lost, so you lost. Don’t bring it up again.”

Clearly, he did not believe him. Was his son a fool? Why would anyone deliberately lose to another man?

“Father, I’m telling you the truth,” Xu Fugui insisted. “That night, Long Er and I were playing dice, betting on the higher number. That man was extremely deceitful. At first, he deliberately let me win. Once I had tasted success, I threw all the money into a single round. Long Er took advantage of the moment when he was wiping his hands with a wet towel and switched the three dice on the table.

“The insides of those three dice had been hollowed out and filled with mercury. No matter who threw them, they would always roll until the side with the highest number faced upward. That’s why I lost.”