Chapter 2: Chapter 2: My Spirit Charmer Cousin
"I want to buy amulets from him", I stammered, feigning confidence.
The tough looking man pulled aside a curtain behind him, revealing a hidden metal door. He knocked a few times and a small crack opened. The men waved me through. Once my eyes adjusted, I saw poker tables, mahjong, and stacks of cards. This had to be an underground casino. Gambling is banned in Thailand so casinos are run illegally. That explained the strange men at the butcher counter.
The inside of the casino was a lot larger than what it seemed like from the outside, housing over ten tables, each packed with sweaty gamblers, cigarette smoke and a sticky desperation hung in the air. There were people playing mahjong, pai gow, dice, and poker. I realized I forgot to ask Fang Gang what he looks like, so I asked two men chatting by the wall.
"Excuse me, could you tell me who Mr. Fang Gang is?"
One of the men languidly pointed at another man sitting at a table at the far end of the room. This man appeared to be very skinny, medium height. His slender face was full of pockmarks and was darkly tanned. He wore a checkered shirt with the top buttons open, revealing a chest full of tattoos. On his neck hung a thick gold chain with three amulets. He also wore a green Rolex, seemingly boasting about his income or maybe underground connections.
"Are you Mr. Fang Gang? I have some business with you." I said to him.
Fang Gang blew a few puffs of smoke from his cigarette, but did not look up from his game of pai gow. Everyone else nervously watched as he flipped through his cards. Cursing to himself, Fang Gang threw his stack of cards on the table as one other man cheered in Thai and grabbed a large pile of money from the centre of the table. Fang Gang looked at me through the corner of his eye and asked me with a frustrated tone, "The fuck you want?"
"I am from Liaoning. I am going back to China tomorrow and I promised a friend that I will bring her an amulet. My cousin referred me to you." I replied hastily.
"Who the fuck is your cousin?" Fang Gang asked.
"Wu Bingcai. He runs a jewelry factory."
Fang Gang furrowed his brow and twitched his lips. "Ahh, it is Mister Wu from Rayong. He bought two good fortune kumans from me before. Now his business is so profitable, yet he still has not brought me out to lunch to thank me." Fang Gang stood up after he finished speaking. A few gamblers tried to stop him but to no avail. Fang Gang did not heed other gambler's protest as he walked outside, motioning me to follow him with his hand.
Outside the butcher shop, Fang Gang walked towards an old Toyota pickup truck parked on the side of the road. "What amulet do you want? What price range are you looking for? And what effects do you need?" He said as we walked toward his truck.
"It's for a female classmate. She asked for one that could give protection and she doesn't want to pay more than three thousand RMB." I replied.
Fang Gang looked at me. "How much do you want to make out of this?"
I was surprised by his frankness, so I replied, "I am not really sure. I have never done this before." Fang Gang chuckled as he opened the door of his pickup truck and brought out an amulet.
"I have a brand new Phra Pitda that I obtained from the temple yesterday. Guaranteed Light Amulet. I can give it to you for two thousand. It's a good deal for you. What do you think?" Fang Gang swung the amulet lightly in front of me. I was overjoyed. I tried to grab it to inspect it closely but Fang Gang took his hand back and held out his left palm. I understand that he is asking for money but I couldn't give it to him without informing Lu. I told him that I wanted to show it to my classmate first but my phone could not send messages outside of China.
Fang Gang took out his phone from his pocket, the latest and greatest Motorola V3, which made me envious. Fang Gang told me to hold the amulet up in front of me and he took a picture of it with me as background. There are temples everywhere in Thailand as much as there are bus stops in the States, so he made me take a picture holding the amulet in front of a temple as well. He then texted. "High monk enchanted Phra Pitda amulet from XX Temple, Rayong Thailand" and sent it with expert movement.
Not long after, Fang Gang's phone rang. He handed it to me without even looking at the caller, knowing very well who it was. Like he predicted, on the other side of the line was my classmate, excited and giggly. "Oh my god Tian Qi, you really are in Thailand! I want this amulet. Please pay for me. I will pay you back when we meet again." She said to me.
I told her 'of course'. I wouldn't have considered that an old classmate would do something like not paying back. At that time, I was living on a very tight budget. I had only brought around 2000 rmb to Thailand, which was almost my entire savings. When I was going to pay Fang Gang, he shook his head and said, "Two thousand is not enough. You need to pay me two thousand and one hundred."
"Did you say it was two thousand just now?" I was confused.
Fang Gang glared at me with an annoyed look. "What? You think international pictures are free to send? Do you think it is free to call internationally?" My mouth dropped from the shock. So this is what my cousin meant when he said Fang Gang is stingy. I reluctantly pulled out an extra 100 rmb and handed it to him, then carefully tucked the amulet away. Before I left, Fang Gang smiled and patted me on the back. "Thank you bro. You seem like a nice person. We can collaborate more in the future if you want. I sell Light Amulets from two grand to five grand RMB, and Dark Amulets can go from five grand to fifteen grand or even more. Official temple's Kumanthongs can go from five grand to twenty grand, and spirit infused kumanthongs can go from ten grand to thirty grand. Ghost Babies starts at thirty grand. Ask the customers what they want first, then I can send you the specific prices and details to you."
I barely understood a word he said, but nodded all the same. Fang Gang snorted, recognizing my confusion. Then he explained that "official temples have monks and mainstream sorcerers, which are commonly called White Clothed Achan (Achan means master in Thai), who enchant amulets with no spirit magic. We call these amulets Light Amulets. On the other hand, alternative style sorcerers are called Black Clothed Achan and they use dark materials to make amulets, called Dark Amulets. Dark Amulets are much more effective in achieving what they promise. Kumanthong are statues shaped like young children, and spirit infused kumanthongs are injected with spirits which makes them stronger than standard kuman. Ghost Babies are made by drying out a dead fetus, which increases the magical abilities even more."
I still had problems comprehending so much information but I took down what he said in the draft section of my messages. Just as we were about to say goodbye, he reminded me that he could help with anything supernatural and spiritual related, and he was just a call away. He tapped his shining new phone.
Suddenly, I recalled the dried corpse from my cousin's house, so I asked Fang Gang about it. He stared at me for some time with a look in his eye I could not quite understand, and then replied, "It's called spirit charming. What you saw is the dried up corpse from a fetus, enchanted by Black Clothed Achan to make into an object for worship. Very powerful effect. What? Is Mister Wu a spirit charmer as well? No wonder his business is THAT GOOD!" I realized that I revealed something that I was not meant to reveal, so I thanked Fang Gang and told him I had to leave.
On my way back to Rayong, I thought to myself, Fang Gang seems like a vicious person, but he is also quite friendly. He even thanked me as I left. Seems like one really can't judge a book by its cover. However, it was long after that point when I found out why he thanked me on that day.
When I reached home, I immediately called Lu to meet up. She was ecstatic when she saw this amulet, as she enthusiastically gave me thirty hundred RMB bills. She put on the amulet, smiled widely, and offered to buy me lunch. Just like that, I made my first income as an amulet merchant. Nine hundred RMB profit; that is like a month of my salary. I thought the story would end there, but never had I thought that Fang Gang and I would become business partners in the near future, and I became a part of a very special community, one of the sacred amulet dealers. That was the moment my life changed forever, the moment my 'peculiar' life started.
Half a month later, Lu invited us back for another student reunion. Everyone was confused about the short time interval. Why did we need a reunion so soon again? But we all went anyway. During the dinner, Lu excitedly told us what happened to her a few days ago. Apparently she went on a bus tour of Yunnan, a province in Western China famous for its natural beauty. On the bus ride, she got an incredible stomach ache. The guide had no choice but to drop her off at an inn on the side of the highway while the bus continued the trip. Almost as soon as she checked into the hotel, Lu felt fine. The following morning she discovered the bus ran off the highway into a ravine because of a brake malfunction, killing two people and seriously injuring fifteen more. She was the only one on the trip who escaped with no harm. This event was broadcast on the news of many local channels in Yunnan. Lu watched with disbelief and shock, gripping the amulet wrapped around her neck.
Whether or not Lu's experience actually had to do with the Pitda, everyone believed it was the amulet's effect that protected her because it is too much of a coincidence. After that, I was no longer that poor loser in the eyes of my classmates. Everyone thought that I must be some powerful figure behind a mask of the ordinary.
Two days later, my cousin called me again, asking when if I had plans to visit Thailand again. Cousin Wu has no other relatives in Thailand and I understood his loneliness. In our chat I talked about what happened to Lu after I sold her the amulet from Fang Gang, and how she picked up a life from the scrap pile of that bus.
"It isn't strange really, that is why people want amulets after all." Cousin Wu answered. "By the way, I have a friend called Li. He is one of the workers sent by PetroChina to Thailand to help build a new oil pipeline. He was working in Rayong too. A few days ago I saw him looking sad and weary and asked about what happened to him. He said that his son was acting strange, but was not sick or anything. I was afraid that it might be supernaturally related. My business is too much work so I can't go there myself. Why don't you come to Thailand and go to Li's family to try to find out what happened. If his son is really possessed by some ghost or spirits, you can go find Fang Gang for help. I will pay for all your expenses, along with some extra cash for your labour. And stay a few more days this time, spend some more time with me. Things feel unlively without you, you know? Think of it as another adventure."
I was super happy. Who would turn down this kind of luck? I booked a ticket to Thailand that afternoon, and flew to Bangkok the next day.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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