Chapter 0002: Cousin Ghostkeeper
"I want to buy a Buddhist amulet from him," I replied.
The tough guy reached out and drew back a curtain. Behind it, as it turned out, was an iron door. He knocked twice, the iron door cracked open, and the tough guy stared at me. I snapped out of it and quickly slipped inside. This was a basement casino—gambling is illegal in Thailand, so they had to run it underground.
The space inside was pretty big, with over a dozen tables set up. Lots of people were gambling: playing Mahjong, Pai Gow, dice, and cards. The room was thick with smoke, making me cough my guts out. I didn't recognize Frank Fang, so I asked two men who were leaning against the wall chatting with their arms crossed.
"Excuse me, is Frank Fang here?" I asked.
One of the men lazily raised a hand and pointed to someone. This man was very lean, of average height, with a dark, scarred, blade-like face. He wore a checkered shirt, open to reveal a chest full of various tattoos. Around his neck hung a thick gold chain strung with three amulets. He wore a Rolex Submariner (Hulk) on his wrist, suggesting he was doing very well.
I walked over. "Mr. Frank Fang? I have something I need to talk to you about."
Frank Fang had a cigarette dangling from his lips and was playing Pai Gow with a few others. He slowly rubbed open a hand of tiles. The others stared intently, their faces sweating. Frank Fang threw the tiles onto the table with a frustrated grunt. One person cheered loudly in Thai I couldn't understand, sweeping all the cash on the table toward himself. Frank Fang shot me a side-eye and grumbled, "What do you want?" His Cantonese accent was thick.
"I'm from Liaoning, and I'm flying back tomorrow. A classmate asked me to bring back an amulet. My cousin told me you source them?" I quickly explained.
"Who's your cousin?" Frank Fang asked.
"Wu Bingcai, he runs the silver processing factory," I said.
Frank Fang's eyebrow twitched, and he pursed his lips. "Oh, Wu Laoban from Rayong. He's previously acquired two Wealth-Attracting Guman from me. Doing such big business, and he couldn't even treat me to a meal to show his appreciation." He stood up right then. Several gamblers tried to stop him, but Frank Fang just waved them off and kept walking. I quickly followed.
Stepping out of the butcher shop, Frank Fang headed toward a well-worn Toyota pickup parked on the side of the road. As he walked, he asked me, "What kind of amulet? What's the budget, and what effect do you want?"
"It's for a female classmate. She wants a protective Positive-energy Amulet, nothing over three thousand RMB."
Frank Fang looked at me. "How much are you looking to earn on this?" He's really straight to the point, I thought. I just said, "I don't know, I've never done this before." Frank Fang grinned, opened the pickup door, and pulled out an amulet.
"This is a Phra Pidta (Covered Face Buddha) that I just got from the temple yesterday. Guaranteed Positive-energy Amulet. I'll give it to you for two thousand, how about that?" Frank Fang dangled the amulet in front of me. I was ecstatic and quickly reached for it. Frank Fang pulled his hand back, then held out his left palm. I got the message—he wanted the money. I hesitated, explaining that I needed to tell my classmate first, preferably by sending her a photo message, but my phone didn't have international roaming.
Frank Fang pulled out his own phone. I know my gadgets, and I instantly recognized it as the latest Motorola V3—I was instantly envious. Frank Fang told me to hold the amulet in my hand. He took a photo of me along with the amulet. Thailand has more temples and stupas than public restrooms in China, and he deliberately chose a stupa as the background. He was clearly experienced. I gave him my classmate's number. Frank Fang sent the two photos along with a caption: "One Phra Pidta Amulet consecrated by the highly revered monk at XXX Temple in Rayong, Thailand. Three thousand RMB. Payment first, then delivery."
A short while later, Frank Fang's phone rang. He handed it straight to me, obviously knowing who it was. Sure enough, my classmate's voice came across urgently: "Tien Chi, I got the photos! You really are in Thailand! I want that amulet. Can you front the money for me? I'll pay you back as soon as you return to Shenyang, okay?"
Of course, I said okay. An old friend wouldn't stiff me. I was a typical pay-check-to-pay-check guy. I had only brought a little over two thousand yuan to Thailand; it was my life savings. I handed the cash over to Frank Fang. "Not enough," Frank Fang said. "I need two thousand one hundred RMB."
"Didn't you just say two thousand flat?" I asked, confused.
Frank Fang glared at me. "Do international photo messages not cost money? Does answering an international call not cost money?" My jaw dropped. I was completely petrified. He charged for that, too? This guy truly squeezed every last drop. I reluctantly fished out a hundred-yuan bill and handed it to him, then carefully put the amulet away. As I was leaving, Frank Fang patted my shoulder. "Thanks, little brother. You're good people. We can work together more in the future. Positive-energy Amulets run two to five thousand RMB, Negative-energy Amulets five to fifteen thousand. Temple-made Guman Thong are five to twenty thousand, and Guman Thong that are spirit-embedded are ten to thirty thousand. Baby Ghosts start at thirty thousand. Have the customer give you their request first, then forward it to me. I'll give you the specific quote and breakdown later." I didn't really understand, but I nodded along cluelessly.
Frank Fang could tell I was an amateur at a glance, so he gave me a quick rundown. He explained that amulets made and consecrated by legitimate temple monks or orthodox masters (known in Thailand as White-Robed Arjans) are Positive-energy Amulets. The ones made by irregular masters (commonly called Black-Robed Arjans) using wicked materials are Negative-energy Amulets, which supposedly work much better. The child-like offerings are called Guman Thong. "Spirit-embedded" means they contain a ghost—powerful stuff. Baby Ghosts are mummified infant corpses, and they have the most ruthless power.
I was completely taken aback by what I heard. I quickly took out my phone and saved all this information in my draft texts.
Before we parted, Frank Fang told me that if my friends ever needed anything like this, or had any kind of supernatural problem they couldn't solve, they could call him anytime. I suddenly remembered the small dried corpse at my cousin's house and asked him what it was.
Frank Fang's eyes were complicated. "That's called a Baby Ghost Rearing ($Yang\ Xiao\ Gui$). It's an offering made from an unborn fetus's corpse, consecrated by an Arjan using black magic. It's extremely potent. Wait, Boss Wu is actually rearing a Baby Ghost at home? I had no idea. No wonder his business is so good!" I realized I had slipped up and quickly changed the subject.
After we split, I thought Frank Fang looked rough, but he was actually pretty polite; he even thanked me. It wasn't until much later that I understood why he had thanked me then.
Back home, I immediately met up with my classmate, who was overjoyed to see the amulet. She instantly counted out thirty hundred-yuan bills for me and put the amulet on right then and there. She even treated me to dinner afterward.
That was it. I made my first money selling amulets—nine hundred RMB. That was a whole month's salary for me back then when I was working in Shenyang. Logically, the story should end here, but I never expected that I would later become business partners with Frank Fang and enter the peculiar world of amulet dealing, becoming one of many Pai Shang (amulet merchants). My bizarre experiences began from that point on.
About half a month later, the classmate, whose surname was Lü, started organizing another class dinner. We all wondered why class gatherings were suddenly so frequent, but we went anyway.
During the meal, Lü excitedly told us how she had signed up for a tour to Yunnan a few days ago. On the bus ride, she suddenly got a terrible stomach ache she couldn't hold in. The tour guide reluctantly dropped her off at a roadside inn, and the bus continued. She only found out the next day that the bus had gone off the road down a hillside due to brake failure. Although the slope wasn't too steep, two people died and over ten were seriously injured. She was the only one who miraculously escaped. The news even made it onto several local Yunnan TV stations.
This was huge news. Regardless of whether her experience was linked to the amulet, the coincidence was too strong. Everyone believed the amulet had worked, protecting her in secret. From then on, my classmates looked at me differently, instantly viewing me as some formidable person.
Two days later, my cousin called me from Thailand, asking when I would visit again. My cousin had no family from home near him in Thailand, so I completely understood how he felt. During the conversation, I told him about getting the amulet from Frank Fang, selling it to my classmate, and how she had narrowly escaped death on her trip.
"That's not strange, that's just how amulets work," my cousin said suddenly. "Oh, by the way, I have a friend named Li who was sent here by China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau for labor. He works right here in Rayong. I saw him looking down in the dumps a few days ago, so I asked what was up. He said his son has been acting weird lately, but he's not sick. I suspect he might have been hit by some kind of evil affliction. I'm too busy with the factory. Why don't you come back to Thailand? Go visit Old Li's family and see what the situation is. If his son really did run afoul of some ghost or spirit, you can ask Frank Fang if there's a fix, and earn yourself a little finder's fee. I'll cover your flight ticket back to Thailand, and you can stay a few extra days, keep me company, and treat it like a vacation."
I was thrilled. Why would I pass up a deal like that? I agreed immediately. I booked a flight that afternoon, scheduled to depart the next day for Bangkok.