The Wine Ghost's Teeth

Song An: "So are we still playing this game?"

Even as he said it, he thought it sounded a little absurd.

After all, he would never have had the nerve in the past, but things were different now. With Qi Gu on the team, a single wine ghost probably wouldn't be a problem, and it would make the show a little more entertaining.

"Did you bring any liquor?" Qi Gu asked.

Song An took out the erguotou he had just bought.

Meanwhile, seeing that they had already brought out the liquor, Mu Xingchen went deathly pale. "We're really doing this, Shifu...? What if, what if little Gesang accidentally steps in the liquor? I heard children's cerebellums develop slowly, so it's really hard for them to keep their balance when they walk."

Pubu Gesang, whom he had dragged in as an excuse, glanced at him. "...My legs aren't shaking nonstop."

Mu Xingchen, who was scared out of his wits, said, "...Life's hard enough without you calling me out, little brother."

"When did I ever say I'd have real people pour the liquor?" Still letting Lin Hanzhi cling to him, Qi Gu bent down and picked up four stones. He quickly inscribed incantations on them in golden spiritual light, then casually tossed them, sending each of the four stones landing precisely at one of the Moon-Worship Pavilion's four corners.

Dragging his Lin Hanzhi-shaped accessory along, Qi Gu couldn't walk fast. He gently pushed his arm. "I'm going over to pour the liquor. When the wine ghost appears, I'll be very close to it."

At his words, Lin Hanzhi seemed to remember his ghost-fearing persona and finally let go reluctantly, his expression plaintive. "Then come back soon."

"...Okay."

Lin Hanzhi was a slacker who loved food, which fit Qi Gu's criteria for friends quite well. He was just far too timid and clingy.

But hardly anyone in the world was perfect, and being afraid of ghosts wasn't much of a flaw.

So Qi Gu was a little more tolerant of Lin Hanzhi.

Holding the erguotou, Qi Gu walked toward the lonely Moon-Worship Pavilion beneath the moon, leaving the others with the sight of his slender but dependable back.

[Ah, Qi Gu really is fearless. He could've skipped this whole thing, but he chose to go straight for it for the show.]

[Seriously, I'm crying.]

[Gugu and the non-celebrity guy keep making me see a big shot and his pampered little wife ()]

[I have to say, you're not the only one seeing that hahahahaha.]

[Is the ghost about to appear? Is anyone here giving jump-scare warnings?]

In the Moon-Worship Pavilion, Qi Gu looked unruffled. Despite wearing an utterly modern black outdoor jacket, his hair reaching only just below his ears, standing there, he somehow had an ethereal air, as though he might ride away on the wind.

"Beneath the moon I pay homage, with liquor as my guide. I invite immortals and summon souls; appear before my eyes." Expressionlessly, Qi Gu finished reciting the incantation to invite the wine ghost, then walked along the railings around the Moon-Worship Pavilion's four corners, pouring a cup of erguotou into each corner.

After pouring the last cup, Qi Gu remained unhurried. He simply folded his arms and looked impassively at the open space inside the pavilion, where darkness was gathering.

A deeply unsettling creaking, as though from another world, came from the thick, rank black mist. Before long, the mist dispersed, revealing an enormous head as tall as a person in the open space. Half its face was rotting flesh and blood, the other half bare bone. Maggots crawled throughout its eye sockets, a few dropping to the ground every so often.

The wine ghost sniffed, then spoke directly in the ghost tongue. "Fine liquor, fine liquor!"

Soon, its eyes, crawling with countless maggots, narrowed. "Hmm? Living people actually stepped in my liquor and dirtied it. In that case, you'll pay with your lives!"

As it shouted, the liquor on the ground instantly flowed toward it in the center of the pavilion, soon sucked up until almost none remained. At the same time, the stones Qi Gu had enchanted to substitute for four living souls flew swiftly from the four corners toward its wide-open, skeletal maw.

There was a sharp crack.

The wine ghost's gaping mouth snapped shut, seemingly about to chew up the "people" inside.

But the next second, the wine ghost opened its mouth and let out a piercing howl. At the same time, its mouthful of foul, rotten teeth fell out, dropping to the ground along with black blood.

"My teeth! My teeth!" the wine ghost wailed in grief, its enormous head circling the pile of fallen teeth nonstop. But without hands or feet, it had no way to pick its teeth back up.

It could only rage helplessly.

Only then did it finally notice the handsome young man standing outside the Moon-Worship Pavilion, his face full of impatience.

"You! You tampered with things!" The wine ghost's enormous head lunged furiously at Qi Gu, its mouth wide open, exposing its rotting, maggot-infested tongue and the inside of its mouth.

Qi Gu was thoroughly disgusted. He didn't even particularly want to hit it with his hand, afraid of getting his hands dirty, so he dodged a step to the left.

The wine ghost, however, thought Qi Gu was afraid of it. Growing even more brazen, it opened its mouth wide and tried to bite him again.

"I'll have to wash the gourd again." Qi Gu's expression grew even uglier. He raised the Purple-Gold Gourd hanging at his waist and aimed it at the wine ghost. There were many wandering ghosts on Qingji Mountain, and Qi Gu intended to catch them all before handing them over to an Underworld Constable, sparing him multiple trips.

This narrow-mouthed gourd really was difficult to wash. It took ages every time.

Back when Green Ghost lived inside, he had handled the cleaning inside the gourd himself.

As for today's wine ghost... it was hard to say much.

Once he had put the wine ghost into the gourd, the others rushed over excitedly to examine Qi Gu's magical gourd again and again.

Mustering his courage, Mu Xingchen pointed at the broken teeth on the ground. "Shifu, what do we do with these?"

"Just leave them there. They'll dissipate on their own." Qi Gu still looked sour.

"What's wrong, Shifu?" Mu Xingchen noticed his displeasure.

"Nothing. I'm just considering whether to take you as my disciple right now."

Then have you wash my clothes, cook my meals, sweep the courtyard, wash the gourd...

At that thought, Qi Gu suddenly felt that having a disciple might indeed be worthwhile.

Mu Xingchen inexplicably felt a chill wash over him. "Sh-Shifu... your expression right now looks even more hideous than that wine ghost's did."

Qi Gu said, "Don't talk nonsense. Here, take this bottle of Want Want milk. I think we have quite the affinity today, so let's not bother choosing a place. Offer me a cup of tea... milk right now, and seal our bond as master and disciple."

Holding the Want Want milk, Mu Xingchen looked utterly bewildered.

After hesitating for three seconds, under Qi Gu's loving (exploitative) gaze, he slowly inserted a straw into the Want Want milk in his hand and offered it to him. "Shifu, please have some tea!"

Qi Gu stood on no ceremony, taking a great slurp of the sweet milk without hesitation before saying mercilessly, "From now on, I entrust the important task of washing this Purple-Gold Gourd to you, my dear disciple."

Mu Xingchen froze where he stood, still holding out the milk to the big shot. In his line of sight, he could still see a few foul, rotting maggots that had fallen off the wine ghost wriggling along the ground.

Mu Xingchen: "..."

Was it too late to take back that grand gesture of offering milk?