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The gamblers of Ghost City have discovered a cheat; a lucky draw that always hits jackpot.
They have two lucky draws in their city, actually. The first of course being their benevolent leader, the man who raised their city from the ground with his own to hands: Hua Cheng.
If you were to please him, you would never work a day in your life again.
Unfortunately, their dear leader is notoriously hard to please.
Easily irritable, cruel, aloof - nobody knows how to gain his favour! Thus nobody has ever hit his jackpot.
For a long time, that was all it ever was in Ghost City. The citizens one by one gave up on trying to garner Crimson Rain's favours, resigned to respecting from afar. A lucky draw that never hits jackpot, after all, is just a waste of money.
But all that changed with Xie Lian.
It was hot day in summer, but in Ghost City, it was always midnight.
Xie Lian was leaning against the red railings that enclosed the fish market and although the walkway was packed full of rowdy customers, a mysterious void had seemed to form around him.
And of course it had! Who dared to get close!? The ghosts knew nothing of this man except that he was very, very close to their leader. And while they loved their leader, they knew to fear him. They had no clue Xie Lian's nature, what would set him off, and no one wanted to be the one to find out. Better to avoid the unknown.
But then there was a kid.
He stepped into the empty space between the crowded shopping place and the Ghost King's Gege. And everyone around turned to look, frozen in fear.
The fish market had never quieted so quickly.
"Can I help you, little mister?" the man bent down, asking in a gentle voice.
The kid was all blue-faced. He had tentacles for arms and slime secreting off his skin. Suction cups dotted his cheeks like octopus acne. It was not pleasing to the eyes, to say the least.
And yet, the kid held out his arms from behind his back, revealing in his hand a single rose.
"For- for you, Dianxia ."
Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. " Dianxia? "
"Of course! Aren't you related to our Crimson Rain? Any friends of our King's is an honoured and royal guest!"
The man blinked, his cheeks going pink.
This was the moment all of Ghost City would realize: Ah. Our Crimson Rain's bride is extremely, exceedingly... cute.
"Ah, geez ." If it were Hua Cheng in his place, the kid would be ignored and left there: like trash on the streetside. But it was not. Xie Lian leaned forward with the sweetness of an older brother and took the rose - covered in sticky, rotten mucus - "Thank you. It is very beautiful."
"I see Gege is having fun."
Their heads whipped to the side, to their sacred King standing in the moonlight. When did he get here!?
"San Lang," Xie Lian stood, smiling most warmly. "Look!" He held up the rose. "It's the same colour as your eyes."
Hua Cheng blinked, and then, as if this man had sucked all the air out of him, he scoffed and broke into a fond laugh. "I suppose it is."
They giggled amongst themselves for a moment, a sickeningly sweet display, before Hua Cheng walked up to the boy and promptly.. ruffled his tentacled hair.
The blue sludge stuck to Hua Cheng's gloves - gloves he insistently kept clean, that was sacrilege to even think of dirtying - but Hua Cheng said nothing of it and smiled at the young boy. "What is your name?"
"H-Hao Yu." How the kid managed not to faint the moment Crimson Rain touched him was a miracle.
"Hao Yu, your parents taught you manners well." And then he turned back. "Shall we go, Gege? "
"Mn!"
Hao Yu's family received one hundred thousand merits at their door the name after. No sender name.
Xie Lian was showered in gifts thereafter.
A stall owner leaned out of his booth, skewered eyeball in hand. "Dianxia! Do you want to try one?"
"Dianxia, it's hot isn't it? Have some iced oolong!"
"Dianxia, is this ring your size? Take it!"
"Dianxia, this hairpin would suit you!"
"Dianxia!"
At first, it was only for their own selfish greed that villagers would appraise him, wanting Hua Cheng's favour in return. But after seeing Xie Lian's reactions..
"I-I can't possibly.." he stammered in a fluster, "This is made of pure gold.."
Now the city folk hurl gifts at him just to watch his demure demur. They had been worshipping their Hua Cheng for so long, and though they continued nonetheless, they deep down knew nothing they could ever give him would have any worth.
But through Xie Lian, who somehow saw equal worth in a dirt dying rose and a golden candelabra, they could please their beloved Ghost King. Hua Cheng had never been happier than when Xie Lian was so happy.
"I thought- at first- that I wasn't welcome here.. since everybody kept avoiding me."
They paused, teary-eyed. "... Dianxia! "
Xie Lian became another beloved treasure of Ghost City.