Ghost Hunting and Silly Birds

It's a new day.

The eldest brother held a peach wood sword, and his colorful Taoist robe was still stained with wine from last night.

"Hey handsome, what does your ghost look like?"

Master Li shook his beard.

"He wears white clothes, has long hair, and is neither male nor female. He combs his hair by the well at midnight and occasionally runs around with a sword. Every time he appears, he emits white smoke and plays the sound of a guqin."

"Simple!"

The eldest brother pulled a rattle drum out of his pocket.

"This is an ancient magical artifact, specifically designed to subdue ghosts!"

(Actually, I took it from the bag of fried fish yesterday.)

Late at night, beside the dry well

We squatted in the grass and fed the mosquitoes.

"Boss,"

He muttered to himself while frying the fish.

"Are you sure this thing can exorcise ghosts?"

"Shh—" The leader suddenly pressed down on her head, "Here it comes!"

A white figure drifted over and, as expected, began combing its hair in front of the well.

"Hey!" The leader dashed forward, frantically shaking his rattle-drum, "You demon, reveal yourself at once!"

The ghost slowly turned around—

"Holy crap!" The boss took three steps back. "How is it you?!"

Chen Ze looked at his boss, his face paler than a ghost, completely bewildered: "...There's no mirror in the gang's toilet."

Beside them were Zui Qingfeng smoking and Shi Yun practicing the guqin.

(It turns out she was practicing swordsmanship at night and was mistaken for a female ghost.)

On the way back, Zui Qingfeng, cigarette dangling from his lips, counted his money: "The master gave us sixty taels as compensation for the fright."

"Didn't you scare him?" Fried Fish asked, puzzled.

The eldest brother suddenly stopped: "Wait, if there are no ghosts... then what about the comb sound in the well?"

Everyone turned to look at the dry well.

Under the moonlight, a bald chick was tapping the well wall with a comb in its beak. When it saw us looking over, it chirped happily.

"Hundred birds! Idiot! Hundred birds! Idiot!"

"Oh no, this bald chick is really something else."

The eldest brother raised an eyebrow, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

The chick sensed something was wrong and took a few steps back.

It bumped into Zui Qingfeng's shoes.

"Say that again? I'll pluck the last tuft of hair off your head too."

"Drunken Breeze said in a sinister tone."

The bald chick craned its neck, its eyes gleaming with a fearless determination.

"The Hundred Birds are Foolish—Caw!"

The pipe of Zui Qingfeng precisely clamped its beak.

"A talking chicken..."

Shiyun's zither strings moved automatically even without wind.

"It's probably a spirit bird that has consumed elixirs of immortality."

The eldest brother suddenly pounced on his prey like a vicious dog.

"Catch him and keep him as a pet!"

The colorful Taoist robe drew a dazzling arc under the moonlight, startling the crows roosting in the trees.

The chicks flapped their tattered feathers and flew up to the edge of the well, but the eldest couldn't stop and fell into the well with a "plop".

The water splashed up three zhang high.

"Sixty taels..."

Chen Ze looked at the soaked silver notes and said quietly, "Just enough to compensate the wealthy man for the well rope."

The bald chick was tied to a maple tree with a wooden sign around its neck that read, "You'll be starved for three meals if you insult someone once."

The man holding up a calligraphy brush threatened and coerced the fish.

Say "May the Hundred Birds Gang last forever" and I'll give you millet!

The chick turned its head and sprayed her face with saliva.

"That's backbone!"

The eldest brother clapped while munching on a watermelon.

This gang leader admires people with backbone like that!

A watermelon seed "popped" onto the chick's bald head, looking just like a beauty mark.

Zui Qingfeng suddenly narrowed his eyes.

"Look at its claw rings."

The eldest brother pretended to pluck its fur.

The chicks seized the opportunity to peck at his fingers, and the eldest brother screamed and shook his hand, leaving a hole in his colorful sleeve.

"Excellent!"

The eldest brother covered his fingers and stomped his feet.

"From today onwards, your name will be... Dog Egg!"

Shiyun suddenly plucked the strings of her zither, and the clear, melodious sound made Gou Dan's fur stand on end.

It pounced on the eldest in terror and began to speak in human language.

"Help! This tune sounds just like something out of a school classroom!"

The eldest brother was laughing wildly while holding a chicken wing.

"Hahaha, you've finally met your match! Tell me, isn't the Hundred Birds Gang the number one gang in the world?"

Dog Egg opened and closed its beak repeatedly, finally uttering a humiliating statement.

"...The biggest...idiot in the world..."

"Um?"

The pipe of Zui Qingfeng gleamed with a cold light.

"...Silly...Cool!"

Dog Egg managed to squeeze out a cracking sound.

"So dashing!"

"That's more like it."