Many years ago, during the Han dynasty, there was a small village in the country named Damotou. The landlord of the village was an old noble who amassed his wealth over many years. He was a cruel a miserly man; a cheapskate, a churl, a harpy and a hoarder; acquisitive and avaricious; penny-pincher and parsimonious. To the villagers, he had no name; he was known only as Skinflint, the Miser.

Tales of his greed spread across the Kingdom. One year, there was a great drought that devastated the land and the village. The peasants, who had been subjected to harsh taxes and harsher treatment, had never been able to create a reserve of grain to fall back on.

Alexial and Ardidnieux were, together, Death. They watched over souls as they passed to the afterlife. Alexial and Ardidnieux were especially busy that year, for the drought covered much of the kingdom. But of all the villages in all the land, none had such a death toll as Skinflint's village. The villagers were reduced to eating mushrooms and roots, and when those were gone they ate bark and ferns, and soon enough those too were exhausted.

Together, they watched over Damotou and they stalked the countryside. One day, as they were collecting souls, Alex wandered away from Ardin. Alex saw that a dozen villagers had gathered around Skinflint's home and, out of desperation, were seeking a loan.

The villagers said that Skinflint's granaries were overflowing. Grain was sprouting and the flour was filled with maggots and the rice was rotting, but Skinflint refused to part with a single speck of either, claiming that if he gave away food, then the peasants would grow lazy and soon all men would be dependent on his charity.

Alex sighed. He was ageless, but he could see great pain in the faces of the villagers. The villagers sighed and walked away, resolving to find a way to enact revenge on Skinflint. Skinflint, meanwhile, saw Alex, wearing a beautiful dress, and demanded that he submit to him. Ardin, who had been watching nearby, intervened and quickly exited with Alex.

Death was remorseful. Both of them were saddened at the plight of the villagers, and Ardin was incensed by Skinflint's behavior. Alex decided he would not simply injure Skinflint for his cruelty; however, he would help the people of Damotou enact their revenge. Alex gathered up several shining silver ingots and presented them as a gift to the villagers, despite warnings from Ardin against intervening too heavily.

Together, the villagers picked the wisest one to be their figurehead. Unfortunately, they had few wise men; the closest they could find was a "Wise Guy." His nickname was Bigmouth, and he was so loquacious that it was said he could talk the dead from their graves.

Bigmouth took a scraggly horse and the ingots. He stuffed the ingots into the horse's mouth and packed it with cloth. He went to Skinflint's manor with the horse and Death's silver.

When Skinflint saw Bigmouth, he flew into a rage and his blood boiled. "You accursed fool, leave my property at once!"  

Bigmouth smiled. "Please, my lord, keep your voice down. If you spook my horse, you'll be in so much debt that all your rotten grain and all your houses wouldn't be able to pay your debt."

"There you go, Bigmouth, bragging once more! What could this poor equine possibly be worth?" Skinflint said haughtily.

"Nothing, really," said Bigmouth. "The only thing is that he spits silver."

Skinflint's eyes brightened and he rubbed his fingers together. "Where did you get ahold of this beast?"

"I dreamt a dream the night before last," began Bigmouth. "I met a white-bearded old man who said to me, 'Bigmouth, the colt who used to carry gold and silver ingots for the God of Wealth has been demoted and sent down to Earth. Go to the northeast and catch him. When he spits, silver and gold come out. If you catch him, you'll make a fortune.' Then the old man gave me a push and I woke up.
I didn't take it seriously, thinking it to be nothing but a dream. I turned over and fell asleep again. However, as soon as I closed my eyes, the old man reappeared and urged me to hurry up. 'The horse will fall into another's hands if you delay!' he said, and gave me another push which woke me up again. I put on my clothes and ran out. In the northeast I saw a ball of fire. When I ran over, sure enough, there was the colt, grazing contentedly. So I led him home. The following day, I set up an incense burner and as soon as I lit the incense, the colt began to produce silver ingots."

Skinflint was skeptical, but Bigmouth promised he would prove the horse's abilities. Inside Skinflint's home, the clever Bigmouth lit incense and held out a plate in front of the horse. He secretly rapped the horse's side and pulled the cloth from the horse's mouth. The tiny silver ingots fell jingling onto the plate. Skinflint saw the horse perform and asked Bigmouth how much the horse produced.

"Just a few taels of silver a day for the poor folk, but in my dream, if he meets a truly great man he could make thirty or forty."

Skinflint thought to himself, "I must be a great man. He should make at least 20 a day. That means that he would make six hundred taels a month or seven thousand and two hundred taels per year!"

At first, Bigmouth was unwilling, but Skinflint promised Bigmouth any price. The clever villager thought long and hard, but eventually agreed for all the grain that was still worth eating. Bigmouth agreed without hesitation.

Alex and Ardin smiled as they secretly watched Skinflint.

Ardinieux was not as impressed as Alexial, however.

"Alex, my dear friend, you may have helped the villagers, but soon you we will have another death and you will have a new soul to present flowers to. When Skinflint realizes your ploy, my dear friend, he will surely have Bigmouth and his village killed!"

That night, Skinflint prepared for his new horse to 'produce.' He excitedly rubbed his fingers together, he covered the room in incense, and brought a great wok to catch all the silver that the scraggly horse was about to spit. But, much to his embarrassment, when Skinflint tried to make the horse "produce," the horse instead simply spit at Skinflint! Skinflint, surprised, was covered with grime and fell backwards with surprise. In a fit of rage, he killed the horse, roaring, "Bring me Bigmouth's head!"

Skinflint sent out his men the next morning. They covered the landscape, checking every river and valley. They searched the forests and the hills. They searched the streams and the coasts. They searched the mountains and the caves. Skinflint even sent men to Chang'an to ask the Emperor to find Bimouth (to which the emperor simply chastised Skinflint for his spendthrift expenditure of men).

Skinflint couldn't find Bigmouth, but they did rampage through the village. One day, while they were accosting villagers looking for Bigmouth, there was a fight. Bigmouth's sister was killed in the fighting.

Alex and Ardin took her spirit, gently guiding her to the underworld. Worldless, Alex passed a small bundle of red roses – a token of sympathy – to her as she sat in a gondola, and was rowed off to eternity.

Neither Alex nor Ardin said anything for a long while. Alex knew that his action had indirectly caused this woman's death, though it was also his opinion that she may have died anyway had Bigmouth not procured food for the village. Ardin, meanwhile, did his best to cheer up his dear friend. Ardin assured Alex that the two of them would see to it that Bigmouth would live in order to honor his sister's memory.

Ardin took Alex to Bigmouth, who was hiding in a tavern. Surreptitiously, Alex dressed as a noble princess and Ardin as one of the Emperor's royal guards. Together, they claimed they were foreign diplomats, and they came bearing gifts. Bigmouth was speechless. Ardin removed his armor, a leather shirt of scale armor, and gave it to the stunned Bigmouth. Ardin smiled, for he had given Bigmouth Death's own armor – strong enough to protect him from any blow. Alex, too, gave a gentle smile, and in his guise as princess, happily left Bigmouth, feeling that he was now protected from Skinflint's men.

In the blink of an eye, it was winter.

Snow and ice covered the countryside. Bigmouth was caught by one of Skinflint's henchmen while he slept, and when they took him he did not have time to take his coat of furs.
When he came face to face with his foe, Skinflint gnashed his teeth with rage and without saying a word, had Bigmouth locked up in his mill. It is very cold in the winter while Skinflint had him stripped of all his padded clothes and left him with nothing but the clothes on his back, hoping to freeze him to death in mind.

Outside, snow was falling and a bitter wind was blowing. Bigmouth wore nothing but a cotton shirt, a pair of pants, and leather armor. He could only sit huddled up in a corner, trembling with cold. As the temperature decreased, he shivered voraciously, chilled to the bone.
An idea occurred to him all of a sudden. He stood up at once, heaved a millstone up off the ground and began walking back and forth with it in his arms. He soon warmed up and started sweating. He passed the entire night in this way, walking around with the millstone and occasionally stopping for a rest.

Early next morning Skinflint considered that Bigmouth must surely be dead. But when he unlocked the mill door, to his great surprise, he found Bigmouth squatting there in a halo of steam, his whole body in a muck of sweat instead of frost. Bigmouth stood up at once and begged him, "Master, take pity on me! Quick, lend me a fan! Or I shall die of heat!"

"How come you are so hot?" asked the dumbfounded Skinflint. "This armor of mine is a priceless heirloom," Bigmouth explained. "It's called the Fire Dragon Shirt," he lied. "The colder the weather, the greater the heat it gives off."

"When did you get hold of it?"

"Originally it was the pelt cast off by the Lord Fire Dragon. Then the Queen of the Western Heaven wove it into a suit of leather plates. Later on it somehow fell into the possession of my ancestors and became a family heirloom. It has been passed down from generation to generation and it has been passed for many generations until finally it came into my hands." Bigmouth's skills as a liar were unmatched.

Seeing how unbearably hot he was, Skinflint believed the whole story. He was willing to get hold of this Fire Dragon Armor and had completely forgotten the episode of the silver-spitting colt. He insisted on bartering his valuable fox-fur gown for the shirt. Bigmouth absolutely refused at first time, but fifty taels of silver added to the price by the eager Skinflint.
He said with a sigh, "Alas, what a worthless son am I, to have thus lost my family's treasured heirloom!"

Finally, he took off his leather armor and put on Skinflint's fox-fur gown. Then he gained the fifty taels of silver and strode away. Several days later, it was the time of his father-in-law's birthday. For sake of showing off his new acquisition, he went to convey his birthday greetings wearing nothing but the Fire Dragon Armor.

A fierce wind came up and it began to snow in the middle of the journey. Skinflint felt unbearably cold. The place was far from village or inn, and there was no shelter of any sort available here. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a tree by the roadside, half of which had burnt away in a fire. It was hollow in the middle and the space was wide enough for a person to stand up in. Skinflint hurried over and hid inside. Shortly afterwards his whole body became numb with cold, and soon he died.

At that moment, Alex and Ardin arrived to escort Skinflint to the afterlife. Skinflint, however, was furious. His spirit was unquiet; he rampaged and raged, haunting the countryside and attacking any who he could affect. Alex offered him a rose, trying to clam him.

"You may have had riches in life, but in death, all men are equal. Take this rose; perhaps it can offer you some comfort, if not some value."

Skinflint, however, would have none of it, and his spirit attacked Alex, screaming obscenities, cursing death and Bigmouth. Just as Skinflint's spirit was to try and rend the flesh from Alex's body, Ardin stepped in and lashed him with a chain, dragging the unquiet ghost along with him to Hell, freeing the village of Damotou forever from the influence of misers.

Once more, Alex and Ardin visited Bigmouth, who was again in the tavern. They appeared before him as a princess and a noble guard. "The armor we gave you was found on a brigand in the middle of a burned log," said Ardin. Bigmouth nodded knowingly. "I give you this rose as a gift from your sister," said Alex. Bigmouth took the rose, not knowing how these nobles could have met his deceased sister. When Bigmouth tried to talk to them again, they were gone.

Skinflint's body was found several days later by the family. They knew that he had been cheated again by Bigmouth, and sent men to seize him.

"My precious armor burns whenever it comes into contact with kindling, grass or timber," explained Bigmouth.

"The master must have been burned to death in this way. I am not to blame. I never told him to hide inside a tree. If you look, you will see that half of the tree has been burnt away."

After examined the tree, they saw that it was indeed as Bigmouth had described, they had no reason to catch the Bigmouth but to let him go.