''Art of the Devil''

Short Horror Story: In the past, most players were friends with a brown fairy according to a fashion trend called "high-class play." Ba Tra was infected with this fashionable trend. So almost every day she followed the wealthy men to the caves of the witch to smoke opium and stare blankly at the white smoke like the face of the brown fairy. At first, Ba Tra only smoked for fun but gradually became addicted. If there was no smoke at the right time every day, she couldn't stand it and started to heavily rely on it. When going out with those famous players, they always provided her with opium. When they were gone, Ba Tra bought a pipe and expensive boxes of opium to enjoy in her private room.

Gradually, Ba Tra became a close friend or rather a slave of the brown fairy. The diamond rings, jade bracelets, and expensive jewelry given by the players were lost in the smoke too. Ba Tra bluntly declared that what's given by heaven is precious enough and there's no need to question it! As a result, a year after the trip to Cambodia to get some opium, the wealthy men were even more infatuated with Ba Tra, who believed that she had been cursed by the opium!

Once, Ba Tra confessed to some trusted people when getting opium and letting it enter her body, the Xiêm La opium master issued strict warnings: Once the opium enters the body, it cannot harm the body, be subjected to sexual abuse, consume forbidden meat such as buffalo, snake, turtle, dog meat. And especially not to drink fresh blood, not to crawl under clothes, not to step under places with filthy substances like toilets... But how can Ba Tra avoid these things when she has dozens of men who always want to indulge their passion with her body? And they are not normal lovers. After secretive drinking sessions and drug-induced delirium, Ba Tra almost always buried herself in all-night parties.

Ba Trà had to turn back to Siam for the second time after officially redeeming her love spell to ask for help from her Siam master. It's only then that she heard a terrifying story: Her lover Vong Cac was becoming jealous and had sent someone all the way to Saigon to search for her and prevent her from falling into the arms of other men. This was an impossible situation for someone like Ba Trà, so she asked her master if there was any way to escape her lover Vong Cac. Unfortunately, the master shook his head and advised her to remember that Siam men were ten times better at magic than her, so it was best for her to leave the men in her country behind.

That advice was like a death sentence for Ba Trà, so she quietly left Siam and returned home, planning carefully: She would abandon the night-time affairs and only stick with wealthy and influential men, serving them for a living. At that time, Ba Trà had two heavy addictions: One was addicted to men and the other was addicted to opium. But there was a third addiction that silently haunted her - the love spell. According to Ba Trà's confession later on, she did not have it before, but since returning from Siam, every time she was physically abused by men in Western ways, she felt as though she were suffering from some kind of disease that killed her and brought her back to life. Ba Trà decided to return to Can Tho with Mr. Lam, who worked as Deputy Director of a bank in the Western land of Can Tho, to hide.

And perhaps this was the biggest turning point in Ba Trà's life, and even for poor Mr. Lam: When Ba Trà clung to him and intended to hide forever in Can Tho, King Six-Feet, then Bachelor Bach, and many other lovers found their way there and caused countless earth-shattering jealousy scenes in the Western land.

Between the two towns of Rach Gia and Ha Tien, a large brick house appeared, surprising many people. At first, they thought the house belonged to a French official or a wealthy local leader. However, it was actually built by Mr. Ho Lam as a residence for himself and his lover, Ba Tra. After discovering that dangerous men from Siam were searching for her, Ba Tra fled with the help of Mr. Ho Lam. He built the mansion on a deserted road but later left it vacant due to a mysterious reason that only later became known.

Initially, Ba Tra thought her physical condition was due to her drug addiction, not realizing she was under a love spell. Eventually, she understood the truth and decided to end her wild affairs in Saigon. She secretly went back to Can Tho, where Mr. Ho Lam worked as a deputy director of a French bank, hoping to build a healthy and stable relationship with him, rather than indulging in passionate and immoral relationships.

The Lam family had barely finished building their new mansion when two strange men came to visit. They claimed to be travelers who had gotten lost and needed rest and water. Little did the Lams know that these men were actually agents of a Siamese curse.

One night, before the Lam family was set to leave for Saigon to pick up Ba Tra, the belle of the city, they decided to stay overnight at the mansion. What happened that night left Mr. Lam terrified and confused beyond belief.

The next morning, the Lam family was nowhere to be found. Even their longtime housekeeper was surprised by their sudden disappearance. And in the following days, the mansion was closed off and abandoned, with no explanation given.

Meanwhile, back in Saigon, Ba Tra's life took a turn for the worse. Despite her efforts to keep her admirers close by opening a brothel called "Moon Fairy Palace," where she and other famous belles entertained wealthy clients, her suitors gradually drifted away.

It was later discovered that the reason Mr. Lam abandoned his mansion was due to a horrifying incident he witnessed while staying there. According to the housekeeper, Mr. Lam was awakened by strange noises and saw snakes wriggling around on the floor, including one that raised its head and made terrifying sounds. This was the last time anyone ever saw the Lam family in their once luxurious mansion.

The story of the caretaker ends and he quickly turns to the man accompanying him, introducing himself as a famous snake charmer and doctor from Siam. After hearing about the thousands of snakes that appeared and forced Mr. Lam to abandon his grand home, the snake charmer offers to help get rid of the strange phenomenon. He pulls out three large sacks capable of holding fifty kilograms of rice each and heads to a small crevice in the corner of the house.

He performs some kind of ritual or chant, then sits there with his eyes closed, and within half an hour, hundreds of snakes of all colors crawl out and into the sacks without resistance. He repeats this process with more and more bags until all the snakes are gone, but when he touches one particular snake on the head, he suddenly stops and falls back while the snake remains motionless. The snake charmer appears shaken and makes strange noises, leaving everyone curious about what has just happened.

The caretaker approached and discovered a small snake on the back of the motionless large snake. The small snake had light green color with colorful dots, while the large snake remained still. Sensing danger, the caretaker quickly pulled the man away from the snake's den. Later, it was revealed that the snake master who came from Thailand to find the Lam family fortune was responsible for Ba Tra's death due to poisoning. The wealthy Lam family lost much of their wealth and assets due to their obsession with Ba Tra. She died alone in her old apartment with only an old chair as her sole possession.

Encounter at the Gambling Den in "Dai The Gioi" - Short Story of Madame Ba Tra

Madame Ba Tra and I unexpectedly met at a gambling den in Dai The Gioi decades later, resembling a dream. I had aged, but she asked if her beauty had faded. To me, she remained the woman from Khanh Ky's photo on Bonard street. I used to admire her every Sunday near my school, Chasseloup Laubat, which inspired me to become a poet.

Our reminiscing led to Madame Ba Tra accepting me as an unpaid secretary for some time. She would borrow my name to write letters for others and occasionally asked me to write them for her. Despite her addiction to opium and gambling, my admiration for her heart and determination grew. She eventually confided in me about her life's hardships, becoming one of two people after journalist Tran Tan Quoc to hear her story.

My work as her secretary helped her sustain herself, even though she relied on me to write to her former lovers asking for help. Sometimes, she would have enough money to return to the gambling den and lend out money or play cards. She lived humbly in a narrow alley near Hoa Binh market, keeping her affairs private. When asked if she feared being robbed by wealthy men or teachers, she replied, "Have any of you ever stolen from a prostitute like me?"

For a while, Madame Ba Tra had almost one hundred thousand dong, which could have bought her three thousand acres of land that generated a minimum return of six thousand dong annually. However, despite the substantial sum, she died penniless, having sold her house and living in the stairwell of an apartment building with only her father's recliner as her sole possession.

Vuong Hong Sen recounts the death of Co Ba Nhu as follows: "Several years later, I met Ba Luu, a friend whom we got to know each other from Soc Trang. He told me that Tra had passed away a long time ago. She died in darkness. Dam Tien was different."