Liu Dashao couldn’t understand why he had suddenly become so happy, his hands trembling with excitement, spilling the fiery liquor all over the table.
“Take it easy!” Liu Dashao jumped up.
“Oh, sorry, the light’s too dim. Let me turn on the lamp,” said the village chief Tian, grabbing a rag and rushing to switch on the light.
At that moment, Liu Dashao heard a strange sound from outside the door.
“Tap… tap… tap…”
For some reason, Village Chief Tian hadn’t closed the door, and gusts of wind blew through the room. Sitting directly facing the door, Liu Dashao could see the blue-checkered bedsheet in the courtyard flapping in the wind, inflating like a balloon and then deflating again.
The lamp lit up, instantly brightening the room.
Village Chief Tian looked at Liu Dashao, his face pale: “Did you hear anything just now?”
Liu Dashao shook his head: “Probably just the wind?”
Though the sound was clearly footsteps, both doors had been locked tight by Village Chief Tian, so no one should have been able to enter.
Still, the sound was oddly familiar.
Letting out a long sigh, Village Chief Tian returned to his seat.
Their seating arrangement was quite odd. Normally, when two people drink together, they sit on either side of the door, but now Liu Dashao was facing the door while Village Chief Tian sat opposite him, with his back to the door. Liu Dashao found this arrangement strange, especially with night having fallen and the courtyard pitch-black, making it look unsettling.
But the stools had been arranged by Village Chief Tian himself, so Liu Dashao didn’t say anything.
So, as Liu Dashao looked up at Village Chief Tian, it wasn’t hard for him to see the courtyard illuminated by the lamp.
Then he saw it.
Under the blue-checkered bedsheet in the courtyard, a pair of feet were moving.
They were a woman’s feet, wearing red embroidered shoes, with slender, smooth legs glowing white. Thin lines of blood trickled down from her legs.
The sheet covered the upper half of her body, making it impossible to see her face, only her slowly moving feet.
But something about her seemed off.
“Tap… tap… tap…”
With every step she took, a small puddle of blood formed behind her.
As Liu Dashao watched those feet, his hand holding the wine glass involuntarily trembled, nearly shattering the glass.
Seeing his strange expression, Village Chief Tian asked, “What’s wrong?”
Liu Dashao said it was nothing.
After all, if you visited someone’s home and saw a cat or a dog while drinking, it would be perfectly normal—especially in the countryside, where every household had a few animals around. But seeing this thing was a bit unsettling. Moreover, such things were generally invisible to most people; talking about it might make others think you were crazy.
Liu Dashao reached out and touched the jade pendant on his chest, whispering softly, “Pixiu… Pixiu…”
But this time, the jade pendant showed no reaction. Village Chief Tian looked up at him: “What did you say?”
“Nothing,” Liu Dashao replied. “It’s nothing…”
As he spoke, the embroidered shoes had already moved out from under the sheet. Liu Dashao instinctively glanced over and shivered involuntarily.
No wonder he had felt something strange earlier—the legs were so slender and long that proportionally, the woman’s head should have been visible above the sheet.
Why wasn’t it showing? Because she had no head!
From the neck down, she wore a qipao embroidered with peonies, her lower body soaked in blood, swaying unsteadily toward them.
“Tap… tap… tap…”
The red embroidered shoes steadily tapped against the floor.
The dead child clinging to Village Chief Tian seemed to sense something and began to wriggle rapidly.
“Tap… tap… tap…”
The woman approached behind Village Chief Tian, needing only to cross the threshold to enter the room.
“What’s wrong?” Village Chief Tian, still unaware, looked at Liu Dashao with a slightly nervous expression.
To Liu Dashao’s surprise, the woman’s target wasn’t himself, but Village Chief Tian, who had his back turned.
The woman stood at the doorway but didn’t come in. With effort, she stretched out her hand toward Village Chief Tian’s neck.
The dead child on Village Chief Tian’s body writhed like waves, the pressure forcing him to cough while covering his mouth.
Liu Dashao stared directly at the woman’s movements, his mind in chaos.
Liu Dashao knew this couldn’t be explained by normal logic, but panicking now would mean losing control.
In theory, he could just open the door and run. Physically, Liu Dashao was sure he could outrun Village Chief Tian.
But the dead child was something he had brought himself; he couldn’t let Village Chief Tian become a victim unknowingly.
What did this woman want?
As she reached for Village Chief Tian’s neck, was she after… a head?
Head! A sudden realization struck Liu Dashao—wasn’t there a head stored in the cupboard?
In three quick strides, he reached the cupboard and flung open the door.
The severed head inside was wide-eyed, glaring fiercely toward the doorway.
Without hesitation or caring about the disgust, Liu Dashao grabbed the head by its hair, turned around, and shouted at the female ghost: “Here!”
He had meant the words for the ghost, but to his surprise, Village Chief Tian, staring at the severed head in Liu Dashao’s hand, turned pale: “You… you really saw it!”
Before Liu Dashao could process his meaning, the severed head in his hand let out a piercing scream, forcefully broke free from his grip, and flew toward the door, skillfully attaching itself to the woman’s neck.
Only then did Village Chief Tian turn around. He screamed in terror and fell to the ground.
The woman twisted her head and suddenly stepped over the threshold.
“You… you…” Village Chief Tian’s trembling finger pointed at the woman. “You’re a ghost!”
Damn it, Liu Dashao nearly choked with anger. Of course she was a ghost—half her face was gone, and you could even see her skull.
A cold wind blew through the room.
The dead child on Village Chief Tian’s body writhed violently.
Liu Dashao still held a bunch of tangled hair in his hand, wondering whether he should run—just run and run.
As he hesitated, he suddenly saw the female ghost extend her ten fingers toward Village Chief Tian’s chest. Liu Dashao’s heart lurched, and he grabbed Tian’s arm, dragging him over.
The female ghost wasn’t stupid either. Her first attempt missed, but she immediately turned and grabbed Tian’s leg. Her movements were fluid and precise, like a martial arts expert.
Village Chief Tian just trembled, too scared to move, his ankle being torn to shreds without even a cry.
The female ghost pulled Tian’s ankle toward her, while Liu Dashao pulled his foot from this side with all his might. The dead child on Tian’s body crawled down his arm toward Liu Dashao.
Enraged, Liu Dashao shouted, “What the hell are you waiting for? Are you just going to stand there and die? Kick her, damn it!”
Village Chief Tian shuddered, then kicked his foot toward the female ghost.
His foot struck the ghost’s face with force. The kick was brutal—her skull already had cracks, and with a loud “crack,” Tian had broken the female ghost’s nose.
The female ghost let out a piercing scream.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage