The scorching sun shone through the sparse sycamore trees. Through the speckles of light, cicadas perched on the moss that grew on the stone slabs of Qing Tang Town. They were stuck on tree branches, singing their lungs out, irritating people for no particular reason.
Qing Tang was a small ancient town. This town was not called Qing Tang before. Legend had it that a spirit was once here and left a sword called Qing Tang in the town. Therefore, the village had changed its name.
In the afternoon, the sky that was originally intolerably hot, suddenly changed. Billowing clouds covered the sky. After a burst of lightning and thunder, heavy rain came pouring down, extinguishing all the heat.
The village’s market, which was initially bustling, came to a stop due to the heavy rain. Many vendors who didn’t manage to go home, were gathered together in a nearby tea shop.
“Aunt Li, have you heard that the Song Family in the east of town is haunted!” Qi Family’s wife whispered to a woman in her fifties, wearing a floral head scarf, next to her.
“Really?” The woman named Aunt Li glanced around furtively, before whispering back.
“Of course it’s true. Didn’t you see that the Song Family invited several senior immortals to perform an exorcism, but I heard that the ghosts were so fierce that the immortals weren’t able to do anything.”
“I think the Song Family must have done too many wicked things. The ghost is most probably Liu Er Niang, tsk tsk. Think about it, how wronged she was when she died back then. I think the Song Family would be really haunted by her this time.” Aunt Li pouted her lips, her voice became louder.
“Shh- Don’t simply say this kind of thing! It won’t be good if you were heard by the Song Family.” Qi Family’s wife looked around quickly, after noticing that no one was listening to them, she continued, “But in my opinion, the Song Family is truly out of luck this time. How could this happen if they hadn’t taken the Liu Family’s house back then.”
“They had sinned ah!” The two sighed, then they noticed that the rain had gradually become smaller.
In less than half an hour, the heavy rain had stopped, and the sun showed itself from the clouds. The stone road revealed its original blue-gray colour after the rain. The vendors walked out of the tea shop in twos and threes, looking for a place on the stone road that was dry to once again lay out the goods they had just put away.
After a while, the hustle and bustle of the market had returned, and the town was once again shrouded in noise, resuming its liveliness.
However, at this moment, in the Song Family’s courtyard in the east of town seemed a little quiet. More than 30 people from the Song Family, young and old, all sat in the hall with a sullen expression on their faces. Sitting in the center, Old Master Song had two dark circles under his eyes.
“Old Master, help to find a way. If this goes on, everyone won’t have to sleep anymore.” His second concubine, whose face was pale, whimpered, sitting on his right side.
“Think of a way, think of a way, what else can I do! I have already invited four senior immortals, but even they weren’t able to do anything about it!” Old Master Song slammed the blue and white porcelain teacup in his hand. He had lived here for more than ten years. Why was it haunted now?
In the beginning, several people said that they saw someone in the backyard in the middle of the night. He didn’t believe them at first, thinking that they were just coming out with excuses to cause trouble. In the end, he woke up that particular night and went to the hut. He actually saw someone standing beside the well in the northeast corner of the backyard!
It was too dark that time, Old Master Song only saw the person wearing a faint white coat. She was bald, and making a ghastly sound in her mouth. He was scared to death!
Actually, Old Master Song was a merciless person when he was young. The Song Family was not named the Song’s before, but the Liu’s. However, there weren’t many members of the Liu Family last time, so Old Master Song sent someone to seduce Liu Er Niang, the maiden daughter of the Liu Family. Then, he took advantage of Liu Er Niang’s date with her lover and sent his people to catch them in the act.
An unmarried maiden caught fooling around with a man. It wasn’t long for her to become the talk of the town. The Liu Family’s Old Master was so angry that he died immediately.
Liu Er Niang, after losing her only relative, went to look for her lover, only to find that her lover already had a family. In the end, rumours had it that Liu Er Niang then shaved her head and went to become a nun in a temple.
After the matter was over, Old Master Song bought over the Liu Family’s house with a low price, and changed it from Liu to Song. Liu Er Niang’s lover became the Song Family’s housekeeper. It wasn’t until now that everyone realized that this whole thing was Old Master Song’s evil scheme. However, it was too late. Liu Er Niang had already committed suicide in the nunnery.
So when Old Master Song saw the bald head ghost, he immediately knew that it was the ghost of Liu Er Niang who had returned to seek revenge from him.
And after that night, strange things began to happen in the Song Family’s house. First, the cook discovered that his livestock had disappeared for no reason. Then, the wood house caught fire by itself, and what was even more frightening was that Madam Song suddenly found that her offerings were missing when she was praying in the temple.
The haunting had turned the entire Song Family upside down. No one dared to sleep at night now. Old Master Song had also visited several great immortals who were said to be very powerful, but every time the great immortal told him that the ghost had been removed, someone in the family would always see the ghost appearing by the well the next day.
No one in the Song Family dared to approach the backyard at all now, even the servants.
