Setting aside the jade pendant, Young Master Liu hesitated for a moment before tucking it under his pillow. He then rolled over, burrowed into the covers, and drifted into a deeply weary sleep. "A dream, it must be a dream. I'll sleep it off, and when I wake up, everything will be gone..." he murmured weakly.

Sometime close to dawn, Young Master Liu was jolted awake by the shrill scolding of his mother.

He grabbed the kerosene lamp, rubbed his eyes, and stepped out of his room. Before he could even take a sip of tea, he froze at the sight before him: Old Man Liu and Wang Guihua were both standing in front of the house. Before them burned incense sticks furiously, and scraps of joss paper fluttered chaotically in the air. Young Master Liu had no idea what was happening, only hearing Wang Guihua unleashing the most venomous curses in the village toward whoever was burning paper offerings at their doorstep. Old Man Liu spotted his son emerging and quickly hustled Young Master Liu back into his room.

"You damned brat, don't come out! Go back to ** sleep quietly."

"Dad, I'm awake now, what the hell am I supposed to sleep for? Tell me, what happened!"

"It's grown-up business, children shouldn't ask." Old Man Liu's face was ashen. He didn't answer directly, merely waving his hand dismissively, brushing the matter off curtly. He specifically forbade Young Master Liu from leaving the house for the next few nights, which only confused his son, making him wonder what medicine his father had taken wrong.

It wasn't until breakfast the next morning, while slurping congee, that Old Man Liu finally recounted the events of the previous night. That night, the whole family had been asleep. Around the latter half of the night, Old Man Liu had been woken by a desperate need to relieve himself. Wrapping a coat around himself, he walked out, just as he was looking for the chamber pot, when he faintly heard someone outside calling his son's name. At first, he couldn't make it out clearly, so he paused to listen intently. After a moment, the voice sounded again, clearly calling out, 'Young Master Liu,' 'Young Master Liu'… and it sounded like a child’s voice—high-pitched, thin, ethereal, flitting between being close and far away, making one profoundly uneasy.

Though he was a grown man, in the dead of night, Old Man Liu dared not answer rashly. He quickly relieved himself, fastened his belt, and prepared to take his lamp back to bed. Just then, the voice outside sounded again, still calling Young Master Liu's name. This time, Old Man Liu couldn't hold back. He thought, What the hell is this nonsense? So, he threw on his clothes, suppressing the fear rising in his heart, threw open the door, and roared outside, "Who is it? Which bastard is looking for our Young Dog at this hour of the night!"

The moment the courtyard gate was pushed open, the ethereal voice vanished along with Old Man Liu's shout, leaving only brief, lingering echoes. Old Man Liu was utterly stunned by the scene before him: two candles had been placed near the door, now burning brightly red. On either side of the bluestone steps stood a pair of paper effigies—a boy and a girl—their deathly pale faces smeared with cheap powder paints. Beside the two paper figures, a bundle of lit joss paper spat hungry flames into the night wind, filling the yard with choking white smoke. Old Man Liu stood stunned for two seconds before rushing back inside to wake Wang Guihua. What followed was the scene Young Master Liu witnessed upon rising.

"Damn it all, this is going too far!" Having just finished recounting the story to Young Master Liu, Old Man Liu exploded in fury, slamming the remaining half-bowl of congee onto the ground. A delicate blue-and-white porcelain bowl instantly shattered. Old Man Liu was usually quite honest and mild-mannered; for him to be enraged to this degree clearly meant a fundamental boundary had been crossed.

In this village, as in most rural communities, various ancestral customs were strictly observed, especially regarding rites of passage—weddings and funerals—where taboos were numerous. This was less about feudal superstition and more about a form of ingrained inheritance; after all, if something has been followed for so long, it must possess some value. For instance, when a family holds a wedding, they hire a respected master to select an auspicious date based on the bride and groom's birth charts before any celebration begins. If they simply picked a random day or, worse, decided to bring the bridal sedan chair out during the Ghost Festival, the groom would likely be beaten by the bride's family until his hip joint shattered, leaving him incapacitated for the rest of his life. The reason Old Man Liu was uncharacteristically furious was precisely because last night’s event had violated a profound taboo in their household.

After all, joss paper is meant for the dead. Even when visiting graves during the Qingming Festival, villagers conscientiously carry these inauspicious items to their own family plots to burn them; no one ever sets paper offerings alight directly against their own wall or within the village bounds. Yet, last night, some wicked soul, holding an irreconcilable, deep-seated grudge against the Liu family, had burned paper money specifically facing their front door, complete with two paper children as an accompaniment. Wasn't that a curse wishing their entire family a terrible death? Thinking of this, Old Man Liu’s anger only grew.

"Dad, don't stew over it. Maybe the more you get angry, the happier they are!" Young Master Liu said while taking a bite of pickled greens.

"Hmph. If I catch the culprit, I swear I’ll wash that brat with boiling water, skin him alive, and pull out his tendons," Old Man Liu gritted out.

"You're just talking tough to feel better," Young Master Liu set down his bowl, grinning. "Remember when you argued with Carpenter Wang from the next village and he hit you with a hammer? You came home fussing about tying up his wife and kidnapping his daughter, threatening to make Carpenter Wang crawl and kowtow to you. But the next day, when you saw him, you didn't dare say a word, your legs were so weak you almost knelt to him yourself."

"What did you say!" Old Man Liu's eyeballs immediately spun around in agitation.

"Nothing, nothing, just eat," Young Master Liu quickly lowered his head and shoveled food into his mouth.

"Hey, you little brat," Old Man Liu poked the table with his chopsticks, "who do you think that child was last night? Did you get into a fight with someone again, and now they're holding a grudge?"

"Me?" Young Master Liu's shoveling paused. "Doesn't your son have impeccable moral character? How could I engage in such uncivilized, uncultured behavior as fighting? Besides, all the kids in the village are tight with me. Who would pull a stunt like this? If they got caught, a beating wouldn't be the end of it."

"That's true!" Old Man Liu pondered, nodding. "Then who could it be? I heard the voice, it was definitely a child's voice, no mistaking it. An adult couldn't fake that. And the sound was strange, sometimes near, sometimes far. It was truly terrifying. Could it be... could we have run into a ghost?..."

As Old Man Liu uttered that final sentence, Young Master Liu’s brow visibly furrowed, and his body twitched slightly, but Old Man Liu was too preoccupied with the mystery to notice his son's reaction.

Finishing his meal with the speed of a scavenging cloud, Young Master Liu wiped his mouth. "I’m done."

"So fast? Want another bowl? There’s more in the pot, still hot."

"No need, I have things to do." Young Master Liu shook his head and went to change his shirt, preparing to leave.

"Where are you off to now, boy! Didn't I tell you to stay home these few days?"

"I have business." Young Master Liu replied.

"Nonsense, you're probably going to hang out with those two good-for-nothings again. Remember to come home early!" Old Man Liu gave Young Master Liu a look of disdain, as if to say, I know you.

"Got it, got it." As soon as Young Master Liu stepped over the threshold, he quickened his pace, hurrying dustily toward Tian Guoqiang's house.

Watching the receding figure of Young Master Liu, Old Man Liu sighed involuntarily while gathering the bowls and chopsticks, muttering to himself, "That thing last night, I don't know what it was, but since it kept calling your name, it's clearly targeting you. Thinking it over and over, Dad still can't rest easy! I'll pool some of the money from the grain sale later and buy some gifts to visit Granny Guanhua."

Tian Guoqiang's yard was vast, conservatively estimated to be twice the size of other houses! No wonder he was the village head—being one rank higher in status was one thing, but his house had to be one size bigger too. Young Master Liu swept his gaze over the surrounding flora while knocking on Tian Guoqiang's door. The door was opened by Tian Guoqiang's father. Seeing Young Master Liu, the Village Head Tian managed a weak smile, offered a few stiff, perfunctory pleasantries, and politely refused him entry at the door.

"Uncle Tian, what's with the act?" Being chased away without even being let in was enough to make anyone feel uneasy.

"Guoqiang isn't feeling well, he's sick, lying in bed right now. When he recovers, I’ll tell him to look for you," Village Head Tian said.

"Sick?" Young Master Liu blinked, his eyes turning shrewdly a couple of times, before he sneered, "Village Head, you're not just making up an excuse to fool me, are you?"

"How could I? Am I that kind of person?" Village Head Tian looked displeased.

"But I know Guoqiang is always robust, strong enough to withstand a blow from a sturdy pole. How could he be this sick?"

"I'm not lying to you, it's the truth," Village Head Tian offered a strained smile.

"You say it's true, so it's true?" Young Master Liu was certain this old fox was stalling him. He probably feared that Young Master Liu and Gou Dan would corrupt his son, leading him astray with frivolous pursuits. Hence, this performance of an empty city.

"Sir, you might as well stop playing the empty city stratagem; we aren't Sima Yi."

"You..." Village Head Tian was left utterly speechless by the shrewdness of Young Master Liu, having to simply shift his body inward and gesture toward a room with his hand: "You stubborn child, you really can't be moved by anything. Go see for yourself! See if your Uncle Tian has any reason to lie to you. Oh, and remember to pull down the curtain when you go in; it’s windy, and Guoqiang feels the cold easily."

"Alright!" Young Master Liu nodded, then moved quickly, walking briskly into Tian Guoqiang's room.