Song Yushu of Laiyang served as an official in the capital, living a life of determined poverty, renting a dwelling where he resided with his elderly mother. The house was dilapidated, situated in a remote and desolate corner of the district.

That evening, after the two serving maids had settled the old lady in for the night, a faint, rhythmic pū pū sound suddenly arose from the courtyard, like the continuous hissing of a teapot spout.

Madam Song was startled and ordered the maids to investigate. One maid quietly approached the window, delicately pricking a hole in the oiled paper to peer out. She saw an old woman in the courtyard: short and hunched, with an abundance of long, snow-white hair that resembled nothing so much as a sweeping brush.

The crone had secured her hair into a towering bun nearly two feet high. She paced the perimeter of the courtyard, each step deliberate, moving with the unmistakable gait of a wading crane. As she walked, she emitted a ceaseless stream of spray.

The maid recoiled in shock and rushed back to report exactly what she had witnessed to the old mistress. Madam Song, finding this deeply peculiar, allowed herself to be helped by the two maids to the window for a closer look. Upon seeing the sight, her eyes widened so drastically that she found herself incapable of blinking them shut.

At that very instant, the old woman moved with startling swiftness, traversing the distance to the window in just a few bounds. She opened her mouth, and a jet of water erupted, piercing the window paper. The poisonous spray splashed forth, drenching all three women entirely.

Caught completely off guard, the trio instantly lost consciousness and slumped lifelessly to the floor.

The following dawn, Song Yushu arrived at his mother’s quarters to pay his respects. When several knocks went unanswered, fear gripped him. He hastily commanded his servants to force the door open. Inside, they found Madam Song and the two maids with faces turned a ghastly, livid blue—they had clearly been dead for many hours.

He reached out to feel their bodies. Two were already ice-cold, but one of the maids still retained a faint warmth on her chest. They quickly poured water down her throat in a desperate attempt at revival. After a short while, the maid slowly opened her eyes and recounted the entire terrifying episode, detail by detail.

Hearing the reason for their demise, Song Yushu was overcome with unbearable grief and rage. He issued a stern command: "Search this courtyard completely, floor to ceiling! Dig three feet down if you must, but find the perpetrator of this atrocity!"

The household staff chorused their assent, swinging their spades and turning the yard’s earth inside out. Indeed, this excavation yielded a discovery. Beneath the ground in a corner of the courtyard, they unearthed a massive pile of white hair. They dug deeper, and slowly, the full body of a female corpse began to emerge, her face terribly swollen, matching the maid's description precisely.

Song Yushu’s fury knew no bounds. He ordered his men to strike the corpse with an iron shovel. With a single blow, the flesh and bone dissolved into rot, and the belly split open to reveal nothing but clear water.