“At first, it was five meters away, then three meters, and recently, it was almost right up against my face. Can you imagine that? I could see her eyes, see the water dripping from her hair, and even see the spots on her face—those were livor mortis, livor mortis! She was already dead! Dead! I woke up in fright. I—I got out of bed to get some water, but then I saw those red embroidered shoes, right by my bedside, with the toes pointing at the bed.”

 “She put the shoes facing the bed, which means the ghost is coming for me. She wants to harm me, she wants to harm me.”

 “I clearly put them in the studio, but they came over by themselves!”

 “…Ma’am, ma’am? Please calm down. Maybe you accidentally put them there and just forgot.”

 “Forgot? Impossible. Right, that day, I think I didn’t have slippers—did I wear them over myself?”

 “So how did you deal with those shoes?”

 “Deal with them? I—I burned them. The elders say fire can drive away unclean things, so it wouldn’t dare come again. And for several days, everything was fine. But just now, someone knocked on the door. I thought it was the food delivery, but there was no one in the peephole. I—I just saw those shoes standing at the door, with a wet patch on the floor.”

 “It’s her, she’s back, she’s coming for me! Police, please hurry, why aren’t you here yet, sob sob sob… I—I hear the door opening, she’s here, she’s coming in!”

 “Ma’am, please calm down. My colleague is already upstairs. Please keep yourself safe. Where are you now? My colleague will take you out when they come in.”

 “I’m hiding in the wardrobe behind the curtains in the inner room, please hurry.”

 “……”

 “Officer?”

 “……”

 “Officer, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me!”

 “…So, you’re here.”

 The change in tone from the voice on the phone made the woman’s face turn deathly pale.

 Creak…

 The wardrobe door slowly opened.

 Outside, a pair of delicate red embroidered shoes with gold trim stood, water dripping all around.

 “Ahhhhhhh!!!”

 ……

 “Beep, beep, beep…”

 “Hello, this is the Zhongzheng Street Police Station. How can I help you?”

 “……”

 “Hello? Is there something I can help you with?”

 “Are you currently unable to speak?”

 The male police officer answering the call frowned slightly. In this station, all the staff were men, not a single female colleague. He turned to his colleagues and signaled:

 “No one is speaking. The signal seems to be interfered with.”

 “Send someone to check it out. There have been a lot of incidents lately. It doesn’t hurt to take a look.”

 “Yeah, check the address of the phone number’s owner.”

 “Okay.”

 “Found it.”

 “Where?”

 “Unit 3, No. 72, Fuchun Community.”

 ……

 The police found the landlord, got the key, and opened the tightly locked door. The group rushed into the house.

 No one answered their calls. They tried calling the phone, and after a while, a woman’s ringtone sounded:

 “Eighteenth day of the first lunar month, an auspicious day, the sorghum is lifted.”

 “Lift the red dowry, an inch, a grudge, hurriedly cut…”

 The music sounded inexplicably chilling.

 The group of police rushed inside, then all fell silent. On a rosewood round stool sat a woman in red—the owner of the house. Her long black hair hung down her back, her hands folded over her abdomen, and on her feet were three-inch golden lotus red embroidered shoes, blood constantly flowing out.

 Drip, drip.

 Water dripped from her black hair.

 ……

 Bang!

 Evan Wade listened to the police sirens outside, casually piled some things to the side, and let out a breath.

 “It’s done.”

 This was where his old man used to live, right next to Fuchun Community.

 A bit further over and you’d be in the city proper. Back in the day, they hoped the place would be demolished for redevelopment—they’d already planned how to spend the money. Unfortunately, the city drew a line right on the street next to his, just a small alley away. The old buddies who used to squat at the door eating with bowls in hand ended up living worlds apart, which really pissed off the old man.

 When he got older, he went to live at Evan Wade’s uncle’s house, and passed away a couple of years ago, having enjoyed his later years.

 Now that Evan Wade, the younger generation, had come back to Quanshi to look for work, his uncle gave him the key.

 It was fine to stay temporarily before finding a job, or even to stay long-term.

 After all, it was just a small bungalow, not very big. The old man had lived through hard times and couldn’t bear to throw anything away. Evan Wade had a hard time cleaning it up, ending up with a sore back, but he did find a few things—some ancient coins, an old bronze waist token, and a few out-of-print old books.

 Not worth much, but good for collecting.

 Evan Wade idly fiddled with those things, getting ready to take a shower.

 He turned around, the police cars outside had left, and suddenly there was a loud clang behind him. Evan Wade seemed to faintly hear a low tiger’s roar, as if provoked and enraged, or a warning at an intruder. Evan Wade turned his head, but there was nothing there.

 That waist token seemed to have changed position.

 The side with the tiger’s head swallowing the token was now facing up.

 Evan Wade looked at the token with curiosity.

 Could it be that he hadn’t noticed and put it down the wrong way just now?

 He picked up the waist token and examined it carefully.