The mansion in the southwestern corner of the city's northern district stood starkly at odds with the surrounding homes. Gilded bronze rings hung on its vermilion gates, and gold-stamped talismans for warding off evil flanked the lintel.
The plaque should originally have read "Zhao Residence," but fingernails had scratched it beyond recognition.
The character for Zhao had vaguely become the character for Pang.
Two peddlers happened to pass together, casting wary glances at the abandoned mansion.
"Have you heard about the strange business at the Zhao Residence two years ago?"
"Yes. Who knows whom they offended? The entire family, old and young, died. Only a woman about to give birth survived. Poor thing!"
"Master Zhao was such a good man. He ate vegetarian meals and chanted Buddhist prayers, and he was always doing good deeds."
"Let's go, let's go. This place reeks of bad luck."
"Someone around here went into the Zhao Residence a year ago. Apparently, they saw that woman there. She was a full two meters tall, and her belly was still swollen."
The two looked at the plaque and couldn't help shuddering.
If the character for Pang on that plaque really had been scratched out with fingernails, could the two-meter-tall woman actually exist? The very thought made their hair stand on end.
"Look at the second floor. The light's still on. Could it be..." "Hurry, let's go!"
They soon hurried away, while the evening wind howled past, carrying a chill.
A crack stood open between the Zhao Residence's gates, as though they had long been left ajar.
Festive decorations filled the courtyard and the space outside. Red silk cascaded like waterfalls, while apples, mandarins, and other fruit sat on an offering table beneath the corridor, all completely rotten.
Red candles burned brightly in the hall. Wax tears