Story Night

"What nerve that shopkeeper had!" Xie Madam was furious, then asked anxiously, "I hadn't visited my shops in ages. Lan Tang, do you think a lot of them might be deceiving me?"

Shen Lantang nodded seriously. "It's possible. When you have time, Mother, you should inspect the shops yourself."

"..."

Shen Lantang spent half the afternoon looking through account books, but not a single word of her inner voice came out.

At dinner, Madam Zhou came to see Xie Madam.

"Well?"

Xie Madam shook her head.

"Don't worry, Sister-in-law. I have another idea."

The next day, Madam Zhou invited Shen Lantang to her courtyard.

"Lan Tang, come here." Madam Zhou beckoned and stepped aside.

Madam Zhou was the daughter of one of General Xie's former advisers. Well read from childhood, she was refined and courteous. Unlike Xie Madam's commanding presence, she had a gentle, delicate charm. Even as a mother of four, traces of her youthful beauty remained in her features. Shen Lantang liked her well enough and walked over.

"These are the young men I've picked out for Yingying. Take a look. Which one do you think is best?"

Shen Lantang studied each portrait carefully before answering.

"I think they're all quite good, but what matters most is whether Yingying likes him."

"Apart from the men in these portraits, is there anyone you'd recommend?"

"No," Shen Lantang said.

Madam Zhou persisted. "I'm afraid we'll run into another Xu Mingyan. I can't help feeling uneasy."

"Don't worry, Aunt. After what happened with Xu Mingyan, Mother will investigate even more carefully. Once you've chosen someone, I'll help look into him too. Don't let it spoil the occasion."

Out of ideas, Madam Zhou could only say, "Very well. We'll do as you say."

That evening, Xie Madam came by.

"Anything?"

Madam Zhou shook her head. "Nothing."

Another day passed. Shen Lantang happened upon Madam Zhou in the garden. They had just started talking when a maid rushed up to them and cried, "Madam, something terrible has happened! The third young master got into a fight outside and hurt his arm!"

Madam Zhou asked at once, "Where is he?"

"He's been taken to a clinic!"

Madam Zhou turned tearful eyes on Shen Lantang, who stared back. "..."

Wait, what does this have to do with me? How am I supposed to respond?

Madam Zhou watched Shen Lantang for a long while without hearing a trace of her inner voice. Disappointed, she turned to the maid. "So he hurt his arm. That's what he gets for causing trouble outside all day. Perhaps now he'll stay home!"

The maid: "..."

Shen Lantang: "..."

After several such tests revealed nothing unusual about Shen Lantang, Madam Zhou could only wonder, "Could it be that none of these things were startling enough? Or perhaps her inner voice isn't limited to matters concerning the Xie Family?"

Xie Madam was more cautious. "In that case, let's test her one last time."

Story Night

Another day passed.

All sorts of things had happened lately, making the days fly by. At dinnertime, a servant came to fetch Shen Lantang.

"Young Madam, Madam invites you to admire the moon in the garden tonight."

Admire the moon?

"Tell her I'll be there."

After the servant left, Shen Lantang looked up at the sky in puzzlement. "What day is it today?"

"I think it's the fifteenth!" Baozhu said.

"Ah, that explains it."

It was perfectly normal to admire the moon on the fifteenth, wasn't it?

By the time Shen Lantang had finished dinner, changed, and arrived at the garden, quite a few people were already there. A whole tableful, in fact: the ladies of both Xie Family households, Yingying, her elder sister-in-law, and their neighbor Madam Zhu, who was also a friend of Xie Madam.

"Lan Tang's here! Come, come. You're the only one we were waiting for."

Shen Lantang composed herself and stepped forward. "Sorry I'm late."

"Not at all. Your timing is perfect!"

It wasn't the Mid-Autumn Festival, so there were no mooncakes, but they had other pastries. With ice to cool them, the evening wasn't so hot. It was rather pleasant.

They chatted and joked, passing the time on the sweltering summer night.

The conversation drifted from household affairs to curious tales heard around town. Suddenly, Madam Zhu said, "It's dark now, and we rarely get together like this. Why don't we tell some strange folk tales to pass the time?"

Shen Lantang was drinking tea. At those words, she whipped her head around.

Ghost stories?

How trendy!

Yingying perked up at once. "Yes, yes! Whoever tells a good story tonight will get a generous reward!"

She was speaking to the servants nearby.

Such lowbrow tales of the uncanny weren't the sort of thing the ladies would tell themselves. If they wanted to hear them, the servants would tell them for amusement. It was one way they earned tips.

At that, several servants grew eager.

"I know one. It happened to a man surnamed Zhang from my village. One night, he went out drinking, and he was stumbling drunk on his way home. Since it was late, he took a shortcut..."

"...When Brother Zhang woke the next day, he discovered that what lay beside his pillow wasn't a gold leaf at all. It was a finger bone."

Several servants standing nearby shuddered, and Yingying had already hidden in her mother's arms. The storyteller gave an eerie smile and slowly swept his gaze over the group. "If that gold leaf was really a finger bone, then who—or what—was the old man who gave it to him?"

"Aaaah!" Yingying screamed.

Shen Lantang hadn't heard a ghost story in ages, and she was a little excited. This wasn't one of those predictable tales where a beauty turned around and revealed herself to be a ghost. It had an ending that grew more frightening the longer you thought about it. Was this what Chinese horror was all about?

Shen Lantang's eyes shone. "Are there more? Are there more?"

Xie Madam and Madam Zhu, both thoroughly creeped out: "..."

Madam Zhou, also eager for more, said, "Yes. Do you have another?"

"Yes, I know one too. It happened to an uncle who lived next door to my family back home..."