Folk Tales of the Supernatural: Love’s Lock

In an ancient village, a folk horror story about the “Lover’s Lock” had been passed down for generations. Long ago, there was a beautiful young woman named Xiaomei, but after falling ill, she became frail and sickly. Her father searched everywhere for a cure, but nothing helped. One day, a mysterious old physician came to the village and claimed he could cure Xiaomei. But there was a condition: Xiaomei had to give him a lock of her long hair in exchange. Desperate to cure his daughter, her father agreed. Xiaomei cut off her hair, and the old physician fashioned it into a lock. He claimed it could lock away all evil, as well as Xiaomei’s illness. Sure enough, Xiaomei gradually recovered. But as time passed, she began to realize the lock had an uncanny power. In the dead of night, she could hear it moving on its own, making a “click, click” sound. At first, she paid it no mind, until one day she discovered that the lock had opened by itself. Terrified, Xiaomei tried to lock it again, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t. She began to suspect there was more to the lock’s origins, so she questioned her father. He told her it had been made by the old physician, who had long since left the village. Xiaomei decided to find him and uncover the lock’s secret. She searched the surrounding villages, but never found a trace of him. Just as she was about to give up hope, an elderly woman told her that the old physician was actually a demon. He had used the lock to imprison a cursed soul, and Xiaomei’s hair was the key to unlocking it. The old woman told Xiaomei she had to find