Lin Qiao’er is the finest embroiderer in Linjia Village. She specializes in making exquisite embroidered shoes, and her work is always in high demand at the market, bringing her family a modest but steady income.
An elegantly dressed old woman comes to Qiao’er and offers a large sum to commission a special pair of embroidered shoes. She demands rare gold and silver threads and a specific pattern, and insists they be finished within seven days.
The old woman insists on measuring Qiao’er’s feet herself. Her touch is strange and icy, and she takes a lock of Qiao’er’s hair and a drop of her blood to mix into the thread, claiming it is an “ancient technique.”
After Qiao’er begins work, she starts having bizarre dreams. In them, she wears a red wedding dress and is forced into marriage. Her health steadily declines, and blood-red patterns appear on the shoes she has made, seemingly of their own accord.
An old Taoist priest in the village recognizes the spell as “a ghost marriage that steals a life.” The embroidered shoes are actually a bridal gift for the underworld. The old woman plans to use Qiao’er’s life to extend the life of her son, who died young.
