In the thirtieth year after Lao Wang's first watch, he bumped into the Li family's wife in red clothes under the old locust tree on an autumn night - she had died in childbirth three days ago, but she was holding a bloody thing in her arms, with red hair wrapped around it.
The thing would cry, and the cry was as sharp as scratching glass. The woman said it was hungry and wanted milk. Until the rooster crows at dawn, she leaves a message before turning into smoke: "I will come again tomorrow night."
He scattered glutinous rice and put yellow talismans in front of Li's house, but he couldn't stop the obsession. Until he took out a blue stuffed doll with her favorite gardenia embroidered on it - it was a tribute to her unborn child.
After the puppet was buried in the grave, the crying sound was never heard again in the town. It's just that there is a red mark on the clapper on Lao Wang's head. Every time the third watch rings, the stuffed doll in his pocket moves slightly, as if there is a little soul accompanying him the rest of the night.
