Midnight Tales: a Collection of Horror Stories

The elders often say: "The countryside hides the darkness and accepts the filth. When you are a human being, keep a thin line and don't cut off your retreat." In this collection of stories, there are no earth-shattering ghosts, only "karma" hidden in the fields, tombs, and corners of the old house—— A bachelor secretly dug up ancestral graves in a neighboring village in exchange for betrothal gifts. He always heard the sound of coffins being mopped on the floor at night. Finally, his body was covered with grave grass and he died suddenly on the kang of his home. The village bully who forced the lonely old man to death in order to seize the homestead would see a bleeding head lying on the window sill every rainy night, and finally jumped madly into the deep well at the entrance of the village; The village cadre who misappropriated disaster relief food and caused the villagers to starve to death always felt that his throat was full of ice in the winter. When he was finally found in the ancestral hall, he had unswallowed moldy rice hanging from the corner of his mouth... Each story is derived from true rumors in the countryside. There are no gorgeous embellishments, only the horror that strikes people's hearts: it's the white shadow following people on the field ridge in the middle of the night, the sudden cry of mourning under the old locust tree, and the ashes of paper money appearing out of thin air on the dinner table. It is said that "people do what God is watching", but in these remote villages, what is staring at you may be a "thing" that is more vengeful than God. Open this book and listen to the taboos that the elders in the village dare not say openly, and see how the perpetrators were killed. Remember: there are spirits in the country, and retribution will not be good, so don't be too cruel in life—— After all, the nights in the countryside are darker than those in the city, and the hidden things are closer than you think.