December 21, 2012. Ye Fengsi walked along a muddy, winding path. The plane trees had long since shed their leaves, and swayed helplessly in the cold wind blowing north. “It's really cold this winter,” Ye Fengsi thought, tugging at the collar of his trench coat before slipping his hands into his pockets and continuing along the even more winding road ahead. Around noon, Ye Fengsi finally stopped at the entrance to a narrow lane paved with blue-gray stone. He took a deep breath and went in. He stopped at the third doorway in the lane. The reddish-gray wood, the slightly cracked lintel, and the rust-spotted mirror above the door, hung there to ward off evil, all showed that the house was older than Ye Fengsi's elders.
