The Ghost in Mom's Story

When I was a child, there were always power outages at home, and when I couldn't watch TV, the nights were long. What I looked forward to most before going to bed was my mother telling stories. My mother is different from others in that she doesn't know how to tell gentle fairy tales. Instead, she talks about weird stories spread in the countryside. The charming five-way intersection in Pengcun, the faceless woman hitching a ride late at night, the little ghost doll wandering along the river bank... I used to just think it was the chatter of elders coaxing children, but when I grew up, I suddenly realized—— Every ghost in my mother's story is a real regret in the world.