There is a Liu Ji lantern shop at the east end of the village. The owner is surnamed Liu and has been making lanterns all his life.
He makes red lanterns and white lanterns. Red lanterns are hung on the gate and white lanterns are hung in front of the mourning hall. When white lanterns are lit, the light is different from red lanterns - it is cold and white, and can make people's shadows very long, as if something is squatting and waiting beside the shadow.
That autumn, an old man in his nineties died in the village. There was a white lantern hanging at the door of the mourning hall. It was extinguished on the day of the funeral - it was not blown out by the wind. The wax was still burning, but the wick was burnt, as if someone had breathed at the lantern.
Some people say that the tone was taken away by the lantern, and if it is taken away, it will not be returned. But some people say that the lantern remembers who blew the breath, and when he needs it, the lantern will light up again and give that breath back to him.
Lantern Liu knew the whereabouts of that tone. He knew that the light of the white lantern had been borrowed by a living person. He waited every day for the lantern to light up again.
Intention: The energy you borrowed must be repaid sooner or later.