Longing Etched in Bone

A man knelt in a shadowy corner of a wooden hut, weeping as he begged Dong Xixuan to save his wife. Dong Xixuan’s sense of justice flared, and she readily agreed, but just then, several snakes dragged a corpse past the hut as if no one were there... Dong Xixuan steeled herself and went outside to look. To her horror, the corpse was none other than the very man who had just been pleading, “Save my wife...”