Taiping Village Rules

My grandfather told me three things before he died: First, after death, one is not allowed to be buried in ancestral graves, and the coffin must be hung on the old locust tree behind the village. Second, for the first seven nights, no matter who calls the door, don't open your eyes. Third, our lineage of watchers owes a debt to Heshen Temple - it's time to pay it off. I thought these were just the old man's confused last words. Until the first seven nights, the old clock in the hall rang twelve times. The sound of grandpa's pipe knocking on the threshold came from outside the gate: "Grandson, open the door, it's cold outside." I didn't open my eyes or move. Because I remember clearly - I nailed my grandfather's coffin with my own hands. I thought being a watcher of the year was just a fictitious job passed down from generation to generation, until I discovered: The lamp that my great-grandfather borrowed from the Heshen Temple was actually an eye of "Sui". For the past seventy years, the whole village has been able to survive New Year's Eve because our family has paid for the whole village's life with this eye. But this year, when I am thirty, the creditor comes to my door—it wants another eye. With folklore as the basis and suspense as the surface, we explore the secrets and redemption carried by generations of watchers. You can keep the year, but you can't keep the people's hearts.