Folk Legends and Strange Tales: Digging Up a Grave and Stealing a Female Ghost’s Dowry from the Start

“I died so unjustly! I want revenge! I want the entire Li family dead!” The wronged ghost roars furiously at the living person blocking its way. Zhang Shen silently tightens his grip on the black-dog whip. “Come now, vengeance only breeds more vengeance. You don’t have to kill anyone to get even.” The wronged ghost pauses, and the newcomer continues: “Master Li is about to have an only son. I can send you into his family as a wastrel, and you can squander the fortune they’ve built over generations. Wouldn’t that be a delight?” “That... could work?” The wronged ghost hesitates. “Besides, Master Li is getting on in years, and he still has nine wives and concubines at home. They’re probably going to be left all alone.” The wronged ghost swallows, pulls its long tongue back into its mouth, and even takes a moment to straighten its tattered clothes. “Father, I submit myself to your arrangements!” The wronged ghost bows to the ground. In the twentieth year of Daqing, in this world of folk customs and supernatural tales, a kindhearted man who takes on all sorts of ghostly commissions appears, along with an executioner who treats human lives like grass.