It is said that we went to Guiku Gou. Old Master Yu was furious, his beard trembling: "You daring little rascals! Who dares to go to Guiku Gou again, I'll break his legs!"

When the little jade snake appeared and saved us, Ku Cripple frowned, puzzled, murmuring to himself, "Strange..."

The process described by the other companions was more or less the same, but apparently no one knew how Zheng Jun got the pair of gold earrings. It wasn't until it was my turn that I revealed the matter of the gold earrings.

Ku Cripple's face turned pale at my words, and he asked urgently if I had seen what the owner of the earrings looked like.

I replied based on my impression, "Um... she seemed to be a beautiful woman in a red qipao, with a graceful figure..."

Ku Cripple's face suddenly flashed with horror, and he stood up somewhat nervously, almost forgetting to take his crutch with him.

Village Chief Yu and my grandfather hurriedly went to support him, asking him what was wrong. Ku Cripple shook his head like a rattle drum, saying with a bitter face, "These ignorant kids, they've stirred up trouble, I'm afraid that woman will come looking for us tonight..."

As Ku Cripple said this, we were all stunned, with Village Chief Yu sensing the urgency, quickly asking Ku Cripple for advice on how to help us avoid this disaster.

Ku Cripple looked troubled, shaking his head continuously.

Thinking Ku Cripple was angling for more money, Village Chief Yu kept increasing the "performance fee" offered to Ku Cripple.

With a long sigh, Ku Cripple said helplessly, "Old Master Yu, this time it's really not about money, I... can only do my best!"

Old Master Yu asked, "Great Immortal, what exactly is the background of that thing? Why are you so afraid of it?"

Leaning on his crutch, Ku Cripple slowly recounted the story.

According to him, the woman in the qipao we encountered last night was a concubine of a big landlord in the Republican era, named Yin Hongyi. She was young and beautiful, and loved wearing red qipaos. However, shortly after entering the household, she was drowned alive in a pig cage by the landlord's wife on some pretext.

On the seventh day after her death, everyone in the landlord's house, including family members, servants, and even the cats and dogs, all died clean. Bloody handprints covered the walls of the landlord's house, especially the landlord's wife, whose death was the most tragic, with her heart torn out and a big hole in her chest.

Some say it was Yin Hongyi coming back for revenge.

Since then, the landlord's mansion became a haunted house, often haunted. It was later burned down by the local villagers.

Hearing Ku Cripple's account, we, a bunch of kids, were scared out of our wits, quickly kneeling down to Ku Cripple, begging him to save our lives.

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Ku Cripple asked for each of our birthdates, then wrote them on yellow paper and buried them in different incense burners, covering them with incense ash and lighting a stick of incense on each.

Then, Ku Cripple asked Old Master Yu to take out the pair of gold earrings.

At first glance, there was nothing unusual about the gold earrings, similar to ordinary ones, just slightly more antique in style and delicately crafted.

After Zheng Jun died, his parents thought the earrings were ominous and entrusted them to Old Master Yu for safekeeping.

Old Master Yu handed the earrings to Ku Cripple, who buried them in the incense burner as well, sticking a yellow talisman on top and instructing us not to touch the incense burner.

Zheng Jun died because of these earrings. Where would we dare to touch this incense burner? We'd be asking for death!

Ku Cripple solemnly said to us, "You kids, tonight you'll stay in the ancestral hall and not take a step out. Otherwise, if anything happens to you, I won't take responsibility! Also, no matter what sounds you hear or strange things you see at night, you must not open the ancestral hall door, do you understand?"

We nodded, bowing and thanking Ku Cripple.

"Whether you can survive tonight depends on your luck!"

With a sigh, Ku Cripple shook his worn-out robe and walked out of the ancestral hall with the village chief and old master.

The sky outside was completely dark, with incense candles lit in the ancestral hall, flickering on and off. The rows of memorial tablets appeared eerie and terrifying.

It was silent, with no one speaking. Occasionally, one could hear the chirping of insects and birds outside, which made the dead silence of the ancestral hall even more pronounced.

We were still just a bunch of kids, very young. Faced with such a situation, everyone was terrified, trembling and not speaking, the atmosphere unusually heavy.

The incense in the burner burned slowly, time passing very slowly. Shrouded in tension and fear, we fell into a deep sleep.

In the middle of the night, a cold wind seemed to blow outside the ancestral hall, abnormally windy, whistling. We were all startled awake, eyes wide open, too scared to fall asleep again, our pupils full of fear.

Soon, there was a clattering sound above the roof of the ancestral hall, as if someone was running back and forth on the roof, and from time to time, one could hear the sound of tiles falling to the ground, smashing to pieces with a crisp sound like firecrackers, making our little hearts tremble.

Two timid children had already crawled under the altar, holding their heads in their hands, almost crying.

I glanced at Fatso, who was also quite frightened, curled up in the corner of the ancestral hall, hands clasped together, constantly chanting "Amitabha".

Before long, the cold wind stopped, and suddenly there was a knocking at the door of the ancestral hall, thud, thud, thud!

The sudden knocking made us all shiver with fear.

We all looked up at the door of the ancestral hall, which was made of thick red lacquered wooden boards, many of which had peeled off due to their age.

At this late hour, who would come to the ancestral hall?

Thud, thud, thud! Thud, thud, thud!

The knocking grew more urgent, like drumbeats constantly beating on our hearts, making us restless.

I suddenly saw Fatso stand up and walk towards the door, actually wanting to open it.

I was startled and quickly crawled up from the ground, grabbing Fatso's clothes, "What are you doing?"

Fatso, with a mournful face, said, "I can't stand it anymore, I want to go home!"

Emotions are contagious. When Fatso said that, the others started crying too, clamoring to go back.

I was getting anxious, "Have you all forgotten what Ku Cripple said? No matter what sounds you hear, you must not open the door of the ancestral hall. As long as we survive tonight, we'll be saved tomorrow!"

Pausing, I said to Fatso again, "That woman in the red qipao may be outside

the ancestral hall right now. If you dare, go ahead and open the door!"

Fatso's hand was already on the door latch, but after thinking about it, he put it down. In the end, he didn't have the courage to open the door.