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In the afternoon, Yang Su visited the sickbed of Butcher Wang, whose face was pale and drawn.
"I told you not to go over there..." his wife kept wiping her tears. "What are we going to do now..."
"What happened that night?" Yang Su asked.
Butcher Wang took a deep breath. "That night, I went to the woodshed behind the bell tower to get something. I saw a figure and thought it was Xiao Wangzi, so I called out. When the figure turned around..." He shivered, "It wasn't human; it was pale blue, like smoke..."
"And then?"
"I ran. When I got home, I had a fever. The doctor said it was from catching a chill, but I knew it wasn't. These past few days, I keep feeling like someone is standing by my bed. Every time I open my eyes, there's no one there." Butcher Wang coughed a few times, his voice growing weaker. "Sometimes the candles by the bed light up on their own. There's no wind outside, yet the curtains in the room keep fluttering. The strangest thing is..."
He suddenly shivered again, his face turning ashen. "Last night at midnight, I heard the bell toll and wanted to go out to see. As soon as I opened the door, I saw several people standing in the yard, dressed in white, holding something in their hands. When I shouted, they disappeared, but they left a few drops of red liquid on the ground."
"Red liquid?" Yang Su pressed.
Butcher Wang's wife quickly interrupted him. "Don't say any more! The doctor said he needs to rest." She lowered her voice and said to Yang Su, "But he isn't the only one who saw it. The daughter-in-law from Aunt Zhang's house said that night she went to the toilet and saw a figure by the bell tower that looked like a little girl with long hair, walking without touching the ground."
"The next day," she seemed to remember something and her voice trembled, "a trail of footprints was found on the ground behind the bell tower—small ones, like a child's footprints. But those footprints just stopped suddenly; there was nothing behind them."
"Did you report it to the police?"
"We did," Butcher Wang replied. "The police came and said they might be animal tracks. But strangely enough, those footprints disappeared the next day; all that was left were some dark red stains. Teacher Li had people scrape it several times, but it still wouldn't come off."
His wife wiped her tears again. "Yesterday I heard him talking in his sleep, calling out Xiao Wangzi's name. Saying things like 'Don't come closer,' 'What do you want?'..."
Butcher Wang suddenly became agitated. "I wasn't dreaming! I saw them! Those figures surrounded Xiao Wangzi and wanted to take him somewhere. I tried to stop them, but my body wouldn't move..."
"Shh!" His wife suddenly raised her finger. "Do you hear that? Is someone outside?"
The room fell silent. Indeed, faint footsteps could be heard outside, as if someone was pacing back and forth. The footsteps grew closer until they stopped at the door.
Yang Su stood up to open the door; outside was empty. However, lying on the threshold was something—a small figure made of red paper with an herb stuck in its chest.
As he left Wang's house, Yang Su wandered around the village, hoping to find that little girl he had spoken to that day. He knocked on several doors but no one recognized such a girl.
The sun began to set lower in the sky, and a thin mist enveloped the village. He encountered Old Woman Zhong again on the street, still sitting at her stall fiddling with playing cards.
"Old lady..."
"Back again," Old Woman Zhong said without looking up. "I told you some people shouldn't be sought out."
"What about that bell? What is really going on?"
Old Woman Zhong fell silent for a moment before suddenly looking up to meet his gaze. "You heard it, didn't you?" Without waiting for a response, he continued, "Those who hear it are destined to leave."
"What does 'leave' mean?"
"All the questions that need to be asked have been asked." Old Woman Zhong lowered his head. "You should go now; it will be too late if you ask any more."
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