Strange Tales of the Ghosts

Soon, all the dogs in town were slaughtered, but they hadn't found the murderer yet. Victims appeared one after another, and everyone in Pingshan Town was so scared that they couldn't sleep at night. Everyone locked their doors carefully and lit candles as they were afraid the monster would attack in the dark; they only fell asleep when it was bright outside. There were barely any people out on the streets during the day or night, even the merchants who heard of the stories had stopped coming to Pingshan Town. The people in town slept during the day and watched their homes at night as if they were watching out for thieves. 

But even so, people were still dying non-stop. The people who were the most anxious were the government and the few big households, so they gathered once again. 

"What should we do if this continues?" Old Master Zhou, the owner of many shops, walked anxiously in front of everyone, looking rather stressed out. 

Qian Dagui waved his hands and replied, "You are right. Something bad will happen if this continues." Qian Dagui meant it would be their turn sooner or later. The others became even more irritated, yet they had no solution either. 

"Then what should we do? Even the officials can't do anything about it. Is there anything we can do?" 

"If it's a monster, we should seek help from a master in the temples and get rid of it." 

"No, we don't even know if it's a human or a ghost yet; it would be a waste of money." The Zhou Family's Old Master was the stingiest one of all. He immediately shook his head at the idea of spending money. 

Owner Zhao, the head of the silk business, stood up and panicked, "If none of this works, the only option left is to fly out of this town!" 

His words shocked everyone. They were the big shots of the town, and they couldn't run away like the ordinary people who only needed to take their wives, children, and money with them. They would need quite some time just to sell their land, but who would buy it after hearing what happened here? They didn't want to stay, yet they couldn't leave everything behind either. 

When they were all sighing, Qian Dagui's butler dashed into the room and yelled, "Old Master, something bad happened! Something bad happened!" 

"What happened?" Qian Dagui was extremely nervous. He thought that someone in his family was murdered and sweated furiously. 

Lai Fu glanced at the other masters and whispered next to Qian Dagui's ears. Qian Dagui's face turned from yellow to pale, then to ash. He slapped Lai Fu on the face and yelled furiously, "Get out of here, you useless thing!" 

"Brother Qian, what's wrong?" The others thought it was related to the murders. 

Qian Dagui didn't want the ugliness of his family to spread. The butler rushed in because Zhou Hanliu suddenly went insane and accused Xue Fu of being the monster and the culprit of all the murders in Pingshan Town. She was crying and throwing a tantrum at home, startling everyone. He replied, "It's nothing, Lai Fu has no sense of priority. I'm sorry to disturb you." Of course, he wouldn't let Old Master Zhou know; otherwise, it would be too tiring to deal with both problems at the same time. He remained at the tea house for a while to discuss the murders before leaving.