This time, after Han Nü had received a large sum as a deposit, A-Chu had wanted to show off to Old Man Zhang and the village children. Last time, Old Man Zhang had accused her of stealing when, in reality, the sisters were so poor that they could only look at the items he sold, never buying anything. Wanting to prove she had money, A-Chu had deliberately taken the pouch of silver to show Old Man Zhang. She didn’t realize that the amount was enough to support a family of five in the village for a year. Old Man Zhang, upon seeing so much money in the hands of a child, had become greedy. He and a group of village kids accused her of stealing, took the money, beat her, and threatened to report her to the authorities.
A-Chu, beaten black and blue and terrified of being reported, had been suffering silently for days. Every day, she went to ask Old Man Zhang for the money back, only to be beaten again. Too afraid to tell Han Nü, she had kept it all inside, until now, when it finally burst out, and she cried like a broken child.
Seeing A-Chu’s swollen, bruised face and her limping as she walked, Han Nü’s heart was filled with both pain and fury. She didn’t even bother scolding A-Chu for taking the money. After quickly tending to her wounds, she grabbed A-Chu’s hand and headed out to find Old Man Zhang.
Old Man Zhang was a traveling vendor who usually came to the village every ten days, carrying a box full of trinkets and toys that children loved. Lately, for some reason, he had been visiting more frequently. As they approached the fields, Han Nü spotted him surrounded by children, his box open as they rummaged through his wares.
Face cold with anger, Han Nü marched up to him and shouted, “How can you, an old man, steal money from a child? Don’t you have any shame?!”
Old Man Zhang, seeing her approach, rolled his eyes and sneered, “She stole the money first! I was just teaching her a lesson for you. You’ve got no parents to teach her right from wrong, so I thought I’d help out.”
Han Nü had never seen such shamelessness. Her face turned pale with anger. "Weren't you going to report me to the authorities? Let's go! I'll go with you!"
She grabbed Old Man Zhang's sleeve with all her strength, but she was still just a young girl, lacking the strength to hold him. With a forceful shove, he sent her stumbling, causing her to fall to the ground.
Old Man Zhang hurriedly packed up his goods, cursing, "Stealing money and acting so righteous! Uneducated brat!"
As he turned to leave, he saw A-Chu standing in his way. Without thinking, he kicked her hard. "Get out of my way!"
A-Chu rolled across the ground from the blow. Trembling with rage, Han Nü tried to get up, but before she could, a cold wind suddenly howled around her. To her shock, the ghost from the embroidery appeared in broad daylight, grinning wickedly as it lunged at Old Man Zhang. It grabbed him like a chick and, amid his horrified screams, began to chew him up, swallowing him bite by bite.
Everyone was stunned by the gruesome turn of events. The children stood frozen in fear, watching as the enormous ghost, drooling, snatched up another child and devoured him in one gulp.
"Ahhh!" someone finally screamed, and the adults working in the fields, who had been too stunned to react, now rushed over with hoes and sickles, desperate to protect their children.
Han Nü, equally terrified, saw the ghost moving toward the fallen A-Chu. She shouted frantically, "No! Go back!"
The ghost looked longingly at the panicked crowd, its potential food. It hesitated and glanced at Han Nü, but she screamed again, "Go back!"
Reluctantly, the ghost transformed into a plume of dark smoke and retreated back into the embroidery.
Suddenly, an eerie silence settled over the scene. Han Nü scooped A-Chu into her arms. A-Chu had been kicked hard in the chest by Old Man Zhang, her face was turning purple, and she clung tightly to Han Nü's clothes, whispering weakly, "Sister..."
"It's alright, it's alright," Han Nü comforted her. "I'll take you to the doctor right away."
Struggling under A-Chu's weight, Han Nü hurried toward the town. Behind her, someone screamed, "She's a witch! She really is a witch! She summoned a ghost to eat people!"
"Don’t let her get away! Catch her!"
Despite the shouts, no one dared to truly give chase. The ghost had stood several meters tall and picked up a grown man as easily as a chick. The villagers, terrified and ignorant, were too scared to confront her directly. All they could do was hurl stones and farming tools from a distance. One rock hit the back of Han Nü’s head, splitting it open, and blood began to soak through her clothes.
And so, the two sisters were driven out of the village in the most humiliating way possible.
This incident even caught the attention of the local authorities. After all, a ghost had eaten people in broad daylight, witnessed by many. At that time, there weren’t many established cultivation sects or enlightened immortals to deal with such matters. Instead, conmen claiming to be “heavenly masters” were more common. Several of these so-called masters were summoned to exorcise the demon and search for Han Nü and her sister. The search lasted for half a year but yielded no results. Eventually, the case was quietly buried by the authorities, and no one spoke of it again.
Most of the gold Han Nü earned from the ghost embroidery was spent on medicine. A-Chu had been kicked in a vital area by Old Man Zhang and was barely clinging to life. Countless ginseng roots were used to save her. Though her life was spared, her health was permanently weakened. She was never again the fearless, lively girl she once had been.
A-Chu, now frail, could no longer travel long distances. Han Nü built a simple wooden house in the nearby mountains, where the two sisters lived in seclusion for six years.
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