In a place called Doomsville, there is a village named Haunted Hollow. In this village there is a boy about sixteen years old named Liu Pingan, the son of Liu Ying and her late husband Liu Desheng. He was so mischievous that he snuck off alone to play on a mountaintop. As it grew dark, he darted across a cemetery hidden in the jungle in order to get home as quickly as possible. Although he did not do anything on his way home, when he returned to the village he inexplicably developed a high fever. After taking medicine, his temperature still had not dropped. At this point, an old man said, "Go and see Ho Hsien-ku. Maybe she can cure it!"

Ho Hsien-ku is a famous exorcist in the village. Every villager respected her greatly. She sat on a bamboo chair, her legs trembling and yawning, holding three sticks of lit incense in a circle around the boy's head and muttering. At that time, the woman suddenly turned to the boy's mother and said, "He has met an unclean ghost, a man of forty. He is very tall and his grave should be in the northeast corner of the cemetery. It's possible that the boy's father missed his son too much, and that's why the boy got infected with something unclean." Then she wrapped a bag of paper money and gave it to the boy's mother to burn it at the crossroads at the foot of the hill. Strangely enough, after the boy's mother did as Ho Hsien-ku said and burned the paper money at the crossroads at the foot of the mountain, the boy's fever subsided that night.

After this incident, more and more people came to that wooded cemetery at nightfall, but they didn't see any ghosts, so the villagers began to talk more about ghosts.

One afternoon, Zhang Ying carried a bucket of dirty clothes to the river. Beside a row of green stone washing boards by the river, there were some women, both young and old, washing clothes, talking and laughing. When they saw Zhang Ying approaching, they suddenly quieted down, rubbing their dirty clothes quickly, as if they wanted to hurry up and get out of the place. Zhang Ying glanced at them without paying too much attention, and also quietly squatted down to wash the clothes. This scene lasted for about half an hour and no one made a single sound.

Zhang Ying wrung out the last piece of clothing and threw it into the broken wooden basket. Slowly, she carried the basket on her back and left the river. After she had walked about ten meters, the women started chattering again.

Although Zhang Ying was weak and sickly, her hearing was surprisingly good. She could still vaguely hear a few words spoken by those women: "It's been more than ten years. How did her husband suddenly turn into a ghost? It's so scary." "Ghosts will hurt people, no matter if they are good people or bad people in life." "Her husband is unsettled even after he died, it's bad luck to live with their family…" Zhang Ying forced her tears and hurriedly ran home.

One evening, three years later. A scream came from the dense forest, and a woman stumbled out of the trees, rushing into the village, panting, shivering and crying. "Ghost! There is a ghost!" Everyone at dinner stopped her and asked, "What's wrong? What's the matter?" The woman turned pale with fear and said incoherently, "I saw Liu... Liu Desheng, he... he's out of the grave."

Zhang Ying came over and pushed her hard, shouting, "Nonsense!". At that time, an old woman took the frightened woman's hand and said, "Don't be afraid. Tell us the truth slowly." The woman gradually became calm. "During the day I was picking tea on the mountain," she said. "When I left, I only took the tea and forgot to take my hat. So I went back up the mountain to look for the hat. As I passed the cemetery..." Then she gulped, clung to the old woman's hand, and went on. "I heard a noise in the grave. Then I saw a shadow flash by and I called out, "Who are you?" Then I lit a match to see who it was. As it turned out, just then a dark figure moved through the cemetery. I was so frightened that I ran down the mountain."

Zhang Ying came over and asked her, "How could you say that figure is my husband, Desheng?"

The woman timidly said, "I remember your husband's grave is in that place, and that black shadow is the same size and shape as him." "Ghosts can't see faces!" Zhang Ying growled, "Don't talk nonsense!" She went up to push her again. Her son Pingan rushed forward and grabbed her, and her daughter-in-law also came and said, "There are so many dead people in the cemetery, if you can't be sure, then why are you slandering my father?"

Zhang Ying said excitedly, "Since you all said that what you saw was my husband, I will go to the mountain to have a look now." Her son and daughters-in-law rushed forward and grabbed her, and begged her to come home.

Zhang Ying didn't eat anything when she got home. She went straight into her room and locked the door.

Pingan sighed and said, "Dad has been dead for more than ten years and mom hasn't come out of it yet." His wife said, "Let her cry. What a poor wife!" Pingan's eyes reddened. "I can only blame my father for being too good to her. If he had ever done even one thing wrong, my mom wouldn't be so sad."

Two days later, another old woman lost her cattle. Seeing that it was not yet too dark, she took courage and went to the mountains to look for her cattle. As she searched for the cattle, it grew dark. Suddenly, she saw a tall, dark figure crawling out of the cemetery. She was so frightened that she ran home so fast that as soon as she entered the door she fell to the ground and was unconscious. She didn't wake up until the next day. As a matter of fact, she was the village's big-mouthed old lady, so the story spread fast. She said the ghost she saw looked exactly like Liu Desheng. And she warned everyone not to go to the mountains after dark, the ghost will kill people.

Zhang Ying angrily rebuked: "You're talking nonsense, my husband is the best man in the world, even if he turns into a ghost he won't hurt anyone!"

The talkative old woman lowered her head and murmured, "But several people have seen your husband by now. That is the fact."

Zhang Ying collapsed to the ground and cried: "Desheng is here to see me and Pingan, he is here to see us, you are not allowed to scold him, he is only here to see us…"

When night fell, Zhang Ying ran alone to the cemetery, threw herself on Desheng's tombstone and cried out, "Desheng, everyone in the village said they had seen you. Now come out and see me! You've been dead for more than ten years; you leave me here alone. You've been so good to me. Why are you so cruel, leaving me to live alone in the world?"

Suddenly, she heard a rustling sound, and she hurriedly lit the matches she had with her, at which time she saw a dark figure in front of her on the left, and a few seconds later it darted away.

She pounced and cried, "Desheng, is that you? Desheng?" Zhang Ying yelled at the place where the shadow escaped, "Desheng, don't you want to see me? I'm Zhang Ying! Desheng, I’m your wife."

At that time, someone went to tell Pingan that his mother went to the cemetery after dark. He ran quickly into the mountain, saw his mother digging in the mud with her hands at the edge of his father’s grave, shouting, "Desheng...Desheng..."

Pingan rushed to her mother, and Zhang Ying said in a panic, "Son, I saw your father. He was right here. He escaped after he saw me." Pingan pulled her up. "Mom, are you crazy?"

Zhang Ying argued, "It's true, it's true what the villagers say. I saw it, it was really your father.."

One day a week later, at about eight o'clock in the evening, three police cars drove quietly into the village and eight policemen got out. They went straight into the mountains. Suddenly, the villagers heard a clamor and rushed out to see. At that moment one person handcuffed and led by four policemen came out of the forest. The villagers didn't know what was going on, so they asked the police. The policemen pushed the handcuffed prisoner into the police car and said, "This man was robbing graves on the mountain."

People watched in doubt as the police cars roared away.

A young man secretly asked the talkative old lady, "It was him you saw last time, wasn't it?" The old lady slanted a glance at Zhang Ying and whispered, "I don't think it was him."

At night, Pingan had just fallen asleep when his wife suddenly turned over and said, "Go and see if your mother is in her room." Pingan was so confused that he did not understand. His wife said, "I have heard a slight cry in mom's room for some time, but now it has suddenly stopped. So just go and have a look." After hearing this, Pingan rushed to his mother's room without wearing his shoes. When he opened the door, he found nobody. He called his mom several times, but no one answered. 

At this point, Zhang Ying sat in front of her husband's tombstone, chattering. The moon climbed the top of the tree. It was clear and bright, just like sprinkled with frost.

Zhang Ying touched the words on the tombstone and said, "Desheng, people always say that people will appear in one’s dream and make a request after they die, but I always dream of your last figure. You spelled life to push me out, to call me to run, but you are buried by a stone. The landslide just crushed the house. We have the strength to build another house, but what do I need a house for without you? DeSheng, come out and see me. Please..." She cried.

Suddenly she heard someone gently shout: "Don’t cry Ying" Zhang Ying turned her head and saw a man standing behind her. It was Desheng! Zhang Ying covered her mouth with her hands and stood up in disbelief, because he wore the same white shirt he had worn the day he left.

Zhang Ying held his hand tightly: "Your hand is so cold. Are you cold? You wear my clothes." She was about to take off her cotton jacket, but Desheng stopped her: "I'm not cold."

"People in the village say you always come out to scare them," Zhang Ying said.

"What nonsense they are talking! I only came out to see you and Pingan!"

Zhang Ying suddenly began to cry violently. She choked up and said, "Desheng! After you go, no one is good to me, could you take me away? I want to live with you!" Desheng stroked her head." Don't say anything stupid! I traded my life for yours, so if you go with me, won't I have made this decision in vain? Pingan is a filial child. He'll be as good to you as I am. Promise me to live a good life, okay?"

Zhang Ying took her husband's hand and nodded, tears streaming down her hands. Desheng said, "Look, Pingan is looking for you." Zhang Ying looked back and saw a dim light coming up the mountain. Someone was shouting: "Mom... Mom...Where are you?"

Zhang Ying turned around again, but Desheng had disappeared. "Desheng...Desheng, please don't go."

Pingan and a few villagers were holding up their lamps to look for them when they suddenly saw Zhang Ying curled up in front of his father's tombstone, chanting his name over and over again, and when they got closer, they realized that his mother was asleep.

He was surprised, "Mom!" Her daughter-in-law quickly helped her get up, "Mom, how can you sleep here? It is so cold, you'll get sick!"

A villager whispered: "How dare you sleep in a cemetery at night!"

Zhang Ying couldn't help but cry, "The ghost you're afraid of is the one I want to see day and night!"

Pingan knelt down, hugged his mother and cried, "Mom, let's go home..."