Something major had happened at the Yang Family’s house, and the news had quickly spread throughout the village. When they saw Yang Gang bringing in Witch Wang into the village, everyone was in an uproar.
"This is really serious now, they’ve even called for Witch Wang."
"Right? Just look at the Yang Family’s house, so many people going in and out all day."
"I heard they dug up an urn of cremains in that low-lying field."
"Does that mean they’ve been cursed?"
"Possibly, even the doctor can’t cure it; they said the person is nearly gone."
"Have you not heard the wails coming from their courtyard? It must be true."
Everyone was discussing it, each one of them breaking out in a cold sweat, grateful they hadn’t found anything when they had gone treasure hunting in that piece of land.
Yang Gang, furious at the buzzing of gossip, roared at the crowd, "Stop wagging your tongues here."
Silenced by Yang Gang’s shout, everyone shut their mouths.
Yang Gang arrived home with Witch Wang, and by then, Yang Ming’s courtyard was packed with people, relatives and quite a few nosy neighbors.
"Make way, everyone," Yang Gang said as he made his way through the crowd and into Yang Ming’s house. "Dad, Witch Wang is here."
"Witch Wang, look at this; can you call his soul back?"
Witch Wang made a show of approaching the edge of the bed, glanced a few times at Xiaoxiao lying there, her expression slightly uneasy. Then, with a grave face, she said, "Wait until I start the ritual; the gods will tell me whether she can live or not."
"So when do we start?" Old Man Yang continued.
"Get ready now; I’m about to begin, and I don’t like interruptions."
Grasping what Witch Wang meant, Old Man Yang immediately had Yang Gang clear everyone out of the yard, leaving only their family.
Witch Wang began to prepare the site for the ritual. She tore away the muslin canopy Xiaoxiao had put up, along with hanging paper cranes and hearts.
Seeing the lovingly prepared bridal chamber being torn apart, Yang Ming shouted at Witch Wang, "What are you doing?"
"All these must be removed; they hinder the soul-calling."
"You can’t tear them down," Yang Ming cried out, hurriedly picking up the muslin canopy, paper cranes, and hearts.
"Don’t blame me if the soul-calling is delayed; she won’t be able to come back then."
Seeing his son so heartbroken, Old Man Yang urged, "Third son, listen to Witch Wang."
Yang Ming fell silent and had to agree; having his wife come back was more important than anything.
Heartbroken, he picked up the decorations his wife had prepared for him, intending to keep them safe, but as he gathered them, he found a torn heart among them.
He picked it up sorrowfully, only to notice writing inside the torn edge—words written by his wife that he never knew were there. He quickly opened the heart.
Seeing those few words felt like his heart was being torn apart; they clearly read, "Husband, I love you."
He felt like he could hardly breathe from the pain; he looked at the pile of hearts his wife had folded—were there words in those as well?
He quickly opened the second heart, which also clearly read, "Husband, I like you so much!"
Tears of heartbreak and emotions welled up in his eyes once more. Wife, I love you too, I like you too.
Just as he was about to continue with the third heart, "Third son, hurry up, Witch Wang is about to start."
"Okay." He quickly put the items away in the cupboard, waiting for Witch Wang to awaken his wife.