On the night of the fifteenth of July, two major events occurred in the village:

The first event: the stove in the Diao family's house, where they were cooking a pig's head, exploded.

The second event: Diao Laiyin's house was haunted and he was trying to drive away evil spirits by burning paper and incense. Suddenly, a strange wind blew and carried away a bundle of lit paper money.

The fire became malicious and instantly engulfed the entire Diao family compound.

The entire Diao family perished in the fire, none of them escaped.

Only Diao Laijin survived.

From the subsequent analysis of the scene, it was found that they desperately tried to open the door but couldn't. Some people explained that the door was warped by the fire, but the gaps in rural doors are large, so it would be impossible for it to get stuck and not open.

When the authorities came to clean up the scene, they discovered a considerable amount of money, which implicated Diao Laijin in a corruption case. He was arrested that month as well.

Later, it was said that he went insane for a while in prison and then died.

I gradually began to understand what Li Laosan had told me, that whether it's gods or ghosts, they all stem from people's thoughts and beliefs.

Only a few days had passed since the events on the fifteenth of July.

Li Laosan sent someone to pass on a message, saying he wanted to introduce his niece to me and have us get to know each other.

I agreed and said, "Sure, let's get to know each other."