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The Spider on the Beam
A lonely old woman in a riverside Jiangnan house shares her beam with a spider that spins not for flies but for thieves. One autumn night it binds a limping burglar by the cuff and hangs him till dawn; the granny, instead of crying out, feeds him and sends him home with medicine money. A strange, tender tale of an unlikely watchman.
The Empty Room in the Urban Village
Xiao Wu rents a room in the urban village astonishingly cheap. At night he hears a neighbor's chair dragged and a tap dripping — but the wall is solid, and the room has stood empty for years since a lonely old man died in it. He begins leaving a bowl of hot food by the wall.
The Bamboo Spirit
A poor scholar lodges in a ruined garden where an ancient bamboo turns each night into a green-robed woman who dusts his desk and finishes his copying. On the eve of his exams she gives him a bamboo flute; ever after, the wind through the garden breathes her clear, lingering notes.
The Night Shift at the Funeral Home
Lao He has worked the night shift at the north-end funeral home for six years. On the first and fifteenth of every lunar month, the third cold-storage cabinet taps from within — three soft knocks. He later learns of an old man who died alone, and a daughter who comes every Qingming to paste a note on that very cabinet.
The Lantern Maid
A lantern-maker's paper lamps, when lit at night, throw on the wall the shape of her dead husband; neighbors fear it, but an old servant knows the truth.
The Inkstone Master
A poor scholar finds an old inkstone that writes its own lines as the ink dries; an old man within teaches him to prize ink, and proves to be its maker from a former age.
The Clock Shop
A watch repairer hears a mantel clock, silent for twenty years, begin to tick at night; its pendulum keeps the rhythm of his father's last breath.
The Dry Well
In a village-in-the-city rental, a dry well sounds at midnight as if someone is rinsing rice; the landlord says it dried up twenty years ago.