The Ghost Woman of the Fields (Part One)

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My name is Xie Lingling, a girl from a remote mountain village. I am the eldest child in a family with many sisters. Because of this, I began helping my parents with household chores from the age of ten. When my parents went to work in the fields, I would look after my younger sisters and brother, and at the same time help with cooking at home. Day after day, year after year, time slipped by until I turned sixteen. Because of our poverty, I had to leave school before finishing junior high and began working in the fields alongside my parents.

I was not particularly pretty, lacking the enchanting looks and charm of a movie star, nor did I have the fashionable clothes of a wealthy heiress. A single red dress accompanied me for three years, but I remained the simple and kind-hearted girl I had always been. Though my family was poor, I was still happy, for I had loving parents who, like me, toiled in the fields but always saved the best food for me. Whenever they saw me struggling with farm work, they worried about me.

One day, the happiest of my life arrived. The factory run by local villagers officially informed me that I could start working there. Although I was still young, I felt I had grown up, able to ease my family's burdens with my hard-earned wages. What made me even happier was that my parents spent half a year's savings to buy me a nearly new bicycle. Riding that bicycle filled me with pride—I had truly grown up.

The factory was about three li from my home—not too far, not too close—just a ten or twelve-minute ride. After working there for a little over three months, I managed to earn back the cost of the bicycle. One evening, we were suddenly told we had to work overtime. The news made me anxious, but I resigned myself to it since overtime pay was offered. So it went, and it was not until ten o'clock at night that I left the workshop.

Rural nights are extremely quiet, especially during autumn harvest. At ten o'clock, the countryside is enveloped in darkness and silence, broken only by the wind and the sounds of insects in the fields. The autumn wind sent chills through me as I rode home, the only things visible before me were the pitch-black night and dark cornfields. Between two patches of corn ran a narrow path that led home.

The rustling wind mixed with the rattling of my bicycle made me even more uneasy. It felt as though someone was chasing me, so I pedaled faster. Riding down the winding path, suddenly, the shrill cries of birds startled me so much I wanted to cry. "Ah! Oh my goodness, who is that?" My panicked shout was followed by a loss of control; my new bicycle veered off and I tumbled into a ditch.

"Ouch! This is killing me! Why am I so unlucky, why did I fall into this ditch!" No sooner had I spoken than a strange laughter came from beside me. "Hehehe..." "Who are you? Don't scare me..." Before I could finish, a flash of light appeared before my eyes, and what I saw made my heart jump. No, this can't be... Had I fallen into a graveyard?

The strange light was eerie, casting everything in a ghostly green. In the midst of it stood a blackened, withered willow tree. On either side of the tree were two graves, and behind them crept a ghastly green mist.

In the midst of the dreadful mist, a ragged-haired figure emerged, grinning grotesquely as she slowly approached me. Her laughter was terrifying, shifting from sobs to cackles. Her form flickered in and out of sight. "Wooo... Little girl, come keep me company. I've been waiting for you a long time!" Her voice sent a wave of panic through me.

"Who are you? Don't come any closer! I don't know you, what do you want from me?" I cried out in fear, backing away. No matter how loudly I shouted, the terrifying shadow kept moving toward me.

"Woo—! Hehehe, you say you don't know me, but I know you! My dear little sister, have you forgotten me? I am your sister, the one who died many years ago!" "Sister?" Her words left me utterly confused.

Did I have a sister? I couldn't remember. Besides, my parents had never mentioned such a thing. Staring at the approaching shadow, my mind went blank. Her disheveled hair made her look even more horrifying.

Her hair was wild as though it hadn't been combed for two years, stained with dark red blood. Her twisted, ferocious face grinned at me with a chilling laugh.

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"Don't come any closer! I don't have a sister like you! I don't know you, I've never wronged you, please stay away! Help!" Cold sweat broke out on my forehead, and my whole body began to tremble.

Her face was smeared with black-red blood, which trickled down from her head. Her eyes were terrifying, glowing green as she stared at me with a look as if she had died with unresolved hatred.

"Hmph! You say you don't know me, so you don't? Come with me!" The dreadful woman grabbed me and dragged me toward the eerie green light.

"You're not human, you're a ghost, a ghost!" I struggled and screamed. "Why are you shouting? Do you think you're still alive? You're a ghost now, too! Only, you died of fright from me. As for me? I was killed by a car! My death was tragic! It's been over ten years, and no one has come to visit me, burn paper, or offer incense. No one here to talk to me. Now that I've met you, your luck has run out!" The female ghost's words filled me with despair.

I was finished, beyond saving. After work today, I had encountered this terrifying and merciless ghost. At the thought, I burst into tears. "Please, I'm begging you, let me go. I'm a good person, I've never met you before. Please show mercy and spare me." My pleas only made her angrier.

"Spare you, pity you? Then who pitied me? Who spared me?" Her furious words plunged me into deeper despair.

This female ghost's home had been poor and remote. While others lived in the village, she lived beneath a hillside. There was a willow tree in front of her house; I guessed the willow I’d seen was the one before her grave.

Her house had been a thatched hut, most of the straw blown away by the wind, leaving only the beams and rafters. A ring of wooden stakes formed a fence, reminiscent of my home in the 1980s. The greenish sky filled me with dread.

She wore a blood-stained white dress, her hair oozing dark red blood, making me tense and terrified. A foul stench wafted to my nose, making me retch uncontrollably.

Looking down, I saw pairs of glowing green eyes, making me scream. "Ah! What is this—there are ghosts!" "Why are you screaming? Haven't you seen these before? They're rats!" the ghost said, turning her bloodied face and those horrible eyes toward me.

"Hehehe, Xie Lingling, are you afraid now? Soon, your body will look just like mine! Then, many rats will come and gnaw your flesh!" Her words made me sob with terror.

"I... I don't want to die, I still want to earn money to support my parents and siblings..." "Why are you crying? You think I wanted to die? I wanted to live, too..." As she spoke, tears rolled down her face.

"But you were run over by a car, I wasn't, I just fell into a ditch! Your body is decayed, but mine is unharmed..."

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"So what if you're unharmed? Is your family rich? Without money, you'll die all the same. By the time your family finds you, you'll already be dead. Even if you’re not, you’ll be a soulless shell, no different from a corpse!" Her words filled me with greater dread.

"Sister, please let me go. I’ll burn you lots of paper money when I get home..." "Do you think you can get back?" The ghost glared at me fiercely, stretching out a hand. In her palm, the image of my home appeared, and I began to sob.

I saw myself lying on the brick bed at home, my face covered in blood, deathly pale. I was barely breathing, and my parents were weeping bitterly at my side. I could no longer hear their words, but their grief was evident.

"Sister, please let me go. Look how heartbroken my parents are! They worked so hard to raise me..." I pleaded, crying harder.

"Everyone’s parents grieve after their child dies. Do you think only your parents are heartbroken? So were mine!" she said, glaring at me with a ferocity that silenced me.

Alas, this is fate! Perhaps I was destined to die young. At that thought, I sighed. "Don't be too sad. Everyone must go through this. You’re luckier than I was. At least you didn’t suffer much. But after my death, I endured every agony; even now my head feels like it’s splitting apart with pain! The pain is unbearable! Alas, your fate is bitter, but you can only blame yourself. When I reincarnate, this place will be yours. Here, you can enjoy loneliness." Her words struck me like thunder.

Was my life really ending here? I couldn't accept it! I was only seventeen! At the thought, I sobbed mournfully. Would anyone save me? I didn’t want to die. My tears fell, drop by drop, onto the ground.

If only someone would let me live, I’d do anything they asked. "Would you really agree to anything, if only you could live?" An old woman’s voice rasped. The voice was hoarse, but hearing it filled me with hope.

"Who—who are you?" the ghost and I cried out together, turning to look in the direction of the voice.