Outside the north gate of Hangzhou there was a house where a ghost appeared so often that no one would live in it, and the door had stood locked and barred for years.
A scholar named Cai decided to buy it. Everyone warned him. He did not listen.
The deed was signed. His family refused to set foot inside. Cai opened the house himself, lit a candle, and sat down.
At midnight a woman drifted in, slowly, with a length of red silk trailing from her neck. She knelt to Cai. Then she tied a rope to the beam and put her head into the noose.
Cai showed no fear.
She tied a second rope and beckoned to him.
Cai dragged one foot forward and put his head into it.
“You have made a mistake,” said the woman.
Cai laughed.
“You were the one who made a mistake — that is why you are what you are today. I have made none.”
The ghost wailed. She prostrated herself twice and was gone.
After that the haunting stopped. Cai took his degree. Some say he was Cai Binghou, the provincial treasurer.
