The Rabbit Demon's Curse
The hunter Zhao Qiang and his wife captured a pregnant rabbit during one of their outings. When his mother, Zhou Shufen, urged them to release the rabbit, Zhao Qiang refused to listen. Instead, he slaughtered the rabbit for its meat and planned to use its fur to sew scarves for the family. From that moment on, strange occurrences began to plague their household: nightmares haunted their sleep, rabbit fur appeared in their drinking cups—a superstitious sign of bad luck—haunting cries echoed through the night, chilling them to the bone, and rabbit-shaped prints were left on their clothing.
Zhou Shufen noticed a sense of foreboding seemed to surround Zhao Qiang and invited Xu Bansian, a local shaman, to help resolve the matter. However, Zhao Qiang dismissed the warnings, hanging the rabbit pelt at the door as an act of defiance. Soon after, Zhou Shufen mysteriously disappeared. The couple ventured into the mountains to search for her, only to find her handkerchief surrounded by scattered rabbit fur. Yang Liu, a concerned neighbor who had been observing the events, called upon Xu Bansian again, who revealed that only one day remained to undo the harm.
Facing mounting pressure and disapproval from the entire village community, Zhao Qiang finally relented. Taking the rabbit pelt with him, he climbed into the mountains to apologize and perform a ritual to show respect and atone for their actions by giving the rabbit a proper burial. At that moment, Li Hu, a man who raised rabbits, appeared and explained the truth: the pregnant rabbit had been a treasured keepsake left by his late mother, symbolizing her memory and legacy. Zhou Shufen had only been taken temporarily by Li Hu to assist in resolving the matter. All the strange happenings were a punishment orchestrated by Li Hu and Xu Bansian to teach Zhao Qiang a lesson.
Seeing Zhao Qiang's sincere remorse, the two men forgave him, and the family was finally able to live in peace once more, free from the strange occurrences and guilt.
