Seeing the others staring at her taffy, Huniu quickly stuffed it into her mouth.
Chewing away, she said in a soft, delicate voice, "I remember once before, I eavesdropped on my mom and dad talking. My dad said that when he passed by Scholar Wang's house that night, he heard a woman's crying and screaming coming from inside.
He originally wanted to go in and take a look, but because he only heard it once and didn't hear it again afterward, he figured he must have misheard, so he let it go.
My mom was worried that Dad had run into something unclean, so she specifically warned us not to go near that place, saying it was haunted. She even told us not to talk about it outside, saying she was afraid a female ghost might hear us and come looking for us."
Guoguo pressed on, "Then do you remember when your mom told you that place was haunted?"
Huniu thought for a moment. "It was around Chinese New Year."
Guoguo nodded and handed another piece of candy to Huniu.
He turned to look at the others, expecting them to say something.
The little companions chattered away, sharing all sorts of gossip—how this family stole that family's eggs, whose dog bit whose chicken.
The juicier bits involved whose husband was hooking up with a widow in the neighboring village, or whose mother-in-law was abusing her daughter-in-law, giving the kids plenty of gossip to chew on.
Chapter 441