Let me tell you a strange story.

Maba Town is located at the junction of Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, belonging to Huai’an. Within the boundaries of Maba Town, there is a place called Ma’an. Before the founding of New China, a bizarre incident occurred here.

During the reign of Qin Shi Huang, the area where Maba Town is located belonged to Dongyang County, and it was home to a large number of ancient tombs from the Qin and Han dynasties. Throughout history, tomb robbers have been rampant in this area, so the locals are quite familiar with the prevention of tomb raiding. At that time, there was a local wealthy man named Ma Pingchuan, who was quite famous in the region and controlled the opium trade. The Ma family had been entrenched in the area for several generations, with their ancestral tombs flourishing. In those years of constant warfare, Ma Pingchuan took in various fleeing soldiers and distributed firearms, making Ma’an a stronghold for local armed gatherings.

Behind Ma’an Village, there is a hill of tombs where the ancestral graves of the Ma family are located. To prevent tomb robbing, many people were stationed there to guard the site.

One year, a strange incident occurred in this hill of tombs. Overnight, hundreds of acres of farmland behind the village, centered around the hill, had all their crops wither and die.

This caused great panic in the area. Ma Pingchuan suspected that there was a problem with the feng shui of his ancestral graves and invited several of the most famous feng shui masters in the region for a consultation, attempting to find a way to resolve the issue. However, they ultimately could not determine the cause. Ma Pingchuan was a decisive man, and he promptly offered a large sum of money to find a new feng shui site, ordering the relocation of the graves.

In no time, the entire plain behind the village was filled with the sounds of activity, as if a battle was taking place. The main branch of the Ma family moved first, followed by the extended family, each seeking feng shui masters to conduct rituals, open graves, and set off firecrackers. Initially, the main family began the exhumation, with Ma Pingchuan overseeing the ceremony, where rows of soldiers fired guns into the air. When the Ma family opened their great-grandfather’s old grave, they dug down over ten meters but found no coffin. Astonishingly, the coffin in the ancestral grave was missing. Enraged, Ma Pingchuan ordered all ancestral graves to be opened that day. Amid the flying dust, they were shocked to discover that beneath the graves they had worshipped for hundreds of years, there were no coffins at all.

Furious, Ma Pingchuan immediately executed several guards of the graveyard and ordered the excavation of all burial sites to see if the coffins were still there. He was determined to find out what was going on—could it be that tomb robbers had turned their ancestral graves into an automatic cash machine? Had they been entrenched there for years, or were they colluding with the guards?

After a thorough investigation, Ma Pingchuan discovered that all the graves without coffins were concentrated in the fields where the crops had withered.

This matter became a source of great distress for Ma Pingchuan. The local feng shui masters knew that once they got involved in such a situation, they could lose their lives, and many fled. However, several feng shui masters from outside the area saw it as an opportunity and came to take risks. The situation dragged on for about a month, until Ma Pingchuan became so frustrated and tired of being deceived that he ordered a closure of his doors to visitors, driving away any feng shui masters who came to his door.

On the third day of closing his doors, while practicing Tai Chi in the courtyard, Ma Pingchuan suddenly saw a child sitting on the eaves of his house.

This child had a serene expression, curled up in the corner of the eaves, wearing a blue long gown, appearing to be about ten years old. He looked at Ma Pingchuan without saying a word.

He was startled and immediately called for the guards, thinking it might be a fox spirit or some other unclean thing. He had become very sensitive to such matters in recent days.

In fact, there was a reason for his thoughts. His family’s defenses were strict; usually, not even a petty thief could get in, let alone a wild cat. How on earth did such a small child manage to enter this deep inner courtyard? What were the guards doing?

A child in his teens appearing here could only mean something sinister. However, when he went to take a closer look, he found that the child was indeed a living person, not only breathing but also squatting right there on the eaves. “You little rascal, how did you get in here?” Ma Pingchuan, who had loved children since childhood, became curious upon seeing the child clearly. He stopped the guards who were about to catch the child and asked the kid a question.

The child remained silent, merely pointing in a direction. At that moment, Ma Pingchuan did not realize that the direction the child was pointing to was where his family’s ancestral grave was located.

“Do you know whose home this is? How dare you trespass?” The more he looked at the child, the cleaner he seemed, which made him feel a bit pleased.

Only then did the child speak: “I know where your coffin has gone.”

Ma Pingchuan frowned. He was quite annoyed to hear such topics. Looking at the child, he wondered what was going on. If it were a feng shui master saying such things, it would just be a scam for money, but hearing this from a child made him feel uneasy.

As a person of power, Ma Pingchuan certainly would not be intimidated by such a scene. He shouted, “Kid, who taught you to say that? Those old men talk such nonsense to swindle my money, and you little brat dare to speak out?”

The child was not afraid at all and replied calmly, “I came here; you can take money freely. I just came to tell you that I know where the coffin in your family’s ancestral grave has gone.”

Ma Pingchuan thought about it; since the child had already entered the inner courtyard, and the accounting room was just nearby, he could directly go down to get the money. This little brat could come here, so he must be able to leave without anyone noticing.

His experience told him that this child was not simple, so he reined in his temper and asked, “Then tell me, where has the coffin in the Ma family ancestral grave gone?”

The child replied, “You definitely won’t believe me if I say it. You might as well come with me to the graveyard.” Ma Pingchuan glanced at the guards and then at the child. The kid looked at him so calmly that it felt like a humiliating provocation.

This was not an equal exchange. Ma Pingchuan felt that the child must genuinely think he was someone not worth fearing, which was why he looked at him in such a way. Besides, with the guards around, he pondered that if anything happened in the area, he would surely be the first to know. What was there to be afraid of? Would someone really plot against him at the grave?

He had seen many storms and waves in his life. If someone wanted to plot against him, it would be a good opportunity for his men to practice. If he showed any fear here and the guards saw it, it would be rather embarrassing.

Ma Pingchuan said to the child, “Alright, it’s settled then. Come down. Can you ride a horse?” The child didn’t respond and simply flipped down from the eaves, moving as gracefully as a raccoon. Once on the ground, he remained silent and just nodded. Ma Pingchuan gathered a group of guards, mounted his horse, and took the child with him, galloping all the way to the vicinity of the grave hill.

Upon reaching the grave hill, the child pointed to the surrounding area, which was all withered and yellow, and said to Ma Pingchuan, “Look, this field is all dead.” “Even a blind person can see that,” Ma Pingchuan replied. “Kid, you’d better not mess with me, or I’ll have you shot on the spot. Now tell me, where did the coffin go?” “Look at this withered area; what does it resemble?” the child asked.

Ma Pingchuan glanced around at the desolate fields and realized he hadn’t thought about the shape of the withered crops. However, the ground where they stood wasn’t high enough to get a clear view, so he signaled to one of the guards. The guard quickly climbed up a nearby large tree and soon reached the top, looking around before shouting down, “Boss, it looks like a scorpion!”

Ma Pingchuan frowned, thinking there really was something to that. Without caring about his image, he rushed to the tree and gritted his teeth to climb up. When he reached the crown of the tree and looked down, his heart sank. Indeed, the outline of the withered crops resembled a giant, menacing scorpion.

He shouted down at the child, “What is going on here?”