Episode 36: The Turtle Soup of Misfortune

At noon, the sun was surrounded by a halo of thin clouds, like a fuzzy scarf, shakily rising to the zenith. However, the old Jing Family house in the south of Fire Knife Village remained shut, without a hint of sound to be heard.

In the main hall, leftovers from last night's Chinese New Year's Eve feast still lingered on the table. After a night, the juices in the dishes had coagulated, oozing a string of murky drops around the edges of plates, further adding to the mess strewn across the table.

"Ouch, my stomach, it hurts to death…"

In the large room to the left, old Jing Taihe and his wife were both leaning on their daybeds, each occupying an end, clutching their bellies and moaning in pain; in the western wing, Hua Xiaomai and Jing Taihe were similarly lying in bed with pained expressions, their faces pale and frightening, as large beads of sweat continually dropped from their foreheads.