The middle-aged woman arrived at the pond and looked around to see a trail of shallow fox paw prints left on the damp mud, but there was no sign of Shiqi, the girl. She then called out loudly,
"Shiqi, Shiqi, where are you?"
Only her own shouts echoed back from the pond, with no response. The middle-aged woman's heart skipped a beat, and a chill suddenly rose up her spine,
"Shiqi, Shiqi..."
She called out a few more times, but still no one responded. She turned and shouted into the pond,
"Old catfish! Old catfish?"
The water in the pond was still and mirror-like without a single ripple. Instead, a lazy voice came from behind her,
"Are you calling for it?"
The middle-aged woman was startled. When had someone come up behind her undetected!
She spun around and saw a woman dressed in tight-fitting clothes with her hair tied in a ponytail, holding a huge catfish behind her,
"Old catfish?"
