The Haunted Chicken Pot: The Yellow-Braised Eater's Last Supper

The village of Jingzhou was known for its serene beauty and hearty cuisine, especially the famous yellow-braised chicken pot. It was a dish with a storied history, one that many villagers whispered about with a mix of reverence and fear. The pot, said to be enchanted, was said to bring good fortune to those who dined on it, but it also carried a curse. It was said that anyone who ate the dish would be haunted by the spirit of the Yellow-Braised Eater, a villager who had perished under mysterious circumstances.

The story began with a young chef named Li Wei, whose family had been running the local restaurant for generations. Li was an ambitious and talented chef, but he was also haunted by the village's tales of the haunted chicken pot. One evening, as the restaurant was about to close, a mysterious figure entered. He was dressed in rags, his eyes hollow and his face pale. He ordered the yellow-braised chicken pot, his voice a whisper, "I must eat this, for it is my last meal."

Li, intrigued and slightly unnerved, prepared the dish with meticulous care, unaware of the impending horror. As the figure ate, the air around him seemed to grow colder, and the pot itself seemed to hum with an ancient energy. Li watched, his heart pounding, as the figure finished his meal. Suddenly, the figure's eyes rolled back, and he fell to the floor, his breath ceasing.

The villagers rushed to the restaurant, and there was an immediate commotion. Li, in a panic, tried to help the figure, but it was too late. The figure was dead, and the air was thick with an eerie silence. That night, Li could not sleep. He kept seeing the figure's face, his eyes rolling back as he ate the last bite of the chicken pot. Determined to uncover the truth, Li began to investigate the figure's identity.

Li discovered that the figure was a man named Hua, a once prosperous villager who had fallen on hard times. Hua had been a great lover of the yellow-braised chicken pot, and it had been his favorite meal. But why had he come to the restaurant on his last night alive? Li's curiosity led him to the old, abandoned house where Hua had lived. There, he found a letter addressed to him from Hua, explaining his last meal.

The letter revealed that Hua had discovered a secret about the chicken pot: it was enchanted, and it had been used in a ritual to bind the souls of the villagers. Hua had been trying to free his own soul from the curse, but it was too late. As he ate the last bite, the enchantment had claimed him, binding his spirit to the pot forever.

Li, heartbroken and determined, decided to break the curse. He returned to the restaurant and prepared the chicken pot one last time. This time, he was ready for the spirit of the Yellow-Braised Eater. As the pot simmered, Li called out to the spirit, "You are free now, Hua. Release your hold on this dish."

The air around the pot seemed to shiver, and then, in a flash of light, the spirit of Hua was gone. The chicken pot, once enchanted, now lay still, its power dissipated. Li, feeling a weight lifted from his shoulders, realized that he had freed not only Hua's spirit but also the village from the curse.

The villagers, once wary of the haunted chicken pot, now approached it with a newfound respect. They realized that the dish was not a source of fear but a symbol of the village's history and the enduring power of love and community.

Li continued to run the restaurant, but he no longer served the yellow-braised chicken pot. Instead, he kept it as a reminder of the curse that had once plagued the village and the spirit of Hua who had been freed. The restaurant thrived, and the villagers often gathered there, sharing stories and laughter, knowing that the haunted chicken pot was a part of their past, but no longer a part of their future.