In Fool's City, Sun Tiecheng hugged a Teapot, raised it straight to his mouth and took a swig of tea, then hummed a couple of lines: "In the west of the city at Ink Shop lives a girl named Bai Junying, with a clever brush for painting scenes, this fine girl, nineteen winters, her husband's gone south to study hard, and now it's nearly mid-April..."
The little ditty was called "Fan Painting." Before Sun Tiecheng finished singing, Gui Jianchou, the Smiling Ghost King, came in: "City Lord, I've already checked it out. Over at Soda Kiln, a big Snail came out and strung more than fifty People from other provinces together like a skewer—took only the bones, left no flesh, scrubbed them spotless, and hung them right at the door."
Sun Tiecheng took another sip of tea and asked, "Those fifty-some People from other provinces, what's their background?"
