It's been a while since we've seen the narrator, but he's back. He's in the middle of a conversation with a young woman who's on her way to give something away to her aunt. The young woman tells the narrator that her uncle, Hu, has been away for a while, so she's going to give him something to take home. The narrator asks the young woman if she'd seen the painter waiting for the ferry, and she says she hasn't, so he should try something new. She asks if the painter is looking at something, and he says it's like the ghost of his dead wife is looking for him. Hu says he was looking for his wife, and they cried together. Hu's trying to feed the ghost, but the ghost won't be able to do so, because the yang energy in the dead woman's body is too strong. If the ghost can't get to him, he'll have to sacrifice himself to get to her. Hu points out that if the ghost is strong enough, it'll be impossible for the painter to meet her. He says the painter's wife's spirit will fight against the ghost's yang energy, and that's why he tried to feed her with living people. The painter says he threw himself in the water after his wife died, because he was overwhelmed by grief and was delirious. The fog will never clear up, he says. The old man's family used to be wealthy, but now they've squandered all their money