The Red Embroideress

During the Republic of China era, in a Jiangnan water town, a sealed bloody case lurks in Yan Zhi Lane. The top embroideress Lü Lingxiao, refusing to embroider a ghost wedding dress for a despotic squire, was falsely accused of adultery, beaten to death before being drowned in a pig cage, and her body was thrown into a dry well at the end of the lane. Before death, she clutched an unfinished red embroidery piece, her resentment seeping into the bones. Since then, the sound of silk threads weaving echoes through Yan Zhi Lane every night, a red-clad phantom wanders by the well, and anyone who touches her embroidery dies mysteriously. A hundred years later, antique restorer Lin Yan moves into an old house in Yan Zhi Lane to search for his ancestral embroidery manual. That very night, he discovers a pair of bloodstained red embroidered shoes under his bed, the embroidered twin lotus flowers on the toes matching Lü Lingxiao's signature in the family tree. Strange events follow: silver needles in the embroidery basket move on their own at midnight, red threads form the character '冤' (injustice) on the white wall, a red-clad woman's profile flashes in the mirror, and mournful humming lingers in his ears. As the investigation deepens, Lin Yan realizes he is a descendant of the despotic squire who framed Lü Lingxiao, and the last page of the ancestral embroidery manual hides her unfinished secret. When he tries to burn the embroidery to quell her resentment, the red-clad embroideress's phantom suddenly appears, blood trickling down her pale face, her red threads coiling like venomous snakes. This century-spanning revenge has just begun, and no one can escape.