In the story titled "The Scapegoat," it's recounted that thirty years ago, it was common for women to give birth at home with the help of a midwife. During such times, the family would prepare a pot of boiling water, ready for use at any moment.
Cuihua and her neighbor Xiaofang were pregnant at the same time. Xiaofang's mother-in-law was quite superstitious, hanging scissors and a mirror at the doorway to ward off evil spirits. As Cuihua, who was nine months pregnant, neared her due date, her husband rushed to summon the midwife. On his way, he encountered a peculiar event. A strikingly beautiful woman, holding a red handbag, smiled and gestured to him, saying, "Brother, there is a family to the east in need of a midwife for childbirth. My leg is twisted, and I cannot cross the bridge. Could you carry me across?"
Cuihua's husband remarked that his house was indeed to the east and asked if she was heading there for the childbirth. Confirming she was, he carried the midwife across the bridge. However, upon reaching the other side, the midwife with the red handbag vanished into thin air.
Recalling his mother's warning, Cuihua's husband remembered that midwives carrying red handbags were often scapegoats, targeting pregnant women to take their place in childbirth, allowing the ghost to reincarnate. Realizing he hadn't seen the midwife's feet, he panicked and rushed home.
Meanwhile, Xiaofang also began to experience labor pains, and her husband went out to find a midwife. The ghostly midwife with the red handbag, initially seeking Xiaofang's home, found deterrents in the scissors and mirror hung at their door and thus turned towards Cuihua's home instead.
Cuihua felt an immense pressure on her abdomen, as if a giant stone was placed on it. Looking down, she saw a skeleton with a gaping maw, holding sharp scissors to cut open her belly and extract a bloody infant, which it then proceeded to eat, laughing menacingly.
The pain intensified for Cuihua, leading to severe hemorrhaging and ultimately, both she and her child died in what was supposed to be a joyous event, turning it into a mourning.
When Cuihua's husband returned, he urgently warned against letting the midwife with the red handbag inside, exclaiming she was a ghost. The family, already distraught and mourning, had not seen any midwife, only witnessing Cuihua's final moments crying out for her child.
On the other hand, Xiaofang successfully gave birth to a healthy baby boy, much to her family's delight.
The elders in the village later cautioned against interacting with any midwife carrying a red handbag. She might appear beautiful, but one should avoid her and not carry her across any thresholds, for she seeks a replacement to suffer in her stead, enabling her reincarnation.
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