Liang and Mary's Curse of Love

I walk into the bar, a bit early. I scan the room, looking for Mary. I spot her sitting in a corner booth, and make my way over.

"Liang, you're early," she says, "I told you to meet me at seven." She's wearing all black; my favorite color on her. Her hair is down, cascading down her shoulders, framing her face perfectly. I thought tonight was going to be just another boring night of drinking and talking about our lives in the city.

"Yeah, sorry about that," I reply, as I take a seat next to her. "I couldn't wait to see you again." The waitress approaches us, "Can I get you two anything?"

"I'll take a whiskey neat," I say. "And my date will have the same." She smiles and walks to the other end of the bar. When she's out of earshot, I lean close to Mary and whisper in her ear, "How did you know what drink I ordered here?"

She giggles softly and whispers back into my ear, "I snuck into your apartment earlier today while you were at work." My eyes widen at hearing this.

"That's right," she continues, with a mischievous smile on her face. "I pilfered through your belongings and found your diary." She pops open a small notebook in front of me and points to an entry dated today. It reads: "Tonight's the night! Mary's been hinting around that she wants to go home with me..." She puts the book away quickly, before I can grab it from her hands.

"So... What do you want?" I ask quietly. "You could have anything from me."

"It's not about what I want," she replies sternly. "It's about what we both need." The waitress returns with our drinks and takes our order for food. After she leaves, Mary pulls out a small envelope from her purse and hands it to me. It has my name written on it in beautiful calligraphy letters. A letter? For me? This was unusual behavior for Mary; usually she would just tell me what was going on directly instead of playing games with me.

"What's this?"

"Open it!" She insists impatiently. As carefully as possible, so as not to damage the contents inside (they better not be bugs or something), I open the envelope and remove whatever was inside it. It was a small piece of parchment paper folded neatly into three sections like a letter would be folded up before being sent off by post mail. I unfold it carefully and read silently what was written on its surface:

*Ming Dynasty*

Some distance away stands an old house built in traditional style of royal house.*

The house stands tall and empty as if waiting for someone important.*

A young man enters his ancestral home with hesitation.*

His thoughts are filled with anguish but he resolutely decides not to turn back anymore.*