The ape was just an animal, and a female one at that. How could it possibly be Dad?

After bringing the ape its breakfast, I cleaned the shed as Mom ordered.

Mom sat by the door, banging her gong - business was open for the day.

One by one, the single men went in. Cursing and the ape's moans echoed from inside.

The men came out adjusting their pants, looking mighty pleased.

"Hey Frank's widow, that beast sure knows how to party!"

Mom shot him a teasing look. "Weren't you the one who didn't want to come at first?"

The guy chuckled sheepishly, scratching his head.

Happily handed Mom some bills.

Mom spotted me watching from a distance and snapped, "Girl, have some shame! What's a young lady doing hanging around here?"

"Go check on that old hag instead!"

I ducked my head and ran off, scared.

Grandma could walk now, but her mind was gone. She kept muttering nonsense.

When she saw me, she swung her cane at me: "You little witch, just like your mother! You brought bad luck and killed your father, are you happy now?"

I talked back stubbornly: "Dad died because he got greedy and went hunting on that mountain. It wasn't my fault!"

That made her try to hit me again, so I ran off.

Outside, I bumped into Lucy, my best friend in the village.

Her mom, Mrs. Wang, was my mom's bestie.

Lucy grabbed my hand excitedly. "Jenny, let's go dig for ginseng on the mountain!"

The mountain gave me the creeps just thinking about it.

I shook my head firmly.

"Don't be such a chicken! You've got me with you, what's there to be scared of?" Lucy laughed at my frightened face.

When I still wouldn't budge, she played her trump card: "If we find enough ginseng to sell, we could pay for our school!"

That convinced me. I nodded.

As soon as we entered the mountain, a chill ran up our spines.

We both shivered.

Sure, the mountain was full of dangerous animals, but it also had valuable stuff.

Though most of it had been picked clean years ago - we barely found any ginseng after searching for hours.

"ROOOOAR!"

Suddenly, we heard howling.

Lucy and I dove into some nearby bushes.

A group of huge black apes were chasing rabbits.

We looked at each other, terrified.