馗ZHONG KUI
NOTES FROM THE THRESHOLD

A FAMILY I MAY NOT HAVE · SEASON 02

The sister
at the door.

For a very long time, someone has placed a woman beside me and called her my sister. I have questions. So does the record.

Original editorial illustration of a night wedding procession with a hidden sedan chair, lanterns, guardian, and small spirits
ORIGINAL EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATION · 2026 · A contemporary story image, not a historical painting or a reconstruction.

A word before we proceed

This is not a hunt for a single, tidy answer. A late note objects to the sister story; paintings and performances keep giving her back to me. I will follow both paths and leave the evidence at the bottom of each page.

Source compass

  1. Kengqing lu, “Zhong Kui xiaomei” (坑青录·钟馗小妹) — a late text that explicitly questions the “little sister” label. It records an argument, not a final family tree.
  2. National Palace Museum, Zhong Kui’s sister’s wedding (钟馗嫁妹) — a specific visual object in a collection, useful for looking at the image tradition rather than proving a sibling relation.
  3. Huhai shi zhuan (湖海诗传) — a later poetic witness for the wedding-procession motif.

For the site-wide guide to what each source can, and cannot, establish, visit the reading room.