Recap
Yan Zhao said expressionlessly: “I won’t eat you.”
The taste of ghosts was not good, and just one Hu Wei made him want to vomit.
He just wanted to ask how to go down the mountain.
Before the words could be spoken, the female ghost in the middle suddenly knelt down, squeezed out from between the two male ghosts, and kowtowed with tears: “Thank you, sir, for being willing to uphold justice for the Nu family and Liu Lang!”
Yan Zhao: “…?”
Yan Zhao slowly typed a question mark.
___
The road down the mountain seemed to have no end, and Yan Zhao was a little impatient. He didn’t have a righteous face, so he didn’t understand what the ghost girl was thinking. There were too many injustices in the world, and he didn’t want to get involved in any of them, and he didn’t plan to meddle in other people’s business at this moment.
Rong Yu was an exception. Can family affairs be considered as private affairs? You must stand up for your family.
Yan Zhao was about to say that he didn’t want to be fair, but Rong Yu quietly pulled his sleeve and covered his lips with his fingers. “I want to hear gossip.”
Yan Zhao immediately changed his words. “Tell me.”
Now he is the contemporary Yan Qingtian* who upholds justice!
*(A person who is seen as just and upright, often likened to a righteous and incorruptible official or individual. Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bao_Zheng)
Rong Yu was not interested in this love triangle. He was definitely more selfish and heartless than Yan Zhao, but Wen Yichu’s ever-burning candle flame moved.
It didn’t get longer or brighter, but the flame swayed a little more, which meant that Wen Yichu in the lamp wanted to meddle in other people’s business. You know, Wen Yichu was not upset when Hu Wei died, but he was so excited when he saw the injustice.
Rong Yu remembered that Wen Yichu had once seen someone robbing a woman on the street and reported it to the police. Although he was beaten and kicked out of the government, he was still enthusiastic.
This is a son of destiny who doesn’t care about the persecution he has suffered and is indignant about the injustice suffered by others.
It is completely different from Rong Yu’s indifference to all living beings and his self-centeredness.
Seeing that the son of destiny was so excited, Rong Yu reluctantly listened to some gossip, otherwise he was afraid that Wen Yichu would be so angry that he would lose his temper.
When the female ghost saw that Yan Zhao was willing to listen, her original crying immediately turned into tears of joy. She knew that she was not wrong. Such a powerful ghost that does not devour ghosts must be a good ghost!
She immediately told the whole story in detail.
_
The woman’s surname is Feng, and her name is Wan. She lives in Yuenan Town and is called Wan Niang. The scholar’s name is Liu Zhe. He is also from Yuenan. He has no father or mother and is a neighbor of the Feng family. Wanniang and Liu Zhe have been childhood sweethearts since they were young. They have promised each other for life. He often gave Wanniang some small things, such as cosmetics, hairpins and rings. Wanniang was shy and happy to receive them. The two of them were tender and affectionate.
Liu Zhe was a scholar. He promised Wanniang that he would propose to the Feng family when he passed the imperial examination. Wanniang was also waiting for Liu Lang to marry her. Feng’s parents were happy to see this marriage. First, the Liu family was a neighbor and knew each other well. Second, the current officials valued civil officials over military officials, and scholars had a high status. If there was an official son-in-law, it would be a great honor for the ancestors.
Who knew that the sky would not fulfill people’s wishes? Liu Zhe did not catch up with the imperial examination and fell ill with tuberculosis. The disease came like a mountain. He saw a doctor and asked for medicine. After a few days, he still died.
In the mourning hall, Wan Niang was dressed in mourning clothes, lying on the coffin and almost crying to death. That night, she put on the rouge and powder that Liu Lang gave her, dressed up beautifully, and died in mourning. Her blood stained her white clothes red.
If she couldn’t be Liu Lang’s bride in life, she would die together for love and get married after death.
Feng’s parents never thought that Wan Niang would commit suicide. They raised their daughter to this age, hoping to exchange some betrothal gifts and marry a son-in-law, but now everything is gone. Others talked about it, saying that Feng Wan was shameless and was buried with another man before she got married. Feng’s parents felt ashamed, and they had to pay a funeral fee in vain, which was really unlucky.
It happened that Niu Da, a farmer in Yuexi Town, was also seriously ill, thinking that he had never married a wife until his death. Hearing that a girl in Yuenan had just died, he spent his life savings to buy the body and arranged a ghost marriage with him.
Feng’s parents were blinded by money and thought that all other plans were in vain, so they had to agree to this.
This is why there are two men fighting for one woman.
Liu Zhe thought that he and Wan Niang were in love, and Wan Niang followed him to death for love, and Niu Da stole her love. Niu Da thought that he spent money and made peace with Feng’s parents, and he was Wan Niang’s legitimate husband. Both sides insisted on their own opinions and neither of them would give in.
In the final analysis, it was because of this bad custom of ghost marriage that the living made their own decisions and disturbed the dead after death.
Rong Yu said, “Your parents are really good. They were optimistic about your marriage when they were alive, but changed their minds after they died.”
Wan Niang wiped her tears and said, “Dad agreed to let me marry Liu Lang because he hoped that Liu Lang would become an official and help the Feng family and my younger brother. After Liu Lang died of illness, his plan failed. Naturally, Niu Da’s money is more real. My father values sons over daughters and has always loved my younger brother. We daughters are just commodities that can be bought and sold.”
“You all?” Yan Zhao asked, “Who else but you?”
Liu Zhe said angrily, “There are also Feng Erniang and Feng Sanniang. They died suddenly and were taken away for ghost marriages. All the money was saved for Feng Si to get married. Her parents are such a jerk. In order to support their son, they even sold their daughter’s body!”
He obviously had no good feelings for Wan Niang’s parents. Those who could sell their daughter’s body for money were not worthy of his respect as his father-in-law and mother-in-law.
Rong Yu interrupted: “Where is Aunt Feng?”
Wanniang: “…It’s me.”
There is no Aunt Feng, only Feng Wanniang, otherwise it sounds too much like an old woman.
Rong Yu said sharply: “You have three sisters in your family, and none of them survived?”
Wanniang mustered up her courage and said a shocking fact that Rong Yu expected: “In fact, my second and third sisters did not die of illness…”
The Feng family has three daughters and one son. Their parents have always favored their sons and ignored their daughters. Wanniang has a beautiful face and has Liu Zhe as her lover, but the two sisters are not like that. The second lady has a birthmark on her face. Because she is ugly, no one wants to marry her when she is old. The third lady had a high fever when she was a child, and her brain was not very smart, and no one wants a fool as a daughter-in-law.
These two sisters died of illness one after another, and their bodies were soon bought. Those who need to marry ghosts don’t have too many things to be picky about the bodies.
“I originally thought that Second and Third really died of illness.” Wan Niang’s tears turned into fear. “Until I accidentally heard my parents talking in the house. They said… Second and Third can’t get married, anyway. Keeping them at home is just eating for free. It’s better to strangle them to death and sell them, and then marry them to a ghost, and get some money… If not, if it weren’t for my good looks and Liu Lang’s promising future, the betrothal gifts I would get if I married alive would be higher than marrying them to a ghost, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to escape death…”
As soon as these words came out, there was no wind in the mountains, but it was freezing cold.
What is more terrifying than ghosts and gods is the human heart, and this is just right.
“How can this be? There are such crazy and inhumane parents in the world. Is there still a law?” Liu Zhe was so angry that his soul was unstable, “Wan Niang, why didn’t you tell me at that time? I would have gone with you to report to the authorities, we can’t let the second and the third die unjustly!”
Wen Yichu’s long-burning candle also began to jump wildly, obviously as angry as Liu Zhe.
Wan Niang laughed bitterly: “Report to the authorities… How?”
Rong Yu had understood.
Ghost marriages are extremely popular here and are considered normal. At first, officials and businessmen colluded to plunder people’s wealth, and the poor were too poor to marry. Some people wanted to have a perfect life and have a wife to accompany them after death, so the phenomenon of buying and selling corpses appeared. The poor have been forced to buy corpses. If they continue to suppress it, it is hard to guarantee that it will not arouse public resentment. If the people do not report it, the officials will not investigate it, and it will become a custom to turn a blind eye.
At the beginning, the corpses bought were all female corpses who died of normal illness. But driven by interests, there will inevitably be moral corruption and legal trampling. When the sale of corpses forms an industrial chain and it is profitable, more and more black-hearted people are reaching out to this gray area. As the saying goes, there are too many monks and too little porridge. When there are many bachelors and few female corpses, there will always be people who force living women to “die of illness” and turn them into corpses to be sold.
The experience of the Feng sisters is a microcosm of countless women who have been victimized by self interests.
Of course, the officials here will not care. With the oppression of officials and businessmen, the monopoly of knowledge, and the ignorance of the people, the prevalence of ghost marriages today has led to the scene of ignorance and numbness.
The laws of the Sheng Dynasty did not prohibit ghost marriages, because the people who made the laws at the time did not even think that someone would buy and sell corpses for marriage, so naturally there was no way to make a judgment against this act. There are always criminals before police, crimes before laws. If there is no law prohibiting something, it is allowed. This kind of unethical custom is so rampant.
And if you want to break these people who only care about self interests, it is impossible for a civilian to hurt them.
Unless they have power.
Hu Wei was horrified, but Wen Yichu was indifferent. Wan Niang was persecuted, and Wen Yichu was indignant. He was not only indignant about Wan Niang’s experience but also hated the world and people’s hearts. Since he saw these sufferings, he could not turn a blind eye.
Does Wen Yichu really not mind the people who killed him?
He does mind, but it is nothing compared to his real wish.
Two months later, the good news of Wen Yichu’s success in the imperial examination will come. Under normal circumstances, if Rong Yu can overthrow the Hu family and avenge Wen Yichu in two months, and successfully wait for the good news, then the mission will be completed.
But Wen Yichu’s ever-bright candle can burn for three years, not two months. During the three-year mission period, Rong Yu obviously has to do more than just revenge.
Wen Yichu’s ambition is to thrive in the court, to be the voice of the vulnerable, and to benefit the common people.
As a demon king, Rong Yu is afraid that he will have to follow this personality setting this time.
_
Liu Zhe and Wan Niang suddenly shifted the topic to Feng’s second and third. Seeing that the situation was not right, Niu Da hurriedly pulled it back: “What’s the point of reporting to the authorities? Now it’s our business. Sir Feng Wan Niang’s parents sold her to me a long time ago. Why does this scholar take my wife away without spending a penny?”
Yan Zhao frowned: “Women are not objects. How can they be bought and sold? Who she wants to follow depends on her wishes.”
Wan Niang immediately said: “I will follow Liu Lang! I only recognize Liu Lang as my husband!”
“But she is mine!” Although Niu Da was afraid of Yan Zhao, he was still unwilling, “She is still wearing red. The wedding dress is the wedding dress that I married…”
Rong Yu said: “Just now you all thought he was going to eat you, you were eager to save yourself and didn’t care about her life or death. But Liu Zhe protected her. It can be seen that you don’t like her. Why bother to pester her?”
Niu Da is not a cultured person, and he only said one sentence over and over again: “She married me…”
These three ghosts did not go to the underworld to reincarnate, but they all had obsessions. Liu Zhe and Wan Niang’s obsessions are naturally each other, and Niu Da’s obsession is that he must marry a wife. He and Feng Wan have no emotional foundation. Of course, he will not protect her with his life like Liu Zhe, but obsession is not so easy to eliminate.
Yan Zhao said: “Are you sure that what she is wearing is the wedding dress that she married you?”
“Is it not? It’s obviously red…”
Liu Zhe and Niu Da were stunned.
What Wan Niang was wearing looked like a red wedding dress at first glance, but a closer look would reveal something was wrong—it was the white dress stained red with blood, which she wore when she was mourning for Liu Zhe.
“She died while wearing this mourning dress and bumped into the coffin, and then was changed into another wedding dress for a ghost marriage. The clothes that ghosts wear are usually the burial clothes when they are put into the coffin. If it is other clothes, it must be because she wore it during her lifetime and the memory of the day was too deep, and the obsession was too strong, and she didn’t want to forget it even after death. She was wearing a mourning dress stained red with blood, not the wedding dress for the ghost marriage with you, which means that the person she really wanted to marry was Liu Zhe, not you.” Yan Zhao rarely said so many words in one breath, and it was very fluent.
Of course, this morning dress stained red with blood was also because Feng Wan was too obsessed with marrying Liu Zhe after her death, so it turned all red, not that she really shed so much blood when she died.
Niu Da muttered: “But I spent all my money…”
“You can go to her parents in a dream and ask them to burn some paper money for you, which can also offset it.” Rong Yu said.
Niu Da: “I don’t want money…” I just want a wife.
“You haven’t finished yet. Take the money and go to the underworld to make some arrangements. You can get a good birth in the next life and marry a wife.” Rong Yu half tempted and half threatened, “If you stay in the world, you can only be a single ghost in this life. Which one do you choose?”
Niu Da immediately chose to reincarnate when he heard it.
It turns out that you can marry a wife in the next life by bribing the ghost messenger with ghost money. If he knew this, why would he stay here?
His obsession is to get a wife. If he can get married in reincarnation, he will be single forever if he doesn’t, so of course his soul will return to the underworld!
“Since you have chosen, leave after sending a dream.” Rong Yu sent him away.
Niu Da said gratefully: “Yes, yes!”
He left happily.
Liu Zhe and Wan Niang were stunned to resolve the obsession of a ghost so easily, and then they wanted to thank their benefactor, saying that they would repay him by working like a cow or a horse…
“No need.” Yan Zhao finally said the most important line, “We only want to ask for directions.”
Liu Zhe: “…”
Wan Niang: “…”
“Not only that,” Rong Yu added, “I want you to do me a favor.”
_
With the guidance of Feng and Liu, Rong Yu and Yan Zhao finally found the correct direction to go down the mountain.
Yan Zhao said: “The six reincarnations have their own destiny. Paper money can work in the underworld, but it cannot change destiny. It is unknown whether he will fall into the animal realm in the next life. How can you be sure that he will marry?”
“I can’t be sure.” Rong Yu had no guilt. “Isn’t it enough to fool him away? Otherwise, how long will it take?”
Yan Zhao: “…” It was not surprising.
Yan Zhao asked again: “I heard Feng Wan call Liu Zhe Sir. What does Sir mean?”
Rong Yu said: “It means my husband.”*
*(idk how to translate this in english bc the chinese term is 官人. It’s a different address for husbands. Very ancient address. )
Yan Zhao was thoughtful.
Rong Yu glanced at him. “Do you want to hear me calling? You will hear it after you get married.”
“… Rong Rong.” Yan Zhao suddenly said, “My burial clothes are black, but the one I am wearing is red.”
“So?” Rong Yu said carelessly, but Yan Zhao’s words just now echoed in his mind – the clothes that ghosts where are usually the burial clothes when they are put into the coffin. If it is other clothes, it must be because the memory of the day they wore it in their lifetime was too deep, and the obsession was too strong, and they did not want to forget it after death.
Yan Zhao turned his head to look at him.
“The time I remember most deeply in my life must be the day I became your husband.”
___
T/N: What a smooth talker ><
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