Chapter 40: Weeping Marriage at the Small Temple

White sedan chair!

At the moment I saw the white sedan chair, there was no doubt that this matter was absolutely related to the Bai Family.

And at that very moment, a terrifying thought flashed through my mind.

Li Qingying is a martial artist who gets very little sleep; how could she just fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow at the Cai family's tonight?

With such a huge commotion outside, she didn't notice anything at all?

The facts prove we've been hit!

But Cai Bin was introduced by Tang Xun; could Tang Xun be trying to harm us?

But I only asked Tang Tang earlier and never got in touch with Tang Xun; maybe I got it wrong?

Could it be that Cai Bin is using Tang Xun's name as a pretense, but actually colluding with the Bai Family?

In an instant, countless possibilities churned in my mind, and at that moment the white sedan chair came rushing toward me!

I turned and wanted to run back into the room, but when I looked back, there was no room behind me at all!

In the blink of an eye, the white sedan chair came down over my head.

The next moment, I was sitting steadily inside the sedan chair.

I struggled to rush out, but I found myself as if bound by an invisible rope, completely unable to move.

The white sedan chair floated aimlessly, I didn't know where it was headed.

I don't know how long passed when suddenly a chorus of crying came from outside.

They were crying while singing; I couldn't make out exactly what they were singing, but the word 'crying marriage' flashed inexplicably in my mind.

It is said that in the past, for a woman, marriage was a major affair decided by parental order and matchmaker's words; before the wedding, she often didn't even know what her future husband looked like.

On the day of her wedding, when she boarded the bridal sedan, she would always cry a bit; this is what 'crying marriage' refers to.

Crying over the reluctance to leave home.

Crying over the uncertainty of the future.

What's more, some girls are destined to be as good as dead from the moment they marry!

Because they know that the person they marry, even if not dead yet, will not live long.

This marriage is to ward off bad luck.

The sedan chair swayed gently, the crying sounded soft and sorrowful, my head felt more and more swollen, and in a daze I seemed to fall into another illusion.

On a country road overgrown with weeds, a bridal sedan moved forward at a leisurely pace.

The sound of gongs and drums never ceased, mixed with women's soft, sorrowful crying.

On the small slope west of the country road, three girls about fifteen or sixteen lay prone, their eyes wide as they watched the bridal sedan approach from afar, their faces full of worry, whispering to each other.

"A Rong really is going to become the concubine of an old man who could be her great-grandfather."

"When that old man came to A Rong's house to assess her, I secretly took a look—his mouth full of yellow teeth was almost falling out, and his old-person smell could be detected from far away."

"I heard that the old man kills his wives; he's already taken in over a dozen concubines, and none of them lived more than a month."

"Do you think A Rong can survive more than a month?"

The three girls fell silent for a while.

The one on the right suddenly spoke: "A Hong, I heard your parents are also looking for a husband's family for you, right?"

A Hong's eyes immediately reddened: "Well, my brother has reached marriageable age, and my parents have arranged with the Fang family for us to exchange brides."

The other two girls' faces turned deathly pale in an instant: "Exchange brides? You mean you'll be swapped for the Fang family's consumptive ghost?"

A Hong covered her face and wept.

The girl in the middle, A Mei, said in a daze: "Could it be… that we truly cannot escape this fate? A Rong is, A Hong is, and the A Xia and A Juan from two years ago, and even earlier…… we…… why were we born in this mountain hollow, unable forever to escape such calamity?"

The sound of gongs and drums faded into the distance, and the three girls on the small slope clutched their heads and cried bitterly.

After crying herself out, A Hong suddenly said: "I heard from the White Granny in the rear mountain temple that after marrying and consummating the union, our bodies become defiled, and for the rest of our lives we must continually atone; to change our fate and secure a good future in the next life, we must, before losing our purity…… set out on the path."

A Mei didn't understand: "Isn't it said that those who commit suicide are not accepted by the underworld and do not enter reincarnation?"

A Hong wiped away her tears and said: "The White Granny said she can help us perform a liberation rite."

……

A breeze lifted the right curtain of the white sedan chair, and I jolted awake from the illusion, instinctively looking to the right.

In the darkness, where the white sedan chair passed, there happened to be a small slope on its right.

On the slope lay three girls wearing large red wedding dresses, with black hemp ropes around their necks, their eyes full of blood and tears, staring fixedly at me……

My hair instantly stood on end; I closed my eyes, then looked again at the right slope—there was no trace of any girl left!?

But what was that illusion just now?

The three girls on the slope looked exactly like the three girls standing at the palace gate in the painting, the ones who led me into the palace.

Could it be that they were calling out to me for help?

Who exactly is the White Granny in the rear mountain temple that A Hong mentioned?

Could she be related to the Bai Family?

Then what happened?

A Hong, A Mei, and another sister—did those three get married? Or……

As I pondered, the white sedan chair came to a stop.

The curtain lifted automatically; I raised my eyes to look outside—weeds grew everywhere, and as far as the eye could see lay desolation.

Yet in the midst of this desolation, a small temple suddenly stood before the sedan.

The temple's gate stood open, inside brightly lit, directly facing the main hall beyond the door where a lofty goddess statue was enshrined.

A Yīnfēng blew past, and the picture unfolded.

Yīnfēng blew past, and the scene unfolded.

The sunlight turned into a round blood moon, and the palace turned into a small temple.

Inside the small temple, lanterns were hung and decorations draped, shadows flickering.

Under my gaze, one after another, girls wearing the Red Wedding Dress with Black Hemp Rope around their necks walked out of the scroll.

They walked out of the small temple, arrived before the white sedan, forcibly pulled me down from the sedan, and surrounded me as they headed back into the small temple.

I couldn't move; my legs felt as if filled with lead, unable to shift even a step.

But I knew clearly in my heart that if I were dragged into this small temple tonight, my fate would likely be the same as those girls in the painting.

The soul would be forever trapped in the painting, wearing the Red Wedding Dress, hanged by a Black Hemp Rope from the beam.

Life after life, eternally fallen into hell!

Thinking of this, I bit hard to break my tongue tip, and at the moment I was pulled into the threshold of the small temple, a mouthful of tongue-tip blood sprayed into the small temple.

Grandma said that if we are trapped by evil spirits, even fallen into nightmares, tongue-tip blood can help us temporarily escape.

To these filthy things, tongue-tip blood is the utmost yang.

As I spat that mouthful of tongue-tip blood inside, the small temple instantly echoed with a chorus of wails.

But the wailing lasted too briefly; more and more girls emerged from the scroll, dark qi swirled around, and Yīnfēng gusted intermittently.

The first mouthful of tongue-tip blood is the most effective; after one breath it runs out, and to regain strength we need time.

Just as I was at a loss, with one foot already being lifted and forced across the threshold of the small temple, a light click of a crossbow being triggered pierced the night; a short arrow whooshed past my ear and struck precisely the unfurled scroll.

With a bang, the short arrow exploded into a spark; igniting talisman fire instantly, the talisman unfolded like a net wrapping toward the goddess statue……