Chapter 77 How Lonely "The conjoined trees, bearing two branches, I alone sleep..."

Zhou Yaren and Xiao Dinggua were unable to leave Fengkou Village before they were blocked by villagers who had gathered from all directions.

The villagers stepped out of their cave dwellings and walked toward them as if by prior arrangement. There were no lamps lit at night, only the crescent moon in the sky for illumination.

Xiao Dinggua's face was ashen. Staring at the expressionless villagers who surrounded him, a sense of horror welled up within him: "You, you, what, what are you doing?"

He was met with an eerie silence.

Zhou Yaren had a bad feeling and instinctively stepped in front of Xiao Dinggua, walking straight past the villagers blocking his way. However, while he could walk past them without any hindrance, the villagers completely blocked Xiao Dinggua's path from behind.

Little Dinggua couldn't squeeze through at all, and bumped headfirst into a wall of people, exclaiming in fright, "Young Master..."

“Fellow villagers…” Zhou Yaren immediately retreated to Xiao Dinggua’s side, and the latter grabbed him tightly, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.

The incident began after nightfall when Xiao Dinggua heard the same plaintive singing again, the exact same melody and lyrics as the night before, clearly audible even with his ears covered. Terrified, Xiao Dinggua only wanted to leave this dangerous place as quickly as possible, but unexpectedly, he was surrounded by a large group of villagers.

Only when he got closer did he realize that these villagers were walking with their eyes completely closed. He didn't know if they were sleepwalking or what, but they all looked like wandering souls, as if they had no independent consciousness.

Before Zhou Yaren could finish speaking, Xiao Dinggua screamed and his legs were suddenly lifted off the ground, held up by several arms on both sides.

"Help me!!!"

Fortunately, he was holding tightly to Zhou Yaren's arm, who suddenly grabbed him and pulled him back. The villagers, who had worked day and night, were incredibly strong, and their grip on Xiao Dinggua was like an iron clamp, not loosening at all. In the struggle, Xiao Dinggua's arm was almost dislocated, and he cried out in pain and fear.

The villagers ignored her, but Zhou Yaren, fearing she might hurt Xiao Dinggua, struck one of them on the elbow. Normally, the villager would have loosened his grip due to pain and numbness, but the villager holding Xiao Dinggua seemed oblivious to the blow.

What happened to these villagers?

Zhou Yaren frowned and struck the villager on the side of the neck with a palm strike. The villager only staggered back a few steps as if he hadn't been hit, but he didn't faint. Zhou Yaren took the opportunity to pull Xiao Dinggua back to his side, but seven or eight hands grabbed Xiao Dinggua again. In the struggle, there was a tearing sound. Xiao Dinggua's clothes were torn by their clumsy hands, and a red cloth bag fell out of his arms.

Zhou Yaren instinctively reached out and caught it.

The villagers who were picking at the little gourd suddenly stopped for a moment, and then quietly let go of him.

Xiao Dinggua was pale with fright, tears streaming down his face. He was frozen in place, afraid that if he moved even slightly, the villagers would grab him and lift him up.

The moment Zhou Yaren caught the red cloth bag, she heard what Xiao Dinggua called singing.

Inside the cloth bag were several copper coins, round on the outside and square on the inside. Combined with the faint lyrics and melody, Zhou Yaren suddenly realized: "Where did these come from?"

Little Dinggua stared in terror, swallowing hard, "I...I found it."

Zhou Yaren: "Where did you find it?"

Near the mass grave.

Well, in the Shanxi and Shaanxi region, the custom of ghost marriage is prevalent. Many "lonely men and women" buried in mass graves are waiting to be married. This little Dinggua picked it up casually without thinking, and it's likely that he "acquired" the dowry of someone's deceased daughter.

The dowry eventually ended up in Zhou Yaren's hands, which led him to hear the news of the widow seeking a husband. The villagers who were originally pulling at Xiao Dinggua turned around and all came towards Zhou Yaren.

The situation suddenly reversed, and Xiao Dinggua was shocked: "Young Master..."

Zhou Yaren sorted out some of the clues and gradually calmed down, but what puzzled him was that these villagers seemed to be under a spell. Could they have been collectively possessed by evil spirits?

After weighing the situation in her mind, Zhou Yaren decided to go and see what was going on. So she put her hand on a villager's shoulder, signaling Xiao Dinggua not to run around and to find a safe place to hide.

Xiao Dinggua was so frightened that his whole body stiffened and he couldn't move for a long time. He watched helplessly as Zhou Yaren followed the group of villagers who walked with their eyes closed and stopped in front of a wedding sedan chair decorated with red ribbons.

No, where did this wedding sedan chair come from all of a sudden?

In his shock and disbelief, Xiao Dinggua felt as if he were in a dream or hallucinating.

Silence reigned all around, and no one gave him any hints about his next move. Zhou Yaren stood there for a moment before reaching out to touch the sedan chair poles and silk curtains in front of him.

Zhou Yaren was puzzled. Was there such a strict custom for a widow choosing a husband? Did he have to ride in a bridal sedan chair? Shouldn't that be for the bride?

Despite his puzzlement, Zhou Yaren didn't dwell on it too much. As a son-in-law who had been chosen, he naturally accepted whatever was offered to him.

Zhou Yaren lifted the sedan curtain and bowed to enter. Four villagers carried her out of the village with their eyes closed. The journey was exceptionally smooth, without any stumbling.

Zhou Yaren sensed the wind direction and knew they were heading to a mass grave. Clutching the red envelope in his hand, he heard a sweet and melodious voice softly sing in his ear: "At midnight, the clouds are dark, the red candles and funeral banners flutter in the wedding courtyard, the newlyweds laugh amidst the clamor of horse-riding, you and I are so loving, we have never betrayed each other, look at that big red sedan chair, swaying and swaying, phoenix coronet and red lips, don't miss the auspicious time, the newlyweds laugh under the moon."

The voice seemed to be singing softly in one's ear, a mixture of joy and gloom, as if searching between the realms of Yin and Yang, and finally finding a long-awaited match.

After passing through the ditch and climbing the slope, the hazy moonlight spilled onto the undulating burial mounds. The red silk on the bridal sedan chair fluttered in the wind, as if invisible hands were lifting the curtain, trying to peek at the prince inside.

"The conjoined trees, bearing two branches, yet I, alone in this secluded spring, am filled with loneliness;"

The official was dressed in a blue robe, with an outstanding figure. The curtain opened and closed, revealing only a glimpse of the perfect curve of his jaw.

"Fortunate to have met my beloved, my darling, my darling, I've prepared a flower bridge for you, swaying gently, swaying gently, swaying gently;"

Zhou Yaren listened silently, the lyrics seeping into her ears, shyly reaching her heart, like a love story between a human and a ghost, truly a poignant and lingering tale of love.

"Paper money floats around the white candle, let's not miss this auspicious time, my love and I are as sweet as glue."

The sedan chair suddenly stopped, and all the villagers seemed to be frozen in place, standing stiffly.

Zhou Yaren began to have doubts: Have we arrived yet?

He did not act rashly, but sat quietly and observed the situation.

All that could be heard was the sound of the wind rustling through the grass, and for no apparent reason, a chill crept up my back.

The chilling aura circulated slowly. After a while, the sedan chair started moving, traveling along with the circulating chilling aura. This journey was surprisingly long, so long that it seemed like it would never end.

"The intertwined trees bear two branches, but I, alone in this secluded spring, am filled with loneliness..."

The bridal sedan chair stopped and started countless times; who knows where these people were planning to take him? They couldn't possibly have just been wandering aimlessly through a mass grave all night.

"Fortunate to have met my beloved, my love, my love..."

Each "My love" touched my heart like dozens of ants crawling across it.

With a soft thud, just like in the song, the bridal sedan chair landed at midnight.

A sudden gust of cold wind lifted the sedan curtain, accompanied by a heartfelt cry of "My love," as if a grieving woman were lifting the veil from her wedding sedan.

However, there was no one in front of the sedan chair curtain. Instead, there was a brightly decorated wedding courtyard. Unlike the brick and earthen cave dwellings in Fengkou Village and Yuan Village, this was an ordinary tiled house. Inside, candlelight flickered and red silk hung, joyfully inviting the newlyweds inside.

Who else could be a newcomer besides him?

Zhou Yaren bent down and got out of the sedan chair. By this time, the villagers who carried the sedan chair had disappeared. He did not investigate further and stepped into the wedding courtyard. He came to the front of the house, pushed open the two half-closed wooden doors, and the candlelight in the room was almost dazzling.

Zhou Yaren squinted as if afraid of light, glancing at the large red "double happiness" characters pasted on the wall before her gaze fell on the bride in the center of the couch, dressed in a wedding gown, her head and face covered by a large red veil.

The bride remained silent, only slowly raising her slender hand, adorned with bright red nail polish, toward him.

Zhou Yaren stared at the hand reaching out to her, stepped over the threshold, and slowly walked to the red candle curtain.

The bride waited silently—

Waiting—

The unfolded folding fan swept across suddenly, stirring up a strong wind in the room, which went straight for the red veil on the bride's head.

The candlelight in the room suddenly went out, the veil and wedding robe billowed in the wind, and the red gauze curtains rippled like waves, enveloping Zhou Yaren. A two-finger-wide red silk ribbon covered his brows and eyes, and he hadn't even seen the woman's face clearly. A chilling aura immediately swept over him, accompanied by a lingering cry of "My lord!" Zhou Yaren was jolted back several steps. Before he could regain his footing, the overwhelming chilling aura abruptly stopped, and the woman spoke with surprise and doubt: "It's you?!"

Zhou Yaren yanked off the blindfold ribbon, and the red curtains cascaded down over her head. At that moment, the voice rang out from behind her: "Is it really you?!"

Zhou Yaren felt a chill run down her spine and suddenly turned around, only to find no one behind her: "Who's there?"

A haunted shadow flashed through the gauze curtains, so fast that Zhou Yaren couldn't catch it.

"It's been a long time."

The opening dialogue is like this; could it be that we've run into an old friend?

But he had no acquaintances here: "Who are you?"

The woman chased and hid with him, like a gust of wind that came and went without a trace, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

He could hear the wind and know that it was stirring, so he used the technique of "catching the wind and capturing shadows" to swirl up even fine sand and dust—that thing was on top of it.

Zhou Yaren suddenly raised her head, and a charred black shadow crashed down. Wind blades swept out, and the shadow that was hit was instantly reduced to ashes, floating everywhere in the air.

A soft sigh echoed in her ears, but the floating ashes gradually coalesced, and a charred hand reached out, gently stroking Zhou Yaren's face as if to hold her lover tenderly, whispering, "Even if we turn to ashes..."

The shadowy figure was reduced to ashes by his "lover" halfway through his sentence.

The pitch-black ghostly figure was completely unrecognizable; its eyes were not eyes, its nose was not nose. Yet, for a fleeting moment, Zhou Yaren seemed to see an unwavering, undying affection in its "black eyes."

But deep affection turned to ashes in an instant, scattering in the wind, becoming omnipresent: "Don't you want to?"

For the first time, Zhou Yaren found it difficult to handle.

The heartbroken woman, who wanted to take him as her son-in-law, questioned, "You refuse?"

An evil aura surged forth, and layers of fluttering red silk cloth wrapped around Zhou Yaren, leaving him nowhere to hide. The wind transformed into blades, and the sound of tearing silk suddenly rang out. The large red silk cloth hanging all over the room disintegrated, and a misty "red rain" fell.

Looking at Zhou Yaren, she was already wearing a well-tailored bright red wedding robe, which was made of silk fabric.

Who is this young lady from? Her skills in cutting cloth and making clothes are truly exquisite.

Zhou Yaren tried to peel off this skin, but the ashes gathered into black shadows in the red rain, ambushing him from all directions and binding him tightly. Just as Zhou Yaren was about to respond, the grieving woman dressed in a phoenix coronet and wedding gown once again rushed out from the fluttering candlelight and red gauze, wanting to marry him.

Zhou Yaren immediately broke free of her restraints. At the same time, the woman in distress felt a chill run down her spine as a wooden branch pierced through her body without warning. Caught off guard, Zhou Yaren was shoved hard and sent flying, crashing into the small, enclosed space.

The ground beneath his feet suddenly collapsed and caved in. He was terrified and felt as if he were falling into thin air. The words echoed in his ears like a death knell: "My lord, I sleep alone in the secluded spring—how lonely I am."