Chapter Twenty: Master, save me!
The woman's face was pale, and her voice trembled as she said, "No, I didn't agree to a ghost marriage. This is my aunt's nephew from her maternal family, he's alive, and she never said it was a ghost marriage."
The woman's name is Lin Jingshu. She comes from an ordinary farming family and is eighteen years old this year. When she reached the age to get married, her aunt introduced her to her nephew from her maternal family.
The two met once and felt they were compatible, so they agreed to get married.
Only two days had passed, and the groom's family had already arranged the betrothal. Lin Jingshu had heard from her friends that there was a very accurate master on South Street who could tell her whether the man was a good person or not.
So she brought two birth charts with her.
Thinking of this, Lin Jingshu suddenly looked up: "I've seen him before, he's a living person."
Upon hearing this, Jingwu frowned in surprise. He couldn't have miscalculated; the owner of this birth chart was indeed dead.
However, it cannot be ruled out that the birth chart was written incorrectly.
However, the person in front of me does indeed have the aura of death tainted by a ghost.
Yue Huai glanced at the two birth charts and whispered in her ear, "It's a fake ghost marriage."
Jingwu raised an eyebrow; it wasn't impossible.
Looking at the person's face and carefully calculating their birth chart, her expression immediately darkened.
Do you have three brothers in your family?
Lin Jingshu nodded: "Yes."
I do have one older brother and two younger brothers.
"Your aunt's family are merchants? And their surname is Jiang?"
Lin Jingshu nodded in agreement. Her aunt's family name was indeed Jiang, and it was said that they had made a lot of money over the years.
Jingwu looked into her eyes and said, word by word, "Then it's correct. The owner of this birth date and time was the only son of the second branch of the Jiang family. He is indeed dead. You can go to Jirentang, which is not far away, and ask the old doctor there."
Lin Jingshu was momentarily stunned by these words. After calming down for a while, she realized that her aunt had always looked down on her, so why would she be so kind as to introduce her to her nephew from her own family?
If it's a ghost marriage, then everything makes sense.
"Is my aunt lying to me?"
“Not only that.” Jingwu looked at her face and continued, “Judging from your birth chart, you have weak family ties, your parents favor your brothers, and your parents should be among those who deceived you. To be precise, your parents sold you to the Jiang family for a ghost marriage.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Jingshu's eyes immediately reddened. She couldn't believe it and opened her mouth, wanting to ask something.
But then I remembered the two of them discussing something mysteriously a few days ago, and how their attitude towards me had changed since the marriage was arranged.
She had heard of ghost marriages, where a living person marries a dead person, and then the dead person is killed, put in a coffin, and buried with the deceased.
Her parents wanted her dead!
Lin Jingshu trembled involuntarily, then immediately grabbed the table for support, and only after a long while did she raise her head.
Her little face was covered in tears, and her eyes were frighteningly red.
"What should I do? Master, please save me, I don't want to die."
A hint of pity flashed in Jingwu's eyes as he said, "Don't worry, the betrothal gifts haven't been given yet, and the marriage hasn't been finalized. There's still time."
Lin Jingshu felt a little more at ease after hearing this.
She looked at the person in front of her and asked in a trembling voice, "Master, if I run now, is it too late?"
Jingwu looked at her with surprise, then understood what she meant and nodded with a smile: "There's still time."
Ghost marriages are not so easy to arrange. The procedures are the same as those for living people, except for one more thing: the bride's hair and nails are required.
If the marriage line hasn't formed, it means that these things haven't been obtained yet.
If she had run away in time and prevented her family from getting her fingernails or hair, she would have escaped this ordeal.
Lin Jingshu wiped away her tears, already having a plan in mind.
She stood up, thanked Jingwu, and was about to leave when she was called back.
"Wait a minute."
Jingwu took out a ghost-repelling talisman and handed it to her, smiling as he said, "Keep this talisman close to your body; it can save your life if necessary."
Lin Jingshu repeatedly expressed her gratitude: "Thank you, Master."
After saying that, he carefully placed the talisman on his body, turned around, and left.
Instead of going home, she first went to the vicinity of the Jiang family to inquire about the situation. After confirming that the second son of the family she was to marry was indeed dead, she returned home, packed her travel money, and quietly ran away while the whole family was asleep at night.
Lin Jingshu ran around for two days and two nights. Only after leaving Pingyao County did she breathe a sigh of relief and find a place to stay.
Jingwu watched Lin Jingshu's retreating figure, lost in thought. When he came to his senses, he was in low spirits.
Yue Huai, who was standing nearby, noticed this, thought for a moment, and took out a small bag of dried meat from the cloth bag he carried with him and handed it over: "Want some?"
Upon smelling the aroma of meat, Jingwu immediately opened his eyes wide and grabbed a piece of dried meat.
After taking a bite, my eyes lit up.
This jerky is so delicious!
Seeing how much she enjoyed eating, Yue Huai also took out a stick and started eating it.
"Where did you buy it? Was it expensive?" Jingwu asked while eating.
“My mother made it. Before I came to Pingyao County, she specially asked me to bring it with me, saying that I could eat it if I got hungry on the way.”
Jingwu took another bite and replied, "Your mother's cooking is really good."
Yue Huai didn't reply, but simply placed the small bag of dried meat in front of her, indicating that she could take more.
Jingwu didn't stand on ceremony and ate three in a row before stopping because someone came.
As soon as the newcomer sat down, the two sensed a strong aura of yin energy.
Jingwu narrowed his eyes, and only after confirming that the person in front of him was alive did he ask, "Fortune telling? Ten coins per divination."
The person who came was a man named Zhou Ying, who looked to be only in his thirties.
He grabbed Jingwu's hand and said anxiously, "Master, please save me! I'll pay any price, just save me!"
Jingwu disliked being touched by strangers, so he frowned slightly and withdrew his hand: "Tell me what happened first?"
Zhou Ying covered her head, looked at the person in front of her, and recounted the events with a sob in her voice.
Zhou Ying's family was ordinary; they weren't rich, but they were never hungry. More than a decade ago, he married a woman from a well-off family who owned a rice shop.
The young couple saved up some money by running a rice shop.
Some time ago, they found a small courtyard house with four or five rooms that they liked, and it only cost twenty taels of silver. After discussing it, they realized it was more than thirty taels cheaper than other places, so they bought it.
After the place was rearranged, not long after moving in, I started hearing crying every night in the middle of the night.
One day, Zhou Ying got annoyed and stormed into the yard, yelling and cursing. That night, there was no more crying.
But the next day, Zhou Ying's wife suddenly grabbed a kitchen knife and tried to kill him.
If Zhou Ying hadn't been so strong that he knocked his wife unconscious and tied her up, she really would have died from the kitchen knife.
But when his wife woke up, she had no recollection of the whole thing.
After he untied her, that night, she still stood by the bedside with a kitchen knife, ready to kill him.
Zhou Ying was so frightened that she scrambled out of the house and hasn't dared to go back since.
He heard that the master who could resolve the Wei family's problems was on South Street, so he rushed over in a hurry.
After Zhou Ying finished speaking, she tried to grab the person's hand again, but she missed.
He didn't care, but kept pleading, "Master, I beg you, please save me. I know you're the one who dealt with the Wei family's ghost, you can pay me whatever you want."
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