As the sun rises, Qingya Village is shrouded in a thin mist and soft morning light, quiet and peaceful.
In a small farmhouse courtyard at the east end of the village, a middle-aged woman dressed in a dark dress and wearing a red silk flower in her hair was scattering paper money. As she scattered it, she muttered incantations that no one could understand.
A straw mat was placed in front of the woman, and on the mat lay a girl in a red dress. The girl had fair skin, black hair, and red lips, and was very beautiful.
After chanting for about fifteen minutes, the middle-aged woman shuddered, suddenly opened her eyes, grabbed a handful of paper money and scattered it on the girl, then turned around and stared at the Jiang family members.
Her eyes bulged outwards, with more white than black, making her look rather sinister and frightening.
This is Zhang Cuiyun, a matchmaker who is extremely famous in the surrounding villages, but... she is not worthy of the living, only the dead.
"Matchmaker Zhang, are my granddaughter and the third son of the wealthy Wang family in the county a good match?" Standing to the side, Liu asked, suppressing her discomfort, her eyes filled with greed.
Zhang Cuiyun laughed upon hearing this, revealing a set of yellow teeth: "A match made in heaven."
The Jiang family members were overjoyed upon hearing this.
Although it was a ghost marriage, all the proper betrothal gifts would be given, and an extra dowry would be added. Master Wang was one of the wealthiest gentry in the county, and he would certainly not treat them unfairly.
"Twelve tables of betrothal gifts, plus one hundred taels of silver. If you think it's appropriate, I'll have the corpse carriers take this girl to the Wang family cemetery tonight so she can marry the third young master of the Wang family," Zhang Cuiyun said with a smile.
It was April, and the weather was already quite hot. The Third Young Master Wang had been dead for five days, and even if he was kept chilled, it couldn't be delayed any longer.
It's because the Wang family has high standards. They insisted on finding a young and beautiful girl to match the third young master, and she had to be a girl who had died no more than three days ago. This caused her to run around to the surrounding villages for the past few days. She finally found a suitable one, so of course she had to get things done as soon as possible.
For wealthy families, arranging a ghost marriage is a very elaborate affair, costing no less than marrying a wife in the living.
If the Third Young Master Wang were alive, he would never have married a village girl.
Once you're dead, you stop caring so much about different social classes.
“Our Xianya is only fourteen years old this year, and she is beautiful. Giving her only one hundred taels is a bit too little.” Madam Liu glanced at the old man Jiang Fuyi, who was in charge of the household, and saw that he was pursing his lips and not saying a word. She knew that one hundred taels was not enough.
Zhang Cuiyun was so angry upon hearing this that she almost jumped up and down.
She had long heard of the Jiang family's greed, but she never expected that they would dare to bargain over something as simple as a ghost marriage, without even fearing the consequences of violating their karmic debts.
Zhang Cuiyun put her hands on her hips and said fiercely, "One hundred taels is not enough? Even if your granddaughter is alive, she can forget about getting such a dowry when she gets married. Don't be ungrateful. If you don't agree, I will go to that girl in Chengjia Village. The Cheng family would be happy to pay ten taels of silver. If it weren't for the fact that your girl is so beautiful, I wouldn't have come all the way to your Qingya Village, let alone offered such a high price."
This is a hundred taels of silver; in the county's brokerage, you can buy a maid for ten taels of silver.
Of course, none of those maids were as beautiful as the deceased girl from the Jiang family.
Although Jiang Xianya is only fourteen years old, she is a famous beauty in the surrounding villages. Zhang Cuiyun thought she had been to the county town and seen the world, but this was the first time she had ever seen such a beautiful girl.
Unfortunately... she died young, before she reached marriageable age.
“Matchmaker Zhang, that’s not how it works. Our Xianya is not only beautiful, but also literate. Which girl in the surrounding villages can compare to her? If my granddaughter were still alive, she would certainly not marry into a peasant family. She would definitely marry into the county or the prefectural city.”
Upon hearing this, Zhang Cuiyun couldn't help but roll her eyes.
Marry someone to the county seat or the prefectural seat?
She's probably destined to be someone's concubine!
This family is truly despicable, treating a young girl like a cash cow.
"It's a pity she was so unlucky, she left us at such a young age, leaving me, an old woman, to bury my daughter..." As Liu spoke, she tried to squeeze out a few tears to show her love for her granddaughter, but she couldn't.
She stopped crying and held out a hand: "Add another fifty taels, and you can take the body with you."
"This is insane!" Zhang Cuiyun could hardly believe what she was hearing. She gritted her teeth and said, "Just keep this body. It will rot in a couple of days and become worthless. I, an old woman, can't afford it."
After she finished speaking, she turned around and tried to leave.
She'd have to pay out of pocket if she gave away 150 taels of silver.
We don't do business at a loss.
“Matchmaker Zhang.” Madam Liu quickly stopped her and bargained, “One hundred and forty taels of silver. My granddaughter is worth that much silver.”
Last year, someone took a fancy to Xianya and said that after she came of age, he was willing to spend two hundred taels of silver to buy her as a concubine. He was an official in the prefectural city, so he was quite powerful.
If this girl hadn't accidentally tripped and fallen to her death while picking tea yesterday, she wouldn't have gotten such a good deal from that short-lived man in the Wang family.
In the end, they were the ones who lost out.
"One hundred taels, not a tael more." Zhang Cuiyun refused to budge.
Liu stopped her from leaving.
Such noise so early in the morning is really disturbing my sleep!
Jiang Xianya, lying on the straw mat, slowly opened her eyes.
After a whole day of work, her soul finally merged perfectly with this body.
She was reborn!
Jiang Xianya changed to Jiang Xianya.
As the most talented disciple of the Xuanmen sect in thousands of years, she faced a tribulation of lightning in less than fifty years of cultivation. Even though she made ample preparations, she still couldn't withstand it.
Jiang Xianya's remnant soul managed to escape thanks to the protection of the sect's magical artifact. After wandering the world for decades, she finally managed to repair her soul, but before she could reincarnate in the underworld, she became Jiang Xianya, a peasant girl in this remote mountain village.
They still treat her like a dead person and want to arrange a ghost marriage for her.
Actually... apart from the moment this body fell off the cliff and the original owner's soul departed, making her essentially dead, once her soul unexpectedly entered and began to merge with the body, this body began to have a faint breath and pulse.
The Jiang family members were so focused on making money that they didn't notice.
"One hundred and twenty taels, that's the lowest I can go." Liu felt her heart bleeding.
Zhang Cuiyun refused to budge: "One hundred taels. If you're willing, I'll send the corpse carrier over. If not, then forget it. No need for further discussion."
“Matchmaker Zhang, we only contacted you because we heard you charge high prices. You’re not the only ghost matchmaker in Weiyang County, and there are more than a few wealthy young men who want to arrange a ghost marriage.” Liu raised her voice.
“One hundred taels, not a tael more. Your Jiang family’s little courtyard, plus your fields and tea plantations, isn’t even worth one hundred taels of silver,” Zhang Cuiyun said somewhat irritably.
Selling a corpse can buy up the entire fortune of an entire family. Aren't you satisfied?
"One hundred and fifteen taels, that's the lowest I can offer."
The two were haggling and arguing heatedly, completely unaware that the Jiang family members in front of them had suddenly widened their eyes and were filled with fear.
Just as the two were about to start tearing at each other, they suddenly felt a chill on their shoulders.
They instinctively turned their heads and saw a pale hand on their shoulder. Turning their heads further, they saw Jiang Xianya's deathly pale face, her black hair and red dress blowing in the wind.
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