Chapter 134 The Sound of Suonas Brings Joy and Sorrow A bridal sedan chair, a black coffin...
The peacemaker entered first and was greeted by a black coffin parked in the courtyard.
This is a temporary resting place, in preparation for burial.
[Trigger the special card "Fa"]
[To obtain "wealth upon seeing a coffin"]
The team's in-game currency increased significantly, and now they knew where the Five Poisons' money came from.
The Chen couple guarded the coffin, along with the cloth-wrapped boy and the cloth-wrapped man from the Five Poisons Sect. The players stepped back, afraid that the couple might accidentally injure them when they swung their snowboards.
However, the Chen couple remained calm. A-Yun, with her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, was folding gold bars and ingots, while her father was dressing up paper figures, ignoring the guests.
The village chief apologized, feeling embarrassed and guilty, but they ignored him. The village chief hardened his heart, grabbed Sun Er by the back of his collar and threw him in front of the coffin: "A life for a life, you can deal with him as you see fit."
A-Yun's mother then gave her a glance, like moonlight leaking through the clouds, flashing across the stagnant waters of the night, gone in an instant, cold and aloof: "...Offer incense and kowtow."
She remained expressionless throughout, and her words were flat and straightforward.
As he approached the coffin, Sun Er regained his senses. Fear once again took hold, and he scrambled to his feet, under the watchful eyes of the other players, to offer incense to A-Yun, kneel down, kowtow, and tearfully denounce his crimes.
He cried loudly and bitterly, like a mourner grieving for the dead. In the end, he couldn't tell whether his tears were for fear or for guilt.
When he was exhausted, the village chief pressed his head down and banged it against the ground. With a loud thud, Sun Er saw stars, was lifted up again, and slammed down again until he passed out. His forehead was smashed open, and bloodstains were left on the floor tiles, like someone pressing down a lotus flower with red ink.
The village chief's whole family arrived, including the injured village chief's wife and Sun Da, who were carried there by servants. They all apologized, cursing their own surnames, Sun Er, and their lack of discipline.
The Chen couple pretended not to hear, lit a few more sticks of incense for their daughter, and gave her the order to leave: "Go away, don't dirty our house or disturb my daughter's peace."
Knowing they were being treated unwelcome, the village chief and his family were filled with shame and offered further apologies. The village chief wanted to discuss compensation, but with the body lying in state, it wasn't the right time, so he could only sigh and lead his family away.
Both the village chief's family and the players were mentally prepared when they arrived, but the Chen family either let it go or didn't have the energy to pursue the matter and didn't take Sun Er's life.
The strange occurrences did not end there.
After Sun Si nearly fell into the well, the village chief's family was completely devastated and numb. The village chief sent the god's attendant to the side room to ask the master what to do next.
The players failed to follow the servants inside. They peered desperately inside as the servants left, and sneaked back in after the servants left. The room was empty except for the snow syrup pastries displayed in the open. Their reconnaissance yielded nothing.
The attendant brought back the master's words from this empty room.
"...A marriage to ward off bad luck?" the village chief repeated strangely, and the other players were also surprised.
"The master said that since the family of the victim did not want his life, there is room for resolution. He should be grateful for the grace of the Red and White Gods and hold a real happy event to dispel the resentment. After Miss A-Yun is buried, it will all be over."
The eldest son has a wife, the third sister is already married, the fourth son is young and disabled, so for the wedding... that would be the second son.
Sure enough, the attendant continued, "He brought this resentment upon himself, so he should resolve it himself."
"Who would marry such a scoundrel!"
The three people from the travel agency nodded in unison. Was they arranging a wife for Sun Er because they were afraid the resentment in the house wasn't strong enough?
Zhuo Yi said, "There really is one."
Everyone looked at him.
"Isn't there someone imprisoned in the old ancestral hall of the house in front of the West Gate?"
The village chief was stunned, his expression changing—you know what, it really works! Both of them have blemishes on their records, and he knows about Xiangping's parents... This might be the only marriage that can be arranged.
Sun Er was locked in the last courtyard, and it was also said to others that he was locked in the ancestral hall. The remaining elderly, weak, sick, and disabled were no longer suitable to go out, so the village chief invited a few players to go with him to the matchmaker's house to ask her to arrange a marriage.
As soon as Lü Lianshan entered the matchmaker's courtyard, he smelled the sweet scent he knew best. His eyes slowly swept across the courtyard and landed on the side room.
"Ma Zi, are you home?" the village chief called out. The courtyard was quiet. It seemed the matchmaker's son wasn't there. He went to knock on the boy's door, but Lü Lianshan had already turned to the side room door and burst it open.
The old lady was still dressed in bright red and purple as a matchmaker, with a gaudy flower pinned to her head. She sat cross-legged on the box-like bed, with a red curtain covering her head.
The short man used a bamboo pole from the yard where cloths were drying to push the head away from a distance, and the tour leader gasped – her head was upside down!
That wasn't the end of it. As soon as the old woman's head was exposed to the light, her entire body oxidized rapidly, turning a deep red like a scab, like a clay figure made of red clay. More and more cracks appeared, and she crumbled into blood clots and chunks of flesh with a series of cracks.
The stench spread like a thousand-year-old corpse falling from the sky. The two people from the travel agency rushed out the door, and the short man also retreated in disgust. Lü Lianshan, however, was quite interested and even picked up a piece of it.
The short man noticed a hint of excitement in Lü Lianshan's eyes as he stepped out, and raised an eyebrow: "Getting into it?"
He knew this teammate to some extent; such a disgusting and bizarre way of dying probably touched on Lü Lianshan's fetishes.
Lu Lianshan gazed at the mountains, his initial excitement completely overshadowed by the stark white landscape. The short man asked, "...Who killed him?"
Lü Lianshan nodded and said softly, "She was twisted to pieces."
Then the village chief screamed, stumbled out of the door of another side room, and fell on the steps.
Inside the house, the matchmaker's son was strung on a bamboo pole used for drying cloth, draped in a red cloth that smelled of earth, like a scarecrow stuck to the ground.
The red cloth fluttered gently, sometimes visible, sometimes hidden, outlining a glimpse of his figure.
"What did they do? They're trying to wipe them out completely."
When they burst through the door of the main house and saw the white tree covered with birth charts, they understood. The third young master of the wealthy family was so precious that he definitely needed to be matched with a birth chart. The fact that Sun Er was able to get A-Yun's birth chart was because someone "helped him".
Since there was no matchmaker, they had to visit in person. They went east to Xiangping's original home and asked Xiangping's parents.
They went to look for them, but they weren't there. They asked their neighbors, who said the two had just left, hurrying to the house in front of the west gate.
They've left their daughter in the old ancestral hall for so long, never asking about her, and putting on a cold and ruthless facade to show the whole village their determination, so that she can repent and cleanse herself of her past sins, making it easier to discuss marriage again. What's going on now?
The other team of players who went to scout ahead of the west gate already knew about it.
The gate was open, and the servants were still "standing as punishment" against the wall. The players looked at them warily. When they entered the inner courtyard, they saw the four people with stubborn illnesses in the courtyard. Xue Chao was leaning against the door of the ancestral hall. Although they were scattered, their attention was focused on the west wing, whether openly or secretly. The atmosphere was strange. Even the snow flowing from the eaves slowed down.
Huang Haitao saw Zhuo Yi and put on a warm smile, breaking the strange atmosphere in the courtyard: "Brother, what brings you here?"
Zhuo Yi said indifferently, "The village chief's family wants to propose marriage." He had come first to reserve a good spot to watch the excitement.
Huang Haitao's smile faded slightly, and he became more composed. He didn't ask what the purpose of the marriage proposal was, but led him to the door of the east wing.
Xiangping's parents sat at the table, one on each side. A small oil lamp between them was the only light in the dim room, illuminating half of each of their faces. Square faces, thin eyebrows, and slanted eyes looked remarkably alike, as if a face had been split in half and placed face upside down.
Zhuo Yi explained his purpose, and the left half of his face immediately agreed: "Go to the matchmaker to get your birth chart and have your horoscopes matched."
The right half of the face echoed, "Go back and prepare; the wedding will take place tomorrow at dusk."
The timbre is similar; one is rougher, the other is thinner. The thinner one is speaking with a rougher voice that's straining.
Pu Fengchun lagged a distance behind Zhuo Yi, frowning. "So eager?"
They were in a hurry to sell their daughters. In such a feudal and superstitious village, marriage involved many procedures. Not to mention the three letters and six rites, there were countless minor customs.
She observed that the couple hadn't moved at all, as if they were already sitting in their wedding hall.
But the parents sitting in the main hall also had smiles on their faces and occasionally took a sip of tea. It was like having two paper figures without smiling faces. Because of the rules, men and women could only be distinguished by their weight and the length of their hair.
The tour leader was sent to relay a message to another group. Zhuo Yi couldn't stand the same old men and women, so she went to chat with Huang Haitao. The peacemaker went inside, and in that brief moment, Pu Fengchun and Xue Chao, who were standing in front of the ancestral hall, exchanged a glance.
From the east wing, the peacemaker asked amiably, "Weddings and funerals are important events, and they should be handled with care and thoroughness. One day is not enough, or is there some difficulty? Let's discuss it together."
Xiangping's mother turned her half-face to him, her eyes like holes burned by the fire in an oil lamp, scattering a few scorching sparks: "It's an arranged marriage by parents and matchmakers. If it doesn't work out tomorrow, then find another beautiful woman."
"Even those marrying dead people aren't in such a hurry." The peacemaker seemed reminded, "First, consider what kind of person the girl is. Wouldn't that be inconvenient?"
No one answered from either side. After a long while, Xiangping's mother said, "Originally, she was apologizing."
"And now?" The peacemaker's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Regardless of height, weight, or build, we still need to take a look at whether they're alive or dead."
Squeak—
The door to the west wing opened.
A woman walked out, her light blue satin flowing as she stepped over the threshold, like a mountain stream flowing over pebbles, reflecting the serene green of the banks in the night.
Her long hair reached her waist and hung straight down her back, like the shadows of the world on both sides of the river, forever trailing behind her as she walked.
Her face was pale to the point of being bluish. From her widow's peak downwards, two arched eyebrows flowed slowly to the left and right, beneath which were two pools of shimmering water. Her eyes were indistinct, her nose was a peak shaped like a lush green, and her lips were like maple leaves that hadn't been swept clean last autumn, now faded.
She is a secluded mountain that buries the cycle of seasons, possessing an ethereal quality that transcends the human world.
In this hazy, white night where the sun, moon, and stars are nowhere to be seen, celestial aura is nothing but ghostly aura.
Zhuo Yi, who was trying to get information out of Xiang Ping, stopped talking and noticed that her hair was still a little damp... She had an eerie dampness about her, as if she had walked out of the water. She had changed her clothes and let them air out for a while, but her soul and hair were still not completely dry.
The inspiration for the dice system was not checked, but his own inspiration answered; he remembered there was a well in the yard.
Then, thinking about the ancestral hall again, he understood, and his gaze towards Xiangping became equally strange: "What is this?"
She's been in the well for so many days... Even if she wasn't thrown into the well, just put her down and locked her in a semi-open "dark room" without food or water, she should have died by now.
But she's alive, not a zombie; she's breathing.
His eyes were just too quiet, devoid of all emotions and desires, so pure it was unsettling.
Ignoring everyone, Xiangping walked silently through the corridor like a ghost, carrying a strange floral fragrance.
She stopped in front of the ancestral hall and remained motionless.
Xue Chao paused, glanced at her, and stepped back. Xiang Ping then bowed to the ancestral hall door with a devout smile, before floating back to her room as she had come.
The door to the west wing closed again, but the courtyard felt as if it were shrouded in damp fog, making people feel uncomfortable.
He's not dead... but he seems to have gone mad.
Indeed, after spending three whole days in a dark, cramped well, wouldn't you go crazy if you didn't die?
Huang Haitao shrugged: "I'm not trying to hide it from you, you saw it yourself. We pulled her up, and she was still breathing. She's alive... We don't even know what she is now."
The marriage was arranged.
Both sides began preparations. The village chief's family, as the party welcoming the bride, made more preparations, with help from travel agency players, and Zhuo Yi also joined in the fun.
After Sun Er and Xiang Ping's birthdates were consulted in the white tree at the matchmaker's house, they both fell to the ground, signifying that the two were "matched" and could become husband and wife.
Sure enough, once Xiangping's birthday tablet was brought back to the village chief's house, the strange occurrences in the house decreased, so things proceeded even more quickly.
It was mainly God's servants who did the work, and by noon the next day, the arrangements were completed in a rush.
Zhuo Yi had just had lunch and even swiped a piece of sugar cake. He walked through the covered walkway, looked around at the red flowers all over the courtyard, and slowed down his chewing.
Just like the ghost marriage in his dream, it was a joyous and colorful affair. The complicated rituals were completed in a day and a half. The betrothal gifts for the bride were exceptionally generous, with several boxes sent to the east, along with a pair of wild geese.
The auspicious little god portrait was placed in the side room where the mysterious master had stayed. It was also inlaid with gold edges and buried with gold thread. The village chief's family went all out to match the wealthy family and make it a grand affair to wash away the resentment.
As for Xiangping, she was locked up by her parents again, waiting to be married.
She was kneeling in front of a bronze mirror. Her red wedding dress, embroidered in varying shades of gold and adorned with pearls and gemstones, was spread out in a semicircle behind her, like the tail of a phoenix. Two servants were combing her hair and applying her makeup.
A touch of vermilion landed on her lips, spreading its vividness; jade ornaments jingled on her head; a golden phoenix bowed its head on her widow's peak, holding a drop of ruby tourmaline in its mouth.
The long red veil covered the phoenix crown. Xiangping looked at the beautiful bride in the bronze mirror and smiled gently, like a young girl waiting to be married.
The attendant slowly lowered the veil, concealing her smile.
It's not just this place that's bustling with happy events.
The Chen family was also busy with funeral arrangements. First, they commissioned the Five Poisons to clear the road leading to the East Gate in preparation for the roadside memorial service and the funeral procession.
Later, they dug a grave on the hillside in front of the East Gate, intending to bury A-Yun there and, with the help of the avalanche's aftershocks, send A-Yun's soul into the Joy and Sorrow Mountain.
The couple lived alone and, lacking the resources, kept everything simple. They didn't make many arrangements, simply wearing pale white mourning clothes, guarding their daughter's coffin, and preparing her for burial.
A clean white cloth was laid inside the coffin, and A-Yun lay on a thin layer of snow. Her burial clothes were made of plum-red satin embroidered with chrysanthemums. Her head was rested on a cloud, and her feet on a lotus, as if she were stepping on lotus flowers to ascend to the Western Paradise.
The two men, dressed in mourning clothes, helped the couple carry the imitation silk Eight Immortals red longevity quilt. Standing beside the coffin, they looked down and heard the keeper of secrets say:
[Trigger the special card "Chrysanthemum"]
[Receive a bonus die]
The compass turned to reveal the "chrysanthemum" tile, and the sound of mahjong tiles being rubbed rang out:
The "Detection" check result was 55/50, which failed.
[Bonus Dice: 10/50, extremely difficult to succeed]
The man in charge of wrapping the shroud discovered that the shroud was made of satin, but satin is a homophone for "severed offspring," so it is not usually used for shrouds.
This procedure is strange; is the burial quilt placed so late in the day?
As they presented the burial quilt, A-Yun's mother said, "Don't cover her head... A-Yun was abducted and then married off to a dead man with her head covered. I want her to be able to breathe before she leaves."
Tears welled up numbly in my eyes, threatening to fall but not quite.
The man in the cloth shroud rolled up the burial blanket and placed it on A-Yun's shoulder.
For unfortunate girls in remote, impoverished villages, their wedding day is the most beautiful time of their lives. Ah Yun died on her wedding day, still wearing her bridal makeup, so she was at her most beautiful when she died.
Her parents simply fixed her hair and touched up some of the makeup that had been washed off during the ride.
"Let's put the coffins together."
The black coffin lid was pushed up, obscuring her sorrowful face.
Sometimes, A-Yun's mother would pat the coffin and hum softly, as if coaxing her daughter to sleep; other times, she would gently look at her daughter and whisper something.
At dusk, the clouds did not disperse, but they were thinner, and the red of the setting sun could not penetrate them, yet they still revealed a bewitching color, as if the center of the clouds was burning, scattering dark flames.
A gentle breeze blew through the village, loosening the snow on the eaves like another light snowfall. Crows spread their black feathers, flew past the window where the bride looked in the mirror, and cried out in a strange voice to the sky.
After it flew over the strangely shaped white trees, the magpie that had been hiding emerged from behind the frost-covered branches, leisurely flapped its wings, flew in another direction, stepped over the heads of the paper figures at the door, and landed on the black coffin, pecking at it with its head down.
The hourglass was filled with snow again; it was the hour of Xu (7-9 PM).
Suddenly, the sound of the suona horn arose, crashing against the sharp mountains on all sides, and actually knocking down a misty snow fog, which echoed throughout the entire village along with the sound of the suona horn.
A bridal sedan chair and a black coffin set off at the same time.
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