Chapter 61: The two soul banners were still fluttering, but they couldn't be hidden.
From then on, Dr. Ding took him in and raised him as his grandson, so that he would have a descendant. Because his son, who died young, loved to eat melons, he named the little beggar Ding Gua (meaning "melon"). And because the child was small and thin, the neighbors casually called him Little Ding Gua.
Xiao Dinggua lowered his head, thinking that perhaps Uncle Zhang was right, and that his grandfather might have made these arrangements and plans.
After all, after he was taken in, his grandfather took him to the lonely grave under the tree stump to pay respects, and made him kneel down and kowtow to call him "father." This was to place him under the name of the person in the grave, to make him the son of the deceased in that lonely grave, and in the future, he would also be responsible for arranging a ghost marriage and reburial for this nominal father, burying him in the Ding family's main ancestral grave.
Having figured this out, Xiao Dinggua fell silent.
"Leaving aside other matters for now," Zhou Yaren began, steer the conversation back on track, "What happened last night when you held the posthumous marriage ceremony for your son?"
Old Zhang hesitated, then stammered, "Nothing happened..."
Even now, the other party is still being evasive. Bai Yuan is clearly losing patience: "The ghost marriage document was abandoned in the wilderness, and the altar was almost overturned. You're telling me nothing happened?"
Zhou Yaren followed up on her words, saying, "Logically speaking, a posthumous marriage certificate should be buried with the deceased man and woman, right? If it weren't for the unexpected turn of events, would you two have handled it so hastily?"
Old Zhang's eyes darted around, unable to deal with the two of them. He stammered, "It's...it's just that something went wrong. The two kids didn't agree to the marriage, so it didn't happen. In the end, it didn't happen at all, so the documents were naturally invalidated and thrown on the ground..."
Zhou Yaren was puzzled: "What do you mean the two children don't agree to this marriage?"
Even though neither of them is capable of speaking anymore, how can you say they disagree?
"When we held the ghost marriage ceremony for them, we erected the soul banners of the two people in front of the altar of heaven and earth to obtain their consent. If the soul banners moved, it meant that they were happy with the marriage, and the marriage could proceed. However, since the two soul banners remained hanging down without moving, it meant that neither of them wanted to get married, so we let it go. If we forced them, they wouldn't be able to be together in the underworld."
Bai Yuan found this quite intriguing: "There's such a saying?"
“We also need to respect the children’s wishes and will not force them to have their bones matched,” Old Zhang vehemently clarified. “We really didn’t steal the corpse. Huang Xiaoyun’s bones are still buried in the mass grave. We haven’t dug up her bones. Yes, at first we wanted to have her matched with our Tiezhu’s bones privately, but in the end it didn’t happen, so let’s just pretend it never happened. Please, please don’t tell anyone. I beg you all, please don’t let the villagers know, and especially not the Huang family. Otherwise, it will bring trouble to our family. That Huang Dashan is unreasonable, and who knows what kind of trouble he will cause.”
Old Zhang burst into tears, saying bitterly, "Besides, we really haven't seen Doctor Ding or your coachman. Even if you insist on telling me, I can't. Please don't make things difficult for me anymore."
Bai Yuan, seemingly ignoring his question, asked, "So, in the end, did you have Zhang Tiezhu's bones cut?"
"Not provided."
"They buried your son without any bones?"
"Bury her, bury her. What can we do? We can only wait until we have a daughter who dies young."
"Where was he buried?"
As if the innocent man who asked the question was about to dig up his child's grave, Old Zhang said warily and rudely, "It's none of your business. It's getting late, so please leave if you have nothing else to do." In the end, he seemed to want to kick them out the door.
Despite the host's repeated attempts to drive them away, Bai Yuan remained calm and composed, then changed the subject, saying, "Don't rush off, I still have something to say. You just said that the two children disagree with this marriage, but today we found two soul banners fluttering in front of the altar."
Upon hearing this, Old Zhang's eyes widened immediately.
Bai Yuan wouldn't back down for a second: "I think they should agree willingly, right?!"
Those cloth flags fluttered in the wind, and they were indeed swaying during the day. She wasn't lying or deceiving anyone, but Old Zhang believed it.
Bai Yuan tentatively asked, "So, should we bring their soul banners back and set up a celestial altar to ask them about it?"
Old Zhang's expression changed several times, his eyes filled with panic. He immediately refused, saying, "No need, no need. The Huang family doesn't agree, which means the two children aren't meant to be. We don't want to get entangled with them any further. There's no need to ask any more questions..."
Before Old Zhang could finish speaking, there was a sudden bang in the room, as if something had been knocked over, followed by a soft, muffled sob stuck in his throat.
Bai Yuan turned his head sharply: "What happened?"
Little Dinggua also perked up his ears, turned around, and tried to go to the door: "Is there any noise inside?"
Old Zhang was startled and could no longer help but pull and push them away: "I suppose Tiezhu's mother has woken up now. Please leave. We are both nearly fifty years old and have lost our son in middle age. His mother is really unable to bear the slightest shock. We are sorry we cannot entertain you any longer."
Little Dinggua was shoved hard and almost fell over in front of the courtyard gate: "No, Uncle, don't push me, wait a minute..."
Without a word, Old Zhang dragged and pulled the three away. Just as he was about to grab Bai Yuan's arm, a cold and indifferent voice warned, "Don't get involved."
Old Zhang suddenly grabbed at empty air; the silky smooth sleeve brushed past his fingertips, and the person who had been standing close to him, within reach, vanished in the blink of an eye.
Old Zhang was stunned for a moment. It wasn't that the other person had disappeared, but rather that the other person had flashed past him like a blur and stood in front of the locked door.
"You—" Old Zhang's pupils dilated sharply.
“I hate being pulled or tugged at more than anything in my life,” Bai Yuan said coldly with his back to him, raising his hand to grab the lock and pull it off forcefully. “Why are you keeping the door closed? There’s a strong smell of blood seeping out from under the door.”
She pried open the sturdy iron lock with her bare hands and left it on the ground.
Old Zhang was too late to stop him; Bai Yuan suddenly pushed open the door.
The door was wide open, and the smell of blood rushed out. When Xiao Dinggua saw what was inside, he was speechless with shock.
The strong, fishy smell made Zhou Yaren frown.
Bai Yuan stood in front of the door, hesitant to step inside, for there was simply nowhere to put his feet on the filthy ground.
Because the main room was covered in chicken feathers, and several roosters lay haphazardly without making a sound.
Two more were hanging from the center of the roof beam, their necks slit open with knives, blood dripping from their throats.
The ground was covered with purplish-black bloodstains, some of which had dried, while others were still scarlet and not completely dry.
The walls of the bare house were covered with talismans painted on yellow paper, and on the table in the center were Wang Tiezhu's memorial tablet and a statue of Guanyin.
Bai Yuan was utterly bewildered by what he was seeing: What was going on?
Seeing how terrified Old Zhang was, and how he reeked of blood, she assumed that he had locked himself inside and murdered someone, only to be caught red-handed.
However, to everyone's surprise, he simply closed the door, killed a few chickens, and spilled chicken blood and feathers all over the ground.
Bai Yuan remained silent for a moment, then couldn't help but comment, "This scene... is really chaotic."
Old Zhang's wide pupils were bloodshot, and he swallowed hard, his saliva flying everywhere.
"Why kill a chicken?" Bai Yuan asked casually. "And why put up so many random talismans?"
"A talisman? Where is the talisman?" Zhou Yaren was puzzled. With his current "eyesight," he couldn't see any talismans in the room at all.
Bai Yuan found a relatively clean spot to step inside, then peered closer at the talismans plastered on the walls. The more he looked, the more worthless they seemed: "They can't even be called talismans; they're just a stack of scrap paper. Who drew this monstrous thing?"
Just as Zhou Yaren was about to go inside to investigate, Bai Yuan stopped her, saying, "You should just stand outside. There aren't many clean spots inside."
Zhou Yaren stopped in her tracks: "What's going on?"
"The floor is covered in undried chicken blood." Bai Yuan couldn't understand the mess in the room. "What's with all this mess? Are you setting up a formation?" She glanced at Old Zhang, who was frozen like a wooden stake outside, and thought that this guess was too kind of him. "What kind of formation do you know?" It wasn't that she looked down on Old Zhang, but then she suddenly realized, "Oh, killing chickens to get blood, is it to exorcise evil spirits?"
Upon hearing this, Old Zhang, the wooden stake, shuddered violently.
Seeing his reaction, Bai Yuan had a clue and guessed that he had guessed correctly: "What? Is there an evil spirit in the house?"
Old Zhang, the wooden stake, was sweating profusely. His lips trembled, and his tongue seemed to be tied in a knot in his mouth, preventing him from uttering a single word.
Bai Yuan tore off a piece of grotesque writing.
"Don't tear it!" Old Zhang finally shouted, but it was too late.
Bai Yuan calmly tore the talisman and looked it over: "It's useless. Just tear it up. What are you panicking about?"
How could Old Zhang not panic? He had painstakingly drawn that picture based on the book.
Bai Yuan didn't take it seriously: "What kind of nonsense is this? Could it be that your son is dead and has risen from the dead? Or is Huang Xiaoyun unwilling to be forced into a ghost marriage with your child and has come to make trouble at your door?"
Old Zhang shook his head repeatedly, stammering as he denied it: "No...no..."
Bang!
Waaah!
A clear thud and whimpering came from the next room, drawing everyone's attention.
Old Zhang just said that Tiezhu's mother is sleeping in the house.
Bai Yuan turned around and went straight into the inner room.
"You can't go in!" Old Zhang rushed in with a startled expression, bumping hard into Zhou Yaren's shoulder. The latter immediately steadied herself by holding onto the door frame.
Ignoring the injustice, they went straight into the house.
The dormitory was small and could be seen at a glance. It contained only a bed and a dilapidated wardrobe. The walls were still covered with graffiti and yellow talismans, and chicken blood was splattered on the floor.
A square wooden box fell to the ground, and an old wooden comb fell out, with a piece of red rope still wrapped around it, which must have fallen from the wardrobe earlier.
Looking out, they saw no one, but everyone could clearly hear sobbing.
Old Zhang had already barged in and reached out to grab Bai Yuan, but before he could even touch him, a heavy weight suddenly pressed down on his shoulder, pinning him to the spot and preventing him from moving forward.
Old Zhang turned his head and saw a bamboo pole pressing on his shoulder.
"What are you doing?!" Old Zhang was about to tiptoe away when a bamboo pole pressed down on his shoulder and was placed across his neck, with the other end against the wall, stopping him in place. Old Zhang was furious. "Why are you stopping me? Get out of my house!"
Zhou Yaren calmly replied, "I apologize for the offense."
Old Zhang's eyes turned red with anger: "You're trespassing!"
Ignoring his shouts, Bai Yuan stopped in front of the wardrobe and slowly opened the door.
As the cabinet door was pulled open, a terrified scream erupted from inside: "Ah—"
This sharp scream almost deafened Bai Yuan, and even though Zhou Yaren's hearing was poor at the moment, she was still greatly injured.
"Ah—ah—ah ah ah ah—"
Bai Yuan had assumed that there might be someone tied up in the wardrobe, whose mouth was gagged, which was why they could only make thumping and muffled whimpering sounds to call for help.
She was wrong again.
There was indeed someone hiding in the closet, but they weren't tied up or gagged.
The woman, disheveled and covered in blood, wore a terrified expression. The moment the wardrobe door was opened, she screamed in terror, howling as if she had seen a ghost: "Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer! Ah—"
Bai Yuan's temples throbbed from her screams. Before she could react, the woman hiding in the closet suddenly grabbed something and hurled it at her.
Bai Yuan felt a sudden darkness before her eyes, not even having time to see clearly. The thing even flapped its wings at her a few times. Bai Yuan quickly dodged, and the thing flapped its wings and flew towards Old Zhang's face behind her.
Old Zhang quickly raised his hand and waved it away. The rooster flew down onto the kang bed and made a few crowing sounds.
They actually used this rooster to drive her away.
Bai Yuan stared at the farcical scene before him and fell silent.
Zhou Yaren, on the other hand, preferred to ignore it.
Xiao Dinggua: "..." What on earth is going on here?
"Tiezhu's mother! Let me go!" Old Zhang roared, shoving aside the bamboo pole blocking his way and lunging forward to grab the woman who was desperately trying to shrink into the wardrobe.
The woman completely lost her temper, pushing and hitting him, shouting incoherently, "Don't come any closer, don't come any closer, don't come looking for me, don't come looking for me..."
Old Zhang's eyes were bloodshot. He turned around and glared at them fiercely. Without saying a word, he angrily told them to get out of his house: "What do you want? Get out of my house!"
With a bang, the courtyard gate slammed shut and was bolted shut from the inside.
Bai Yuan stood before the door, staring intently at the incredibly simple gate for a moment. He gathered his strength, forcibly suppressing the urge to tear down the broken door. He calmly accepted the fact that he had been kicked out by the farmer, and then spoke as if in a calm mood: "That woman was panicked and lost her mind; she must have been frightened."
And what kind of terrible shock must have occurred to frighten someone into this state?
The three stood in front of the courtyard gate, being scrutinized by several curious pairs of eyes. These were villagers from the neighborhood who had just heard commotion in the Zhang family's courtyard and had gathered around in small groups, wanting to find out what had happened.
Everyone knew that Tiezhu had been murdered. You could often hear Tiezhu's mother wailing and crying, calling out, "Tiezhu, my son, my son, how can I live like this?"
After shouting, they would start cursing again in the middle of the night, cursing that the murderer should die a horrible death and be torn to pieces.
Today, I heard Tiezhu's mother shouting again, and three people were even shoved out by Lao Zhang. The petition that Bai Yuan had tucked into his sleeve fell to the ground and was picked up by one of the old men with a beard, who then casually flipped it open.
"Ouch!" The old man's eyes bulged, and he kept making noises, "Ouch, ouch."
A person nearby leaned closer to the old man: "Grandpa Sheng, what's wrong? What is this thing?"
"Oh no!" Little Dinggua exclaimed, lunging forward to snatch it, "The marriage certificate!"
Grandpa Sheng stepped aside and dodged: "Little kid, don't try to grab it. You can't afford to pay for it if you bump into my old bones."
When Bai Yuan turned back, he discovered that the ghost marriage document was already in the hands of an old man with straw stuck in his head.
The villagers curiously gathered around to look, but since they couldn't read or understand anything, they asked, "Whose marriage certificate is this? Whose son or daughter is getting married?"
Bai Yuan: "..." Well, it can't be kept secret any longer; it's time to announce it to the entire village.
Then the old man said, "Old Zhang's son, Tiezhu, and Huang's daughter, Xiaoyun."
Soon, the news reached the Huang family.
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