Chapter 9 Time quickly came to the wedding...
Time quickly came to the wedding day. According to the wedding custom of Huangzhou, He Wenqing, under the guidance of the matchmaker, had to change into the groom's bright red wedding clothes in the evening to pick up the bride Chen Xuanhua. After a simple wedding ceremony, he would then bring her to the bridal chamber.
When He Wenqing and Chen Xuanhua arrived at the West Courtyard after their wedding ceremony, Wei Yin saw He Wenqing in a crimson brocade wedding gown. He Wenqing had very fair skin and a tall stature, and he had taken special care to groom himself for the wedding. He also wore a magnificent red jade crown that he rarely wore. The bright red robe made him look even more handsome and beautiful.
As he walked along, the young maids blushed and stared at him adoringly.
He Wenqing also saw Wei Yin and paused slightly. But after a moment, urged by the matchmaker, he turned around and walked to the bridal sedan chair behind him. He lifted the curtain and carried Chen Xuanhua, who was also dressed as a bride, out of the sedan chair. Chen Xuanhua was covered with a red veil, and her pair of slender white hands adorned with jade bracelets gently embraced his neck. They walked into the bridal chamber, where red candles were burning brightly and the wedding tent was dazzling.
Since it wasn't a proper wedding, there wasn't a grand ceremony; they simply invited some guests who were on good terms with the He family to a few banquets in the front yard.
That night, He Wenqing returned from toasting guests in the front yard, already somewhat drunk. Madam He sent someone to help him to the west yard.
He walked unsteadily into the bridal chamber. The maids and servants had all left, leaving only Chen Xuanhua sitting dignifiedly on the wedding bed.
He Wenqing raised his hand to lift the red veil from her head.
Chen Xuanhua usually wears light makeup and dresses simply, but today she is unusually adorned with bright makeup and jewels. Her skin is snow-white, and her expression is shy. She is both delicate and radiant, just like a pink and shy peony.
She looked up at her cousin, the top scholar she had loved for many years, her eyes reddening. Suppressing the overwhelming shyness in her heart, she softly called out, "Cousin..."
He Wenqing, his eyes glazed with drunkenness, looked down at her from above and gave a soft, incoherent "hmm."
Chen Xuanhua seemed a little nervous. She stared at the man in front of her for a while before mustering her courage to stand up: "This concubine will serve my cousin to bed..."
As she spoke, she reached out to touch his belt. Even though Madam He had privately taught her about sex, the man in front of her was so oppressive that she was too nervous and helpless. Her hands trembled, making He Wenqing feel suffocated.
He chuckled softly, his long, slender fingers tracing the surface of Chen Xuanhua's pale face. Just as Chen Xuanhua turned pale with fright, his large hand suddenly grabbed her wrist, guiding her delicate hands toward a spot on his jade belt.
"That's all that matters."
Chen Xuanhua did as he said, and sure enough, the belt came off her waist with a snap. Just as she was about to awkwardly take off her outer robe and inner garment, He Wenqing couldn't stand her dawdling any longer. He grabbed her hands, picked her up by the waist, and carried her to the wedding bed.
Chen Xuanhua was startled and grabbed his waist tightly, but the next moment, she was already lying on the wedding bed.
He Wenqing grabbed her wrist, which was on his waist, with one hand, and then placed it on her head. Seeing that Chen Xuanhua was about to move in fright, he immediately said in a deep voice, "Cousin, don't be afraid. Now that you are mine, Yin'er and I will treat you well. You are no longer an orphan."
After saying that, the man leaned heavily over and pressed down on her, causing Chen Xuanhua's pupils to widen in pain.
The red candles hissed and burned.
The sounds of panting and entanglement filled the bridal chamber.
_
In the east courtyard next door.
All the servants went to the front yard to collect the lucky money, and even Granny Liu went to the front yard to busy herself. Only Wei Yin was left staring blankly at the tightly closed gate of the west courtyard. This familiar scene reminded her of the night her mother died, and she felt an unusual sense of suffocation in her heart.
Not wanting to stay in the room alone any longer, she picked up the lamp and absentmindedly left the room.
He Wenqing preferred quiet. The courtyard where they lived was far from the front yard; it was a separate courtyard, not connected to the courtyards of Old Master He and his parents. It was almost entirely isolated near the back gate.
When Wei Yin finally realized what was happening, he found himself outside the back door and on the street. He discovered that it was the first Lantern Festival after the drought in the barren state, and people were strolling through the streets with their families to enjoy the lanterns.
Wei Yin was most afraid of going out in the dark at night, but seeing the lanterns illuminating several streets and the bustling crowds, she was no longer so afraid. She also carried a lantern and began to look at the lanterns.
On Lantern Festival Day, in addition to vendors selling lanterns, some large restaurants and teahouses also set up colorful arches in front of their premises and hung all kinds of exquisite lanterns.
There was a restaurant whose lanterns were particularly exquisite. Wei Yin usually loved these bright and beautiful things, but unfortunately she hadn't brought any money with her when she went out, so she decided to just take a look and leave it at that.
Just as she had finished looking around and was about to turn around and go to another house, a country boy of about seven or eight years old, carrying a rabbit lantern and wearing coarse linen clothes, suddenly appeared behind her without her noticing. She had no idea that someone would suddenly appear behind her, and she bumped into him with a "bang".
The little boy fell straight down to the ground.
When Wei Yin realized she had bumped into the child, she was startled and quickly reached out to help him up. However, the little boy ignored her, stood up straight on his own, and left without even glancing at Wei Yin.
Upon seeing this, Wei Yin withdrew his hand.
Just as she was about to leave, she bumped into a rabbit lantern at her feet; it had fallen from the little boy she had bumped into earlier.
Seeing that the little boy hadn't gone far, Wei Yin picked up the lantern and immediately chased after him.
Strangely, the little boy, despite being a chubby child, walked faster than the adults, as if a ghost was chasing him. Wei Yin had no choice but to lift her skirt and struggle to keep up.
She was so focused on chasing the child that she didn't realize she had left Flower Lantern Street and was gradually approaching the vicinity of River Village.
Far from the Lantern Street, only the moon hung overhead, casting a pale white light. Just then, Wei Yin saw that the little boy had stopped in front of the stone house she had seen on the day she returned to the desolate state. The river, which had been dry but had recently swelled again after she prayed for rain by marrying off her daughter to the River God, was now flowing beside the stone house.
Whether it was because it was too quiet or something else, Wei Yin heard the river gurgling louder than usual, and this sound inexplicably made her feel uneasy.
Before she could think further, she saw the little boy "move" again in the moonlight.
He left the stone house, lifted his two chubby little legs, and walked directly into the river. Soon, his feet gradually sank into the water, then his waist, then his two little arms, and finally only his little head was visible...
All of this happened very slowly, as if the little boy wanted to slowly savor the process of being drowned.
What is he doing?!
What is this child trying to do?
Wei Yin was stunned by what she saw.
When the little boy's head was almost submerged in the water, she didn't have time to think and instinctively dropped the lantern and rabbit lantern in her hand and ran towards the river.
Although it was a summer night, the river was unusually cold. Fortunately, the river was not very deep because it had been dry before. Just before the little boy's nose was about to go into the water, Wei Yin grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.
She was about to lift the child up when she discovered that the little boy was incredibly heavy and she couldn't pull him up no matter what she did. It was as if something was holding him down from the bottom of the river, and she couldn't get him up no matter how hard she tried.
Wei Yin finally understood what was going on, but even though her hands were trembling with fear, she still didn't dare to let go. If she did, the child would be dragged into the water.
As she was being pulled down, she suddenly remembered something and quickly took out the amulet she had hidden in her chest.
When she was young, she was locked up with her mother's corpse for a night. She was so frightened that she was in a daze all day. Her father then begged the emperor to give her a precious jade from the crown, which was made into a talisman for her to wear.
The Emperor is the supreme ruler, in charge of the lives of all people under heaven. The precious jade on his crown possesses royal aura and can ward off evil.
She hung the amulet around the little boy's neck.
In an instant, the strange gravity miraculously disappeared, and she took the opportunity to quickly drag the little boy onto the riverbank.
The little boy had already fainted and was unconscious.
She breathed a sigh of relief, helped the little boy ashore, and then followed him up.
Unexpectedly, the river beneath her feet suddenly became turbulent and fierce. When Wei Yin looked back, she saw that the river had rapidly gathered into a whirlpool and was frantically engulfing her.
at the same time.
A sudden, inexplicable wind began to blow, scattering grass and stones everywhere. A strange night rain began to fall on her head. She stared at the scene in shock, and before she could react, a resentful girl's voice suddenly rang out in the rain: "You ruined my plans! You dare to ruin my plans! So you're here to lock me up just like them—since you're going to help him, then you can come and keep me company in his place."
As she spoke, she started laughing and crying at the same time.
Wei Yin hurriedly looked around the riverbank, but could only hear sobbing and see nothing. She was so nervous that she was trembling all over. Although she had encountered strange things in the Bodhisattva Temple before, it was all in a daze. How could it be like now, where she could clearly see the strange wind and rain blowing and hear ghosts talking?
She snapped out of her daze and desperately tried to touch the amulet around the little boy's neck, but before she could even reach out, the whirlpool beneath her feet carried her towards the center of the river.
The thing seemed enraged and, instead of slowly drowning her, frantically dragged her into the water.
Wei Yin was soaked through, and the rain almost blurred her vision.
She tried to grab onto anything around her to struggle, but there was nothing in the river except water.
Even if they catch it, it won't help; perhaps only a peace charm can suppress it.
The river was cold and swift, and rain and wind were blowing from the sky. Wei Yin was powerless to resist. She struggled until she was exhausted. In the end, she could only watch helplessly as the whirlpool dragged her little by little to the bottom of the water.
Sudden.
The strange wind and rain that had suddenly started, and the flying grass and stones, all inexplicably stopped in a flash.
Immediately afterwards, she heard a deep, youthful voice drifting gently from the riverbank behind her.
"Step back."
His voice was dry, as if he hadn't spoken for many years.
Along with the sound, a faint fragrance of locust blossoms also drifted over.
A note from the author:
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