Ghost Marriage Horror Part 1
In the early spring when the weather is still chilly, the cold moonlight pours down, and in the countryside, the vast fields and layered mountains are faintly visible.
The little squirrel peeked out from the tree hole, sat on a branch, and watched a sedan chair decorated with red ribbons and big red flowers slowly ascend the winding path at the foot of the mountain.
A gentle breeze stirred, lifting the embroidered curtains of the sedan chair.
A beautiful young girl was found bound inside the crimson sedan chair.
She wore a phoenix crown and a wedding robe, with dangling beads on the crown that swayed gently with the rise and fall of the bridal sedan chair. Her eyes were lightly closed, her skin was like solidified cream, and she was elegant and serene, as if she were asleep, yet there was no sign of her chest rising and falling.
This binding wasn't a restraint; rather, it seemed to secure the bride neatly in the center of the sedan chair, with brocade carefully tied around her lower limbs, chest, and waist, leaving no trace of disarray.
Perhaps the maidservant who was doing her makeup felt that the young girl's delicate features were too plain on such a joyous occasion, so she applied the most crimson lip rouge to her lips.
Unexpectedly, this blood-red color, amidst the hazy shimmer of jewels, accentuated the girl's cherry-like lips with a bewitching and ghostly aura.
As the night deepened and the dew became heavy, the mountain path became slippery. The men carrying the sedan chair on the left front lost their footing and slipped hard on a moss-covered stone.
The girl's head slammed heavily against the wooden back wall of the bridal sedan chair, making a loud "thud" that was especially clear in the quiet mountain forest.
She suddenly opened her eyes.
Her lively eyes swept around the sedan chair, her previous plain demeanor replaced by a bright and captivating gaze that revealed her unruly nature.
The little squirrel, which had been watching the commotion from a tree branch, suddenly snapped to attention, twitched its tail three times, and swiftly retreated back into its little tree hole.
In that collision, Wang Pan'er's chaotic thoughts suddenly returned to normal.
A metallic, sweet taste of blood surged in her throat, and her nostrils were filled with the acrid smell of burning incense. Impatiently, Wang Pan'er tore off the dangling jewels in front of her and began to grope around. The back of her hand touched the cold sedan chair wall, which made her tremble all over.
The cramped space, the oppressive atmosphere, and the elaborate clothes she wore were all completely different from her state before she went to sleep.
Where is this?
Wang Pan'er was surrounded by darkness, so she had to strain her ears.
Whispers came from outside the space, like a venomous snake opening its mouth and spitting out its tongue: "Pah, what bad luck. If it weren't for those three taels of silver, I wouldn't be here to carry a dead man's wife."
"Who says otherwise? I heard that this girl was suffocated to death by her greedy parents and then put into a sedan chair. They're so heartless for money."
"......"
Wang Pan'er vaguely caught glimpses of phrases like "carrying a dead man's wife," "greedy parents," and "suffocating to death," and half-dead, she realized that she had transmigrated!
I've transmigrated into the melodramatic detective novel I was reading before falling asleep!
I just habitually wanted to pick a bedtime book, and I chose the one with the most pleasing cover on the first page, only to be shocked by the opening.
The first victim shared the same name as her; she was an unlucky girl who was forced into a ghost marriage by her awful parents, poisoned, and sent to her wedding sedan chair.
She frowned and angrily moved her phone away.
Pah! Pah! Pah!
Wang Pan'er gave the author a big middle finger, lost all interest in finding another book, and obediently crawled into bed, closed her eyes, and tried to fall asleep.
Unexpectedly, a bucket of dog blood was poured on him, and when he opened his eyes again, he had become the unlucky guy in the book.
The churning in her stomach drew Wang Pan'er's attention back; she was struggling to suppress her physiological vomiting.
Not wanting to be covered in filth, she hurriedly untied the cloth binding her, lifted the sedan curtain, and poked her head out. With a "whoosh," she vomited up all the filth in her stomach.
"Ah! Ah! It's a zombie!" A sharp explosion rang out in the night sky, and the slippery sedan bearer dropped the sedan chair and darted out.
His legs blurred as he ran, wailing, "Don't look for me! Don't look for me! It's your parents' fault! The wronged should be held accountable! Whoever made the mistake should make amends!"
The other three were also startled. The bridal sedan chair crashed to the ground, and Wang Pan'er, who had poked her head out, lost her balance and her neck slammed heavily against the windowsill. Her tongue, which had been sticking out due to vomiting, was stuck in her throat and rolled back in her eyes, making her look like a hanged ghost.
The landlord's marriage was illicit to begin with, and despite offering a lot of money, no one was willing to carry the sedan chair. Now, those who are willing to come forward are all in dire straits, barely able to make ends meet.
But the bride has come back to life. No matter how important money is, you only have one life.
Seeing Wang Pan'er roll her eyes back and brace herself against the windowsill to get up, the three of them exchanged glances, disregarding the unscrupulous landlord's unpaid balance, and vanished in a flash.
Wang Pan'er struggled to get up, but she couldn't muster any strength in her limbs and could only lean on the windowsill, continuing to endure the excruciating headache.
Before her was a pool of foul-smelling vomit, the stench overwhelming. Just as she was about to shift her position to rest, she noticed, in the moonlight, that oleander leaves were clearly visible amidst the filth.
Good heavens!
Wang Pan'er sneered and solved the case so cleverly.
After vomiting, she felt much better and began to sort through the memories that had suddenly appeared in her mind.
The original owner of this unfortunate body came from a family very similar to hers—a fallen family with a "throne" to inherit. She had two older sisters, Wang Zhaodi and Wang Pandi, and unsurprisingly, her long-awaited younger brother was a good-for-nothing named Yaozu.
When Wang Yaozu was around ten years old, he started hanging out with the village hooligans and developed a gambling addiction. His terrible parents were always looking out for their next meal, and with a vain grandmother, they had no money or food left. So they sold his two older sisters to raise money for dowries and scraped together what they could to pay off Wang Yaozu's debts.
After being beaten several times, he had no choice but to temporarily abandon his hopes of turning things around and went to town with the gang of hooligans to drink and carouse. After the hooligans finished drinking, they refused to pay their bills. Wang Yaozu, who was always spoiled at home, was slow and was beaten by a pimp, which made him a laughing stock in the village and ruined his reputation.
The girls he was interested in either disliked him because he was a lousy cripple, or they used his shortcomings to demand exorbitant dowries.
These wicked parents couldn't bear to become sinners who would die without descendants. When Landlord Zhang offered a high price for a ghost marriage for their prematurely deceased son, they decided to go all in. A bowl of oleander turned the unfortunate boy into a sacrifice for Wang Yaozu's bride-swapping scheme.
And that was it. After reading this part of the original book, Wang Pan'er clicked the little cross and exited the app.
She beat her chest and stamped her feet, her face showing a look of wanting to cry but having no tears.
Why didn't she flip through a few more pages to at least see the main character appear and get close to him? She has no idea how things will develop from here on out!
Moreover, she was a science student, not well-versed in history, and lacked common sense about ancient life. Apart from the unfortunate memories that didn't yield much experience, she had nothing.
People can actually laugh when they're speechless.
With a chuckle, Wang Pan'er regained some strength from her anger and finally managed to sit up.
The oleander that caused the original owner's death has been completely expelled, and the owner's life is no longer in danger.
Wang Pan'er touched her face, then her new body, and began to inquire about her situation.
The original owner was sixteen years old (by Chinese reckoning), so thin he was skin and bones, and his fingers were rough, all marks left from his usual hard work.
That wretched home is definitely not a place to go back to. That family of beasts has already committed murder and robbery once. You can only be a thief for a thousand days, not a thief for a thousand days. Going back would be tantamount to throwing your head away.
The idea of cooking for this family's best food should be put aside for now; right now, with an empty stomach, the priority is to ensure that I don't freeze or starve to death while I'm homeless.
Wang Pan'er turned her stiff neck, the phoenix crown and beaded curtains tangling around her hair, pulling at her scalp painfully.
She couldn't bear any hardship she shouldn't have. Wang Pan'er removed her elaborate headdress; in the moonlight, the pearl hairpins gleamed with gold. She held them up and weighed them in her hands; the density was far from enough, and she guessed they were probably gold-plated.
There's at least a layer of gold. Gold is a hard currency everywhere. As for the jewels that adorn it, I don't know if they're real or fake. Even a modern person like Wang Pan'er couldn't estimate their value.
Even a mosquito is still meat, no matter how small. She put all the headdresses into her pocket and then rummaged through the dowry that the beasts had prepared for the original owner.
After rummaging around for a while, Wang Pan'er got so angry that she kicked her leg.
They're all paper replicas. This heartless family risked their own daughter's life to make a profit without any investment.
The thought that she too was to be sold by her parents to pay for her younger brother's down payment on a house, which was how she escaped her dysfunctional family, made Wang Pan'er clench her fists involuntarily. The pain of her nails digging into her palms brought her back to her senses, and it took her several deep breaths to calm her urge to kill someone.
Now she's a frail woman, just recovered from poisoning, completely defenseless and penniless. Let alone wind and rain, she'd probably flare up with typhoid fever after sleeping outdoors a few times.
The original owner was constantly busy around the stove, on the field ridges, and in the mountains, unable to recall any information about the outside world. He couldn't even find his way if he tried to run away, let alone reach a town alive.
Getting angry is a complete waste of energy. You need to find an empty house where people can live, so that even if you're just barely surviving, you'll have a place to stay.
Following the unfortunate man's memory, she constructed a rough map of the village and set her sights on the outermost burial ground where the fields met the mountains.
The village is where everyone lives. Outside the village, there are mountains behind and fields in front.
People in this era were generally superstitious, holding great reverence for life and death, and for the supernatural. Therefore, the area around the funeral parlor was sparsely populated; even the unfortunate man had only visited once, when his grandfather passed away. She was only dressed in a bright red wedding gown, making her a conspicuous figure, and all things considered, there was no better place to go.
As for bad luck, nothing is more unlucky than transmigrating into the body of a hapless soul who has been drugged by his closest relatives and sent to a ghost marriage.
Who else but him!
It was a dark and windy night. Unlike the bustling city, the country lanes were so dark that they made people feel uneasy.
At the end of the fields are rolling mountains, and beyond the two highest peaks lies the small village where the unlucky fellow's family lives.
Wang Pan'er stood up, supporting herself against the sedan chair door, and stepped out of the cramped space. The brocade robe was not suitable for walking on mountain paths, but how could someone who didn't even have a quilt dare to throw away such fine clothing? She picked up the strips of cloth that were binding her and, imitating the style of ancient people's armbands, wrapped the hem of her skirt and the wide sleeves together.
Although she had a direction, the moment she opened her eyes, she had to eat, drink, and relieve herself; she had to find a way to fill her stomach in the shortest amount of time.
Although the village has a lot of farmland, it is all privately owned. However, the unlucky fellow has to go up the mountain to chop firewood every now and then. He is familiar with the dozen or so mountains around the village, and there are no large wild animals, so it is considered safe.
Moreover, the harvest is good now, and the villagers grow the kinds of food they like in their own fields, carefully fertilizing and watering them, making them even more delicious than wild game from the mountains. They don't lack food on ordinary days; apart from chopping firewood and picking some mushrooms and chestnuts, they are unwilling to carry wild game from the mountains for miles around.
Making a living off the land became the first option, and Wang Pan'er carefully observed the surroundings as she walked, taking advantage of the moonlight.
This mountain was as ordinary as it could be. At the foot of the mountain were tall trees, and there were many small mushrooms under the trees. However, it was impossible to tell at night whether they were edible. When Wang Pan'er was observing the mushrooms, she stepped on a wild chestnut and pricked the sole of her foot.
Potatoes are buried underground, amaranth and romaine lettuce are even more common, and there are even two clumps of taro growing by the stream, with big, upright leaves that are almost as tall as her.
Wang Pan'er walked to the stream and scooped up a handful of water.
The stream water was icy cold, but at least it cleaned the strong odor from my mouth.
She used the moonlight to examine the original owner's face.
His facial features were extremely familiar.
Her bone structure was exactly the same as it had been in middle school. The difference was that her face reflected in the water had sunken cheeks and dry hair. Apart from her fair skin, which was just like hers and couldn't get tanned, she looked completely worn out from head to toe.
I need to take good care of myself; after all, health is the foundation of everything.
She lifted her skirt and continued walking up the mountain, where the tall, lush trees were gradually replaced by shrubs that were as tall as a person.
Wang Pan'er casually plucked a handful of cogongrass roots, sucking on them with gusto. They were sweet and could clear heat and detoxify.
She walked very slowly, searching and identifying everything she came across.
Suddenly, a clump of grass swayed, and a white blur flashed by, looking just like a rabbit.
Wild rabbits are usually nocturnal, and villagers rarely go out at night, so if it really is a wild rabbit, it must be very plump.
Wang Pan'er tiptoed, holding her breath, and moved toward the source of the noise.
The little rabbits sensed the danger and fell silent. Wang Pan'er pouted and stubbornly continued rummaging through the woodland.
After searching for a while, she didn't find the rabbit, but she did find a familiar patch of wild plants. It had short rhizomes and oval leaves with shallow, wavy teeth.
It's plantain!
Plantain has a fragrant aroma, a slightly bitter taste followed by a sweet aftertaste, and is cold in nature. It has the effects of promoting urination, clearing heat and detoxifying, and relieving phlegm and cough.
Wang Pan'er stopped and carefully examined the herbs, searching her memory for information about them.
In my memory, the villagers only knew about grains and cereals. Apart from ginseng and lingzhi, which were very precious medicinal materials in ancient times, they would be identified and dug up. Common herbs that could be used as medicine grew freely.
Wang Pan'er had a flash of inspiration, and her idea quickly took shape.
Her maternal grandfather was a respected traditional Chinese medicine doctor with a family tradition of medicine, but unfortunately, he lacked the necessary qualifications and license, and his medical career was cut short. Unable to succeed as a doctor, he turned his TCM clinic into a small medicinal cuisine restaurant. Due to his honest business practices and the high quality and reasonable prices, the business gradually flourished. Whenever it opened, it was packed with people every day, and its medicinal braised dishes were a renowned delicacy.
Having been exposed to the craft since childhood, although she did not inherit the mantle, her skills in making medicinal brine are superb. She is also adept at identifying herbs and plants, processing medicinal materials, and treating minor injuries and illnesses.
With an excited heart and trembling hands, Wang Pan'er couldn't contain herself and ventured deeper into the mountains and forests.
She discovered that three or four kinds of herbs could be identified under the moonlight.
After processing the supplies from these mountains, there's more than enough money left over for the cost of transportation.
Wang Pan'er quickly made a makeshift bundle by folding her cloak in half and tying a slipknot. She then gathered supplies along the way until the sound of clashing swords came from the foot of the mountain, at which point she alertly stopped.
In the distance, figures darted swiftly through the woods, their swords flashing coldly. Small animals caught in the throes let out sharp cries, startling owls into wailing cries. The owls took flight in a dark mass, sweeping across the treetops like splashes of ink.
Wang Pan'er watched as the moonlight was suddenly blocked out and the surroundings became dark again, and roared inwardly: This can't be so melodramatic, can it? This is the world of novels!
Her heart pounded. She quickly found the densest clump of bushes nearby, and the dog crouched down and shrank into it, clasping its hands together in prayer: Don't come any closer! Back! Back! Back!
The sounds of fighting came and went, and Wang Pan'er's heart pounded with each beat. Her legs were starting to go numb, but she dared not move, not even a little bit.
The world has turned upside down. I didn't die from the medicine, I didn't starve to death, but please, no more sudden death! My heart is already in my throat!
With the sound of swords piercing flesh and a wail, the entire forest returned to silence.
Wang Pan'er lost her footing and her bottom thudded heavily to the ground.
Before I could even tend to my numb soles, I caught a whiff of blood, which gradually grew stronger and more intense.
Clutching her legs, which had lost most of their sensation, she instinctively tried to get up and run away.
Just as he was about to put his hands down to support his upper body, someone covered his mouth and nose from behind.
Immediately, a gleaming silver sword was held against his neck.
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