Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I stopped in my tracks.

“Connecting dragon energy? There’s no such concept in feng shui. Nine hundred ninety-nine people… nine is the number of extreme yang. If anything, that sounds more like something used to suppress evil. This place of yours couldn’t have been a mass grave in the past, could it?”

Even if it had been an ordinary mass grave, once a village was built over it and people lived there long enough, the yang energy and hearth-smoke of ordinary mortals would naturally disperse the baleful energy underneath. There would be no need to deliberately fix the population at a certain number to suppress it, would there?

Frowning, I rose onto my toes and gazed toward the distant mountains.

One of the groomsmen pulled a long face, clearly displeased.

“What mass grave? Do you even know how to talk to people?”

“Exactly. And you say there’s no such thing in feng shui? Who are you? What do you know about feng shui?”

They had no idea that I was the only Earth Master successor of this generation.

In ancient times, Earth Master was originally a general term for feng shui masters. Later, it came to refer specifically to grandmasters of feng shui who could read the stars.

As the old saying went: a first-rate Earth Master observes the stars, a second-rate wind master seeks the water mouth, and third-rate masters roam the land. Most of those walking the world now were ordinary feng shui practitioners. In ancient times, those who had mastered the art of reading the stars and observing qi all served in the Imperial Observatory, devoting their talents to the imperial family.

The ancestors of my Qiao Family had once held the post of Director of the Imperial Observatory. We were also the hereditary leaders of the Feng Sect.

It had rained a few days ago, and a heavy fog had risen in the mountains. Layer upon layer of peaks were shrouded in white mist, connected to the thin clouds in the sky. I couldn’t make out the shape or flow of the ridges.

After looking for a while and still failing to see anything useful, Jiang Yan came rushing out from behind the courtyard gate, excited.

“Qiao Moyu, you’re here!”

“Quick, go get changed! The groom’s procession starts in half an hour!”

The wedding customs in Mang Village were especially strange too. In other places, the groom’s side would come to fetch the bride early in the morning, before sunrise. That was because men were yang and women were yin; yang goes and yin comes, in accordance with the timing of heaven. If they were accidentally late and the sun had already risen, the bride would need to have a parasol held over her head.

But Mang Village just had to do the opposite and fetch the bride at high noon, when the sun was at its strongest. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Although I found it odd, I couldn’t very well say anything.

The bride, Jiang Ping, sat on the wedding bed in a red xiuhe wedding dress. We quickly changed into our outfits and, under Jiang Yan’s direction, began hiding the shoes.

This was also part of the bride-fetching ritual. After the groomsmen entered the room, they had to find the hidden shoes before they could take the bride away.

We hadn’t even finished hiding them when the door started banging with loud thuds. The roomful of girls screamed nonstop.

My roommate Lou Qianqian was even more flustered, running around the room like a headless fly.

“Ah! How are they here so fast? Where do we hide them? Where?”

Jiang Yan calmly gave orders.

“Don’t panic. They can’t get in anyway. Block the door first and make them give red envelopes.”

There were two other girls among the bridesmaids who had been bridesmaids several times before. They stood behind the door and skillfully threw all sorts of questions at the groom. If they weren’t satisfied with his answer, they made him hand over a red envelope.

“There are seven bridesmaids here. Send in seven red envelopes first.”

Several thin red envelopes were slipped through the crack under the door. It was Lou Qianqian’s first time as a bridesmaid, and she was particularly excited. She opened one right away and pulled out the money inside.

“Let me see how much there is. Wow, ten thousand yuan?”

Lou Qianqian stared blankly at the thin red bill in her hand.

“Did you secretly eat mushrooms behind my back too? Since when does RMB come in ten-thousand-yuan notes?”

I took the bill from Lou Qianqian’s hand and looked at it. With just one glance, my expression instantly darkened.

Printed boldly across the top of the bill were several words: “Heaven and Earth Immortal Bank.”

I turned to Jiang Yan.

“Is this also a custom in your village?”

Jiang Yan looked even worse than I did. She was so angry she stamped her foot.

“Of course not! Who stuffs spirit money into red envelopes at a wedding? Pulling something like this is so unlucky!”

“What happened?”

Sitting on the wedding bed, Jiang Ping heard the commotion on our side. Looking embarrassed, she forced the corners of her mouth up.

“My husband has always been careless when he does things. Around here, on the night before a wedding, we’re supposed to burn spirit money for our ancestors so they can share in the joy. When he was putting the red envelopes together yesterday, could he have accidentally stuffed the wrong thing in?”

The groom’s side did have a lot to handle the night before a wedding, and in all the chaos, it actually seemed possible.