Chapter 70

Chapter 70

“Do you think I look like an idiot?!” the village chief roared at the smiling Xie Qingling. “Seize them all!”

The village’s able-bodied men were about to charge forward and grab her.

Suddenly, a middle-aged woman with red silk tied around her waist and white cloth around her arm rushed out of the crowd.

She planted herself in front of Xie Qingling and shouted, “It’s a misunderstanding! It really is! Chief, she really is the eldest great-granddaughter of the third daughter of my second maternal uncle on my mother’s side! Her mother couldn’t produce milk when she was little, so I fed her one mouthful at a time! We’re closer than real mother and daughter! When she says she wants to take Qiaoqiao’s place, she means it!”

The middle-aged woman shouted into the crowd, “Qiaoqiao’s father, come take a look! Isn’t this your eldest niece?”

A middle-aged man poked his head out, made a show of inspecting Xie Qingling, then answered, “Yes! That’s her!”

These two were Ma Qiaoqiao’s parents.

The entire gathering fell silent for a moment.

Xie Qingling raised her voice. “I really did come to take her place.”

She continued, “You’ve held so many weddings for the River God, but she’s never been satisfied. That must be because none of the brides went willingly, and it angered her. I’m different. I’m beautiful, intelligent, considerate, helpful, and self-sacrificing. The River God is certain to like me.”

“I’m volunteering,” Xie Qingling declared. “Let me marry the River God, and every problem will solve itself.”

The village chief said nothing.

The villagers also sank into thought.

What she said… seemed to make some sense.

The fickle, lustful River God had taken bride after bride, yet her demands remained insatiable. Perhaps none of the brides chosen before had suited her. Perhaps they had not been beautiful enough, or gentle enough.

If they married an incomparable beauty to the River God, surely she would leave them in peace for two or three years.

Seen that way, the village chief found Xie Qingling’s argument quite convincing.

Except his gaze secretly drifted toward Shen Huaizhou, who stood nearby.

In fact, it was not only the village chief. The other villagers could not help looking at Shen Huaizhou as well.

The meaning in their eyes was unmistakable.

If only such a beautiful woman could marry the River God instead.

Shen Huaizhou stood there with a dark expression, perfectly aware of what these people were thinking.

In fact, once he realized what Xie Qingling intended, he had also considered whether it might be more appropriate for him to become the bride.

But on second thought, he suspected Xie Qingling’s reasoning might be the same as his. Since she had still volunteered herself, perhaps she had some other plan.

Shen Huaizhou had no idea what Xie Qingling was plotting, but if that was the case, all he had to do was cooperate.

Finally irritated by all the staring, Shen Huaizhou knitted his brows and gave a soft, cold snort.

His face icy, he moved a short distance away while remaining within everyone’s sight. Then he lifted his skirt, found a tree, turned his back, and relieved himself standing up.

The patter of liquid filled the air. Everyone present – men, women, young, and old – fell silent.

The village chief developed a terrible headache. His sagging eye bags trembled with indecision as his gaze moved repeatedly between Shen Huaizhou and Xie Qingling. At last, he heaved a long sigh. “Bring Crazy Wang here. We need his opinion on this.”

Before long, Crazy Wang arrived.

He looked like a madman, yet somehow did not.

He did not appear particularly old, perhaps forty or fifty, but his back was so severely hunched that it bent almost level with his knees. He looked like an old man in his seventies or eighties, already in the twilight of his life.

His hair reached his shoulders, but neglect had left it sitting on his head like a bird’s nest.

His features were difficult to make out beneath a dense beard that grew wild as weeds and covered most of his face.

Yet his eyes were exceptionally bright. Their whites and blacks were sharply defined, and the piercing gaze within them did not resemble a madman’s in the least.

The moment Crazy Wang appeared, everyone automatically opened a path for him.

The villagers watched him with vigilance, wariness, and awe.

They respected him from a distance, as though a clear boundary divided Crazy Wang from everyone else.

[They tread your spine like a staircase. They cling to your back – never look behind you. Hunched, oh hunched, the Village Guardian carrying three little ghosts on his back shuffles forward as though bearing an entire mountain.]

Crazy Wang was the Village Guardian.

A slovenly man who looked half-mad.

Xie Qingling flicked a quick glance at Dai Xingyu. His expression was indeed grim; he must have discovered something too.

Crazy Wang slowly approached Xie Qingling and circled her several times.

After a while, he nodded to the village chief and said hoarsely, “Use her.”

The village chief paused, then nodded. “We’ll use her.”

“Lock the other two up in the woodshed,” the village chief ordered at once. “The River God’s bride will be changed to – ”

“I’m volunteering, but I have conditions,” Xie Qingling interrupted.

The village chief glared at her. His almost-smiling gaze swept over Shen Huaizhou and Dai Xingyu. “You merely want us to let them go, don’t you? Don’t worry. Once the wedding is complete, we’ll deal with them in due course!”

“Why would I? Do whatever you like with them. They have nothing to do with me.” Xie Qingling shook her head. “I simply think that since this is my first wedding, the ceremony ought to be grander and more formal. You’ll prepare an eight-bearer bridal sedan and a banquet for the guests, won’t you? What if the River God thinks you don’t value her otherwise?”
“And all this red silk and these red lanterns must have been left over from the last bride. You haven’t even replaced the silk or taken down the double-happiness characters. This is my first marriage, at least. How can I use another bride’s castoffs?”

Her first marriage? Did she expect to divorce the River God, marry again, and have a second wedding?

The village chief’s eyes widened. For a moment, his emotions were remarkably complicated.

He had seen plenty of weeping brides. Confronted without warning by one like Xie Qingling, who was treating this as a real wedding, showed no fear, and made demand after demand, he could not shake the sense that she was insane – a madwoman who appeared utterly calm while something inside her was profoundly wrong. Her tall accomplice was not normal either.

Xie Qingling said as though it were obvious, “You must send me off in magnificent style and invite the entire village to drink my wedding wine. A continuous banquet should be held at the ancestral hall for three days and three nights. You must announce the marriage to Heaven and Earth above and to the ancestors below. And also – ”

“You demand too much!” the village chief shouted. “Don’t push your luck!”

“Hah. So this is how you neglect the River God’s bride. No wonder she’s unhappy.” Xie Qingling looked thoroughly disdainful. “Then the banquet must last one day and one night. I won’t accept anything less.”

Crazy Wang studied Xie Qingling several times, apparently considering something.

After a while, he said, “Do as she says. There cannot be a third wedding.”

“All… all right.” The village chief heaved an angry sigh.

He then ordered someone to take Shen Huaizhou and Dai Xingyu to an empty room and lock them inside with iron chains.

The rest of the village began preparing for the River God’s wedding.

This time, it was to be a proper wedding. Pigs and ducks were slaughtered, the continuous banquet was laid out, and everyone set to work.

The village chief had ordered the banquet to run for a day and a night. The “wedding” would take place at dusk tomorrow, leaving everyone pressed for time.

As for Xie Qingling, she followed Ma Qiaoqiao’s parents back to the low white house at the far end of the village.

After all, they were “relatives.”

Ma Qiaoqiao also returned home. When she heard that Xie Qingling intended to marry in her place, confusion spread across her face. She plainly had no idea what was happening.

Was… was this how Xie Qingling meant to help her?

The joy Ma Qiaoqiao had felt at narrowly escaping death vanished in an instant. She burst into tears again. “You might as well take me with you and let the two of us elope! Waaah!”

Her mother embraced her, and the two wailed together.

Xie Qingling, the actual bride, watched them calmly, as though observing someone else’s play.

Ma Qiaoqiao’s father took a drag from his cigarette and sighed. “I don’t know where you came from, but… ah, child, you saved our Qiaoqiao. After you die, we’ll build you a cenotaph with your clothing and personal effects. We’ll pay our respects every year.”

“No need.” Xie Qingling smiled. “I don’t think I’ll require one.”

Ma Qiaoqiao’s entire family stared at her in shock, their faces filled with bafflement.

Never before had they met anyone so… selfless, so fearless of death, so passionate about sacrificing herself.

Was she a bodhisattva?

Had she appeared here solely to do a good deed?

What a wonderful person!

A saint!

Ma Qiaoqiao’s father nearly wanted to drop to his knees and kowtow. He wished he could make a gilded statue of her and worship it every day.

While Ma Qiaoqiao’s family wept with gratitude, Xie Qingling continued, “I have several questions for you. If you can’t answer them or hide anything from me, I won’t marry.”

What?

“Then Qiaoqiao can marry her instead,” Xie Qingling said.

Ma Qiaoqiao’s father remained stunned for a long moment before finally grasping her meaning. As he looked at this strange young woman who had appeared from nowhere, his heart swung wildly between hope and fear.

She was probably here for reasons of her own.

The village chief forbade anyone from revealing the village’s secrets to outsiders.

Those who violated the taboo would be punished, and that punishment was something he did not wish to endure.

But they were all in the same boat now. If he refused to cooperate, his daughter would probably not live through the day!

Ma Qiaoqiao’s father stared at the white funeral streamers filling the room and the banners marked with the character for mourning that had not yet been removed. He wavered, torn by indecision.

Ma Qiaoqiao’s mother slammed the table. “Ask! I’ll tell you everything I know. After all this, what could we possibly still refuse to say? It’s just some damned River God! Today, I’ll strip her bare right down to her underwear!”

Xie Qingling smiled. “Good. Then I’ll ask directly. Who told you to worship the River God? How many years have you been doing this? What is the sacrifice supposed to accomplish? And five outsiders came to your village before, didn’t they? What happened to them? Three are still missing. Where did they go?”

Every question in the rapid barrage struck a vital point.

Even Ma Qiaoqiao’s mother fell silent.

No one spoke for an unknown length of time. Xie Qingling did not rush them and let them think.

After three or five minutes, Ma Qiaoqiao’s father spoke.

He said, “I don’t know who told us to worship the River God either. According to Crazy Wang, our ancestors did it for generations, so we have to do it too. But every adult old enough to remember knows he’s lying.”

“Because a few decades ago, our village worshiped different gods. We didn’t believe in the River God.”

“I was still a child then. Every year in the twelfth lunar month, the village held grand sacrifices and a temple fair. I no longer remember where the temple stood.”

“But I remember those gods. We called them the City God and the Eight Zha Gods.”