Chapter 10

Chapter 10

A few years later, the matter quietly fizzled out, and the local authorities tacitly accepted that the residents of Xianyin Village did not have to be cremated after death.

Zhou Benxin composed himself, found a clean set of clothes in his grandmother’s wardrobe, and fetched some hot water.

Since it would be improper for a man to handle this, Zhou Benxin had no choice but to ask Yun Jianyue to wipe his grandmother’s body and change her clothes.

A corpse was not pleasant to touch. The old woman had clearly been dead for more than ten hours. In such sweltering weather, rigor mortis had visibly set in, and the body had begun to smell.

“Your corpse is so much better. You’ve been dead for so long, but you still don’t stink,” Yun Jianyue said to Lu Changxue as she worked.

Lu Changxue was currently floating in midair in her ghostly form. Gazing at the old woman’s remains, she let out a wistful sigh. “She went peacefully, without the slightest trace of resentment. That’s nice.”

Then Lu Changxue added, “Those two were whispering earlier. I vaguely heard something about a sacrifice, and about making you take someone’s place if they escaped. It couldn’t have been anything good. Why are you so determined to stay here?”

From what she knew of Yun Jianyue, she should have started making cutting remarks the moment those two spoke so rudely to her.

“Besides, I keep feeling like this entire village is full of things that make me uncomfortable. I feel awful all over,” Lu Changxue complained.

As Yun Jianyue dressed the old woman, she said, “I also think there’s something strange about this village. I have a feeling something bad is going to happen.”

“Then why aren’t you running?” Lu Changxue knew Yun Jianyue’s instincts were usually spot-on.

“If I leave, how is the plot supposed to move forward?” Yun Jianyue countered.

Lu Changxue: ???

Yun Jianyue declared, “Sometimes you have to boldly court death to keep the plot moving!”

As if she believed in coincidences. What were the odds that the moment she arrived in Zhou Benxin’s city, his computer happened to break and his grandmother happened to die?

After finally changing the old woman into clean clothes, Yun Jianyue stepped outside and heard Zhou Benxin talking to someone on the phone.

“You’re saying you still can’t deliver the coffin tonight even if I pay triple?”

“But I can’t leave my grandmother’s body lying on the bed indefinitely. Just name your price. I’ll pay whatever you want as long as you bring the coffin here tonight.”

“What do you mean, ‘my filthy money’? Hello? Hello?!”

Zhou Benxin glared furiously at his phone’s dark screen. When he noticed Yun Jianyue approaching, he gave a bitter smile. “The village isn’t allowing outsiders in or residents out tonight, so the coffin shop owner can’t make the delivery.”

Without a coffin, local custom dictated that the old woman would have to spend another night on the bed.

“What’s happening in your village tonight?” Yun Jianyue found it strange. What could possibly be more important than life and death? Back in her hometown, whenever someone died, all the neighbors would come to help unless they had something urgent to deal with. She had never heard of a village barring all entry and exit to the point that even a coffin could not be delivered.

Zhou Benxin replied helplessly, “Every year on this day, our entire village holds a communal sacrificial ceremony.”

As he spoke, Zhou Benxin looked toward the altar table. Clearly, the central figure of tonight’s ceremony was the Twin God.

“I went to school in the city from the time I was little, so I’ve never taken part in the village’s ceremonies. My grandmother attended every year while she was alive, though. She said the god would protect everyone in Xianyin Village, and that after death, the villagers would all pass on to the Pure Land.”

Zhou Benxin gazed at the Twin God with a reverence Yun Jianyue had never seen from him before. “If the Pure Land truly exists, then after all the devotion and offerings my grandmother gave you, I hope you’ll really let her enter it.”

As soon as Zhou Benxin finished speaking, a faint wisp of black mist seemed to seep from the pitch-black wood.

Yun Jianyue was stunned. Yet when she looked more closely, she saw nothing but the same two pieces of black wood. There was no black mist at all.
“Did you see that just now?” Yun Jianyue asked with a frown.

“See what?” Zhou Benxin looked confused.

“Black mist.”

Zhou Benxin knitted his brows. “What black mist? Maybe it’s because it’s dark outside and the light in here is too dim. Could your eyes have been playing tricks on you, Senior?”

Lu Changxue, still in ghost form, shrieked instead. “I saw it! I saw it! That was yin energy!”

Yun Jianyue’s expression did not change at Lu Changxue’s scream.

Overhead, an old-fashioned light bulb cast a dim yellow glow. It was not bright, but it was enough to see everything in the room.

After a long pause, Yun Jianyue said to Zhou Benxin, “Maybe I was mistaken.”

It was already nine at night, and darkness had completely engulfed the village. Since the coffins could not be brought into the village, the two of them had no choice but to clean up two rooms to spend the night in.
At the old locust tree by the village entrance.

Every villager wore a solemn expression as they knelt devoutly below the altar.

Two strange pieces of black wood rested upon it, wreathed in black mist invisible to the villagers.

In their eyes, even their ignorant faith shone with holy light.

Fifth Elder Zhou checked the time on his wristwatch. The wrinkles on his face trembled with fury. “Where is the bride? The ritual starts in fifteen minutes. Why hasn’t she been brought here yet?”

“I’ll go check. Please don’t worry, Fifth Elder.” A middle-aged woman in a floral blouse gave Fifth Elder Zhou an ingratiating smile, then promptly called over several burly middle-aged women and left with them.

They soon arrived at Wang Guifang’s dilapidated home.

Wang Guifang’s family was the poorest in the village. Her husband and father-in-law had died in the mine a few years ago, leaving her alone with a son and a daughter.

The family was so poor that her daughter had never been able to attend school. Even her son’s tuition had been pooled together by the other villagers.

“Where is she?” the middle-aged woman demanded harshly as she shoved open Wang Guifang’s door and glared at her sitting in the courtyard.

Tears streamed down Wang Guifang’s face. She still clutched a red bridal veil tightly in her hand, the veins on its back bulging like earthworms winding through ravines.

“I’m sorry, everyone. No matter what, she’s still my own flesh and blood. I can’t watch her go to her death.”

Her voice was laden with grief, and murky tears rolled down her dark cheeks.

The middle-aged woman’s expression changed. She strode forward and kicked Wang Guifang to the ground, then ordered the others to search the house.

But even after turning the entire place upside down, they could not find the bride. The middle-aged woman stormed back over to Wang Guifang and slapped her hard across the face.

“Wang Guifang! This concerns the entire village! How dare you let your daughter escape? If you’ve angered the Twin God, can you bear the consequences?”

The middle-aged woman flew into a rage. “If we hadn’t all supported your family over the years, would your son have been able to attend high school in the city? You ungrateful wretch! You’re going to get us all killed!”

Wang Guifang only continued to weep, unable to utter a single word in her defense.

The other middle-aged women were furious as well. They surrounded Wang Guifang, punching and kicking her.

“That’s enough! Hurry and tell Fifth Elder what happened!” The woman in the floral blouse ran out in exasperation and found Fifth Elder Zhou to explain the situation.

Fifth Elder Zhou’s face turned ashen. He slammed the tip of his cane against the ground. “The bride meant for the sacrifice has escaped. Which of your families has a girl of marriageable age who can take her place?”

Not one of the hundred-odd villagers in the crowd spoke.

Many families had unmarried daughters, but who would willingly send their own daughter or granddaughter to her death?

Amid the deathly silence, Second Uncle Zhou spoke up. “Didn’t that boy Benxin bring a girlfriend back with him?”