Chapter 1

Chapter 1

[Day One: Daytime]

After spending several days away fishing and hunting, Dong Mu returned to the residence with a young woman in tow.

The young woman, Cui Xiuxiu, had lost her way in the mountains, and Dong Mu had brought her back to Dong Village.

He introduced me to her. “This is Su Nianci, my concubine.”

I set down my needlework and gave her an indifferent nod. “Miss Cui.”

Cui Xiuxiu’s gaze settled on my swollen belly. “Dong Mu, didn’t you say you had no children?”

Dong Mu hurriedly explained, “The witch doctor said she’s carrying a girl. The feng shui in this village only favors boys. Even if a girl is born, she won’t live long.”

Dong Village lay deep in the mountains of Xiangxi. The local physicians knew a smattering of shamanic arts and were skilled at warding off evil, communing with spirits, and curing stubborn illnesses. The villagers revered them as witch doctors.

Cui Xiuxiu twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “So you really haven’t taken a wife or fathered any children?”

A faint smile touched Dong Mu’s handsome face. “I have no wife at present.”

A clever choice of words. He had no wife, not that he had never taken one.

Dong Mu’s wife, Deng Wan, had died suddenly last month.

Her death had come without warning.

The day before she died, Deng Wan had accompanied me to the end of the street to have our ears pierced.

At the time, she had grimaced in pain and said, “I got another piercing just to keep you company. You’d better thank me properly.”

Early the next morning, I eagerly tucked a pair of jade earrings into my clothes and knocked on her door, only to be met with deathly silence.

Every piece of furniture in the stilt house had been draped in white cloth, while servants hurried back and forth along the corridors.

The witch doctor said Deng Wan was dead. An evil entity had latched on to her and struck her dead.

Afraid it might attach itself to the living, Dong Mu had her body burned that very night.

Grief-stricken over the loss of his beloved wife, he left the village and descended the mountain, seeking solace in fishing and hunting.

A little over a month later, he returned with another young woman.

Cui Xiuxiu reached out and stroked the embroidered cloth spread across the table, its pattern depicting lions and tigers. She smiled.

“My father was right. The people of Dong Village truly are among the richest anywhere.”

Dong Mu smiled with refined elegance and stepped forward to wrap an arm around her frail shoulders.

“This is nothing. Even the capital of Xiangxi may not be as wealthy as Dong Village.”

At that, she clamored to go see the village. Unable to refuse her, Dong Mu shot me a meaningful look.

“Nianci, attend the wedding banquet in my place. Remember to inform the Sacrificial Official.”

The Sacrificial Official was a position unique to Dong Village, responsible for overseeing all matters related to wedding banquets.

I nodded in agreement. Once the two of them had left, I returned to my bedchamber.

Before my departure, my maid Xiao Tao selected my clothes, arranged my hair, and painted my brows.

My lips were a vivid red, perfectly complementing the cypress vine tucked beside my temple. The effect was striking.

Too striking. It would draw attention away from the hosts. I removed the flower. “A pearl hairpin will do.”

Dusk pressed heavily down, and a mournful gong sounded outside.

When a household celebrated a joyous occasion, they hired an opera troupe to perform for good fortune.

The gong meant the performance had begun. It was time to leave.

Weddings were common in Dong Village, and this was far from the first banquet I had attended.

Yet there seemed to be something unusual about today’s celebration.

I lifted the sedan’s curtain and discovered we were traveling through the woods east of the village.

Who lived in such a remote place?

A red carpet covered in elaborate patterns ran straight east through the dense forest.

At its end loomed a vast, cavernous opening.

Nothing had been omitted: crimson carpets, red silk, wedding candles. An opera stage had even been erected outside the cave.

Gongs and drums thundered all around, while the wedding music rang out in strangely distorted notes.

The sedan came to a stop. The moment I stepped down, I felt eyes turn toward me from every direction.

Why were all the guests at today’s banquet men?

Without betraying my unease, I turned to leave. A man shouted, “A woman saw it!”

Several men closed in around me like a solid wall.

Lowering my head, I said, “I’m Dong Mu’s concubine. I’ve come in his place. Where is the Sacrificial Official?”

I backed away, only for my spine to strike another hard body.

Tall, broad men surrounded me on every side. There was nowhere left to retreat.

The opera continued. The performers wore Nuo masks and chanted in low, droning voices.

Pairs of pitch-black eyes stared at me from beneath masks with blue-green faces and protruding fangs, scrutinizing my every move.

Cold sweat had already soaked through my thin gown.

A heavily made-up wedding attendant approached, twisting a handkerchief between his fingers. “Move aside!”

The men obediently lowered their gazes and opened a path for him. He came closer and studied me carefully.

One look at that thickly painted face told me the wedding attendant was also a man.

“The Sacrificial Official is occupied.” The creases in his face spread into a sudden smile. “This is indeed Dong Mu’s second consort.”

No sooner had he spoken than the clappers sounded, and the men dispersed to watch the opera again.

I heard someone mutter in complaint, “We said from the start that no woman should be allowed to see this…”

“Someone from the bride’s side had to attend. Since Dong Mu wouldn’t come, it had to be her.”

…

The bride’s side? Since when was I part of the bride’s family?

The wedding attendant clamped a hand around my wrist. “The one being married today is a very important figure. That is why everyone is so tense.”

I tried to pull my hand free, but he dragged me deeper into the crowd.

“Don’t be impatient, Madam. Watch the opera first. Once the bride arrives and completes the wedding ceremony, you may eat at the banquet and leave.”

I pretended to feel unwell. “I am with child, and it is far too noisy here. I truly…”

“No matter what happens, you may not leave before the banquet ends. You must not displease His Lordship.”

“His… Lordship? May I ask which family in the village the groom belongs to?”

“Dong Mu didn’t tell you?” He gave me a reproachful look, then pointed into the depths of the cave. “Him.”

The distant mountains resembled heaps of incense ash, and the last light of sunset died among the cinders.

Gongs and drums thundered. The performers dressed as women wore Nuo masks and held fans as they continued chanting their unfinished verses.

I stood frozen in place before asking again, “Him? Who is he?”

“Mortals must not speak his name aloud.” The wedding attendant glanced at me. “You’ve only been married into the village for a year. It’s only natural that you wouldn’t know.”

Night descended, and servants climbed ladders to light the lamps.

Inside the cave, the wedding candles cast warm golden halos, like the eyes of demons watching from the dark.