Chapter 287
Chapter 287
The people nearby joined in, cheering and egging them on.
Seated at the front of the hall, Squire Xie watched the Bride with an even more gratified expression.
Qin Nan finally understood.
According to the local custom, not only did the Bride marry the Groom, but she also had to lift the Groom’s veil herself in front of everyone.
Of course, whatever their customs might be, they had nothing to do with Qin Nan and the others.
Qin Nan was only here to enjoy the spectacle. If they weren’t in the Realm of Death with no idea what was going on, he might have joined in with the cheering himself.
But a moment later, Qin Nan lost even the slightest interest in watching the show.
The red veil was lifted from the Groom’s head, finally revealing his true face to the crowd.
Wait…
Wasn’t that Fang Kang?
Fang Kang stood in the hall, completely expressionless. Once the veil was removed, his eyes moved with mechanical stiffness before settling on the Bride. The corners of his mouth curved into an utterly textbook smile that was also ugly as hell.
And he didn’t just smile. He even softened his voice and said to the Bride, “My dear wife.”
Qin Nan shuddered violently.
He nearly threw up last night’s dinner.
It was absolutely disgusting.
But disgust aside, Fang Kang’s condition demanded even more of their attention.
Why was Fang Kang, who had presumably met with disaster, here as the Groom at the Xie Family’s wedding feast? More importantly, there was obviously something wrong with him. Which raised the question: Was Fang Kang already dead, his body nothing more than an empty shell? Or was he merely under temporary control and still capable of being saved?
Qin Nan looked at Jian Fan.
Jian Fan gave no reaction. He merely watched the scene in silence.
Qin Nan then turned to Qin Weiyi.
Qin Weiyi was frowning as well. Sensing Qin Nan’s gaze, he glanced over, but only shook his head without saying anything.
There were too many people around them. This wasn’t a good time to talk.
The others had clearly reached the same conclusion. Most of them wore strange expressions, with a few muttered expletives being the most anyone dared say.
“This Groom isn’t as handsome as the last few.”
The people nearby had also begun discussing Fang Kang.
Unable to exchange thoughts with his companions, Qin Nan suppressed his questions and listened to the surrounding conversations instead.
“Yeah, he’s a little ugly, but he’s got a strong body.”
“He’s got a good build, at least.”
“A man doesn’t need to be particularly handsome. Stamina is what matters. He needs to serve our Miss Xie well.”
“Exactly.”
“…”
Qin Nan went numb as he listened.
Once he filtered out the less important details, he drew a conclusion from their conversation.
This wasn’t Miss Xie’s first time getting married. No, rather, this wasn’t her first time marrying a Groom.
In other words, Fang Kang might not be the last. Recalling the way Squire Xie had sized them up, as well as what the townspeople had said, another theory formed in Qin Nan’s mind.
Squire Xie hadn’t been searching for a suitable wife for himself. He had been searching for a partner for his daughter.
But if he was looking for a partner for Miss Xie, shouldn’t he have been considering the men? Yet the person Squire Xie had seemed most satisfied with earlier was Lin Junruo.
Qin Nan glanced at Lin Junruo.
His thoughts began to wander again.
This had to be connected to their overall mission. Were men at greater risk this time? Or perhaps… gender didn’t matter, and the criteria weren’t quite so strict?
While Qin Nan’s mind wandered, the commotion in the hall gradually died down.
Squire Xie invited everyone to take their seats for the feast.
The townspeople began filing outside, and Jian Fan naturally followed them.
Qin Nan came back to his senses and hurried after him.
The Xie Residence had an enormous courtyard.
In addition to the front courtyard, banquet tables had also been set up in the courtyards farther back. Meanwhile, as soon as the wedding ceremony ended, a table was quickly arranged in the main hall. Squire Xie and the newlywed couple, the Bride and Groom, would dine there. The matchmaker and several other guests were also seated with them at this head table.
Qin Nan swept his gaze over the table.
The people seated here clearly had other identities. They were probably important somehow.
Once the excitement died down, everyone took their seats, and the Xie Family’s banquet officially began.
The servants started bringing out the dishes.
There was quite a ceremony to it. Off to one side, someone chanted out the name of each dish along with a string of auspicious blessings, and only then would the servants carry it in.
They certainly took their customs seriously.
Qin Nan sighed inwardly.
The thought might have been a little inappropriate, but he was genuinely curious about what kind of food they would serve.
However, when Qin Nan finally saw the first dish, his entire face went numb.
Or rather, everyone at the table was stunned.
“What the hell is this?” Yellow Hair looked horrified. Afraid of drawing attention from the other guests, he could only keep his voice down.
The platter was piled with spirit money. More precisely, it was spirit money folded into the shape of flowers, but that did not change the fact that it was still spirit money.
How the hell were they supposed to eat this?
Everyone stared at the dish, then at one another.
Before anyone could find the words to speak, the second dish arrived.
Good grief.
It was an enormous white candle carved into the shape of a phoenix.
It was beautiful, sure, but it was still a candle. A white candle, no less. The sight of it sent chills down their spines.
Then came the third dish…
Sticks of incense had been cut into small sections and arranged with a few decorative garnishes.
Everyone fell silent.
As dish after dish arrived, their expressions went from shock and fear to complete numbness.
The table was covered with incense, candles, spirit money, and ingots folded from yellow paper. They had certainly gone all out with the variety. There were dishes and soups alike. It was quite the spread.
“I thought these people were probably alive,” Yellow Hair said numbly. “Now I realize how naive I was.”
The others could only agree.
Lin Junruo silently edged closer to Yang Zhen, desperate for even the slightest sense of security.
These people clearly had feet and cast shadows. Despite their initial suspicions, the group had still assumed they were probably alive. But this banquet had slapped them awake in the most brutal way possible.
Alive, their asses.
They had clearly walked straight into a den of ghosts.
“What do we do?” Qin Nan asked Jian Fan.
There was no way they could eat any of this. Even if they could somehow force it down, they would probably drop dead afterward. But they could not just sit there doing nothing, either.
Jian Fan was feeling rather numb himself.
This was his first time encountering anything like this.
Instead of answering Qin Nan, he shifted his gaze and observed the nearby tables.
Now that the dishes had been served, the guests–or rather, the ghosts–naturally began to partake of the feast.
Ghosts could not eat physical food, so they did not pick up these “dishes” with their chopsticks and put them in their mouths. Instead, they deftly took portions and placed them in front of themselves, then used fire to set them alight. Smoke rose from the food, and the ghosts began inhaling it.
Okay.
Got it.
Perfectly scientific and reasonable.
Jian Fan looked away and followed their example.
The others understood as well.
All they had to do was copy the ghosts and burn the food. Once the ghosts inhaled the smoke, it counted as eating. For Qin Nan and the others, however, it probably amounted to filling their stomachs with the smell of incense.
The scent was not exactly unpleasant, but breathing it in for too long was still uncomfortable, especially in such an eerie setting.
Still, to avoid standing out, they had no choice but to keep up the act.
After all, who knew what consequences might come from behaving differently?