Chapter 288
Chapter 288
After keeping up the pretense for nearly half an hour, there was finally some activity in the main hall.
The Bride appeared with the Groom and began making the rounds to toast every table.
Everyone’s hearts leaped into their throats once more.
Ghosts couldn’t drink, but wine couldn’t exactly be burned as an offering. How were they supposed to toast one another?
The group was still puzzling over it when they quickly got their answer.
The Bride walked up to a ghost and raised her cup to him. Then she poured the wine in a circle on the ground before him. That apparently counted as the wine entering the ghost’s stomach. When the ghost returned the toast, he likewise poured his wine onto the ground in front of himself.
It was certainly creative.
The Bride continued down the line, offering toast after toast, while Fang Kang, as the Groom, simply followed numbly behind her.
“I’ve been thinking about two things,” Qin Nan said, leaning closer to Jian Fan.
Jian Fan looked at him. “Fang Kang is dead.”
Tch.
One of the things Qin Nan had wanted to ask about was Fang Kang’s condition. Jian Fan had clearly read his mind and given him the answer outright.
As for the other…
“That NPC, Brother Zhao, said we couldn’t refuse a toast from the Bride,” Qin Nan said. “But isn’t she just going around toasting everyone one by one? And pouring the wine onto the ground doesn’t seem dangerous, does it?”
Jian Fan had been wondering the same thing.
There had to be a reason the NPC had specifically warned them about it. But judging from what they had seen so far, the toasts didn’t appear to pose any real problem.
“Let’s wait and see,” was the only answer Jian Fan could give him.
No matter how smart he was, he couldn’t conjure an answer out of thin air.
Helpless, Qin Nan could only sigh.
“There’s something I don’t understand,” Yellow Hair said, also lowering his voice. “What exactly are we supposed to do in this world?”
“Are we supposed to escape from this den of ghosts? If so, what’s the point of this whole wedding setup?” Yellow Hair’s head was filled with questions.
No one could answer him.
The fact that Fang Kang had become the Groom was utterly baffling.
Xia Zeqin merely watched as the others whispered among themselves. The corner of his mouth curved upward slightly. He seemed perfectly at ease with everything happening before him. More than that, he even appeared to enjoy watching such a scene unfold.
Jian Fan occasionally kept an eye on Xia Zeqin as well.
Seeing his expression gave Jian Fan a few ideas, though they had nothing to do with this world.
The Bride moved quickly through the toasts.
Before long, she arrived at Qin Nan’s table with Fang Kang in tow.
And it wasn’t just the Bride. Everyone nearby stopped what they were doing and turned to stare, their faces showing anticipation, curiosity, and all manner of other emotions.
Whatever else they might be feeling, Qin Nan recognized the look of people waiting for a good show. This did not bode well for them.
The Bride swept her gaze around the table before it finally came to rest squarely on Jian Fan.
“A toast to you.” The Bride raised her cup toward Jian Fan.
The entire table fell silent. Xia Zeqin, of course, smiled as if he were looking forward to the show.
Everyone remembered Brother Zhao’s earlier warning.
A toast from the Bride could not be refused.
No one knew what would happen if Jian Fan refused. He might be erased, or it might trigger some other danger. But if he accepted, there was no telling whether something was wrong with the wine.
It was an impossible choice.
For a moment, no one knew what to do. Nor could they tell whether Jian Fan had been singled out because he was handsome or because he had the most Points.
Jian Fan wasn’t surprised.
He had suspected something like this from the moment Brother Zhao went out of his way to warn them. He simply hadn’t expected that he would be the one ultimately chosen.
Jian Fan remained calm. He picked up the wine cup beside him and raised it toward the Bride. The sight made Qin Nan’s heart leap into his throat, terrified that something might happen if Jian Fan drank the wine.
However…
Jian Fan had no intention of drinking it in the first place.
He simply poured the wine onto the ground.
That was how the people before him had offered their toasts, so Jian Fan merely followed suit. They had been told they couldn’t refuse, but no one had said they had to drink the wine. Hadn’t everyone else made their offerings this way too?
Jian Fan had found a loophole.
The Bride raised an eyebrow. “That’s not the kind of toast I wanted.”
Jian Fan’s expression remained placid. “Is that so? I thought this was how everyone here offered a toast.”
The Bride smiled, seemingly unbothered by his deliberate evasion. “There is a proper way to toast a ghost, just as there is a proper way to toast a living person.” As she spoke, the Bride raised her own cup and drained it in one gulp.
Jian Fan remained outwardly calm as he mulled over her words.
They had just toasted a ghost. Did that mean everyone in Leqing Town–no, every townsperson–was a ghost?
Then what about the Bride, Miss Xie herself?
The Bride did not continue pressing Jian Fan. After finishing her wine, she set the cup down on the banquet table where Qin Nan and the others were seated.
“You avoided this cup, but you may not be so lucky next time. Tonight is an auspicious night. I hope you all enjoy yourselves.” The Bride smiled pleasantly.
With that, the Bride lingered no longer. She turned and left, with a numb-faced Fang Kang following behind her.
As far as the Bride was concerned, it really did seem as though she had merely come over to offer a toast. Once she was done with this table, she moved on to the next. There appeared to be nothing unusual about it at all.
Qin Nan, meanwhile, let out a heavy sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness,” Qin Nan said, still shaken.
Jian Fan sat back down.
Qin Weiyi looked at him. “This isn’t the first wedding the Xie Family has held.”
Jian Fan turned to Qin Weiyi.
Qin Nan looked over as well. “The Bride has obviously taken a fancy to Jian Fan. But she only got married today. Surely she can’t replace the Groom in the middle of the wedding?”
“The Groom won’t be replaced, but Jian Fan will probably be next,” Qin Weiyi said.
Qin Nan’s brow immediately furrowed again.
Had Jian Fan stumbled into a nest of ill-fated admirers in both of these worlds?
Last time, someone had proposed to him as soon as the scenario began. And now, the moment this one started, the Bride had taken a liking to him.
“That toast was probably how the Bride chooses her next target,” Qin Weiyi said.
Jian Fan had already suspected as much. Unsurprised, he gave a quiet, “Mm.”
Shi Chen frowned. “The Bride chose Jian Fan, but he didn’t accept her wine. Does that mean her choice failed?”
“Mm,” Jian Fan replied again.
Qin Nan gave him an exasperated look. “Can you say something besides ‘mm’?”
This concerned Jian Fan’s life, after all.
“Didn’t she already tell us?” Jian Fan countered.
Qin Nan stared at him blankly.
“The Bride chose Jian Fan. He may have escaped this time, but she clearly has something else planned,” Mu Xin explained, casting Jian Fan a sympathetic look as she spoke.
It was only sympathy, though.
Of everyone present, Qin Nan was probably the only one genuinely worried about Jian Fan. None of the others believed Jian Fan would be eliminated so easily in a scenario like this.
“She may have another move prepared, but judging from what just happened, she can’t force Jian Fan to comply as long as he can find a way around it,” Qin Weiyi added.
Jian Fan responded with yet another, “Mm.”