Chapter 24#
Chapter Twenty-Four#
The sedan chair continued forward, stopping only after about half an hour.
Xue Jingci heard the matchmaker’s voice coming from outside.
“Groom, receive the bride from the sedan!”
However, he waited for a long time, and there was no movement outside the sedan.
At this moment, he didn’t know that outside the sedan, Pei Huang, dressed in bright red wedding robes, was standing in front of the matchmaker with a very unpleasant expression.
Previously, Pei Huang had lost consciousness after grabbing the ghost bead, vaguely sensing a very familiar aura approaching him.
When he woke up, he found himself sitting on a tall reddish-brown horse, still wearing the groom’s clothes.
Seeing him not speaking, the matchmaker stiffly turned her head and repeated the urge in a cheerful tone again.
Pei Huang turned to leave, anxious to find Xue Jingci.
Sensing his movement, everyone playing the wedding music stopped.
The scene was extremely eerie; one expressionless face after another turned towards him in unison. Even the surrounding commoners froze, staring at Pei Huang with hollow eyes.
The surrounding air seemed to grow cold. Despite the bright sun, the wind was bone-chillingly cold.
Pei Huang’s heart sank, roughly understanding what these things were.
He actually wanted to see what these things were capable of, so he dropped the red silk in his hand and turned to walk away.
As a result, those things had no intention of chasing him. Just as Pei Huang was suspicious, he felt the world go dark. When he opened his eyes again, he had fallen back to the scene where he had just entered this illusion.
Like time flowing backward, everything repeated itself until the sedan stopped before him again. Sure enough, the matchmaker shouted loudly again: “Groom, receive the bride from the sedan!”
Pei Huang watched quietly, knowing this was forcing him to receive the ghost bride.
He was still unwilling to reach out, but just as the atmosphere froze, the curtain of the bridal sedan not far away was suddenly lifted by someone.
A gust of wind blew over, seemingly bringing back a bit of warmth.
The matchmaker covered her mouth with an “oops” and looked at Pei Huang, saying flusteredly: “The bride’s feet cannot touch the ground. What is the groom still dazed for? Go over and carry the bride down on your back!”
As she spoke, she pushed Pei Huang forward a step; her strength was actually terrifyingly large.
Pei Huang knew this place was strange and didn’t dare to act rashly. Although he was unwilling in every way, he still pretended to cooperate. Just as he was determined to run, a slightly cool sensation suddenly came from his right wrist.
The ghost bride had actually forcibly grabbed his hand!
Pei Huang wanted to break free but noticed that the person’s fingertips had a thin layer of calluses. The familiar touch made him freeze in place instantly.
It was Xue Jingci!
Xue Jingci squeezed his hand and instantly knew the person in front of him was Pei Huang. He said in a low voice: “Don’t mess around, let’s perform the ceremony first.”
These few words drilled into Pei Huang’s ears like a gust of hot wind, instantly making his ears turn red.
Pei Huang quickly turned his back and carried Xue Jingci down from the bridal sedan.
The silent band resumed playing wedding music, and the sound of gongs, drums, and suonas was deafening.
After crossing the brazier and entering the courtyard, they found it densely packed with guests.
The two were very close; Pei Huang felt lightheaded, as if stepping on cotton.
He took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and carefully looked at the people in the courtyard.
This look allowed him to discover several familiar cultivators looking at him with strange expressions.
The most familiar one among them was Xiao Xun.
Congratulatory voices came from the crowd, and several cultivators mixed in also recognized Pei Huang. For a time, they looked at each other, not daring to step forward and recognize him casually.
The two walked to the central hall. Seeing that they were about to cross the threshold, Xue Jingci’s hand hooked around Pei Huang’s neck loosened slightly: “Let me down.”
Seeing Pei Huang not making a sound, Xue Jingci explained simply: “There are still many rituals after going in. It’s against the rules for you to carry me.”
Only then did Pei Huang put Xue Jingci down. He hadn’t recovered his senses until they stepped into the central hall.
The master of ceremonies responsible for presiding over the wedding stepped forward, followed by two people, one holding a basin and one holding a water jug.
“Please, groom and bride, perform the ritual of Wo Guan (hand washing).”
Pei Huang didn’t understand what this ritual meant and reached out to take the water jug.
Xue Jingci quickly blocked his hand and said: “The ritual of Wo Guan means for you to wash your hands.”
After saying that, Xue Jingci extended his hand over the water basin. A person poured water down, and the clear water dripped into the bronze basin along the back of his hand.
Pei Huang followed suit, but he couldn’t help muttering in his heart that this matter of washing hands really couldn’t be bypassed.
After the Wo Guan ritual, there were the Que Shan (removing the fan), Tong Lao (sharing a meal), and Jie Fa (tying hair) rituals.
Pei Huang didn’t know much about these rules and several times almost revealed a flaw. Thanks to Xue Jingci’s quiet reminders, he didn’t arouse others’ suspicion.
After the rituals, the two were to bow to heaven and earth.
When bowing to each other, they were too close, their heads bumping together, looking silly.
Xue Jingci couldn’t see and covered his head belatedly, wondering: “Why are you standing so close?”
“Sorry, I forgot a bit…”
Pei Huang stammered and wanted to say something else, but was forcibly taken away by the master of ceremonies to host guests in the front yard.
Xue Jingci was led to the bridal chamber by a matchmaker.
He sat upright on the wedding bed, listening to the matchmaker say a few auspicious words, followed by the sound of the main door closing.
The surroundings quieted down. He waited for several hours, and during this time, as long as he moved slightly, someone would push the door and enter to remind him, as if there were a pair of eyes staring at him nearby.
Xue Jingci could only sit there like that until evening.
As soon as the sun set, the room darkened. Maidservants entered the room and lit the wedding candles. The bright light through the crimson lanterns reflected the entire room in blood red.
Soon the maidservants left, and the room became quiet again. Perhaps because there was no sunlight, the air also became cool.
The system couldn’t follow into this ghost bead illusion. Xue Jingci used to think it was noisy, but now without the kitten talking, he actually felt a bit bored.
Until fifteen minutes later, Xue Jingci vaguely sensed something. A cold wind blew in, and the door creaked open.
Strangely, there seemed to be no guards outside, and not a sound could be heard. Only the chirping of insects filtered in from a distance.
Xue Jingci opened his eyes. Looking through the tassels hanging from the veil, he saw a pair of blood-stained wedding shoes.
The tips of the shoes were facing the bed, as if an invisible woman was standing in front of him.
However, when he blinked again, the red shoes disappeared.
Xue Jingci’s nose twitched, smelling a metallic rust scent with a chill. He raised his hand and lifted the veil.
It had started raining outside at some point. That pair of red wedding shoes was quietly sitting at the doorway, being washed by the rain, and actually bleeding deep red blood.
He stood up and walked over, staring at the red shoes calmly.
Sensing his gaze, the blood stains on the shoes surged more and more, soon staining the blue stone steps in front of the door red.
Xue Jingci got bored watching, turned around, and looked around the room. On the table facing the door, there should have been dragon and phoenix wedding candles, but now only one remained, flickering lonelily in the cold wind.
Xue Jingci thought for a moment, casually closed the door with a “bang,” and sat back on the bed obediently, covering himself with the red veil again.
That faint, lingering gaze was still stuck on him, but Xue Jingci acted as if he didn’t notice. He only touched his stomach and reached out to fiddle with the five grains on the bed.
The red wedding quilt was sprinkled with longans, peanuts, and red dates. Xue Jingci picked through them, pinched a red date, and put it in his mouth.
The gaze staring at him suddenly disappeared.
By the time he had eaten most of the things on the bed, hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside.
Pei Huang watched the house covered in “double happiness” symbols getting closer and closer to him, and he was actually so nervous that his palms were covered in sweat.
He had been anxious to come over before, fearing Xue Jingci would be unsafe alone. However, when he really reached the door, he suddenly stopped. After hesitating for a long time, he raised his hand, knocked, and asked: “Can I come in?”
Xue Jingci pointed his finger, and the tightly closed door suddenly opened.
Pei Huang stared at the person sitting upright on the wedding bed, his eyelashes trembling wildly, and walked in pretending to be calm.
The matchmaker followed Pei Huang in. After putting down the nuptial wine, she said a few auspicious words like “may you soon give birth to a son” before withdrawing.
Pei Huang’s gaze swept over the peanuts, longans, and lotus seeds on the bed, and the red date pits on the floor. He couldn’t help but chuckle, sat down beside Xue Jingci, and pulled out a chicken leg wrapped in oil paper from his sleeve.
“This is for you to eat.”
The bride cannot eat anything in the room. He was afraid Xue Jingci would be hungry, so while hosting guests earlier, he had conveniently hidden quite a bit of food.
When Xue Jingci shook his head, Pei Huang suddenly realized he was still covered by the veil, and for a moment didn’t know whether to reach out and remove it.
While he was hesitating, Xue Jingci had already smelled the fragrance. He lifted the red cloth crisply and looked up at him with bright eyes, revealing a pleasant smile.
In the past, Xue Jingci always wore white clothes, pure and untainted, like an immortal who didn’t consume earthly food.
But today, his face actually had light makeup on.
Although not as complex as ordinary red makeup, it was just simple eyebrow drawing and lip painting, yet it made his features look like a painting, with elegance emerging from the coldness.
Especially the floral ornament between his eyebrows, like a winter plum blossom fallen on craggy white snow, making one think of the grace of snow-born plum bones.
When their eyes met, Pei Huang’s breath hitched.
Under the reflection of the lamplight, an utterly absurd thought suddenly popped into his mind.
It would be great if he were really marrying a wife.
Or… it would also be fine if he were to marry Xue Jingci.
It wasn’t until Xue Jingci took the chicken leg through the veil that Pei Huang snapped back to his senses, forcibly finding words to say: “It’s lucky you were here today, otherwise I wouldn’t have bowed with a ghost even if I died.”
Xue Jingci’s eating manner wasn’t considered refined. He asked vaguely: “If I hadn’t come out to stop you, you would have sat in that sedan chair shaking all the way again.”
Pei Huang knew he had been reckless today and said guiltily: “It’s just that during the ceremony, I saw other people too. It seems that you and I are not the only ones who entered this ghost bead illusion.”
Xue Jingci continued gnawing on his chicken leg, not looking up: “They were too close; it’s normal to be forcibly pulled in.”
Pei Huang nodded and said: “It seems we cannot do anything contrary to the will of the illusion, otherwise everything will have to start over. I just don’t know if other people will affect it.”
Only then did Xue Jingci say seriously: “If everyone is like this, it is indeed very troublesome.”
Pei Huang had the same thought, but for now, they could only take it one step at a time, so he told Xue Jingci the information he had learned.
In this illusion, Xue Jingci was the City Lord of this city.
The City Lord getting married was naturally a celebration for all the people.
After finishing the chicken leg, Xue Jingci looked up at Pei Huang and asked: “Then what are the identities of the others?”
Pei Huang hesitated for a long time before saying: “Lin Heng is a guest official in your sect. Others say he has amazing talent, is good at composing poetry, and can complete a poem in five steps.”
Xue Jingci knew how much Lin Heng was worth. Fearing he would be exposed, he asked: “Did he compose a poem today too?”
Pei Huang nodded: “When I went to toast, others joined in the fun and asked him to compose a poem on the spot. He held it in for a long time, and finally managed to squeeze out two lines…”
“The food at the wedding feast is very fragrant, and the veil is embroidered with mandarin ducks.”
Pei Huang recalled that scene; the originally noisy guests suddenly went quiet, and even he broke into a cold sweat for Lin Heng.
Who knew that a moment later, everyone would praise him without changing their expressions: “Good poem, good poem! Such fine lines should be passed down through the ages!”
Xue Jingci found it funny to hear, but soon realized that the restrictions here didn’t seem as large as he thought. As long as they didn’t do anything too outrageous, others wouldn’t notice they were outsiders.
“Also Jiang Chengyi is here; he is now the commander of the city defense army, and is usually responsible for training dogs. But looking at him, he seems very afraid of dogs.”
“Besides the two of them having higher status, there are also some cultivators who have possessed…”
Xue Jingci looked at Pei Huang and suddenly interrupted: “Then what is your identity?”
Pei Huang stared at him for a while, flicked the sleeves of his bright red wedding robes, and approached with a smile like a little fox.
“I used to be your personal guard, but now I am your husband.”