Chapter 14 (Corrections)
Suddenly, a strong wind swept through the place. The candle flames flickered with the red lanterns, casting dancing shadows on the ground. The rustling of the wind, the trees, and the paper windows drowned out the matchmaker’s sharp, festive voice.
Some guests shut their eyes, others covered their faces.
When the wind died down, everyone opened their eyes, ready to witness the sweet moment of the couple’s ceremonial bow. But suddenly, screams erupted among the crowd.
“Blood! There’s blood…”
“Ah, the groom is dead—no, no, not the groom, the rooster… the rooster is dead!”
Everyone turned to look toward the wedding hall.
There, the rooster standing in for the groom had blood dripping from both eyes. Its comb drooped, its neck tilted, and its wing tips hung limply. The bird looked utterly lifeless, motionless in an instant.
A heavy silence fell over the crowd.
What had Old Qu said just moments ago?
The rooster was carefully selected, the most vigorous from the entire clutch, with glossy, vibrant feathers. Not only did it have the right weight, but even the number of tail feathers matched the groom’s age.
Who was it?
At this moment, it was no longer just a rooster.
It was the groom himself!
The man was extraordinary; this was the pinnacle of roosters, unparalleled among its kind.
“The rooster is dead, so what about the groom—” someone hesitated, “he wouldn’t be dead too, would he?”
“Bah, foolish words! Foolish words!”
A young man in his late twenties spoke, no longer a child, but someone nearby tugged at his drooping sleeve to silence him.
Looking toward the grim-faced Master Wu seated above, the guests exchanged uneasy glances.
This young man was speaking blunt truths at the worst possible time!
Better to keep such thoughts inside than embarrass everyone.
The matchmaker was shaken, her calves trembling. The slack skin on her face twitched, and her smile nearly vanished.
In all her years as a matchmaker, she had never witnessed anything like this.
It was sinister.
Truly unsettling.
“Master Wu, look at this—” she inched backward on tiptoe, putting some distance between herself and the lifeless rooster.
Covering her mouth with a handkerchief, she whispered a suggestion.
“Should we send someone to check on Scholar Wang in the backyard?”
“No need. We can’t afford to delay the auspicious hour!” Wu Jiuding’s face darkened, his voice harsh and resolute.
Without hesitation, he declared, “Bring another rooster. We’ll proceed with the ceremony. If anything goes wrong, the Wu family will take full responsibility.”
“All right, as you wish!” The matchmaker sighed inwardly but had no choice but to comply.
She signaled for someone to fetch another rooster from the coop.
This time, the strict requirements had to be relaxed.
After all, finding a rooster that met all the conditions was no easy task.
The replacement rooster was slimmer and lighter, its feathers less brilliant than the first.
Dressed with a large red silk ribbon, the new rooster looked presentable. The matchmaker felt reassured, shook her handkerchief, and the ceremonial music resumed.
She took a deep breath, about to call out “couple’s bow” once more.
Suddenly, her eyes widened in shock. The words caught in her throat as if a fishbone was stuck, no matter how she tried, she could not speak. Instead, she gasped sharply.
The crowd murmured in alarm.
“Master Wu!” The matchmaker clutched her handkerchief, her face pale as she rushed to Wu Jiuding, “You should really check on Scholar Wang. It’s just a short distance; the auspicious hour won’t be missed! If something truly happens, it will be your daughter who suffers.”
Her concern was sincere, without a hint of selfishness.
No sooner had the slender rooster been adorned with the ribbon and before the couple’s bow could be called, it twisted its neck, closed its once bright eyes, foamed at the mouth—and breathed its last.
It was dead.
...
The first rooster’s death might have been an accident, but after the second one died too, the matchmaker could no longer deny the ominous truth.
The rooster dying was bad enough, but what frightened her most was the fate of Scholar Wang!
She wished she could slap her knee and shake the bewildered Master Wu awake.
The ceremony was incomplete, so the marriage was not yet sealed. If Scholar Wang truly fell ill and died, he would have no fortune to be the Wu family’s son-in-law. It would be better to cancel the wedding early, sparing the young lady some damage.
She would avoid the disgrace of being known as a second marriage.
Moreover, if someone died on the wedding day, the marriage charm would fail, and rumors would spread that the bride was cursed.
How terrible! How utterly horrible!
Her years of good fortune as a matchmaker would be ruined.
...
Yet, Wu Jiuding was stubborn and refused to believe in such bad omens. He ignored the matchmaker’s earnest warnings.
“Bring another rooster, no, bring two cages full!” His face was ashen, and he stood up from the high chair. Gripping its armrest with bulging veins, he seemed ready to crush the wood.
He simply could not believe that not a single rooster would be suitable.
“Yes, sir.”
The servants glanced at the matchmaker but, as the silver was paid by Master Wu, they obeyed without question. Soon, two cages of roosters were brought in. One servant bent down, selecting the most vigorous bird.
But as soon as the rooster stepped over the threshold, its flapping wings suddenly went still.
“Oh my heavens!”
“See that? One dies after another. This wedding is cursed!”
“The groom, could he really be in danger?”
“…”
The crowd was in uproar.
The guests at the Wu residence grew uneasy, jostling one another, each eager to find an excuse to leave. They no longer wished to attend the wedding feast.
They reasoned that since the ceremony was nearly complete, whether they stayed or not was irrelevant. If Master Wu became angry, they would return later to offer proper gifts and apologies.
The bustling crowd moved slowly toward the main gate.
But while it was easy to enter, it was now impossible to leave.
The vermilion gates were tightly shut, like the jaws of a great beast snapping closed.
Inside the Wu mansion, lanterns and candles blazed bright, lighting the entire hall. But outside, the towering gray walls stood cold and silent, surrounded by an impenetrable darkness.
Though located in the bustling Jianxing city, tonight the place was eerily quiet, as if the entire Wu household had been abandoned by the city itself, a lone boat adrift at sea, waves crashing and darkness all around.
Isolated.
No escape.
“No! What’s happening?”
“Open the gates! Let me out!”
“Wu Jiuding! What do you mean by this?”
Before the crowd could confront Wu Jiuding, their fury froze on their faces, replaced by terror.
“Ah! Ghosts! There are ghosts!” People scattered chaotically.
Wu Fugui and four others huddled together, watching the panicked guests stumble over one another, dropping shoes, their hair undone, screaming and crying out for their parents.
But no matter how fast they ran, they could not escape this place.
“Wasn’t the man who just ran past, losing a shoe, Old Master Fang from the East District? His homemade soy paste is especially delicious,” lamented Shi Qianjin, distraught.
“No mistake. When the household bought the soy paste, I helped carry the jars and saw him several times. His teeth were crooked and tight, and he’s known to be stingy! Yet he’s crying so loudly, his mouth stretched wide… he’s run back and forth four or five times now.”
Some people, when nervous, talked incessantly. Chattering helped ease the heart pounding in their throats.
Shi Qianjin was just such a person.
Wu Fugui ground his teeth, words barely escaping his lips.
“Fools, this is a ghost wall.”
Shi Yinuo wept, regretful.
“I told you not to feast at this banquet, but you didn’t listen. Now look, once we deal with the master, Scholar Wang will come after us.”
They had accepted the task of carrying the coffin of Scholar Wang’s daughter.
To the vengeful spirits, whether kin or stranger, they were accomplices, tearing loved ones apart.
“Wait—no! That Wang girl is alive! Let’s try talking to the spirit of the groom. Maybe if he hears this, he’ll be pleased and leave us alone.”
One person regained their senses and brightened.
“Shh! Not the groom spirit, but Scholar Wang. Don’t speak without understanding.”
Though deceased, the resentment was so strong that the spirit refused even to marry his own daughter. Calling him the groom spirit would only add fuel to the fire.
Shi Qianjin was cunning and quick-witted, immediately hiding his face to show his stance.
He opposed the marriage.
“But—this ghost doesn’t seem to be Scholar Wang,” said another named Zhao Yang, sharp-eyed with exceptional vision.
He boldly looked toward the wedding hall.
Squinting, he noticed something unusual.
“What? Not Scholar Wang? Then who?”
They exchanged glances.
Because each rooster died one after another, not just Wu Fugui and his group but many guests had already assumed the ghostly presence was Scholar Wang’s spirit.
Now hearing this, their curiosity grew.
Ignoring their fear, they squinted toward the wedding hall.
There, the candlelight’s red glow was off. Where it should have been warm yellow, shining festively in celebration, it now felt cold and still, tinged with a sinister aura.
A ghostly figure appeared from nowhere.
Its form shimmered and shifted, slowly revealing a slender, not very tall figure with a pale, rigid face. Dark circles under the eyes resembled a withered tree.
The ghost crouched by the chicken coop, blowing cold breath inside.
The sinister spirit’s breath entered the rooster’s neck, which twisted once more; the rooster’s eyes rolled back, and it immediately went limp.
Turning back, the ghost grinned at Wu Jiuding, its eerie eyes lingering on the bride, who had just removed her wedding veil, with a look of longing.
Suddenly, recalling something, its expression drooped, voice chilling.
“Father-in-law, I am already here. Why must you seek another son-in-law for Pingting?”
“Is it him? Or him… or perhaps him?”
The pale-faced ghost sneered, then reached into the coop, grabbing two roosters—one tilted left, the other right. Finally, it exhaled a black mist, causing the surviving chickens to collapse in a heap.
Its gaze swept the room and settled on Wu Jiuding’s face.
Wu Jiuding’s face was ashen, silent.
The Wu young lady lowered her eyes, also silent.
...
Damn the deep winter!
The matchmaker stood beside the Wu father and daughter, her eyes rolling in despair as the ghost’s gaze swept past her. She wished she were as limp as the roosters in the cage, fainting away to oblivion, unaware of anything.
The bright red flower pinned to her head trembled but never fell.
Seeing the tense atmosphere, she could no longer endure the ghostly aura. Her voice trembled as she struggled to find her usual sharp tongue.
“Master Wu, this is unfair! You already have a son-in-law. Why do you seek another? One must never be so greedy!”
“Please, admit your mistake quickly. The ceremony isn’t complete, so the marriage between the Wu and Wang families isn’t sealed. You and this young man should talk it over calmly. Let today’s wedding be as if it never happened, and you can still maintain good relations…”
“Don’t worry, young man, your bride hasn’t remarried. Don’t get angry; anger harms the body. It’s late—please, you should rest.”
The matchmaker recognized Wang Boyuan and knew this ghost was not Scholar Wang.
At first, when the Wu family showed interest, she was asked to gauge the Wang family’s stance.
Initially, Scholar Wang refused the proposal.
...