Chapter 124: If Past Life · Good Luck Marriage
Heavy rain beat against the green bricks and white tiles. Under the large red veil, a face without sorrow or joy flashed.
The wedding candles in the new room were burning brightly, and a few drops of turbid tears dripped down. The sound of gongs and drums from the outside was completely blocked by the heavy wooden door, but the lingering sandalwood could not suppress the bitter smell of medicine in the room.
Everyone knew that the Lin family’s young lady, Lin Shuxing, had been frail and sickly since she was a child. The fortune teller had even said that she would not live past adulthood. But the loving Mrs. Lin had not hesitated to invite a willow immortal and had built a shrine to worship her day and night. Thus, she had received the immortal’s guidance and had to marry a woman of extreme yin to “ward off evil and bring good luck.”
It was already rare for a woman to marry a woman, let alone the extremely high requirements given by the willow immortal. Fate, a strange encounter, neither could be lacking.
In a chaotic world, even though the head of the Lin family was powerful, after years of searching, there was still no result. The day before, the newly made coffin had even been brought into the courtyard. Unexpectedly, in the evening, a woman in white had come with an umbrella.
The wedding was thus held in a hurry.
The woman sat on the edge of the bed, her expression faint, without a trace of the nervousness of being sent to “bring good luck.” A red rope was tied to her wrist, and a copper bell was tied in the middle of the red rope. A slight movement would make a crisp sound.
She lowered her eyes and flicked it a few times with a blank expression.
Ding ling, ding ling—
The first thing that approached was not a chill, but a faint fragrance, as if she were in a bush of datura flowers. Threads of it drilled out from the bitter smell of medicine and carefully wrapped around her neck.
Fang Yi saw a pale and slender hand appear from under the red veil. The fingertips were dyed with a bright red, which made the back of the hand look even more weak and powerless. It fell like cold snow and lightly lifted the red curtain.
The young lady was wearing a large red wedding robe, which was clearly carefully prepared by her family. The golden thread carefully outlined a peony pattern. That overly pretty face appeared in front of the lamp, and her skin was three-tenths whiter than the bone china of a government kiln. She was sickly, like a pond in late autumn, and a cold air slowly floated up.
“Fang, Yi.”
“To marry me is to be my person.”
The young lady’s words were light and slow, and very pleasant to the ear, like a summer plum hitting crushed ice. She got closer and closer, with an imperceptible tremor, and a chill gradually climbed up her shoulders.
“Do you know how to serve me?”
The woman shook her head, hesitated a little, and then slowly nodded.
“You…” The young lady sized her up for a long time, bit her lip, and coughed a few times. “You be good. Don’t move. I won’t let you be in pain.”
With that, she leaned forward, and her hair cascaded on the woman’s neck, which was as white as an orchid. She wanted to push her onto the bed, but no matter how hard she tried, this Guanyin-like woman did not move at all, but just quietly raised her eyelids and met her gaze.
The red candle was reflected on her side, and the young lady’s body was also extremely cold, without a trace of the warmth a living person should have. What an “ice skin and jade bones, a hibiscus face.” Her bright red lips were so red they were demonic. It was unknown what they were dyed with, but they were even more brilliant than the most prosperous flowers in Yanjing.
Fang Yi smelled a faint smell of blood.
Her new bride, seeing that she could not force her, narrowed her long, narrow eyes, and the corners of her eyes raised, revealing a hint of a spoiled and aggrieved look. The sound of a clapper was heard from outside, three hurried sounds like a death sentence:
Thump, thump, thump.
The auspicious time has arrived!
The next second, Lin Shuxing gritted her teeth. Unable to do anything to Fang Yi, she could only be a little aggrieved and took the initiative to sit on her lap, hooked her neck, and bit down.
It was as if a cloud of mist had drilled into her arms, almost weightless. The damp and cold air spread, and frost flowers almost condensed on their touching skin.
A sharp pain came from her neck. The young lady shrank in her arms, and her whole body was trembling. Her canine teeth were deeply embedded in her skin, and she left a string of bite marks without any order.
“Hiss…”
Fang Yi moaned in pain, a hint of confusion in her eyes. She caressed the young lady’s waist with one hand, but she did not expect this comforting gesture to make her flinch strongly, as if she had been burned, and she let out a whimper.
The originally indifferent woman’s eyes darkened. She followed the spine that was trembling from her cough and went up, and her warm palm pressed against the silk, and she gently patted it, and gently let the young lady bite her.
Threads of fresh blood spread along her neck and her cascading hair, but the chill on Lin Shuxing’s body did not retreat in the slightest. She looked up at Fang Yi in disbelief, and when the other’s palm caressed her shoulder, she covered her heart in despair, and a tear fell from the corner of her eye.
Fang Yi asked in a low voice, “Does your chest hurt? Is there a stagnation of qi?”
Lin Shuxing quietly raised her eyes and sized her up out of the corner of her eye. She bit her lip, fragile and unwilling, and refused to answer. She then coughed violently in a muffled voice, and the momentum she had just built up sounded like it was floating on the water. “You, you are not the orphan of the Fang family in the south of the city. Who on earth are you?”
The woman replied humbly, “I am Fang Yi. My real name. I have not lied to you, nor have I lied to the ghosts and gods.”
The marriage contract had already been burning in the hands of that willow immortal, and it had reached the heavens. Naturally, there was no reason to go against it.
But besides a poor and destitute fallen noble family, who would be willing to send their daughter to bring good luck?
Fang Yi had come with her birth chart herself. It was too coincidental, but time was urgent. Lin Shuxing’s three souls and seven spirits had already scattered by half, and she was hanging on to her life by a single silver needle. They could not hesitate any longer.
Lin Shuxing knew that she should have died long ago. Perhaps she had already died a part of her on the winter night her mother had left. The real young lady of the Lin family had also been found not long ago. She, this imposter, had long since lost her value.
But she was in so much pain, so unwilling. She had not waited for the snowflakes to fall again, she had not yet…
“…I don’t want to die.”
Lin Shuxing choked, and two lines of clear tears fell down her cheeks and hit the large red quilt. The bright red “囍”(double happiness) character was wet and darkened, and it solidified into a point like blood.
Her broken voice was too small, and it did not even disturb the swaying candle shadow. The woman frowned in hesitation and tentatively held out her hand. “Are you very uncomfortable? Let me rub it for you.”
Rub it? Her chest hurt. Where should she rub it?
The young lady was stunned for a moment and even forgot to cry. She let her tears fall blankly and asked with a trembling voice, “Are you a doctor?”
“No.” Fang Yi shook her head.
Not a doctor, so she didn’t know medicine. Then she still wanted to rub it for her, wasn’t it…? The young lady’s face turned red, and she raised her hand. “You lecher!”
Her wrist was caught in mid-air, and it was held steadily in her palm, warm, like her voice. “I am your wife.”
After she had said this, she herself was a little embarrassed. A blush appeared on her cool and detached face, and she touched her nose, and then asked, “Why did you bite me?”
Lin Shuxing clenched her fists and only felt a strange tingling numbness coming from the woman’s palm. The temperature was faintly rising, and it actually melted a lot of the bone-chilling cold in her bone marrow. She couldn’t help but press her body a little closer, and her voice was a little louder. “They said that I have to suck your yin qi to live…”
“Let me bite you, okay? I beg you. I’ve never begged anyone in my life.”
The young lady bit her lip and said it righteously, and completely snuggled in Fang Yi’s arms. Her sparkling eyes were still covered with a layer of mist. Even if a stone were sitting in front of her, it would probably soften.
But the cool and detached woman raised her chin slightly and said in a low voice, “You are not a willow immortal. Biting is useless.”
A willow immortal is a snake, and can naturally absorb spiritual energy by biting its prey. But the young lady was just an ordinary mortal. Even if Fang Yi let her suck, she would probably not be able to bear it.
Lin Shuxing just thought that she was unwilling, and a lively anger suddenly appeared in her beautiful eyes. Her dark eyelashes blinked, and tears fell, and she softly tried to push Fang Yi away. “You stingy person. If you are unwilling, then forget it. Why come and tease me!”
“I’m not teasing you. I’m just…”
Fang Yi’s voice lowered. “I can help you, but I’m afraid you won’t be willing.”
“You and I have a bond, an unfinished one.”
She said it with great solemnity, which for no reason reminded Lin Shuxing of the Taoists in the mountains. In a daze, it seemed that someone had also said the same thing to her before.
“How will you help me?”
“I can help you,” the woman was a little slow and touched her nose again. “I can transfer qi to you and help you resolve your illness.”
“It’s just that the first time, it might be a little painful. Can you do it?”
“Of course!” As soon as she heard that there was a way to prolong her life, the young lady immediately held Fang Yi’s hand tightly, licked her lips, and swayed coquettishly, a complete contrast to her shy and angry attitude just now. “Please, Fang Yi, help me. As long as you can make me feel better, I’ll give you whatever you want…”
“Anything?” the woman confirmed again.
“Yes.” The young lady blinked obediently and took the initiative to caress the back of Fang Yi’s hand, and said softly, “Actually, the first time I saw you, I felt that—you are a good person.”
“Alright.”
The woman seemed to have chuckled, but it was lighter than the moonlight, like a beautiful illusion. Then she leaned close to the young lady’s ear, and her warm breath puffed on her neck. “Then you hold me tight. Don’t cry.”
Her jade-like hand was raised, and a faint blue appeared on the back of her hand. The red rope with the copper bell gradually sounded, and the sounds overlapped, and she gently caressed the young lady’s pain, immature and gentle.
“If I hurt you, then tell me.” The woman’s voice sounded a little nervous. She did not want to expose this innocence and deliberately kept it very low.
The request to not cry seemed to be a little too much to ask. Lin Shuxing sensed the strange emotion in her body constantly extending, and after several times of losing control, the tears at the corners of her eyes were swirling. She was also afraid that this was some kind of ritual, and she really did not dare to cry out. She could only bite her lip pitifully, and her hands were tightly wrapped around Fang Yi’s shoulders.
Her body was too soft, like a tender flower that would easily be broken. A broken low moan overflowed from between her bright red lips and teeth, and her waist suddenly tensed to the extreme, and she “wuwu” buried herself in her arms, and the cold jade gradually was dyed with a little of a living person’s body temperature.
The beautiful young lady’s hair was also wet, and that pair of light-colored amber pupils slowly turned. Fang Yi had originally thought that she had hurt her and had slowed down, but the young lady had held her in a daze and had murmured, “Your lips are so soft, so fragrant.”
“You’re so amazing… it really doesn’t hurt anymore.”
You’re so amazing.
The woman, who was maintaining her last bit of restraint, her ears turned red. She savored this sentence, and her proud reason finally broke. The copper bell on her wrist trembled violently. “Ding ling—”
The bell, which had been soaked in water, was no longer crisp and ethereal, but fell with a muffled sound, and they collided all night.
In the end, the young lady wanted to cry but couldn’t. She could only bite the woman’s shoulder and bite her randomly as if she were a fragrant pastry. Mixed with her tears, she could actually taste a bit of sweetness.
…
The next day, everyone had thought that this bride who had been sent to bring good luck would surely have a bad end. Even if she was let out, she would try to kill herself. Who would want to marry a dying person?
The young lady clearly did not have much time left. She was locked in her room all day and did not see the light of day, and was hanging on by half a breath. It was unknown what kind of shock the new bride had suffered yesterday.
Some busybodies had even secretly thought, should they order another pair of coffins, so that it would be a complete pair?
However, until the sun was high in the sky, the room was still quiet, and they had only called for water twice.
The servant had hurried to ask the willow immortal for instructions. That one had pinched her strange knuckles, and her vertical pupils had immediately appeared, and she had exclaimed in surprise, “How is this person a Taoist from the Qingjing Temple? Hurry and save the young lady. Don’t let her be taken away!”
She had personally rushed over, but in the large courtyard, she had seen the woman in white gently close the door and had made a shushing gesture to them.
“Shh, she just fell asleep.”
The willow immortal had widened her eyes in disbelief, had seen the marks on her neck that could not be covered, and had asked tentatively, “You transferred yin qi to her?”
The woman’s face was a little pale, but the charm between her brows was very good, as if she were a well-fed glutton. Hearing this, she had curled her lips slightly. “She wanted it, so I fed her a little.”
The most yin, the most pure, the most precious treasure, the great Qingjing Holy Spirit, had so easily fed her precious qi out! The willow immortal did not dare to be careless. She still held a talisman in her palm and asked in a low voice, “What do you want?”
“I want her.”
“Her?”
The woman lowered her eyes. “She is my wife, the partner with whom I have a life contract.”
Although Fang Yi was full of an immortal air, and had an air of a Taoist immortal, cool and detached and ascetic, it was unknown if it was that overly rosy lips, but it had also given her a hint of a ghostly air.
The auras of the two of them were completely messed up, and were entangled together, even more dense than the rain last night.
She’s really crazy. The willow immortal cursed under her breath. She almost suspected that even if the young lady lying inside was really a ghost, the woman in front of her would probably forcefully feed her another mouthful of true qi.
Who on earth is the female ghost?
