My name is Ji Sixi. I was born on July 30, 1991, during the Zhongyuan Jie, most commonly known as the Ghost Festival [1].
The people in the village claimed that my birth brought along misfortune, resulting in my mother's death. They also said that I had an eye disease, but only I knew better. I did not have any eye disease, it was just that one of my eyes was a little different.
My right eye was no different from ordinary people, but my left eye had an unusual blood-red hue in it. When I was younger, I didn't know anything and had only recognized the difference with other people after I grew older.
My aunt was called Ji Li. She was a witch who was said to have some divinity in the village. When I was born, she foresaw bad omens in my life. My father was always a superstitious person and had almost choked me to death. It was then when my aunt felt pitiful for me and volunteered to adopt me instead.
Under my aunt's care, I grew up day by day like other children. However, ever since the day I was born, one person from the village would die in July every year.
And so, everyone in the village thought that I was a pestilence. I was treated like a disease and all the parents forbade their children from approaching me.
After finding out, my aunt named me Sixi for the sake of auspiciousness.
Out of the time when I was younger, what I remembered the most was the event that happened when I was ten years old. The very event that marked the change of my fate.
Excluding my mother, the nine people who died before, plus the one who had just died during that year; they had become ten evil spirits and began to surround my aunt's house.
That night, my aunt hid me in the closet and said, "Whoever calls out to you, ignore them. Don't ever come out! Do you hear me?"
I nodded.
Aunt closed the closet door and placed a talisman on the outside. Through the gap in the door, I saw that she was burning joss paper [2], praying to Guanyin and chanting a mantra. She stayed there the whole night, in front of the closet, repeating her actions over and over.
Because of the two statues of Gods in the yard, the evil spirits were blocked outside, but I could hear the sound of crying and howling of ghosts all night. It was as though they were right beside me, and so the whole night, I was trembling in fear.
I didn't know when I had fallen asleep but when I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was my aunt's pale face. She appeared haggard with bloodshot eyes, but taking advantage of the sun that was up in the sky, she took me a thousand miles away to the nearest Thunder God Temple to meet an expert. The name of the expert was Shang Yi and had a distinguished reputation. Many people came to him in admiration; he told fortunes by reading the subject's facial features, he gave prophecies on marriage, career, feng shui [3], etc. In short, he was an all capable expert.
Shang Yi said that my birthdate was too weak, and because of that, it was easy for me to attract ghosts, but not only that, my left eye was also connected to the afterlife. After my aunt heard what he said, she knelt down right on the spot.
Shang Yi drew a Tao Rune on the spot and used it as a blindfold to temporarily seal my left eye. However, because there were bad omens in my life, I would end up condensing yin energy [4] into my body. He suggested that if I married a deceased person, I would probably be able to live a few more years.
I was young at that time and couldn't understand Shang Yi's words. My aunt didn't want me to be startled so she just said, "Let's find you an elder brother and let him protect you."
After I heard it, I was protected by an elder brother, and was immediately rushed to be married.
Later, I learned that this Yin marriage was a necrogamy [5], and my aunt was going to marry me to a ghost.
A few days past and Shang Yi finally sent a message for my Aunt to take me back to the temple. The two whispered behind me for a while. I could only vaguely hear.
Si Xi's life was cursed. No ordinary ghost dared to mess with her.
Shang Yi got me married three days later, but the only ghost he found was a malicious one.
At that time, I was so shocked. Didn't they say they would find me an elder brother to protect me? Why did they find me a malicious ghost? I cried a lot and said that I didn't want to get married. My aunt only used a lollipop in the end to persuade me.
Later, according to Shang Yi's instructions, my aunt began to prepare the items needed for the necrogamy, and gave me a red wedding dress. The dress had also been worn by my mother when she was married and my aunt had just altered it to make it a smaller size.