Ji Ran felt that the most terrible thing was not death or transmigration, but as a man, he was all dressed up, sitting in a bridal sedan chair and the person he was going to marry was a black spirit tablet.
And how did he end up like this? It all started half a month ago.
After graduating from an agriculture university, Ji Ran did not stay in the city to conduct researches. Instead, he went back to his hometown and became a farmer. He rented land and built an agricultural base. Everything was going perfectly well and he was expecting huge harvests. But, he was struck by a thunderbolt and somehow he transmigrated to the Southern Dynasty.
And that was not the worst part. When other people traveled back in time, they were either reborn as powerful noblemen or as rich young masters, but he was reborn as an orphan named Ji Ran whose father died when he was three years old, and whose mother died when he was five years old. He had no one to rely on and he was almost sold by his evil aunt. Luckily, his grandfather stopped her.
Later, with the help of the village head, he was adopted by his father's eldest brother, aka, his paternal uncle. At first, his paternal uncle and his paternal uncle's wife did not want him in their house. They claimed that they were too poor to raise another child. And they only agreed after Ji Ran's grandfather gave them all his savings.
Finally, he had a roof over his head, but every day he had to get up early and stay up late. He did most of the work but he ate less than everyone else. He was hungry all the time and he wore the same clothes all year round. And if he didn't finish the work that was assigned to him, he'll be whipped hard. And that was how he spent his childhood and adolescence.
His cousins treated him as a servant. Whenever things didn't go as they expected, they would take it all out on him. One time, Ji Ran got sick after he was beaten for offending his younger cousin Ji Ru. As he couldn't afford to see a doctor, he could only lie on the bed with a high fever, and eventually, he died of it. And that was when the soul of the current Ji Ran ended up being in his body.
Though the previous owner of this body was unlucky, Ji Ran didn't feel that he was any luckier than him. He was never strong. Now that he was sick, he lied in bed for half a month without enough food to eat. When he finally got better, before he could put all the knowledge and skills he had learned in modern times in use, an edict changed his life for the worse.
As a man, not only did he have to marry into another family and change his family name, the one he was going to marry was also a dead person!
Could he refuse? No way!
If he refused to comply, his close relatives would all be severely punished, not to mention that he would be sentenced to death for it. So his uncle and aunt would never let him do that. Now that they had a chance to get him out of their family, and get a huge amount of money from the marriage, it was a real win-win situation for them, as they could win two times and Ji Ran got nothing.
To prevent him from escaping, his uncle and aunt put purging croton into his meals which caused him to have loose bowels. In the end, he got so weak that he could only lie in bed all day long, and when the people came to pick him up on the wedding day, they had to carry Ji Ran into the bridal sedan chair.
Holding a spirit tablet while performing a complicated wedding ceremony was like going through hell. Even when Ji Ran got into the wedding room after the ceremony was over, he was still trying to catch his breath. Right now only one word could be used to describe how he was feeling right now: Dumbfounded!
"Sigh!" Ji Ran sighed in the candlelight, "Fuck the wedding and the wedding night. They told me to hold a spirit tablet in my hands. Do they expect me to consummate the marriage with a ghost? Still, I'm lucky that I'm married to a dead person; otherwise, I'll have to do it in a real way. So I should feel thankful for that? Forget it. Now that I'm here, I should make the most of it. Look at all these foods, there's no way that I'll let them go to waste. I've been underfed for half a month, and now I can finally feed my belly. I'll just help myself now.
And whatever will happen tomorrow, I'll worry about it when it comes. I'm not gonna let anything stop me from enjoying the moment!"
After comforting himself, Ji Ran felt a little less anxious. He did as he said by rolling up his sleeves, sitting on a stool, and eating.
There was indeed food on the table, but they were just some peanuts, longans, and dates which were symbolic of a happy marriage with lots of children. Only that wine pot of liquor looked inviting. There was not even a single dish to match with the drink.
Ji Ran felt like swearing. He was married to a dead person. And he was a man. And they still prepared those foods symbolic of marriage with lots of kids. Did the people in ancient times even use their brains?
Though he had a lot of complaints, he ate up all the food on the table. He grabbed the wine pot and gulped the liquor down. Ji Ran wiped his mouth and went to bed with his clothes on.
He was about to fall asleep when he suddenly felt something heavy was on his body.
Ji Ran was tired and sleepy, so he didn't think too much about it at first. He just ignored it and went back to sleep. However, in the blink of an eye, his clothes were gone.
The pain came so suddenly, and Ji Ran was completely awake. He opened his eyes only to see a semi-transparent naked man lying upon him. Stunned and scared, Ji Ran couldn't even think.
He wanted to struggle, but shockingly, he found that he couldn't move. He wanted to shout, but he could only make a snoring sound. And, the candles were all put out and there was not much light in the room. With the dim moonlight, he could only vaguely see the silhouette of a man. He couldn't even figure out the man's facial features.
He had just had a wedding with a ghost, and he was in such a state that he was unable to move or speak. And the man's aura was so cold. Could it… could it be that the man was the ghost he was supposed to be married to?!
With that in mind, Ji Ran felt goosebumps all over his body. And, what made him even more helpless was the fact that he had no control of his own body and the fear it brought him.