Of course something like fleeing the wedding was just wishful thinking. Shi Mei was still here, so he couldn't just leave no matter what.
This damned ghost mistress of ceremonies though, wasn't it a little too fucking diligent?
Mo Ran was pale-faced from both anger and the effort it took to restrain himself. He grumbled to himself, isn't it enough to just oversee the wedding rites, how is the wedding night any of your fucking business? Besides! They were all corpses here! Rigor mortis! How the fuck would the wedding night even work!!!
As for what Chu Wanning's face looked like right now, Mo Ran was too scared to even look, too busy playing dumb with his eyes glued to the carpet. He really wanted to grab that ghost mistress of ceremonies, wherever it might be hiding, and roar in its face——FUCK! YOU! You sonuvabitch! You show me how it's done then!!
The golden boy and jade maiden crowded around them, shoving them toward the back of the hall.
A coffin lay there, painted a bright scarlet. It was humongous, twice the size of normal coffins, and looked exactly like the one they'd dug up before.
Chu Wanning murmured something under his breath in understanding.
Mo Ran also figured it out soon after, and let out a huge sigh of relief.
Of course dead people couldn't have an actual wedding night; this so-called wedding night probably just meant being sealed into the same coffin for joint interment, to be "together in death".
The golden boy and jade maiden confirmed their suspicions. "The bride,
please enter the bridal chamber first."
Chu Wanning straightened out his wide sleeves and lay inside with a frosty expression.
"Next, the groom, please enter the bridal chamber."
Mo Ran grabbed the edge of the coffin and paused, blinking. Chu Wanning had already occupied more than half the space inside. The coffin might be spacious, but it was still a bit of a squeeze for two whole men. He climbed inside, and inevitably lay down on top of Chu Wanning's spread-out clothing, drawing an irate glare from the other man.
The golden boy and jade maiden circled the coffin and began to sing again, the same eerie yet sorrowful elegy as before.
"Water of the White Emperor, waves sparkling and luminous;
Spirit amant birds greet, bearing blossoms between their beaks.
Within this coffin, two shall join;
Within this sanctuary, two shall lie.
Intent in life, revealed in death.
Henceforth two shall pass beneath the heavens;
Henceforth in death lone souls shall never part."
Song finished, the children stood one to the left and one to the right, and slowly pushed the lid of the coffin into place. A dull rumble, and they were surrounded by complete darkness.
Chu Wanning and Mo Ran were sealed inside the coffin.
The coffin was thick enough that they could speak quietly without being heard from the outside. Chu Wanning raised his hand and set a soundproofing barrier to ensure that they definitely wouldn't be heard. Having done all that, the first thing he said was——
"Move over, you're on my arm."
Mo Ran: "..."
Aren't there matters more pressing than "you're on my arm" that should be discussed right now?
Despite the internal complaint, Mo Ran still scooted over.
"Move over more, there's no room for my legs."
More scooting.
"Move more! You're right next to my face!"
Mo Ran whined, aggrieved, "Shizun, I'm up against the side already, what else do you want?"
Chu Wanning finally humph'd and went silent.
Mo Ran was crammed into the corner for a while before the coffin suddenly shook, lifted by people on the outside who started slowly moving in some unknown direction, the coffin rocking with their every step. Mo Ran strained to listen to the sounds from the outside as he seethed, thinking about how Shi Mei was probably trapped in a coffin with Chen-Yao right now, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Chu Wanning's barrier was powerful, preventing sounds from the inside from getting out while allowing sounds from the outside to pass through. The sounds of firecrackers and shawms could be heard through the wall of the coffin. Mo Ran asked, "This gaggle of ghosts and demons sure are bored, just where are they taking these coffins?"
It was too dark inside the coffin to see the other person's face, so he could only hear Chu Wanning's voice. "It's the same as Butterfly Town's tradition, the destination should be the temple outside town."
Mo Ran nodded and concentrated on listening for a while. "…Shizun, there seem to be more and more footsteps outside."
"Ghosts travel at night, all of the coffins will be carried over together. If my guess is right, the ghost mistress of ceremonies will appear in its true form at the temple to draw 'merits' from the newly wed couples."
Mo Ran asked, "Won't people notice hundreds of coffins being carried through town?"
"They will not," Chu Wanning answered. "The coffins are carried by ghost golden boys and jade maidens. Ordinary people cannot see objects carried by ghosts."
Mo Ran wondered, "How are you so sure about that?"
Chu Wanning said, "I used Tianwen to interrogate a ghost golden boy in the dressing room earlier."
Mo Ran: "......"
They were silent for a while before he questioned, "What was the deal with that red coffin on the mountain then, the one with Chen-gongzi in it? And why do people keep dying in the Chen family?"
Chu Wanning: "Not sure."
Mo Ran was slightly surprised. "The golden boy didn't tell you?"
Chu Wanning: "The ghost golden boy said it also did not know."
Mo Ran: "......"
It was quiet again for a bit, then Chu Wanning spoke, "But I think that family is hiding something from us."
"Why do you say that?"
"Remember, although the thing enshrined in that temple exudes evil energy,
it is still a being that has cultivated into a deity and depends on the people's worship to grow stronger."
Mo Ran had never paid attention to Chu Wanning's lessons in his previous life, and so had ended up not having a lot of the basic general knowledge needed to handle certain matters later on. He thought that perhaps he should actually be modest and seek some instruction in this reborn life, and so asked,
"What's so significant about deities?"
"…What were you doing during last month's lesson on the differences between deities, ghosts, gods, and demons?"
Mo Ran thought to himself, this venerable one was reborn, of course this venerable one wouldn't remember what he was doing during some lesson from more than ten years ago! But he'd probably been either picking at his feet under the table, reading "Bedroom Adventures of Nine Dragons and a Phoenix",ogling Shi Mei while lost in thought, or staring at Chu Wanning's neck while secretly gesturing the various ways of cutting that person's head off.
Chu Wanning reprimanded him with, "Copy "Record of Knowledge from the Six Kingdoms" ten times as punishment when we return."
"…Oh."
All those times he'd skipped class had come back to bite him in the ass.
"Deities differ from gods. Gods can act as they please, but deities cannot meddle in mortal affairs without being beseeched to do so."
Mo Ran felt a shiver run down his spine. "Which means that it killed the members of the Chen family at the behest of a person?"
Chu Wanning's voice sounded ominous in the darkness.
"The beseecher may not necessarily be a living person."
Mo Ran opened his mouth to ask more questions, but before he could, the coffin shook abruptly and tilted to the left, perhaps because the golden boy and jade maiden carrying the coffin came upon a hill or some such.
With the sudden jolt, the slippery inside, and the complete lack of anything to grab onto, Mo Ran tumbled over and smacked firmly into Shizun's chest.
"Nn…"
Mo Ran put a hand over his aching nose and lifted his head, disoriented, but a faint wisp of the fragrance of haitang flowers floated to his nose. The scent was as light as the fog at dawn, with a hint of a nighttime chill. Such scents ordinarily lulled people into a haze, but this one was clean and refreshing, clearing the head instead.
Mo Ran froze, then immediately became hard.
He couldn't be any more familiar with this fragrance. It was Chu Wanning's scent. But to Mo Ran, this scent had always been intertwined with desire.
All of a sudden, a certain deep-seated depravity, like a lightning-stricken forest fire, shot directly into his head.
Author's Notes:
Leader of the old age single men's foundation, #1 Boss ghost mistress of ceremonies, soon will be online.
Mistress of ceremonies has a special bridal chambers method. Lock this pair of dogs in a coffin. Boom! The only way to leave is to confess to each other, otherwise you can't come out. Hmmph!