Chapter 11: Ghost Marriage Shocks Again 3. The ghost wedding in the old house
About an hour later, Wu Yu vaguely saw an orange light and scattered houses in front of him. He knew that it was the ancient town.
Arriving at the ancient town, the boatman pushed the boat up along the center of the river. The ancient Ming and Qing Dynasty buildings on both sides of the river, the red lanterns hanging in the middle of the houses and the lights on the boats reflected each other, making the entire river look quiet and warm.
There were many restaurants along the river. The boats stopped at one of the restaurants and people went ashore. Wu Yu was no exception and was still helped up by the two men.
The roof of the restaurant was hollowed out, and red lanterns were hung on the pillars around it. There were tables, chairs and stools in the middle. The nameplate on the door read "Shuiyuexuan".
The restaurant owners were a middle-aged couple. When they saw a customer coming, they hurriedly went up to greet him. When they arrived in front of Wu Yu, they stopped and looked him up and down, muttering something in a low voice. Seeing that Wu Yu looked dazed and his eyes were dull, they guessed that he was bewitched by the ghost bride.
The proprietress whispered to one of the men, then went into the house with a smile. Then the sound of cooking was heard from inside.
The people who were sending off the bride began to sit down one by one. They were all silent at first, but after the boss brought over the wine and food, they started to talk after drinking a few glasses of sake.
"I didn't expect the bride could find such a handsome groom . Old Master Liao must be very happy." The speaker was a middle-aged man with a beard. He was one of the four strong men responsible for carrying the coffin.
As soon as the man said this, someone immediately responded to his topic: "I thought this marriage might be delayed for a long time, but someone came to the door in the blink of an eye. Tell me, what man in this world doesn't like money? Otherwise, why would a pretty boy like him run all the way to a faraway village to be a ghost groom." The person who spoke this time was a thin and ordinary-looking man.
The people from the Liao family heard this and started to curse: "You are the kind of people who can't spit out ivory from a dog's mouth, but you still have to make something to say."
The people here must have received a lot of benefits from their master. Although they were dissatisfied, they did not dare to get angry and could only remain silent. After a while, they began to murmur again:
"Speaking of the origin of this ghost marriage, it is said that it originated from a village called 'Zhujiazhai' in the ancient town. About three or four hundred years ago, many people died of plague in Zhujiazhai, and they were all unmarried girls. After these women died, some ghost stories became popular in the village. Some said that the dead souls lingered. An elderly man who knew a little about Feng Shui found a man to marry these women out. After that, the village became peaceful, and no strange things happened again... In this way, whenever an unmarried girl died, her family had to look for a man everywhere. Naturally, this matter had to be approved by the man. Of course, these men agreed only for money."
"There are so many strange things in this world. Obviously, when a person dies, there is nothing left. How can there still be a soul?"
"Be careful what you say, or the ghost lady will be angry."
The crowd began to make noises, and then someone said, "This ghost marriage is really horrible. I've heard that no man who marries a ghost lady can live long. Don't you think this is magical?" After saying this, the man deliberately glanced at Wu Yu, with a hint of sarcasm on his face. Wu Yu felt limp all over, and he really had a hard time expressing his suffering.
"This is absolutely true. From what I know, all the men who married ghost ladies died mysteriously after a period of time. Their expressions of death were very scary, as if they were scared to death by something." The person who said this seemed very proud of what he had heard. He pointed and gestured and talked a lot, and his appearance was very exaggerated.
"If that's true, this is really mysterious."
"Why don't you believe it? Do you remember the legend about one of the old houses in the old town? I heard that it has been haunted."
As soon as the old house was mentioned, the noisy crowd began to become quiet, and everyone listened to what the man had to say with great interest.
"I'm sure everyone has heard about the strangeness of the ancient house, but did the legendary family live in the ancient house before? We don't know. It is said that many people who visited the ancient house at night would see the legendary young lady and maid. What's even more strange is: the ghost wedding in the ancient house two years ago. Why did they hold a ghost wedding in the ancient house? I don't understand this. It is obviously a place where no one lives..."
"According to the recollections of the people who were responsible for carrying the coffin, the coffin seemed to be as light as a feather... They were too scared to secretly open it to see what was inside." He paused for a moment, his eyes fixed on Wu Yu, and he continued in a low voice, "What's even more bizarre is that the handsome man died mysteriously not long after he became the ghost groom."
…
Wu Yu's brain was not yet clear at this time, and he was still in a daze, but he could hear what they said to some extent, especially when they mentioned the old house, he suddenly became much more sober.
After having a hearty meal and a few drinks, someone suddenly called for the departure, and they dispersed like a swarm of bees, each getting on the boat in an orderly manner.
