Years later, the matter faded away quietly. Locally, it was tacitly understood that people in Xianyin Village could forego cremation after death.
Zhou Benxin composed himself, finding clean clothes in his grandmother's wardrobe and fetching hot water.
Given the difference in gender, he could only ask Yun Jianyue to wipe down the body and change Grandma's clothes.
The feel of a dead body was unpleasant. Grandma had clearly been deceased for over a dozen hours. In this hot weather, rigor mortis had set in noticeably, and the body was beginning to smell.
"At least your corpse was better," Yun Jianyue remarked to Lu Changxue as she worked. "Didn't smell at all, even after so long."
Lu Changxue, floating nearby in her ghostly form, sighed softly as she looked at the old woman's body. "She passed peacefully. Not a trace of resentment. That's good." Then she added, "When those two were whispering earlier, I caught something about 'sacrifice' and 'if she runs away, you take her place'. Definitely not good news. Why did you insist on staying?"
Based on what she knew of Yun Jianyue, she should have retaliated with sarcasm when those two were rude.
"Besides, I feel weird all over," Lu Changxue complained. "This whole village is full of something uncomfortable. I feel awful."
Yun Jianyue carefully dressed the elderly woman. "I feel it too. Something strange about this village. Like something bad might happen."
"So why didn't you run?" Lu Changxue knew Yun Jianyue's intuition was usually spot-on.
"Then how will the story progress?" Yun Jianyue countered.
Lu Changxue: ???
Yun Jianyue: "People have to be brave! We have to stir the pot to push the plot forward!"
She didn't believe in coincidences. She arrives in Zhou Benxin's city, and suddenly his computer breaks and his grandma dies?
Finally finishing with the clothes, Yun Jianyue stepped out of the room and found Zhou Benxin on the phone.
"So even if I pay three times the price, the coffin absolutely cannot be delivered tonight?"
"But my grandmother can't just lie on the bed! Name your price, Boss, however much! Just get that coffin here tonight!"
"What do you mean 'piddly money'? Hey? Hey?!"
Zhou Benxin glared at his darkened phone screen in frustration. Seeing Yun Jianyue, he managed a bitter smile. "The village is locked down tonight; no outsiders allowed in or out. The coffin shop owner says he can't get a coffin delivered."
Without a coffin, according to local custom, Grandma would have to spend another night on the bed.
"What's the big event in your village tonight?" Yun Jianyue found it puzzling. What could be more important than death? Where she was from, neighbors would pitch in unless something truly critical was happening. How could a village shut down so completely that even a coffin couldn't get through?
Zhou Benxin sounded resigned. "The village holds a collective sacrifice ceremony every year on this day."
His gaze drifted to the altar; clearly, the Twin Gods were the main focus of tonight's ritual.
"I went to school in the city since I was young. Never once participated. But Grandma did, every year while she was alive. She'd say the gods would protect everyone in Xianyin Village, that when we die, we go to Pure Land Paradise."
Zhou Benxin looked at the Twin Gods with unusual reverence. "If such a place really exists... Grandma worshipped and loved you so much. I hope you truly grant her passage there."
As his words faded, the pitch-black wood seemed to emanate a faint wisp of dark mist.
Yun Jianyue stared, shocked. She blinked, looked closer, and the mist was gone. Just plain wood.
"Did you see that?" she frowned.
"See what?" Zhou Benxin asked, confused.
"Black mist."
Zhou Benxin frowned deeply. "Black mist? Where? It's dark, the light's dim... Maybe your eyesight is playing tricks, Senior?"
In her ghost form, however, Lu Changxue shrieked, "I saw it! Eek! That was yin energy!"
Hearing Lu Changxue's scream, Yun Jianyue's expression remained neutral.
Above them, an old-fashioned bulb cast a dim, yellowish glow. It wasn't bright, but it was enough to see by.
After a long moment, Yun Jianyue said to Zhou Benxin, "You're right. Probably my eyes playing tricks."
It was already 9 PM, the night deep and dark. With the coffin impossible, they focused on tidying up two rooms for the night.
At the village entrance, beneath the great scholar tree.
Every villager wore an expression of solemn gravity. They knelt devoutly before the sacrificial altar.
On the altar rested two pieces of strangely dark wood. Black mist swirled and coiled around them, unseen by the villagers. To them, their ignorant faith shone with a pure light.
Old Fifth Zhou checked his watch. The wrinkles on his face trembled with anger. "The bride? Where is she?! The ceremony starts in fifteen minutes! Why hasn't she been brought?!"
"I'll go check! Don't worry, Fifth Gong!" A middle-aged woman wearing a floral shirt offered a placating smile before signaling several other sturdy women to follow.
They hurried to Wang Guifang's dilapidated house.
Wang Guifang was the poorest family in the village. Her husband and father-in-law had died in a mine years ago, leaving her with a son and a daughter.
Struggling with poverty, her daughter had never been able to attend school. Even her son's tuition was cobbled together through contributions from the villagers.
"Where is she?!" The floral-shirted woman pushed open Wang Guifang's door, demanding harshly.
Wang Guifang sat weeping in the small courtyard. Clutched tightly in her weathered hands was a piece of red bridal veil. The tendons stood out like earthworms trapped in ravines.
"I... I couldn't go through with it," Wang Guifang choked out. "I'm sorry, everyone. But... she's my daughter! I couldn't bear to watch my own child walk to her death!"
Her voice was thick with despair, grimy tears carving paths through her dark cheeks.
The floral-shirted woman's expression turned thunderous. She stepped forward and kicked Wang Guifang, sending her sprawling. "Search the house!" she barked to the others.
They ransacked the small dwelling but found no trace of the bride. Furiously, the woman stormed back to Wang Guifang and slapped her hard across the face.
"Wang Guifang! How dare you let your daughter escape?! This is the village's most important night! What if you've angered the Twin Gods?! Can you bear the consequences?!"
She shook with fury. "All these years, the village funded your son's high school in the city! You ungrateful viper! You'll be the death of us all!"
Wang Guifang could only weep silently, offering no defense.
The other women joined in, kicking and hitting the sobbing mother.
"Stop wasting time!" the floral-shirted woman snapped. "We need to tell Fifth Gong!" She sprinted back, out of breath, and relayed the situation to Old Fifth Zhou.
His face turned ashen. He slammed his cane into the ground with a heavy thud. "The sacrificial bride has fled. Does anyone here have an eligible daughter or granddaughter who can take her place?"
A dense crowd of over a hundred villagers. Silence pressed down heavier than the darkness.
Many families had unwed girls. But who would willingly send their own child to certain death?
In the suffocating quiet, Second Uncle Zhou's voice cut through:
"Young Xin... brought that girlfriend home tonight, didn't he? Now wouldn't that solve everything?"