Yun Jianyue and Zhou Benxin had just finished tidying up a room. Zhou Benxin was boiling water so they could wash up later.
Firewood crackled loudly in the earthen stove. From outside the small courtyard came the voice of Second Uncle Zhou.
"Xinzi! Are you home?"
Zhou Benxin quickly set down what he was doing and went out to find his uncle.
"Second Uncle, what's the matter?" Zhou Benxin still held some resentment towards his uncle, but for the sake of family harmony, he had to maintain appearances.
Second Uncle Zhou immediately took hold of Zhou Benxin's arm and began pulling him away. The village paths were pitch black at night. While moonlight offered some illumination nearby, anything further was swallowed by darkness.
"Your aunt twisted her back. I need to move something heavy and can't manage alone. Come help me lift it," Second Uncle Zhou stated, his pace brisk, his grip tight on Zhou Benxin's wrist, as if afraid he might refuse.
"But I've got water boiling, and my senior is alone here..." Zhou Benxin's attempts to refuse were cut short as he was dragged over ten meters away.
"It'll only take ten, fifteen minutes. She'll be fine alone in the house! Think we've got criminals lurking in our village?" Second Uncle Zhou's tone brooked no argument.
Zhou Benxin glanced back at the lamplight from his home. He figured helping move something would indeed only take a few minutes, and Yun Jianyue would likely be fine. Besides, after tonight's sacrifice, he'd need the villagers' help with Grandma's funeral arrangements. Second Uncle Zhou had significant influence; offending him now wasn't wise.
Swallowing his protests, Zhou Benxin agreed, "Alright, Uncle. Let's make it quick."
Inside the old Benxin house.
Yun Jianyue and Lu Changxue stood side by side at the window, watching Zhou Benxin being led away.
"Aren't they busy with the sacrifice? Why drag him off now? Feels fishy," Lu Changxue mused, tapping a spectral chin.
"Yeah, fishy as in with a ghost like you around," Yun Jianyue retorted sarcastically.
Lu Changxue bristled like an outraged chicken. "What I meant was, something bad is going to happen!"
Yun Jianyue merely raised her chin, indicating the courtyard. Lu Changxue looked just as five or six sturdy middle-aged women marched in.
"Holy crap! They look fierce and brought hemp sacks! What're they planning?" Even Lu Changxue's dull wit grasped they were here for her dear friend.
Lu Changxue snarled, beginning to manifest and drift menacingly forward. "I'll materialize and scare them stiff!"
Yun Jianyue acted faster. She grabbed Lu Changxue's ethereal form and yanked her back. "Hold on. Let's see what they really want."
The women burst into the room. They exchanged silent glances, then simultaneously lunged at Yun Jianyue. The one in the floral shirt produced a cloth soaked in narcotic and clamped it fiercely over Yun Jianyue's mouth and nose.
Yun Jianyue gave a token struggle and performed utterly unconvincing cries: "Ah--! Ah--! Let me go--!"
Then, she rolled her eyes back and went limp.
Lu Changxue, invisible to others, facepalmed in exasperation. "Wow, that acting was wooden. Are they really falling for it?"
Apparently, yes.
The women had absolute faith in their knockout drug. Seeing Yun Jianyue unconscious, they efficiently stuffed her into a large hemp sack and carried her away stealthily.
"Carry" wasn't quite accurate.
They threaded a bamboo pole through the loops of the sack holding Yun Jianyue, two women shouldering the pole, while she dangled helplessly in the middle.
The scene resembled nothing so much as villagers hauling a slaughtered pig hung from a pole during Lunar New Year.
Lu Changxue floated alongside, slapping her ghostly thigh in unrestrained laughter. "Haha! From now on, you're Cloud Piggy!"
Fucking Cloud Piggy. Yun Jianyue was deeply uncomfortable. She desperately wanted to adjust her cramped position inside the scratchy sack but worried discovery would ruin her act, forcing her to endure.
The women hauled her into another villager's house. Two pulled her from the sack and, with practiced speed, changed her clothes.
Yun Jianyue couldn't see what she was being dressed in, but Lu Changxue could and provided live commentary.
"Oooh! They're putting you in a red wedding dress! Just like the ancient brides in period dramas!"
"Gotta say, that dress is kinda pretty."
"Here comes the bridal veil! Are they arranging a marriage for you? Jeez, forced weddings are unacceptable!"
Yun Jianyue's lip twitched. Fortunately, the veil hid her expression. She longed to snap at Lu Changxue; the ghost was truly noisy, making her head throb.
The women, perhaps worried their "bride" might wake and flee, bound Yun Jianyue's hands behind her back with coarse rope.
Once done, two women flanked her, each grabbing an arm, and half-dragged her out of the house, marching her straight towards the village entrance.
"They seem to be taking you to the sacrificial altar," Lu Changxue continued broadcasting. "Whoa, tons of people gathered there!"
"Holy smokes! The Twin Gods on that altar... they're dripping with ghostly energy! Wait, no... it's more like yin energy? Or something else... Just what are they?" Lu Changxue rambled on.
Finally, Yun Jianyue couldn't take it. She kicked out—with the spectral ghost.
One of the flanking women flinched. "She woke up?! Did you see her foot move?!"
The other woman glanced down. Yun Jianyue hung utterly limp. She scoffed. "You seeing things, old lady? Hurry! The ceremony's starting!"
But the initial scare opened the floodgates.
The first woman muttered with newfound unease. "She is an outsider. And Zhou Xinzi's classmate... What if she dies here? Will the police dig into it?"
"Police?" the second woman sneered, her voice thick with disdain. "We have the Twin Gods! You worried about cops? We've offered girls before and nothing ever happened!"
Beside them, Lu Changxue grew increasingly agitated, her resentment swelling dangerously. "Murderers! The whole village! I should report them, get them all arrested!"
You're a ghost, who'd believe your report? Yun Jianyue silently retorted just as she was maneuvered right to the altar's edge.
Old Fifth Zhou finally showed a glint of satisfaction upon seeing the "bride" arrive. "Put her in the center of the altar. Quickly."
The two women complied, half-lifting Yun Jianyue onto the central platform of the altar.
In the center stood a chair. It was utterly black, yet upon closer inspection, seemed imbued with a dark, congealed red. It was as if the chair itself had absorbed the blood spilled by previous occupants who had met their end upon it.
Lu Changxue instinctively tried to follow Yun Jianyue onto the altar.
But as she floated toward the platform's edge, an invisible barrier slammed into her.
She couldn't step onto the sacred ground!