The Dragon God's body had long been devoured by the greedy and ignorant villagers of Longzhao Village, leaving only its moody and resentful ghost wandering among the jungles and mountains of Xishan.
He rarely responds to humans.
But occasionally there are a few times when the Dragon God will use a special method to choose a body of his choice and use that person as a medium to communicate with humans.
And that person is called Xikani in the local dialect of Longzhao.
"...Sikani won't remember what happened after the Dragon God leaned over, but he can sense the Dragon God's emotions."
Budacuocuo lowered his voice and spoke softly.
As his words fell, the small building fell into a dead silence. Jiang Chuyan's fingers curled up, his nails digging deep into his palms.
He raised his eyes and looked at He Yuan, who had a blank expression on his face, but a vertical wrinkle appeared between his eyebrows.
"Fuck, I don't know!"
He Yuan said in a hoarse voice.
"No one told me—"
"We told you, but you didn't believe it."
Budacuocuo looked helpless.
"If you weren't Xikani, how could you possibly come and go so easily in Longzhao..." The village chief added with a sigh, "It's not easy to find it here."
According to Budacuocuo, He Yuan was once possessed by a dragon god at a village banquet.
It was at his request that the villagers cut off the head of the dragon god statue and turned it to face backwards.
Of course, He Yuan was just confused about this.
"I don't remember anything like that at all." He Yuan grabbed a handful of hair vigorously. "I've always felt that what you said was, fuck, nonsense. I drank so much alcohol at the time, and the smoke from your burning spirit tower was so thick, I always thought I was just drunk and talking nonsense! Before coming to Longzhao this time, I didn't feel anything. This place is just an ordinary village to me."
The boy said dejectedly.
"If I had known, I would never have brought you here!"
While talking, He Yuan kept looking at Jiang Chuyan, looking somewhat anxious.
"I, I really don't know..."
"If Sikani means someone possessed by the Dragon God, then...what does Mal mean?"
Jiang Chuyan suddenly spoke, and asked in a low voice with an expressionless face.
This time, Budacuocuo took a long time to explain it clearly in Chinese.
"Probably... almost, the Dragon God's favorite person."
*
It was another long night in Long Marsh.
Jiang Chuyan lay straight on the narrow and hard bed with his eyes open.
Every muscle in his body ached, probably from the strain of battling the monster in the carriage that day. After days of intense tension and exhaustion, even Jiang Chuyan could feel the exhaustion reaching its limit.
However, his spirit was still extremely excited and he had no desire to sleep at all.
His heart was beating wildly, but Jiang Chuyan didn't know whether it was because of nervousness or fear.
The room is bright.
Jiang Chuyan not only turned on the lights in the room, but also lit candles all over the table and floor. He even turned up the high-powered lantern he'd used for cave exploration to its highest setting and placed it horizontally on the table. The fluctuating lights illuminated the entire room like daylight.
It's very late at night.
Jiang Chuyan turned over in bed.
"He Yuan——"
Jiang Chuyan put his face on the pillow with his eyes wide open. He stared at the flickering flames of several candles in the corner of the wall, then whispered He Yuan's name.
"I am here."
His voice was clearly very soft, but he could immediately hear the boy's response from across the wall.
From the sound of his voice, it could be heard that He Yuan had not slept either.
"Can't sleep?"
After a few seconds, He Yuan asked.
"...Aren't you the same?"
Jiang Chuyan was silent for a moment, then spoke.
"After what happened during the day, if I could still sleep, I'd be pretty stupid."
He Yuan responded, and unconsciously, a hint of bitterness appeared at the end of his words.
"Who the hell could have imagined that things would turn out like this? I'm almost having a nervous breakdown from being scared."
Jiang Chuyan was silent for a while, and then responded in a very low voice: "...Me too."
Just after Budacuocuo informed everyone about the past of Longzhao Village during the day, Jiang Chuyan agreed to the almost absurd proposal of the village chief after a brief hesitation.
He decided to become the bride of the Nashlaozi Dragon God and volunteered to be sent to the depths of the Luolong Cave during the upcoming Dragon God Festival in order to seek the Dragon God's protection.
"If you're still worried, your classmates can also become your bridesmaids. They'll always be there for you, so you can finally put your mind at ease..."
Budacuocuo's promise seemed to still echo in Jiang Chuyan's ears.
However, even though the decision to be the bride was made after careful consideration, Jiang Chuyan still felt uneasy when she lay in bed.
Somewhere in the dark, his intuition was still sending out vague warnings. He always felt that something was not right, but when he really asked himself, he couldn't say anything.
After he murmured that sentence, the next door fell silent.
Jiang Chuyan originally thought that He Yuan didn't hear it, but not long after, a "creak" sound was heard, and he heard the mattress rustling on the bed next door. It was the sound of someone getting out of bed.
Longzhao was so quiet late at night that it seemed like another world, so that the footsteps that were deliberately softened still seemed particularly loud. Jiang Chuyan couldn't help but shiver slightly, and then he saw the curtain separating his room from He Yuan's was lifted.
He Yuan just rushed into Jiang Chuyan's room.
"He Yuan? You..."
"I'm scared." He Yuan said frankly in front of Jiang Chuyan. "You don't mind, do you? Squeeze in with me tonight."
Then he walked straight towards Jiang Chuyan.
Jiang Chuyan opened his eyes wide in shock, watching He Yuan do all this. He should have opened his mouth immediately to drive He Yuan away, but his vocal cords seemed to have their own consciousness and remained silent.
He Yuan smoothly opened the cup and squeezed onto Jiang Chuyan's bed.
The already narrow wooden bed became even more cramped because of He Yuan's appearance. Jiang Chuyan felt the body temperature of the boy beside her and moved back uncomfortably, but was immediately hugged by He Yuan.
The smell of He Yuan became particularly distinct under the thin quilt. The boy's arms were around Jiang Chuyan's back, and his chin rested directly on the top of Jiang Chuyan's head.
For a moment, Jiang Chuyan even felt like a small animal, being completely locked in the cage named "He Yuan" without any resistance.
But after going through so many things, Jiang Chuyan had no resistance to such a strong hug.
"call..."
He Yuan breathed a sigh of relief after hugging Jiang Chuyan tightly.
"That's much better."
He muttered softly and reached out to pat Jiang Chuyan on the back.
Jiang Chuyan looked up at He Yuan's chin. The boy's superior jawline and Adam's apple were very close to Jiang Chuyan's lips, so close that he could lick him just by sticking out his tongue.
Damn, what on earth was he thinking?!
Jiang Chuyan suddenly woke up.
He thought he would feel nervous and uneasy because of being so close to He Yuan, but the fact was that the moment the boy hugged him, he began to lose control and even become distracted.
"…Dragon God."
Jiang Chuyan murmured unconsciously.
"Um?"
"Do you think the Dragon God that Buddacuocuo mentioned really exists?"
Jiang Chuyan finally spoke out the deepest doubts in her heart in He Yuan's arms.
"Are those things he said true?"
"Maybe."
He Yuan tightened his arms.
"Actually, you still have a chance to regret it. If all else fails, we can try to escape by car again. My car is equipped with bulletproof glass. It's just the two of us, so don't take those three people with you..."
Speaking of the other three companions, Jiang Chuyan and He Yuan looked at each other and saw a hint of fear in each other's eyes, but in the end neither of them said out loud the vague guesses in their hearts.
"Maybe we can find a way to get out."
He Yuan almost held Jiang Chuyan's earlobe in his mouth and sent the extremely low voice into the latter's ear.
It was as if he was constantly worried that someone else was in the room eavesdropping.
The boy looked calm when he said this, but unfortunately, he was too close to Jiang Chuyan at the moment, so close that Jiang Chuyan could even clearly hear his suddenly faster heartbeat and the slight trembling in his body.
Jiang Chuyan blinked.
"No," he rejected He Yuan's proposal. "No way—"
He continued.
"If simply marrying the Dragon God can get everyone out of the Dragon Swamp, then I'm willing to take the gamble."
Having said that, Jiang Chuyan suddenly smiled bitterly.
"You know, I actually feel...I feel like maybe this is why I came here."
There was another heavy silence.
He Yuan hugged Jiang Chuyan tighter and tighter: "Do you trust me?"
Jiang Chuyan said in a daze: "You are the only person I can trust now."
Although there is no evidence, it is now difficult for Jiang Chuyan to let down his guard against Bai Ke, Liu Tianyu and Xu Yuanzhou.
He was very scared, afraid that under the skin of those three familiar people, there might be something else.
However, he didn't dare to block it.
He Yuan: "I will protect you no matter what. I won't let anything happen to you."
Jiang Chuyan bit his lip, stretched out his hand tentatively, and then slowly wrapped his arms around He Yuan's back.
"Thanks."
He said in a hoarse voice.
"Thank you for always protecting me."
"Don't thank me," He Yuan said solemnly at this time, "I'm only doing this for myself."
"ah?"
He Yuan suddenly buried his head in Jiang Chuyan's neck: "I like you."
"He——"
"Actually, I fell in love with you from the first moment I saw you."
Although he had already felt it, Jiang Chuyan still froze involuntarily when those words fell into his ears.
His heart was beating fast.
"Wait, wait a minute, He Yuan..."
Jiang Chuyan instinctively wanted to lower his head to see He Yuan's expression, but the latter refused to look up at this time.
"Don't, don't look at me."
Jiang Chuyan could only feel He Yuan's chest pounding at this moment.
The boy's body temperature seemed to rise a lot all of a sudden, making Jiang Chuyan's cheeks hot involuntarily.
"I was... I was thinking of finding a better opportunity to confess to you after I get back."
He Yuan muttered in frustration.
"You ended up being trapped in this kind of hellish place... and you're about to get married... Damn... If I had known earlier, I would have snatched you from that idiot Xu Yuanzhou right from the start."
At this moment, the dragon god, water monkey, strange rituals and curses all disappeared, and Jiang Chuyan could only hear He Yuan's continuous whispers.
"You don't know how long I've been secretly in love with you, but you never see me."
"When I first found out you already had a boyfriend, I was so jealous of Xu Yuanzhou that I wanted to secretly kill him..."
"Actually, all my candies are for you... Damn, it turns out all the information I secretly heard before was fake. You don't like candy..."
"Chu Yan, I like you."
"I like you very much, very much."
"Don't hate me."
…
Before Jiang Chuyan knew it, he had been pressed under He Yuan. The boy's tall body almost completely enveloped the thin young man.
When Jiang Chuyan noticed it, he found that his hands had been stuck tightly by He Yuan. The boy's palms were very rough and the temperature was so hot that it almost burned his wrists.
Oops.
Jiang Chuyan heard a voice in his heart let out a low cry.
He shouldn't have let things get to this point—at least, not at this juncture when the future was so uncertain.
However, he had already lost the opportunity to regret.
"Chu Yan, can you...can you accept me?"
He Yuan leaned over him and spoke to him with burning eyes.
"I want to be your lover."
Jiang Chuyan's breathing stopped for a moment.
"I..."
He opened his lips with difficulty.
Then, before he could say the rest of his words, He Yuan lowered his head towards him.
The boy's lips were cold and soft, forming a sharp contrast with his clumsy and poor technique.
All of Jiang Chuyan's voices were swallowed up by He Yuan in an extremely brutal and greedy manner.
It was as if time had been slowed down.
Jiang Chuyan lowered his arm, which was originally wrapped around He Yuan's shoulders, and then he began to gently push up his chest...
His groans became distressed and soft, sounding more like some kind of ambiguous whimper.
But He Yuan still didn't let him go.
In the end, he even had to bend his knees with difficulty to move He Yuan further away from him——
"Bang--"
He Yuan's body was kicked under the bed by Jiang Chuyan, making a deafening roar.
Jiang Chuyan had never expected that He Yuan would not resist at all. He was startled by the loud noise of the boy falling to the ground. He suddenly came to his senses, and then, with a red face, he supported his body and sat up from the bed.
He rubbed his lips and looked at He Yuan on the ground, his face completely burning.
"You, you, don't go too far."
Jiang Chuyan stuttered to He Yuan.
"I haven't promised you yet."
He Yuan rubbed his lower abdomen and stared at Jiang Chuyan intently and greedily.
"I'm sorry. I was wrong..."
He said sincerely.
But Jiang Chuyan always felt that there seemed to be another line of words written on his face that had not been spoken out loud——
[I'll dare to do it again next time. ]
"I've been holding it in for too long. I just couldn't control myself."
He Yuan said word by word.
"Date with me, Chu Yan."
As he spoke, he slowly stood up.
As he uttered the last call, he had already arrived in front of Jiang Chuyan.
The light from the candle cast his shadow on Jiang Chuyan.
The boy's face looked a little blurry in the backlight, but his eyes looked unusually bright.
Jiang Chuyan's lips pursed.
Although he had been clearly aware that he liked people of the same sex since adolescence, Jiang Chuyan had never felt the same feeling that He Yuan gave him from anyone.
He felt at ease.
But inexplicably, he would feel a strange tremor and panic because of He Yuan.
"...good."
That soft whisper was once again swallowed by He Yuan's lips.
*
On the morning of the day the ceremony began, many pale-skinned, gorgeously dressed Longzhao women swarmed into Jiang Chuyan's room, their faces covered in bright smiles, their teeth showing off their white teeth.
"These are the best bridesmaids in our village," Budacuocuo said as he stood at the door, rubbing his hands as he introduced them. "After all, it's the Dragon God's wedding, so the bride must be dressed up nicely."
After saying this, his eyes rolled around, he mumbled incessantly, and spoke a lot of local dialect to the bridesmaids.
"But, but I'm a man——"
Jiang Chuyan said with difficulty.
But Budacuocuo did not give him the option to refuse to dress up.
Boxes of jewelry and clothing were carried into Jiang Chuyan's room like a stream, and Jiang Chuyan was almost carried to sit on the seat.
He looked at He Yuan for help, but He Yuan was also dragged out the door.
Seeing He Yuan was about to leave, Jiang Chuyan panicked.
He Yuan's face also darkened...
But at this moment, someone suddenly rushed over, shouting in dialect and looking terrified.
Although Jiang Chuyan couldn't understand, he could still sense that something unexpected had happened. After a few whispers, He Yuan leaned over with a sullen face and explained to Jiang Chuyan in a low voice, "...Xu Yuanzhou, Bai Ke, and the others took advantage of the village preparations for the ceremony and secretly stole the car keys and drove away."
Jiang Chuyan's pupils suddenly constricted.
The scene in front of me suddenly shook, and some familiar images suddenly appeared in my mind.
[Chu Yan, Xu Yuanzhou and the others... they drove away early.]
[Chu Yan, those people, they, they left.]
[Where are the people? Damn, those bastards, how could they do that? How could they run away on their own?]
…
"Chu Yan, why are you crying? You've given so much for them, but when they left you behind, they didn't hesitate at all."
*
"Chu Yan?!"
"Chu Yan, are you okay?"
"What's wrong with you..."
…
The concerned voice of my new boyfriend came, but it sounded hazy, as if there was an invisible layer between us.
A sharp headache suddenly exploded deep in his mind, and Jiang Chuyan's body swayed and he almost fell off the chair.
When he came to his senses, the image that had just appeared in his mind had disappeared in an instant like morning dew under the sun. Jiang Chuyan calmed himself down and looked at He Yuan again, only to find that his expression was so gloomy that it could drip water.
He could even see the veins throbbing on the boy's forehead.
"Don't worry, I'll find a way."
He Yuan hugged Jiang Chuyan and whispered in his ear word by word.
"Um."
Jiang Chuyan paused before responding.
How strange.
He couldn't help but think.
He should have been angry and incredulous about this happening.
You have to know that among those three people, one of them was Xu Yuanzhou—his childhood sweetheart and former lover. But even with such a deep emotional foundation, those three people still abandoned Jiang Chuyan and ran away without hesitation.
However, at this moment, Jiang Chuyan did not feel much turmoil in his heart.
It was as if he had already known that this would happen.
But...
Why would he know?
*
He Yuan left the room temporarily due to this incident, looking irritated. Jiang Chuyan was left alone in the room being dressed up by Longzhao's bridesmaids.
"I'll be back soon, don't be afraid."
Before leaving, He Yuan gave careful instructions.
He seemed extremely anxious and uneasy. Before leaving, he suddenly leaned over and hugged Jiang Chuyan tightly.
"You have to be careful when I'm not around."
As the boy whispered, Jiang Chuyan suddenly felt his palm become slightly heavier.
A small, cold knife was secretly handed to Jiang Chuyan's palm. Noticing the knife suddenly appearing in his hand, his eyes trembled, and he raised his eyes and exchanged a silent glance with He Yuan.
Jiang Chuyan tried hard not to show any strange expression.
"You too...be careful."
When He Yuan's figure was about to disappear from the door, Jiang Chuyan clenched the cold knife in his hand and said to He Yuan with forced calmness.
He Yuan turned his back to him and raised his hand to make an OK gesture.
Because of this little episode, Jiang Chuyan was a little distracted for a long time afterwards.
Therefore, by the time he realized the incongruity, his bridal dressing process was almost halfway through.
Jiang Chuyan had already changed into a bright red wedding dress embroidered with fish scales.
His chin was gently pinched by the woman's cold and slightly damp fingers, lifting it slightly.
The finely ground rice flour was sprinkled on his face, and the flying powder made Jiang Chuyan close his eyes involuntarily.
Then, a familiar yet unfamiliar sweet and fishy smell hit me in the face.
The wet, warm liquid was gently brushed on the corners of Jiang Chuyan's eyes and lips.
Jiang Chuyan shuddered and suddenly opened his eyes.
"What is that—"
He shouted in panic.
Kexi just looked at him with a smile, speaking in a dialect he couldn't understand.
Jiang Chuyan felt a chill that hadn't come to his mind.
He wanted to look in the mirror, to know what the bridesmaid had put on his face just now.
But it was only then that he realized that he had not seen a mirror during the entire process of dressing.
In fact, since arriving in Longzhao Village, Jiang Chuyan has never seen anything related to mirrors except the mirror in Bai Ke's room.
…
No, that's not right...
Wait, did he really see a mirror in Bai Ke's room?
Jiang Chuyan thought about it carefully, but found that he could not remember it at all.
An inexplicable intuition told him that the mirror was important. Jiang Chuyan suddenly stood up and wanted to leave the room and go to the first floor to take a look at the mirror. However, before he even reached the door, he was pulled back by countless hands.
The bridesmaids danced and gestured in front of him for a long time, refusing to let him leave the room.
Fortunately, it didn't take long before Jiang Chuyan's bridal outfits were all completed.
After Jiang Chuyan's tantrum, the bridesmaids respectfully left the room with mask-like smiles on their faces.
"Click——"
The door was closed.
Jiang Chuyan stood in the room for a while, panting, listening quietly to the noise outside the door gradually fading away.
It sounds like the Longzhao villagers have already left.
But Jiang Chuyan did not choose to open the door and sneak out. Instead, he carefully bent down and took a look outside through the gap under the door.
A row of red cloth shoes were neatly lined up in front of his door.
"…"
Jiang Chuyan took a deep breath and swallowed back the sigh of fear that almost came out of his mouth.
Then he reached into his sleeve, took out the small knife that He Yuan had secretly handed him before, and held it tightly in his palm.
The blade of the knife was narrow, and the handle was made of an indistinct material. A faint, circular pattern emerged on its surface. Holding it up to the light, one could discern faint traces of dark gold thread interspersed within the tree-ring-like patterns.
Jiang Chuyan pulled a strand of hair and tried it on the blade. The moment it touched the blade, the hair broke.
"call..."
Jiang Chuyan slowly exhaled.
This was definitely not a knife from outside; it must have been made locally in Longzhao Village. Jiang Chuyan couldn't figure out where He Yuan had gotten such a sharp weapon, but one thing was certain: with this knife, he felt much more at ease.
Jiang Chuyan forced himself not to fall into a panic.
After calming himself down, Jiang Chuyan walked towards his bed. Then, while staring at the door, he quietly took out the cell phone he had hidden there from the crack in the bed.
After clicking on the screen, Jiang Chuyan first glanced at the signal bar. He was extremely disappointed to find that it was still gray.
Then he took a deep breath and clicked on the camera function of his phone.
He turned the camera on himself.
The young man on the screen had an unusually pale face, and his eyelids, forehead, and lips were all painted with some kind of scarlet "paint."
That was indeed Jiang Chuyan's own face.
However, under the strange makeup technique of the matchmaker in the backward village, the young man's eyes and eyebrows revealed an unfamiliar charm.
There was nothing particularly unusual about the image of himself in the camera, and Jiang Chuyan felt a little relieved after confirming this - but at this moment, his hand shook slightly, and the camera accidentally swept behind him.
A pair of hands with a slightly bluish complexion were digging at the rough floor bit by bit, and slowly crawled out from under the bed behind Jiang Chuyan.