Chapter Ten Unexpected

  I thought it was just a ghost wedding, just to give the dead person a wedding ceremony and that's it, but I never expected that the host would make it even bigger than a real person's wedding!

  The Dong family's house looks very imposing, a typical standard four-story villa. The yard under the villa is extremely spacious. In the center of the yard, there is a high platform, which should be prepared for the band.

  Apart from the high platform in the center, there were 180 tables set up in the courtyard, which seemed to be prepared for a banquet to entertain guests from all directions.

  When I followed Yin Laoliu and appeared in Dongjia's yard, Dongjia hurried over to greet us.

  The master of the house was an old man in his sixties, who looked vigorous and dignified, with a strong aura of authority that made it clear he was no ordinary person.

  After seeing Yin Lao Liu, Dong Jia stretched out his right hand towards Yin Lao Liu while saying to him

  "Oh dear! Master Yin, you've finally arrived. I've been waiting for you for a long time. Please come in, please come in!"

  Mr. Yin first shook hands with the landlord and then, under his enthusiastic invitation, led me inside.

  After entering the small villa of Dongjia, through the exchange between Yin Laoliu and them and everything I saw, I realized that this ghost marriage really has a lot of rules.

  According to Yin Laoliu's expression, a ghost marriage does not necessarily require any normal ceremony, but the welcoming ceremony is indispensable. Invite relatives and friends, and light up the sedan chair in front of the door. The joy room offers 72 complete gods for the purpose of matchmaking.

  What surprised me was that in the luxurious room on the first floor of Dongjia, I saw a low table set up on the bed in the master bedroom, with a photo of "the groom" on it. In front of the photo were apples, bananas, dragon fruit and several plates of Longfeng喜饼 (a type of Chinese pastry).

  Under the photo is a big red flower with a ribbon attached that reads "New Groom".

  This made me jump out of my skin, it was as if it were real, just like the groom sitting on the bed, waiting for the bride's arrival...

  But in this case, I'm not suitable for speaking out of turn. As someone who doesn't understand anything, if I were to come here and spout nonsense, that would be purely asking for trouble.

  So I followed Yin Lao Liu all the time, and Yin Lao Liu also frankly told Dong Jia that I was his apprentice when they introduced my identity.

  I thought that since we came here, Old Six Yin would have some business to attend to. After all, he's here to help others with their affairs. But what surprised me was that for the entire day, Old Six Yin acted as if he had nothing to do, except for running around eating and drinking at other people's homes. He didn't seem to be doing anything else, making it seem like he came here just to freeload, which made me feel embarrassed too.

  But such performance completely changed near nightfall.

  At 8 o'clock in the evening, Yin Lao Liu took out a red note from his own pocket. Yin Lao Liu told me that this was a dragon and phoenix note, which was given to him by the host. This kind of note can only be held by the matchmaker, with this note, it means that the matchmaking is successful, he can accompany the man to the woman's home to propose. Although in fact, he got this note without doing anything, it's a bit unreasonable, but this is a procedure, following the procedure is correct.

  Hold on to the dragon and phoenix tablet, Old Sixth Yin told me to pay attention to what he was going to do next. He said that next, he would start helping the groom with the betrothal gifts.

  What is called "dingli" actually means betrothal gift. I carefully looked at the dingli that Old Six Yin had prepared, half of which were real clothes and fabrics, truly big red envelopes. The other half, however, were paper-made fake items: a set of clothing made of paper, including a jacket, pants, socks, and shoes, as well as two pairs of brocade boxes containing earrings, bangles, rings, and bracelets. All these paper-made funeral objects had been brought by Old Six Yin himself beforehand. He told me that all these things would be burned tonight in front of the bride's family gate.

  Must be incinerated!

  You said burning those paper things is nothing, but burning those real silk fabrics, the genuine red tickets, isn't that a waste of family property? I took a rough look, and those red tickets are worth at least several thousand yuan...

  But the world of rich people is something I don't understand, to propose a marriage for their deceased son, they even gave 600,000 yuan as betrothal gifts, with this kind of money spent, we can't say it's unjust, anyway ordinary commoners generally can't do such "daring" things!

  Everything was ready, the master had put his son's photo on the sedan chair in front of the gate, and with a shout to lift the sedan chair, we set off amidst the sound of drums and music.

  Along the way, I walked at the front of the wedding procession with Yin Laoliu. He held a bowl in his hand, which contained some water, and from time to time he sprinkled it on both sides of the road. Yin Laoliu told me that this bowl was filled with rainwater, belonging to the rootless water. The reason for sprinkling this rainwater is that it's an old tradition left by our ancestors, and sprinkling water means driving away those ghosts who come to grab the bride...

  After our procession had blown and beaten for nearly an hour, we arrived at a small household. The leader in front told us that the "relative's home" had arrived, which was this household.

  When we arrived, the "relatives" hurried out to greet us, then took the betrothal gifts and placed them outside the door. Next, Old Sixth Yin led me to where the betrothal gifts were placed, then picked up a match for lighting incense and burned all the betrothal gifts in front of everyone from both families...

  During the burning process, Yin Lao Liu told me that this is called Na Li. After a fire has been burned, it means that the other party has accepted the betrothal gift. Next should be the woman's dowry being sent over. The woman's dowry was all paper-made funeral objects. Once back at the man's house, after circling around the man's house once, another fire would also burn everything clean.

  As Yin Lao Liu said, after Ding Li was burned to death, the bride's family also sent a paper-made dowry, which was received by the groom's relatives.

  But what makes me puzzled is that the bride's relative who sent the dowry, no matter how I look at her, feels familiar, as if I've seen her somewhere before, but where exactly, I just can't remember...

  After receiving the dowry on this side, the next step is to cover the bride's photo with a red veil, enter the sedan chair, and then lift the sedan and return to the groom's home.

  On the way back, Old Six Yin told me that what follows are some insignificant formalities. After the wedding sedan returned to the groom's home, our matchmaker took out the "new wife" photo and placed it on the ancestral altar on the bed in the bridal chamber, alongside the "new bridegroom". The two photos were tied together with a red ribbon ( symbolizing the Old Man Under the Moon tying the red thread), and attached to it were red and yellow silk threads.

  The matchmaker offers incense and kowtows to the 72 gods, which is equivalent to the couple worshiping heaven and earth. Then other relatives bring out "union wine", "descendant dumplings" and "longevity noodles" to offer in front of the newlywed couple's photo or memorial tablet. If the newlyweds have younger brothers and sisters, they are called out to kowtow and pay respects to the photos. The two families then congratulate each other.

  After the above ceremony, choose a "lucky day" suitable for breaking the ground and burying, the bride can then be lifted.

  According to Mr. Yin Yang's (also referring to Old Six Yin) designated time, after the coffin was lifted out, a bucket of clear water was immediately poured into the pit, and two apples were thrown in. At the same time, red paper money was raised high.

  The male side then digs a hole on the side of the grave, exposing the groove of the "groom's" coffin, and buries the "bride" in this hole, performing the "husband and wife" joint burial.

  After the burial, in front of the tomb, wine and fruit were set up, incense was burned, and red paper money was offered to hold a wedding ceremony. The parents and relatives of both sides (i.e., the two families) cried and said "Great joy". From then on, the two families treated each other as relatives...

  After being told by Lao Liu, I suddenly felt enlightened. I didn't expect that a fake marriage would be more complicated than a real one.

  When we arrived at the groom's home, it was already around 10 o'clock in the evening. We first walked around the groom's house and then burned the bride's dowry. Then, my "master" Yin Laoliu came to the front of the sedan chair, took out the photos of the couple, and prepared to head towards the wedding room that the groom had previously prepared. I followed behind him, obediently acting as an attendant.

  Just at this moment, for some reason, a strange gust of wind suddenly blew up in the sky. This strange gust of wind came quickly and instantly blew so hard that all of us could hardly open our eyes. When the gust of wind stopped, when I opened my eyes, I found that the red veil covering the bride's photo held by Yin Laoliu had been blown away without a trace.

  I took a look and found that the "bride" photo was similar to the "groom", also with a big red flower, tied with ribbons, and written with the word "bride".

  But when I caught a glimpse of the bride's appearance in the photo with the residual light around me, I became disheartened and my face turned very unsightly.

  How could it be her?

  She... how did she become someone else's bride?!

  The woman in this photo is all too familiar to me. She's actually my third girlfriend, Zhang Xinyue, who was just strangled to death by the elevator!

  Yes, my third girlfriend was her, her name is Zhang Xinyue, but how did she become...become...

  At this moment, I was completely crazy. I didn't know why things had developed like this. So I ran quickly to the front of Yin Laoliu with red eyes, snatched the photo frame with Zhang Xinyue's photo from his hand, and roared at him in anger: "Give it to me! She can't be married off like that!"

  When I suddenly flew into a rage, snatched the woman's photo and said such words, Yin Lao Liu's face changed slightly as he came back to his senses. However, he didn't directly rebuke me, but instead looked around at the night scene, raised his right hand to count on his fingers, and finally stared at me in a daze, asking

  "What's wrong with you? It's none of your business if someone else gets married! What's gotten into you?"

  When asked by Yin Lao Liu, I was at a loss for words. I couldn't say she was my ex-girlfriend, could I? Besides, even if I said that, as her boyfriend before she passed away, one who only spent a month with her and didn't get the approval of her parents, I had no right to interfere with their wedding plans...

  I gritted my teeth and finally retorted, "Look at this beautiful girl in the photo. You want to arrange a marriage for her just like that? Has she agreed to it herself? This is called being self-righteous and taking things into your own hands!"

  Seeing me say this suddenly, Yin Lao Liu replied to me: "What is called self-righteousness? The orders of parents, the words of matchmakers, have been around since ancient times. Besides, the reason why both sets of parents are so extravagant and wasteful in holding their wedding ceremony is that they are afraid that after they die, one person will be left alone and helpless, and when they go to another world, they can also have a companion to accompany them, and someone to take care of them. The parents are kind-hearted."

  "But... but what if your family's daughter doesn't want to?" I argued strongly.

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