Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Ning Wanlai didn’t know why Xie Lingya suddenly looked cold. He thought that Xie Lingya’s expression would become more solemn if he said it, “Uh, Teacher Xie, so what do you think…?”
“I think it’s quite a coincidence, I also have a little friendship with the ghost king.” Xie Lingya said in a low-key manner, “What do you think, go to the female ghost’s parents first?”
Ning Wanlai was pleasantly surprised. He didn’t expect that what he was most worried about was not a big problem with Teacher Xie. It’s amazing. He actually had some friendship with the Ghost King, and it was such a coincidence. There were four Ghost Kings. Teacher Xie still knew the Eastern Ghost King, but he didn’t know if he had a closer friendship with him than Sun Qingxiang.
He hurriedly said: “Yes, I have already asked for the address.”
“Then go find them.” Xie Lingya said.
Ghost marriage was also called intimate marriage. In the early years when an unmarried man and woman passed away, the family would arrange a ghost marriage and bury both parties together so that they would not be alone underground.
Moreover, in the old days, women were buried in the ancestral graves of their husbands’ families, and those who died unmarried were not allowed to be buried in their own ancestral graves. Parents could not bear to have their children buried alone, so they found them a secret relative.
In fact, even in ancient times, this custom was criticized, and it was considered that ghost marriage “violated the national prohibition and was incompatible with human relations.”
The bad practice of ghost marriage was now rare, but it was not unheard of, especially in more remote rural areas. When Xie Lingya was a child, he heard from his uncle that someone wanted to marry a child who died of illness, so he asked where he could sell the ingots he had folded and recited.
This was still a good thing. In some places, bad practices had revived and become more and more serious. Some people would steal bones, buy corpses, and resell them to be used as sex partners. In serious cases, there were also criminal acts of killing innocent people without corpses.
Moreover, Sun Qingxiang’s situation was different from others, and his thoughts were even different.
The real name of the female ghost he wanted to marry his son was Chen Man. Her parents were ordinary workers. After Chen Man passed away a few years ago, the family lost its only child. Mother Chen originally wanted to have another child, but her health did not allow it, so she decided to adopt one.
After Xie Lingya discussed with Ning Wanlai, he took Ning Wanlai to Chen Man’s parents’ house first. This time, he didn’t have to bother Shi Changxuan.
Chen Man’s parents lived in the old city. The two of them took the bus to the community. Because it was an old community, security was not tight, so they went straight in.
Downstairs from Chen Man’s parents’ house, he saw an aunt moving boxes from the car. Xie Lingya looked at it and asked, “Auntie, do you want help?”
“Thank you, my things are not heavy.” The woman said to Xie Lingya smiled very kindly, picked up a cardboard box in one hand and walked towards the door downstairs.
When she was passing by him, Xie Lingya lowered his eyes and saw that her half-open box was filled with gold and paper ingots.
Xie Lingya had an idea at that time and said to Ning Wanlai: “This can’t be Chen Man’s mother, right?”
Ning Wanlai didn’t look at the aunt’s face carefully and couldn’t remember if she looked like Chen Man, but he still said: “It’s possible, unless it so happens that a neighbor in the same building is doing something for nothing.”
They followed the woman to the fifth floor, and when they saw her stop, they were indeed at Chen Man’s house.
Mother Chen opened the door and saw the two young men stopping behind her, making her wonder. Many houses in this community were rented out. So, she didn’t pay attention when she saw them coming up. She just thought they were new tenants, but then they stopped in front of her house.
“Excuse me, are you Chen Man’s mother?” Ning Wanlai asked.
Mother Chen had a strange look on her face, “…I am, who are you?”
She had never known these two people. It had been several years since Chen Man passed away. Could it be that there was a friend from his lifetime that he found just now?
“Is it convenient to go in and have a chat? I am Chen Man’s friend.” Ning Wanlai said. Seeing that Mother Chen looked a little distrustful, he added, “There are some things we want to discuss with you about her.”
Mother Chen originally thought that these two young men were energetic and handsome, and they even wanted to help her downstairs. They also didn’t look like liars. But when Ning Wanlai said this, she immediately felt like she was being cheated. Her face thus sank, and she reached out to close the door. “Why don’t you find out clearly, who is my daughter’s friend? Chen Man has passed away, what else do you want to discuss?”
Xie Lingya arrived at the door and said, “Of course it’s about her marriage!”
Mother Chen paused and asked, “Did Mr. Sun ask you to come?” Only a few relatives were told about the underworld marriage for Chen Man, because when the underworld wedding was held, people would have to be the guests of honor for the wedding.
“I said, I am Chen Man’s friend.” Ning Wanlai emphasized again.
At this time, a man came out of the house, “What’s going on? Who is it?”
“They said they were Man Man’s friends and wanted to discuss Man Man’s marriage.” Mother Chen said, still feeling confused, but seeing her husband at home, she was not so nervous anymore.
Father Chen looked at them, but didn’t think much about what they could do in broad daylight. “Then come in and talk.”
Mother Chen had no choice but to let them in but she didn’t close the door.
Xie Lingya saw that there were some paper houses and computers in their home. According to custom, these should have been given by the man.
There was also a seven or eight-year-old child sleeping on the sofa. He must have been adopted later. Mother Chen carried the child into the room before coming out.
“Are you Man Man’s friends from before she was alive?” Father Chen asked.
“We’re friends, but we weren’t in life.” Ning Wanlai said, he was a little nervous because it was his first time doing such a thing.
Father Chen and Mother Chen were speechless for a moment, thinking that Ning Wanlai was talking nonsense.
“He can see some things that ordinary people can’t see,” Xie Lingya explained at the side, “so he met your daughter, and it was Chen Man who told him that she was going to be forced to have a secret marriage.”
Xie Lingya’s, this “forced” made Father Chen and Mother Chen no longer suspicious of them, and they said with great confidence: “Man Man passed away, it’s so lonely… Mr. Sun said this… We are also doing it for Man Man’s good.”
“It is said that you two are not superstitious about ghosts and gods at all and have never even tried to get her saved. How can you do this kind of thing because you are worried about the loneliness of your children?” Ning Wanlai was a little unhappy when he mentioned it, “I’m afraid you feel that death is just like the light being turned off, you can leave it alone, and you can still make some money.”
Chen Man had told Ning Wanlai that her parents were not superstitious. At this time, Father Chen’s face changed, “What nonsense are you talking about?”
Father Chen had originally said so. They came in to chat, but they couldn’t sit still anymore and stood up to chase them away.
“You yourselves know in your hearts whether what I said is true or false. Chen Man told me personally that you didn’t believe it at all. You just took the good things from others and went out.” Ning Wanlai said, “Even if she dies, you can’t use her marriage to make profits without authorization. Come on!”
Xie Lingya pressed Ning Wanlai and said: “You two, you may not believe that there are ghosts in the world before, so Sun Qingxiang didn’t spend much effort to get you to agree. We also came to explain that Chen Man does have another way, and she is very unwilling to marry Sun Qingxiang’s son. Can you consider suspending the marriage? We believe that you have been in a relationship for more than 20 years and can not bear the pain of her death, if necessary I can try to let you see Chen Man and ask her personally.”
Father Chen and Mother Chen’s faces were burning. Xie Lingya’s words were more tactful than Ning Wanlai’s, but they still meant the same. They were afraid that what Xie Lingya said was true and wanted to know if Chen Man still had thoughts, and they were unwilling.
That’s right, when Sun Qingxiang approached them at first, they thought it was ridiculous and refused. But Sun Qingxiang mentioned that he was willing to give a betrothal gift, which was a considerable amount of income for them. They still had a child at home, and they thought that having a ghost marriage might not have any impact, so they finally agreed.
They told those few relatives and friends that they had changed their minds and were still afraid that their daughter would be alone, but when Ning Wanlai told her, it was really embarrassing no matter whether there were ghosts in the world or not.
Seeing their expressions, Xie Lingya seemed to be relaxed, so he whispered to Ning Wanlai. His spiritual eyes could not be opened to others, so he used Ning Wanlai’s body to summon Chen Man.
Ning Wanlai was an impermanent person and was very suitable for inviting ghosts to take possession of him. Although he had never done it, Xie Lingya taught him the method in advance, step by step.
Ning Wanlai lit three sticks of incense, put seven grains of glutinous rice in his mouth, recited a mantra, pointed out the place where Chen Man was buried, and then suddenly passed out, his whole body stiff and cold.
Father Chen and Mother Chen were actually hesitating. Seeing Ning Wanlai pass away as if dead, they were so frightened that they wanted to call an ambulance.
“It’s okay, wait.” Xie Lingya said, and just a few seconds after saying it, “Ning Wanlai” slowly woke up.
“Ning Wanlai” turned over and pinched his right hand with the fingers of his left hand a few times.
Just such a small move stunned Father Chen and Mother Chen. Chen Man had tenosynovitis before her death, and her hands often hurt, so she rubbed her hands whenever she had nothing to do.
“Ning Wanlai” was almost exactly the same as Chen Man in both movements and demeanor!
At this time, “Ning Wanlai” saw them and shouted with a complicated expression: “Dad, Mom.”
Father Chen and Mother Chen were a little afraid to agree, “You, are you really Man Man?”
“Yes.” Chen Man’s attitude towards her parents was a little awkward. It was impossible to say that she had no resentment in her heart. But after calming down for a while, she said, “When I was a child, our family lived in an old house. My mother took me to visit our neighbor’s grandma’s house. The door of the house was loose, so I pushed hard and fell out, causing a cut on my chin. My mother laughed at me at the time, but later she discovered that my face was covered in blood, and asked the neighbor grandma to bring me a band-aid.”
No one knew about this. Chen Man still had a thin scar on her chin. When she told the details, the muscles on Chen Man’s parents’ face trembled.
Even though they had married off Chen Man in secret, her parents didn’t believe that people would turn into ghosts after death, until Chen Man possessed Ning Wanlai.
From knowing the details that outsiders didn’t know, to the speed and rhythm of her speaking, she was clearly their daughter.
Father Chen and Mother Chen couldn’t help but feel guilty after their three views were subverted. So, Mother Chen cried: “Man Man, mother is sorry for you.”
Chen Man’s expression was still a little cold. She had been crying for too long, and she felt really sad at this time. She couldn’t cry anymore and just said: “Mom, I really don’t want to marry Sun Qingxiang’s son. I know that after I die, there will be no real money or silver to rely on. But if you can remember the love we have had for more than twenty years, please let me go, I will be really grateful.”
After saying that, the three sticks of incense had almost reached their end, so Ning Wanlai’s body fell back, and Chen Man left.
When Ning Wanlai regained consciousness, he saw that Mother Chen was crying and Father Chen was covering his face with one hand, looking very guilty. Chen Man’s words made them feel so uncomfortable that they wished they could pay back the deposit they received right now. Although they were temporarily obsessed with money, the couple still had feelings for their daughter.
Ning Wanlai could hear them talking just now, and asked now: “Do you believe it now?”
Mother Chen whispered: “Old Chen, we still…”
“No, no, no.” Father Chen looked pained and said, “No more marriage. I will return all the things.”
Xie Lingya asked, “Did he just give these papers?”
Mother Chen said, “There are still a few pieces of paper.” She rummaged through the drawer. He came out and showed it to Xie Lingya, “It seems to be a marriage document.”
They were several handwritten ghost marriage documents, all written with a brush. Xie Lingya opened one document and saw the names of both parties, witnesses and other information written on it. There were also a few lines of words:
If you die young and sleep alone in Quan Palace, you are not engaged in marriage, you will die alone. The two surnames are Xu, so they get married in the underworld. When choosing a good divination, the etiquette will be auspicious.
The specific auspicious date was also stated at the back, when both parties would be buried together.
There were also documents such as tomb rites and warnings to ghosts and gods, all written in classical Chinese, probably written by Sun Qingxiang. The entire text was sad and solemn, blending the atmosphere of a wedding and a ritual ceremony.
“Already the marriage contract has been signed?” Xie Lingya looked serious, “Fortunately, the marriage contract has not been burned yet. We need to cancel it quickly. The only last step is to move and bury her. In the past, your daughter would have been half a ghost of the Sun family already.”
“Probably. It’s okay, I’ll call Mr. Sun now.” Father Chen took out his phone.
Xie Lingya saw that it didn’t look like they knew Sun Qingxiang’s real occupation. Seeing that Father Chen wanted to call, he didn’t say anything yet.
After Father Chen called, he apologized to Sun Qingxiang and wanted to break off the engagement and return all the money and stuff. They probably asked why. Father Chen and Xie Lingya looked at each other and said, “…my daughter gave me a dream. She, she has someone she likes.”
Then they didn’t know what Sun Qingxiang said. But Father Chen put his phone away.
“What did he say?” Ning Wanlai asked.
Father Chen’s expression was not very good, “Hung up.” After a while, he added, “… Let us keep the things for ourselves to burn.”
“This…” Mother Chen felt uncomfortable, although it was not good for them to go back on their word, but this curse was quite vicious.
Xie Lingya was interested, but Father Chen was holding a grudge. “Convert these into RMB and return them to his account together with the previous deposit. I would rather overcalculate than be short.”
He took out three more amulets and said, “At home each person wears one, and should not take it off except when taking a bath.”
Father Chen and Mother Chen didn’t understand why, so Xie Lingya said: “Sun Qingxiang himself is also familiar with Feng Shui magic, and I am afraid that he will take revenge on you, but it’s okay. This talisman is very effective.”
Father Chen took a look at the talisman and saw three small words on the outer rubber: Baoyang Temple.
“So you are people from the Baoyang Temple.” Father Chen remembered that he had heard of this place before, and someone also told him that the talismans in this place were very powerful, but he didn’t believe it. He felt a little safer now.
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