Zhang Fengxi was unable to sleep that night, and he knew why.
It was because Xie Jianyu was an obnoxious liar. He could lie without getting red in the face at all!
As such an expert liar, he possibly lied about every single answer on the list, too!
Zhang Fengxi had to restrain himself from barging into Xie Jianyu’s bedroom and forcing him to tell the truth.
But then if he did that, he had to explain why he knew about Xie Jianyu’s lie. He couldn’t just tell the oga that he sneaked into his bedroom once and overheard the latter’s conversation with Xie Jianshen, right?
Arghhhhhhhh!!!
Zhang Fengxi howled into his quilt.
Clearly, Xie Jianyu fell in love before.
Zhang Fengxi heard it himself.
Or wait...
The alpha bit into a corner of his quilt.
Was it "love" or "like"?
...
It was "like", wasn’t it?
It was not "love".
Indignation caused Zhang Fengxi to bite harder into his quilt. The fine fabric was unable to withstand the abuse. It quickly ripped into pieces, sending broken-off strands of fiber into Zhang Fengxi’s mouth.
Zhang Fengxi spat out the strands of fiber. He then threw his quilt aside and climbed off his bed angrily.
Even walking in circles failed to diminish his vexation. Zhang Fengxi hugged a bedpost and bumped his forehead repeatedly against it.
"Stupid, stupid Zhang Fengxi," he chastised himself in a low voice. "You are engaged to Wenyuan and Xie Jianyu is engaged to your little cousin! Why are you ruffling your feathers because he does not love you?"
He knew all that, but the sour feelings in his heart remained. It intensified when he saw Xie Jianyu again in the morning.
"Good morning," Xie Jianyu said.
"Hm. Good morning," Zhang Fengxi answered, his voice as cold as his eyes.
"..."
If Xie Jianyu noticed anything, he decided not to do anything about it. He asked about the doll-making progress instead.
"The entire town is working on it," Zhang Fengxi was more than glad to have sothing else to talk about. "If everything goes well, we can conduct the mass ghost wedding ceremony at midnight."
"Mmm. I will make all the necessary arrangents, then."
Afterward, Xie Jianyu disappeared for hours. Zhang Fengxi was starting to get worried when Xie Jianyu finally returned a shichen close to midnight.
"Where were you?" Zhang Fengxi asked in an exasperated voice. He tried hard not to sound like an over-anxious wife who was waiting for her husband to co ho.
Xie Jianyu brought two pairs of purple robes with him. One for him and one for Zhang Fengxi.
"It is a wedding, so we need to dress accordingly," he said.
"Oh. Good idea."
Zhang Fengxi was stunned to find that his robe was tailored to match his size perfectly. How did Xie Jianyu know about his asurents, again?
As instructed by Zhang Fengxi, the twenty-four pairs of dolls were lined up along the path that led to the Ghost Mistress of Ceremony’s temple.
As soon as Zhang Fengxi and Xie Jianyu arrived, a thick red smoke oozed out of the temple. It condensed and took the form of a young lady with a white face and red lips.
The Ghost Mistress of Ceremony was wearing her ceremonial robe, ready to officiate the mass ghost wedding.
"Crown Prince, Prince Zhang Fengxi, welco. Let’s tie the knots for all these lucky couples on this auspicious night!"
The Ghost Mistress of Ceremony then clapped with her hands once. Answering her call, nurous pairs of little boys and girls in pink and blue clothes hopped out of the temple.
All the children shared the sa smiling face that remained unchanged.
"Dolls?" Zhang Fengxi whispered to Xie Jianyu.
"Seems like it," Xie Jianyu answered.
The dadadada footsteps resonated in the area when the little boy and girl dolls marched toward the lined-up bride and groom dolls.
The little boy and girl dolls started to sing as they tugged at the bride and groom dolls. After so ti, they ca alive. Despite their stiff and uncoordinated movents, they eventually moved according to the smaller dolls’ instructions.
From the temple, they walked with the dolls toward the barren farmlands.
Xie Jianyu and Zhang Fengxi watched with amazent when the dark wisps of smoke that hovered over the cursed soil slowly unraveled and separated into multiple entities. One by one, the ghosts of the murdered young won stepped out of the cursed fields. They entered the bride dolls one by one.
Once the ghosts entered the dolls’ bodies, the dolls took the appearance of the young won when they were still alive.
Dressed as young brides with red veils covering their heads, the ghosts walked silently alongside their partners.
After all twenty-four ghosts entered the dolls, the Ghost Mistress of Ceremony swung her staff and opened up a reddish portal in the air.
"Beloved brides and grooms, please enter the wedding ceremony venue!" she said cheerfully.
A lodious song poured out from the smaller dolls’ unmoving lips as the bride and groom dolls slowly moved into the portal.
"The happiest day in a woman’s life
is when she gets to put on white powder
and red blushes for her man.
Oh, my groom please quickly co
for I have waited a long ti
for you to take my hand and make your bride..."
Xie Jianyu and Zhang Fengxi held their breaths when the last dolls disappeared through the portal.
"Is that it?" Zhang Fengxi asked. "Can we go now?"
His question was answered when the little boy dolls started pushing him toward the portal.
"What? Oi, stop pushing!"
On the other side, Xie Jianyu was also being ushered into the portal by the little girl dolls.
"We are the wedding guests, so we need to attend the wedding," Xie Jianyu explained. "Let’s just go. There is no harm in it."
Xie Jianyu disappeared into the portal, followed by the many little girl dolls.
"Xie Jianyu!"
Zhang Fengxi hurriedly followed after him.
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