On the joyous wedding day, the bristling bride finally met the groom she was to marry.
There was no hand lifting the bridal veil, no shared nuptial cup, no candlelit wedding chamber—none of the things she had imagined happened. Now, the groom stood before her, not wearing wedding robes, his eyes turned crimson.
—Could it be pink eye?
Xin Mei looked at her hands, then at him, debating whether to pummel him into a pancake right then or magnanimously give him a chance to explain, showcasing her virtuous demeanor.
Before she could decide, the groom spoke first: "Let Si Lan go. I’m here now. If you have something to say, say it to me."
She shoved Si Lan aside, suddenly realizing this scenario could be straight out of one of those popular operatic scripts.
The next moment, Lu Qianqiao might very well put on a twisted expression of aloofness, his cold, thin lips spitting out cruel and scornful words like, "I never liked you," or "It was all your own delusion." Then, after she ran off in tearful fury, the seemingly heartless yet deeply devoted male lead would slowly cough up blood, weakly leaning on Si Lan or some other support before collapsing, with apricot blossoms scattering in the background, all to underscore the heart-wrenching sentiment of "I love you but won’t let you know."
The sheer nausea of her own imagination made her stumble back three steps. She shrieked, "Lu Qianqiao, you’ve got it backward! You’re the one who owes me an explanation! And none of that disgusting nonsense!"
True to form, he obliged with a nod. "The Transformation Tribulation has begun. Whether I’ll survive is uncertain."
Was he afraid that if he died, she’d become a widow in less than a month? Xin Mei crossed her arms and resumed her imaginings: him collapsing, coughing blood, and trembling out, ["Si Lan… don’t let her know the truth… It’s not pink eye. I just don’t want her to be a widow later…"]
Goosebumps erupted all over her. She roared, "Change your reason!"
"The marriage was arranged by my mother," Lu Qianqiao remained calm throughout. "She was the one in the carriage that day. Even among the War Ghost Clan, she holds a highly esteemed position. For such a trivial matter, Rong Zhengdi was more than happy to grant her favor. If I don’t survive the Transformation Tribulation, neither will you. You’ll have to be buried with me, so I won’t be too lonely in death."
She was finally stunned. "Buried alive? I… I never heard about this…"
He smiled faintly, his expression dark. "Xin Mei, if you insist on marrying me, then come and die with me."
He extended a hand. "Come here. We can have our wedding night tonight."
She hastily retreated another three steps, hiding behind a tree and peeking out with just her head, scrutinizing him suspiciously. "R-really?"
Lu Qianqiao stared at her steadily. "Whether I marry you or not makes little difference. But now, you’ve become my mother’s pawn to pressure me—my burden. I had planned to quietly avoid this, yet you made such a grand spectacle of coming here…"
His indifferent tone infuriated her. "I don’t want to hear any of that! Lu Qianqiao, do you dare say what you really think?! Do you not want to marry me? Do you not like me?"
Her bold, sharp questions even stunned Si Lan. Even among demonesses, none had ever been so brazen and shameless.
Lu Qianqiao didn’t evade her gaze. After a pause, he finally said slowly, "I don’t dislike you.""Why did you run away from the wedding then?"
"...I didn't like you enough to marry you at all costs."
She fell silent.
Lu Qianqiao turned around and said softly, "Xin Mei, do you really want to marry me that badly? Then come with me. While I can still move, let's be a real couple for a few days."
A long time passed—so long that Si Lan thought she would never speak again—when Xin Mei suddenly broke the silence.
"Lu Qianqiao," she asked, "do you remember when I asked you to make me a General Puppet as a birthday gift? Did you finish it?"
He frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and then realized, "I forgot."
"...Fine. Since you've gone this far... If I stay any longer, I'll only be humiliating myself. I'm leaving—"
She stepped out from behind the tree and suddenly laughed. "—Did you think I'd say that and obediently walk away?"
Lu Qianqiao stared in astonishment at her raised face. From start to finish, she stood so straight—so straight it was almost proud, as if nothing could break her. Her eyes were startlingly bright, burning with something that could only be described as fury.
"You coward!"
She moved like a ghost, lunging at him in an instant. The next moment, her fist struck his face. He had no time to react and fell backward. Suddenly, she was on top of him, gripping his collar and shaking him violently, roaring, "You think I'm that easy to fool?! I've seen this act in operatic scripts countless times! Dare you say again that you don't like me?! Dare you?!"
As the living, breathing General of Agile Cavalry was nearly shaken apart, Si Lan stood by in frantic distress, wanting to intervene but unable to. Xin Mei's strength in her rage was terrifying—he wouldn't stand a chance against her even if there were ten of him.
"First, you toy with my feelings, then my pride! And now you even plan to toy with my body?!" She grabbed him and began hitting him. "You think I won't do it?! Even if you die tomorrow, tonight you're going to have your wedding night with me first! Come on! Let's go!"
She seized his thin, soft robe and tore it with a loud rip, exposing his pale, firm chest to the wind.
Si Lan was on the verge of fainting from panic. The general's chastity! His precious virtue was about to be ruined by this demon?! Just as he was about to intervene at all costs, noisy footsteps suddenly approached from beyond the apricot grove. The wedding officials seemed to have followed the commotion, calling out loudly, "Miss! General? We heard voices—are you here?"
Xin Mei roared, "Get lost! We're consummating the marriage!"
Silence fell instantly.
"S-sorryyyyyyy...!"
The officials fled in tears. A fierce life truly needed no explanation—if they could consummate their marriage in the woods, what couldn't they do fiercely?
Still gripping the tattered collar of Lu Qianqiao's robe, she was contemplating how exactly to proceed with the wedding night when he suddenly grasped her wrist lightly.
He lay on his back, his black hair splayed across the ground. The corner of his left lip was split from her punch, a thin trail of blood trickling down, yet he showed no sign of pain. He simply looked at her quietly and murmured, "Xin Mei, stop fooling around."
Another punch landed, this time on his right cheek, as if shattering a tooth. He winced, spat out a mouthful of blood, and with it came half a broken tooth."Do you know how happy my father was? And now you're telling me to go back? Why didn't you say so earlier?! Who asked you to send me a doll?! Who asked you to care about me?! Who's the one being the most unreasonable here?!"
"...Did you really want to marry me that much?" Lu Qianqiao asked softly in a low voice.
Her fist paused mid-air. Xin Mei stared at him fixedly, suddenly at a loss for words.
He slowly closed his eyes and gently patted her head, his voice tender: "I'm sorry for shattering your bride dreams."
Wearing the wedding dress just once in a lifetime, feeling that nervous shyness under the veil just once, sitting in the wedding carriage wondering about his feelings—her mind had been completely filled with thoughts of him. So it turned out she had truly wanted to marry him that much.
"Yes!" Her voice was fierce and loud. "I really wanted to marry you! So what?!"
Lu Qianqiao kept his eyes tightly shut, his eyelashes trembling violently. He felt alternating waves of cold and heat running down his back, his wrists beginning to shake uncontrollably.
"Transformation? Funeral sacrifices? I don't care about any of that! Using those reasons to send me away—you're so childish!" She grabbed his face with both hands and shook him hard. "Open your eyes! No running away!"
Trembling, he opened his eyes to meet hers—bright as the sun. There was no self-pitying sorrow, no affected modesty. Xin Mei never needed those so-called virtuous feminine traits as embellishments. She only said what she wanted to say, did what she wanted to do, and loved... who she wanted to love.
"I..." His throat constricted, rendering him speechless.
She exhaled and released him: "Then let's continue our wedding night."
"You—you've gone too far!" Si Lan finally exploded, his face flushed red. "Look around! Where do you think we are? I'm still here! What wedding night?!"
Xin Mei gave him a surprised glance: "You're still here?"
"You—!" He pointed a shaking finger at her, stars dancing before his eyes.
Suddenly, the sound of an old ox's mooing came from above. All three looked up to see a rickety oxcart slowly descending from the clouds, accompanied by a small black dot circling rapidly around it, emitting an especially shrill caw. After circling the apricot grove once, it seemed to spot them and flew straight in—it was Little Crow.
"General! Little Crow has woken up. About that matter you asked—"
Meishan Jun, unseen for so long, nimbly jumped down from the oxcart, his face full of urgency. But when he took in the scene in the grove, he froze completely.
This... was Xiao Mei sitting on... on the General? And what was she wearing... a wedding dress? Rags? A torn skirt? Wh-what was going on? Then looking at the General—lying on his back, one hand supporting her back, the other stretched out comfortably, clothes in complete disarray with a large expanse of bare chest exposed... Both of them—one flushed, the other teary-eyed...
Meishan Jun staggered back, his flowery countenance draining of color: "You... you... what are you doing?!"
"Having their wedding night," Si Lan finally seized the chance to speak up after being treated as background scenery. "Immortal Meishan, what a coincidence for you to arrive at this moment. Is there something important?"
"Wed... wedding night?!" The words struck like a thunderbolt, sending Meishan Jun stumbling back several more steps.He had only been busy for a little over a month tending to Little Crow's injuries—how had they already gotten married? And... even consummated the marriage?! General, did you have to move so fast?
"...Speak if you have something to say." Lu Qianqiao frowned.
He was impatient! Giving him the look to hurry up and leave, not to disturb their wedding night!
Meishan Jun's tears instantly streamed down as he choked out, "About the Transformation Tribulation of Hybrid War Ghosts... it's not that no one can survive... Little Crow only found out this much before... before being injured by the General's clansmen..."
Lu Qianqiao pondered for a moment but didn't react with the ecstatic joy Meishan had imagined—he merely nodded. "Thank you. Si Lan, give him the recipe for the Heaven-Worshiping and God-Rewarding Wine as compensation."
Si Lan took out a thin booklet from his robes and handed it over. "Immortal Meishan, thank you."
Meishan Jun accepted the booklet in a daze, somehow lacking even the slightest interest in flipping through it. He stared blankly at Xin Mei, silently weeping as he muttered, "Little Mei... you... you married him just like that?"
She replied without hesitation, "Yes. Lord Meishan, you should head back first. We'll visit you when we have time."
No no, you should come alone!
"...Let's go." Lu Qianqiao's face reddened slightly. "Xin Mei... you, get up first."
Still fuming, she huffed, "Hmph! No more wedding night?"
He lightly tapped her forehead. "Alright, get up."
Meishan Jun watched blankly as the three of them disappeared into the depths of the apricot blossom forest. A cold wind swept past, swirling up layers of snow-white petals as ghost fires flickered among the trees, accompanied by eerie wails...
Had... had he come today just to humiliate himself?
He really wanted to cry.
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