CH 1

“Lu Yingjiu, to break your inherent misfortune, there is only one way, that is–ghost marriage. It is the so-called ‘fight poison with poison’, I’ll definitely find you a beautiful and fierce female ghost.” The master with a goatee simply sworn.

The master never spoke seriously. The young Lu Yingjiu automatically ignored the ‘beautiful and fierce female ghost’ and asked, “Will it really work?”

“Really, since when did this master lie to you, you will be able to sleep well in the future.”

——That’s how the ghost marriage came to be.

It took half a year to prepare for the ceremony, and the master had been making arrangements for a long time, until the anticipated day, which was the day of the Ghost Festival.

That day, Lu Yingjiu stood in front of a closed window. He was still young yet could only gaze and look out from the window. Rain slid down from the glass, the sky was dim, and the yard was full of people, which looked like a group of silent crows. Soon, small voices were heard through the gap of the window.

“Have you heard? This child is miserable. He has been haunted by all kinds of ghosts since he was a child.”

“In my opinion, he won’t survive next year. It’s a pity, he’s such a beautiful child.” 

“What’s the use of this ghost marriage? No matter how evil the ghost is, they can’t suppress his inherent misfortune.”

“…”

The master specifically instructed that the parents should not come together with him. When saying goodbye, his mother held his hand, and there seemed to be tears in her eyes, but she turned her face away immediately, wiped it with the back of her hand, and finally smiled.

“Come back soon.”

****

Lu Yingjiu changed into a bright red and gold silk robe, and headed towards the place surrounded by a crowd in the distance.

Clothes and jewelry made of paper, a long line of escorts, and heavy rain from the sky. Obviously there were people around him, but he felt a sense of desolation in his heart, as if he was not going to the ancient house, but to the Yellow Spring.

He had no idea how long they’d walked along the mountain road, until he finally saw the mansion from a distance.

The mansion had been abandoned for many years, and it was dead silent. The red lanterns at the door were drifting through the southern curtains, looking like blood amidst the fog.

The Master of Ceremonies pushed open the door, and the door let out a harsh squeak.

Going forward from the long winding corridor, until the end, a door was left open—the inside of the house was bright and red.

The big “囍” character was in the middle, and lanterns were hung high. There were eight heaven and earth tables in the center, covered with red tablecloths, and the red candles on each table were already weeping. At the end, on the table intended for his parents, two paper figures sat. The surrounding spectators were all wearing ghost masks and were either tall or short. They looked at Lu Yingjiu and laughed sharply and applauded.

What nobody thought was that the master was really unreliable. What he found was a wandering ghost whom he didn’t even know the origin of. There was no photo or even a tablet. No matter how the Goddess and the Master of Ceremonies shouted, it never showed up.

Lu Yingjiu just stood there, somewhat at a loss.

The ceremony was ready, and the birthday characters had been aligned, the ghost should have made some noise after, whether they like it or not, not like what was happening now.

–It neither showed itself, holding him with a cold hand to show that the contract was established, nor did it go mad with dissatisfaction and kill everyone at the wedding.

But just standing like this was not the way. Lu Yingjiu was still facing the empty opposite side, and bowed deeply. Worship heaven and earth, the parents, and to each other.

Red candles flickered, lanterns still hung high, with the word “囍” above their heads. When Lu Yingjiu looked up again, the Goddess closed her mouth shut, the Master of Ceremonies stepped back a few steps, looking pale as if he would faint in the next second. The Master knelt down and kowtowed again and again in fright. Looking at the crowd of guests, although he could not see their faces, the dead silence overwhelmed him.

Fear.

It was a fear that cannot be described in words.

What happened? Lu Yingjiu was a little puzzled, and when lowered his head, a longevity lock appeared out of thin air on his neck.

Cold, small and exquisite, lifeless, and carved with mountains and seas.

Until he left the mansion, the ghost did not appear.

On the way back, the Master of Ceremonies and the Goddess were talking nonsense and chattering nonstop. No matter how Lu Yingjiu asked, there was no result.

After finally returning home, his mother hugged him and cried happily, eventually gritted her teeth and said, “There are so many ways, what about bad luck, it’s not that you can’t live anymore.”

She was a smart and capable person. She soon picked herself up and began to figure out a new way.

When Lu Yingjiu’s dimple appeared in the corner of his cheek, the boy’s hand tightly grasped the longevity lock while biting his lip. He was not afraid, just a little sad. 

It seems that I’ve been rejected……

But it was strange to say that after that, every dream of his was peaceful.

******

Thirteen years later.

Lu Yingjiu carried a shoulder bag and looked up. The summer sun fell on his eyes, which was a kind of a soft light.

More than ten years had passed, the beautiful child being praised back then, had now grown taller, with a straight back, a youthful look and very handsome. Even the camera couldn’t capture any pores on his face. He was like someone who walked out from a cover of a magazine. Yes, anyone who saw couldn’t help but take a few more glances.

If no one mentioned, no one would have imagined that he was dealing with ghosts and monsters every day.

No one could have expected that the child who was almost killed by a ghost eventually became a top exorcist.

The Dongyang Community not far away was very old, and the walls of the buildings were peeling off.

He received a request that the third floor of Building 5 was haunted.

After entering the community, and going up the stairs, an aunt in colorful clothes came to pick him up.

“It’s here,” the aunt stood tremblingly at the end of the corridor, refusing to take  any further steps, “this public telephone rings by itself every midnight.”

“Shouldn’t you be looking for property management?” Lu Yingjiu asked. 

“However, the wire broke several years ago and was about to be removed, no one uses public telephone nowadays.”

Sounds like something. Lu Yingjiu immediately decided to stay here for the night.

This floor’s room 302 was not occupied. The old auntie spent a long time picking out a bunch of keys until her hands smelled of copper, then only did she take out the 302 room key.

When she handed the key to Lu Yingjiu, she suddenly said to him, “Lu Yingjiu, your time has come.” 

Lu Yingjiu was stunned. “Huh? What did you say?” 

Yet, as a result, the aunt was more confused than him and rubbed her hands. “Did I speak just now?”

After the aunt left, Lu Yingjiu opened the door of room 302. Inside were two bedrooms and living room, some furniture that had not yet been disposed of, and were full of dust. The sound insulation here was not good, and all kinds of sounds came from the narrow cracks of the door–the quarrels of husband and wife, the sound of cartoons, the sound of cooking and the washing dishes— basically a kind of crowded bustle. He opened the door again and looked out the hallway, where the haunted phone was lying quietly. The anti-theft net in the corridor was rusted, the sun was shining outside, a few flowers and plants were swaying in the wind, and the children running in the kindergarten could be seen in the distance.

Lu Yingjiu casted a spell, and the wind picked up automatically, sweeping away the dust in the house. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. The TV could still be used after a hard smack. Lu Yingjiu made a dent on the sofa as sat, eating and watching while holding a bag of potato chips in his hands.

Looking at it, he subconsciously touched the longevity lock on his chest. Thirteen years had already passed, and yet the longevity lock was still cold. It was the only evidence left behind by the ghost marriage. Without it, Lu Yingjiu almost thought that the wedding was completely just his imagination.

He waited until midnight.

It was quiet outside, only the sound of the ticking of the clock could be heard inside the room.

The clock displayed that it was already half past one, and the crows outside were cawing, which was particularly bleak. Lu Yingjiu looked out at the cat’s eyes. A black cat crossed the guardrail of the corridor with its tail raised. It turned its head and grinned at him, showing its white teeth.

At exactly two o’clock. Lu Yingjiu got up and stood silently against the door.

The black cat outside the door sensed something, and it raised its fur in the doors direction. After a few seconds of feeling intimidated, it ran away. The moon was dark and the wind was blowing strong outside the window. The shadows of the branches were reflected on the curtains like ghosts–and the phone rang sharply!

Lu Yingjiu rushed out and picked up the phone.

A hoarse voice came from the other end. “…Lu Yingjiu, your time has come.”

Lu Yingjiu said, “Your time has come.” 

He immediately slapped a talisman on the phone. The talisman ignited flames, forcing out a black fog which made an extremely sharp and terrifying cry!

Before it could escape, he smacked it away.

Lu Yingjiu checked the phone again to make sure that there was no residual Yin left. A very simple task, as usual, was easily solved by him.

The next day he got up early, packed his things and was ready to go home.

The aunt followed behind him and shouted, “Mr. Lu, Lu Great God! Are you sure that fellow won’t come back!”

“I’m pretty sure.” Lu Yingjiu waved his hand lazily.

***

The place where Lu Yingjiu lived was a bit remote, and it took more than 40 minutes by car from the City Center. His family lived in an old building. The exterior walls were gray and had never been painted. The only color other than gray were the clothes hanging on the balcony.

Many people’s impression of Lu Yingjiu was that he must be rich. After all, he was a top exorcist in the ghost exorcism world, and how many people were asking him to do things.

But in fact, his life was very simple, very plain. Living alone in an old building with simple decoration and few furniture. The clothes were either white shirts or sweaters and had nothing to eat. Sometimes, staying up late for a long time and drinking a few sips of health tea like an old veteran. The places he often visited were only the convenience store downstairs and the bookstore 500 meters away.

The bookstore owner saw him all the time and remembered that this young man would always be reading unpopular books, most of which were related to horror, supernatural or crime. Sometimes when he was tired from reading, he would lie on the table and take a nap, with his front hair hanging over his forehead. His back collar of the shirt would reveal a slender neck, the skin which was as white as snow in the sunlight.

One time, he hesitated a few times and asked Lu Yingjiu. “What do you do? Don’t you have a fixed working time?” 

Lu Yingjiu, who fell asleep after drinking, answered in a daze. “It’s a dangerous job.”

“Oh.” The boss said, “So you are a loan shark.” After speaking, he put away the wallet on the table nervously. 

Lu Yingjiu: “…..”

As soon as Lu Yingjiu returned home, Milk greeted him with her tail upright. Milk was a cow cat. It squatted and rubbed at Lu Yingjiu’s feet enthusiastically.

“Meow–”

Only then did Lu Yingjiu remember that there seemed to be not enough cat food at home. He scratched the cat’s chin and went out to the convenience store downstairs.

The convenience store’s light was still on, and several students inside were eating beef balls. Lu Yingjiu picked out cat food, several packs of quick-frozen food, and various daily necessities, and put them all at the cash register.

The sales clerk in the convenience store was a little girl named Tang Xiaoqian, and her eyes lit up when she saw him.

She had a ponytail, and a bow tie seemed to protrude behind her tied hair. She scanned the barcode and said, “Are you… have you been free recently?” 

Her eyes flickered, and she didn’t dare raise her eyes, “I remember that a new action movie is about to be released, and the reviews from abroad are particularly good. “

Lu Yingjiu smiled. “I don’t have time for now, I’m a little busy with work.”

“Okay…”

Tang Xiaoqing was a little disappointed, and brushed her hair from her ear, “It doesn’t matter, work is indeed more important, and you should also pay attention to your body. By the way, do you want to pack this fish ball?”

“Yes.”

Tang Xiaoqing handed over the hot fish balls and looked at his bright eyes, but in the end, she simply said, “Be careful, it’s still hot. “

Lu Yingjiu said goodbye to her, carrying two big bags.

When the automatic door of the convenience store opened, the scorching hot wind of July came in, and its heat wave outside was mixed with human voices pouring in. Until he heard Tang Xiaoqing’s voice, “Mr. Lu, your time has come.”

Lu Yingjiu turned back suddenly.

However, Tang Xiaoqing buried her head immersed in cleaning the cash register.

When he got home, Milk sat at the door waiting for him, meowing. Lu Yingjiu touched its head and mixed old and new cat food to feed it. The cow cat ate happily and purred at him.

He slept late two days ago, in fact, Lu Yingjiu had not been feeling sleepy when night came. He warmed up a glass of milk and drank it while reading something. The more he read, the more awake he felt. 

His sleep quality was consistently poor, which was only a very light sleep and a short amount of sleep. He only slept for four or five hours last night, and now he was planning on catching up on his sleep. But actually, it was no worse than when he was a child. Before the ghost marriage, he could hardly sleep at all. 

After some time, he finally fell into a deep sleep. However, when he opened his eyes again, it was pitch black and the air was extremely cold.

Lu Yingjiu’s head was muddled, and just as he was about to reach out to turn on the light, the back of his right hand suddenly hit something. It was a hard and cold object, like a wall.

He was stunned for a few seconds, stretched out his hands and groped. The surrounding “walls” stopped his movements. He tried to bend his knees, but it was also stopped. This cage that imprisoned him, only enabled him to lie flat, and a hard knock would only make a dull sound, like knocking on wood. After a few seconds, he heard the sound of gongs and drums.

He groped around carefully again, and suddenly understood something in his heart. 

This texture, this is the texture of a coffin!

And he was locked in, inside this dark and oppressing coffin.

He only heard gongs and drums beating outside becoming more and more lively. He heard suona instruments being played, the crying and laughing of people and then suddenly, a sharp, piercing voice appeared. 

A goblin raised his voice and shouted loudly. “The time has come—!”

At this moment, the longevity lock on his chest showed some changes for the first time in many years– it became extremely hot, almost to a blistering hot.