The loud sound of the suona pierced the eardrums, and the devilish sound penetrated the brain. It was playing joy, but it was mournful, like a funeral procession.
As soon as Rong Yu arrived, he was almost sent away by the suona.
He usually listened to the melodious music of stringed instruments and pipes in the Demon King's palace, played by the best musicians in the three realms, which lingered in his ears without stopping.
If anyone dared to pollute his ears with such noise, the entire band would have to report to the underworld.
Rong Yu was not a patient person. He was annoyed by what he heard, so he pushed aside the curtain with one hand and lifted up the veil with the other, cursing, "Shut up and keep quiet, don't you know how bad your bragging is?!"
"… "
The music stopped abruptly.
The beautiful bride started to scold, and the whole team froze for a moment.
Rong Yu glanced around. Outside was a barren mountain range, shrouded in eerie white mist. The people carrying the sedan chair and playing the music were all as thin as paper, with pale faces, and looked like they were carved from the same mold. When he spoke, they all looked at him with empty eyes, expressionless, and staring at him made people's backs cold.
The bridal sedan was also very well made, with two lanterns hanging under the eaves. The front was decorated with red silk, with the word "囍" written on it, and the back was tied with black silk, with the word "葬" written on it on the white lantern. From the front it looked like a wedding sedan, but from the back it looked like a coffin. The wedding procession in front raised their hands and scattered copper coins from the basket, but when the sedan passed by, all that was left on the ground was white paper money.
The contrast between red and white made it hard to tell whether it was a wedding or a funeral.
Rong Yu originally thought that he had traveled to a wedding scene, but now it seemed that it was a ghost marriage. He had a sharp eye and could tell at a glance that the entire wedding party was made of paper figures, and he was the only real living person.
No matter if it's paper figurines or not, or ghost marriages or not, he can't let the music of the underworld pollute his ears. Rong Yu said to the paper figurines that were staring at him grimly, "What are you looking at? If you can't play the music of the living world, don't do it. If you play it again, I'll burn you all."
After saying those harsh words, he let down the curtain.
Paper people: “…”
This is the most arrogant bride they have ever had!
After all, the paper man is made of paper, and can be burned to ashes by a fire. He has a natural fear of the word "burn". After receiving such a threat, Rong really became quiet.
In front of him was a sea of red. She had a red veil on her head and was wearing a woman's dress embroidered with colorful phoenixes. She was sitting in a swaying wedding sedan. Her hair was also in a woman's bun, with phoenix hairpins and step-shaking ornaments on it. The tassels hanging down jingled and collided with the swaying of the sedan, making a ringing sound.
There was a dull pain in his fingertips. Rong Yu stretched out his ten fingers and looked down, and saw blood dripping.
…looks a bit miserable.
Rong Yu wore a Pisces jade pendant around his waist and a blood jade bracelet on his wrist. Both pieces of jewelry were red, which matched the outfit very well. He threw the Fiery Ring into the blood jade bracelet. He was afraid that he would take away too many things after several worlds, and it would be uncomfortable to carry them around, so he simply enabled the blood jade bracelet to have a storage function.
The Blood Jade Bracelet had long forgotten about the matter of not providing help. Apart from not being able to unseal the Great Demon King - whose power was too strong, and it would be easy to destroy a world if it couldn't control it well, it didn't dare to take the risk - it also didn't dare to refuse some small plug-ins offered by other parties.
If I refuse, what if the great devil comes to ask for revenge
Rong Yu touched the fallen tassel and asked: "Is it the girl of luck this time?"
Blood Jade Bracelet: ... Didn’t you just speak, and it was a male voice
Rong Yu: "Oh, a cross-dressing guy."
Blood Jade Bracelet: The original owner didn't have any hobbies! Stay, I'll send you the information.
In the world numbered 4444, Wen Yichu is the son of destiny.
This dynasty is called Sheng Dynasty, and its background is somewhat similar to the Song Dynasty in a world Rong Yu had visited before. The current government values civil service over military service, so that the whole country practices "everything is inferior, only reading is good", and everyone wants to change their fate through the imperial examination and leap into the scholar-official class.
But the spring breeze of reform cannot reach every corner of the country. Even the modern nine-year compulsory education has some loopholes, not to mention this was in ancient times.
This place is called Yuexi Town, a well-known poor and remote place within a radius of ten miles, extremely poor and backward. The people have been working hard, relying on farming for generations, and the land is not theirs.
Several wealthy gentry in the town were landlords, and they rented their land to the villagers, collecting a large amount of rent every month. Several landlords united to monopolize knowledge, preventing the villagers from learning to read and have the opportunity to go out of the town and change their fate.
If all the men went to school instead of farming, who would they go to collect rent from? How could we still have the comfortable life we have today
In this way, the landlords have been exploiting the peasants for generations. On one hand, the landlords do nothing, exploit the villagers and become rich, while on the other hand, the villagers work hard for a meager income, and have to pay the majority of the money and grain to rent, so they live a hard life. They have no way to resist, and they dare not resist. The land in their hands belongs to the landlords. If they offend the landlords and their land is confiscated, the whole family will starve to death.
After several generations of oppression, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. The wealthy families in the town had three wives and four concubines, and concubines were everywhere. If they liked someone, they would just force them to marry if the other party disagreed. Ordinary villagers couldn't even afford to marry a wife. Yuexi Town was too poor, and the girls wanted to marry out of the fire pit, and no girls from outside were willing to marry in to suffer. There were more and more bachelors among the farmers in the fields, and many of them could not find a wife until they were old.
But the people here regard getting married as more important than anything else. If they cannot achieve this goal in life, they must achieve it after death, otherwise they will not be able to face their parents in the underworld. Some people cannot get married in life, and they are afraid of being alone in the underworld when they are old, so they will use their life savings to buy a female corpse for ghost marriage, and entrust the villagers to take care of their funeral affairs, so that they can have a companion after death. This is considered good. Some people who don’t even have the money to buy a female corpse will dig up graves and steal. The most outrageous thing is that they strangled an innocent girl to death and buried her with them.
They don't care how immoral and illegal they are. They are about to die. What can the law do to them? They have lived a mediocre life and have long been worn out and numb. They just want to fulfill their own wishes.
This is Yuexi Town, a place of poverty, bad water, ignorance, pity and tragedy.
Wen Yichu was the only scholar in the town. He was originally from the city, his mother died of illness at an early age, and his father was a poor scholar who had failed in the imperial examinations many times. When he finally passed the exam, he was so excited that he died.
Wen Yichu was an orphan.
Fortunately, he was already sixteen years old at that time and could support himself by selling calligraphy and paintings. Influenced by his father, he also read books since childhood. He could read at the age of three and write poems at the age of five. He was a well-known child prodigy. He had the heart to serve his country and become an official since he was a child.
Wen Yichu came to Yuexi Town by chance and was shocked to find that there was such an ignorant and absurd place in the world, where the gentry exploited and robbed prostitutes with impunity. The people were ignorant, poor and backward, and the bad custom of ghost marriage brides was still popular.
Wen Yichu was furious at what he heard. He went to the government and reported to the local gentry that they were bullying the people, but he didn't know that the officials and businessmen were colluding, and the officials took bribes and beat him up and kicked him out of the government office. He also tried to persuade the villagers not to arrange ghost marriages, saying that it would damage their virtue, but the villagers didn't care. They didn't understand the truth and just wanted to get married.
Wen Yichu gradually realized that if he wanted to eradicate these corrupt practices, it was not enough for him to be an ordinary person, and he needed to be an official to have a say. If he wanted to educate these rural people, it was useless to just talk about reason, but to teach them to read and distinguish, and to improve their lives was the key.
There was not even a teacher here. Wen Yichu stayed and founded a school to teach children to read and write for free. He would go to the city to sell his paintings and calligraphy for money every few days, and prepare for the imperial examination. Some villagers would give him some rice and flour to express their gratitude. Although he was poor, he was also generous.
A few gentry families naturally wanted to drive him away. Once the villagers could read, they would have their own ideas, so how could they be willing to let them control them
Wen Yichu is a weak scholar with red lips and white teeth. He is not only well-versed in classics, but also handsome. Hu Wei, the son of Mr. Hu in the town, is fond of Longyang and has a crush on him, so he allows him to stay and harasses the academy from time to time in the name of studying.
Wen Yichu is devoted to learning and is completely unaware of Hu Wei's dirty heart. He does not seek fame, wealth, or honor, but only wants to become an official and plead for the people, helping more places like Yuexi Town get rid of poverty and ignorance, punishing the landlords who exploited the people, eliminating the collusion between officials and businessmen, and preventing tragedies like the ghost bride from happening again.
According to the imperial examination system of the Sheng Dynasty, after passing the final palace examination, candidates had to wait in their hometowns. If a few months later, a good news came from a messenger, it meant they had passed, and if no one came, it meant they had failed.
Wen Yichu was already 17 years old when he finished his provincial examination. Hu Wei had tried to win over Wen Yichu with sweet words for a year, but the other party was unresponsive and completely lost patience, so he even planned to use force. Wen Yichu refused to obey and ran into the mountains in panic, and Hu Wei chased him relentlessly. When it was dark, Wen Yichu came out of the mountains, but Hu Wei was bitten to death by a tiger in the mountains.
The Hu family was furious. They knew that Hu Wei had gone to find Wen Yichu before this happened, and they also knew that Hu Wei had been coveting Wen Yichu for a long time, so they immediately wanted Wen Yichu to be buried with their son. A group of people broke into the academy, forced him to change into a bride's dress, sealed him in Hu Wei's coffin, and buried him alive.
Some villagers wanted to plead for mercy, but were stopped by the Hu family's words, "If anyone dares to say anything more, I will take his land away."
So all the people Wen Yichu had helped remained silent.
The last thing Wen Yichu remembered was the bloody corpse of Hu Wei lying beside him, torn apart by a tiger. The ugly faces of the gentry, the silent eyes of the villagers, the heavy coffin slowly closing in front of him. The servants shoveled dirt into the coffin, and he fell into endless darkness and despair.
He struggled frantically in the coffin, scratching the coffin board with his nails, leaving bloody marks until he could no longer scratch.
He did not resent those villagers, as they had families to support and could not resist the power. He just regretted that he had not yet become an official and had not changed their helpless fate.
Two months later, good news came that Wen Yichu was named on the list of successful candidates and became the top scorer in the imperial examination.
At that time, Wen Yichu had turned into a pile of bones underground.
The gentry in the town was shocked and regretfully told the official who brought the good news that Wen Yichu had gone up the mountain two months ago and was accidentally killed by a tiger. The official who brought the good news turned his horse around and left with regret, muttering, "What a pity! This year's top scholar, the emperor personally praised him for his good writing skills, he must be a pillar of talent..."
The sound of horse hooves faded away, and Wen Yichu fell asleep in the ground.
He died in his coffin before his ambitions were realized.
Blood Jade Bracelet: Wen Yichu was a rare talent. He was promoted to the position of Prime Minister, benefited the people, and was recorded in history. However, he was forced into a ghost marriage by these blind people! No wonder the world is collapsing, and the historical line has been cut off! They don't even know that they have destroyed a unique pearl!
Rong Yu: "Are you excited?"
Blood Jade Bracelet: I am filled with righteous indignation!
Rong Yu stretched out a bloody finger and said, "So now Wen Yichu has been buried alive in the coffin, and this finger was scratched on the coffin lid?"
Blood Jade Bracelet: Of course!
Rong Yu leaned against the bridal sedan: "What's the situation now? Have you given me the complete storyline?"
According to the plot given by the blood jade bracelet, Wen Yichu struggled in vain in the coffin and died just like that.
But he found that this body was a living person.
The plot he just came to was different from the original plot. The original plot was that Wen Yichu died in the coffin, but now it was Wen Yichu who was suffocated and unconscious in the coffin. The coffin lid suddenly opened automatically, and a group of paper figures helped him into the sedan chair and carried him away.
When the sedan was halfway there, Rong Yu came across, not knowing where the sedan was going.
Blood Jade Bracelet: Carrying it to Hu Wei for a kiss? After all, isn’t this a ghost marriage
Rong Yu: "The coffin for a ghost marriage is the bridal chamber. Wen Yichu has already dug up Hu Wei's grave. How could the paper figurine dig it out again?"
Blood Jade Bracelet: Ah, I understand, I understand!
Blood Jade Bracelet: You have been kidnapped!