The old house behind him was so dilapidated that it didn't look like anyone was living there. A hemp rope for hanging was hung on the beam. The voice of the old woman telling the story was very similar to that of the ghost woman in the illusion.
—"She just wanted to eat you, and I forbid you to burn paper for her."
If Tangning had understood Ji Lianyun's meaning correctly, then the baby in the old woman's arms was the ghost woman's dead daughter?!
Tang Ning shuddered at this realization. How could someone who had died long ago suddenly turn into a baby
Ji Lianyun's lips were still close to Tangning's ear. He whispered, "It makes sense to repay the mother-daughter relationship in the world of the living in the underworld, isn't it?"
A baby's babbling sound was heard from the front, and the elderly woman hurried to comfort the child in her arms.
The baby's cry refused to stop, so the old woman had to sing an opera with her ugly voice. She sang: "Brother Liu's words are too biased! Who said women should enjoy leisure time?"
A strange thing happened. The crying that could not be stopped gradually became lighter. The old woman sang while making corresponding movements with her stiff body. When she slowly turned sideways, the baby in her arms showed its face to Tang Ning. Tang Ning saw a strange smile on the skinny and pale face. The toothless mouth held a dry branch-like finger, as if sucking the mother's milk.
Tang Ning didn't dare to look the strange baby in the eye. He lowered his head and quietly followed the ghost woman to the graves on the barren hill. There were two graves on the hill, neither of which had any words engraved on them.
Lin Yun put down the wooden basket filled with paper money and lit the fire. Tang Ning squatted silently on the grave and burned the paper money. In the past, he would have been very scared to do such a thing, but now with Ji Lianyun standing beside him, he did not feel too scared and even felt calm. Tang Ning burned the paper money seriously.
The flames licked the paper money one by one. The ghost woman kept singing while holding the baby in her arms. Her hoarse and old voice echoed faintly in the desolate mountains and wilderness, with an indescribable desolation.
Tang Ning frowned. The flames should have been warm, but they couldn't drive away the coldness of the place. Tang Ning took a deep breath and threw a handful of paper money into the fire. He watched the paper money turn into black ash bit by bit, but the depression in his heart could not be resolved.
At this moment, a slender hand reached into the basket, with a piece of paper money pinched between the index finger and middle finger. Ji Lianyun waved his hand lightly and threw the paper money into the flames.
The old voice suddenly stopped, and was replaced by a breathtakingly beautiful opera voice. The voice of a young woman rang out in the silent night. Tang Ning suddenly raised his head and saw a slender figure in a costume standing in front of the grave. The old figure of the ghost woman stood side by side with the newly appeared figure.
The woman in the costume stood on tiptoe, as if she regarded this desolate wilderness as a stage. She walked and sang, and the ghost woman followed the woman into the unknown distance. The firelight gradually dimmed, and when darkness enveloped everything again, everything in front of them disappeared.
"Let's go." Ji Lianyun said calmly, "Bury Wang Si's body here, and it will never be able to escape again."
On the way back, Ji Lianyun did not walk on Tang Ning's body again. Instead, he held Tang Ning's hand and held their fingers tightly.
Tang Ning lowered his head to glance at the tightly clasped hands of him and Ji Lianyun. When he got off the bridal sedan that day and was about to marry this person, they seemed to have walked hand in hand like this.
He couldn't see anything clearly and didn't know what danger he would encounter next, but the moment this person held his hand, he felt that he could continue to walk like this in peace from now on.
When they were about to reach the room, Tang Ning called Lin Yun, returned the talisman to Lin Yun, and solemnly said thank you.
Ji Lianyun, who had finally been able to walk independently, was not happy to hear this. He slid closer to Tang Ning again, bit her ear and asked, "My dear, I have helped you so much, how are you going to thank me?"
Ji Lianyun said these words and did these things without caring whether there were outsiders present, or rather, it seemed that he did this deliberately in front of Lin Yun, blatantly declaring his sovereignty.
Lin Yun slowly tightened his hand around the talisman.
Tangning quickly took Ji Lianyun into the house and closed the door. After making sure that Lin Yun would not see them, Tangning glared at Ji Lianyun. Her eyes were full of sparkles, not like a fierce look, but a lingering look. "Weren't you asking for payment all along the way?"
Wherever Ji Lianyun touched him, he felt indescribably soft. He guessed that this guy Ji Lianyun must have sucked away all his yang energy.
"Unfair." Ji Lianyun curled his eyes, "My wife was obviously as soft as water. I only touched her, but I didn't really do anything."
Tangning didn't quite believe it. He then heard Ji Lianyun say, "If I really did something, how can my wife still stand firm now?"
Tang Ning found that this seemed to be the case.
But no matter what, if too much yang energy is given to Ji Lianyun in the ghost bridegroom state, the real human Ji Lianyun may never have a chance to come out again. He must find a way to stop the ghost bridegroom.
Tangning looked at Ji Lianyun cautiously, "So what do you want? Tell me first, and then we can kiss and hug each other."
Before she could finish her words, Ji Lianyun gently pushed Tangning down onto the bed, "Why are you only allowed to kiss—"
He complained as he kissed Tang Ning's neck with small pecks, each one was extremely gentle, as if he was treating his hard-earned treasure.
Ji Lianyun finally did what he had wanted to do all along. He not only kissed her, but also hugged her.
Tangning frowned and tilted his snow-white neck to look at Ji Lianyun. His eyes were wet, as if filled with intoxicating wine. Ji Lianyun looked at him like a drunk, obsessed woman. He whispered, "My lady, I want you."
The voice was low and full of magnetism. The whole room was dimly lit, and the surroundings seemed to be breeding grounds for shameful evil spirits. Ji Lianyun's eyes showed a bit of strange red light, a color that was so evil that it seemed like the color was watered with blood.
Tang Ning felt like a scholar in some Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, being pushed onto the bed by a demon.
He tried to reason with the goblin: "I can't stand it-"
Ji Lianyun softened his voice and said gently, "Then I'll be gentler."
Be gentle, you big-headed ghost!
Seeing Ji Lianyun was about to be buried inside, Tangning panicked and blurted out, "Ji Lianyun will never get out again!"
When the human Ji Lianyun was mentioned, Ji Lianyun in the ghost bridegroom state paused.
The air in the whole room seemed to be stagnant.
The gentle smile on Ji Lianyun's face completely disappeared. He stared coldly at Tang Ning. Tang Ning knew that she had said something wrong and a hint of fear appeared in her eyes.
"Are you worried about him?"
Tangning didn't say anything, but the emotion in her eyes was enough to tell everything.
Not only does he worry about the Anthropocene, he seems to like it more.
"How am I inferior to him?" Ji Lianyun said coldly, "Is it because he saved you before? But he has been borrowing my strength. If it weren't for me, even if he bled to death, he wouldn't be able to protect you at all."
The darkness in the room grew thicker, the light bulb flickered, and the flickering light hit Ji Lianyun's pale face. His pale lips opened and closed, uttering cold and cruel words: "He is so hypocritical, so sanctimonious, so righteous, so beastly, so hypocritical. Do you think he doesn't want to do something to you?"
Tangning shook his head in panic. He wanted to ask Ji Lianyun to stop talking. The cold hand caressed Tangning's face tenderly. Ji Lianyun said slowly, "I really can't."
"After all, he has no power."
The face approached Tang Ning completely, like a swimming poisonous snake spitting its tongue at Tang Ning's nose. When "Ji Lianyun" was not disguised, there was no trace of a living person on his face. His scarlet pupils continued to spread, as if to dye the entire white of his eyes red.
No, don't.
Don't become like this
Tangning's lips were trembling with fear and tears were streaming down her face. She stammered, "Husband, I was wrong. Please don't be angry. I love—"
Ji Lianyun came closer. There was no trace of white in his blood-red eyes. Tang Ning was so scared that he couldn't speak. He didn't even finish saying "I love you" before he swallowed it whole. He seemed to see a monster with its bloody mouth wide open waiting for him to feed it, but he panicked the moment the monster opened its mouth and just wanted to turn around and run away.
Such a terrifying and powerful "Ji Lianyun", when he saw Tang Ning desperately shrinking back to dodge, his eyes suddenly became a little lonely.
"My lady, you accepted my betrothal gift, got on my bridal sedan, and worshipped heaven and earth with me."
Tangning couldn't help but tremble as he listened to the voice saying word by word: "You are my wife."
After saying these words that sounded like a curse, Ji Lianyun lowered his head and kissed Tangning's lips, cold and deep.
Tang Ning was almost out of breath after being kissed by "Ji Lianyun". "Ji Lianyun" had always been gentle to him in the past, but now he seemed to have really angered "Ji Lianyun". This kiss seemed to snatch the air he depended on to survive. The strength in his body quickly drained away. Tang Ning's eyes began to turn black. He kept slapping "Ji Lianyun", and his fingers left red marks on "Ji Lianyun's" back.
Just when Tang Ning thought he would really die from this kiss, "Ji Lianyun" let him go.
Tang Ning fell on the bed, gasping for breath, tears streaming from his eyes. He looked at the expressionless "Ji Lianyun" with weakness and fear.
The other person's eyes were still so red, as red as if they were dripping blood.
He was afraid of this inhuman feature.
Perhaps because she sensed his fear, Ji Lianyun slowly closed her eyes, and her long eyelashes kissed her pale lower eyelid.
But the feeling of being strongly stared at not only did not disappear, but became even stronger, as if all the dark places in the room were filled with pairs of eyes, and he was the prey that could not escape from these countless gazes!
Tangning tried to curl herself up in bed, and saw "Ji Lianyun" with his eyes closed approaching as if he could see her. His face got closer and closer, so close that Tangning could hardly breathe.
He kissed Tangning's tearful eyes devoutly, "My dear, what do you want in order for you to truly be my wife?"