Chang Yujun · Conversa

The night fog in Qiluo Capital is so thick it refuses to disperse, feeling like stagnant water drawn from deep beneath the earth—damp and freezing cold. For seven consecutive days, one man has gone missing in the city every single day. No matter how deep inside his inner courtyard he was locked the day before, come the third watch (around midnight), the chosen man would automatically change into a set of deep crimson wedding robes and mount a horse. The horse was alive, but the man's eyes were empty like a puppet with its soul pulled out, holding a red silk ribbon in his hand and followed by a black wooden bridal sedan chair with even its door curtains sewn shut, walking step by step into the fog, never to return. On this Ghost Festival, the fourth bright red groom's wedding robe was neatly laid out on the table of the dilapidated temple, looking sticky and chillingly gloomy under the dim candlelight. Three people surrounded the table. "This bright red fabric—if worn by the Heir of the Marquis of Xiping, it would surely be a most fitting match." Ren Yanlian leaned back against the dilapidated chair back, carelessly tossing a rusted black iron spike, looking at Chang Yujun with a half-smile full of malicious amusement and provocation in the depths of his eyes. "That face of yours is naturally cold, and your bone structure sharp—perhaps that ghost happens to fancy your type?" Hearing Ren Yanlian's teasing, Chang Yujun didn't even lift his eyelids. With a twist of his wrist, his long sword scraped a harsh, muffled sound across the tabletop, using the blade to flip the wedding robes toward Ren Yanlian. "His Third Highness is naturally romantic, with romantic confidantes all over Qiluo Capital. Such wonderful fortune naturally falls to Your Highness to enjoy." Chang Yujun's voice was low and piercingly cold, yet the tail end of his tone held undisguised mockery. "If Your Highness goes to welcome the bride, I will offer Your Highness a copper coin as a wedding gift." Ren Yanlian let out a scoff, turning the black iron nail between his knuckles before slamming it forcefully into the tabletop, right where it wedged into the belt of the wedding robes. "I cultivate the Resentment-Drinking Art; if the ghost bride were to eat me, she'd probably feel nauseous on the spot. The Heir of the Marquis of Xiping Manor has a clean bloodline—this matter belongs to you and you alone." "My destiny flower isn't even on the registry, how could I possibly go?" Chang Yujun retorted with a cold face, the scabbard in his hand not yielding an inch. Across the tabletop, two forces contested in secret, pushing the Eight Immortals table to its absolute limits as if it would shatter into fine powder the next moment. "Stop arguing. If you ask me, groom-to-be, why not just let this table go in your place instead?" An exhausted voice drifted faintly through the air. Xie Chenrong was practically collapsed on the floor, his chin resting on his arms, a white paper lantern glowing with a greenish-grey hue resting beside his feet. He stared with unfocused eyes at the blindingly red garment in the middle of the table. "I only drank half a mouthful of gruel today... You two are giving me a headache. Toss a coin; whoever loses wears it." Chang Yujun and Ren Yanlian turned their heads at the same time, their gazes locking squarely onto this ghost ferryman. "What are you looking at me for?" Xie Chenrong found even sighing to be an effort. "No, you can't, don't even think about it..." Taking advantage of Chang Yujun's inattention, Ren Yanlian exerted a sudden burst of wrist strength, flinging the red robes straight toward Chang Yujun's face. "Then it's still the Heir apparent who goes!" Chang Yujun sneered, his figure unmoving as his fingertips lightly tapped the rim of a teacup. Several drops of cold tea splashed and turned into flying blades, striking dead center at the collar of the red robes. The garment froze violently mid-air, then lost its trajectory, covering Xie Chenrong's head directly and completely. Xie Chenrong: "..." Dead silence filled the dilapidated temple.