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Chapter 15: Old Zhao’s Daughter
Chapter 15: Old Zhao’s Daughter
Chapter 15: Old Zhao's Daughter
As soon as Jin Jiuchi hummed the melody to sing along with the ghost bride, everything screeched to an abrupt halt. It was as if someone had pressed the pause button to freeze the time.
Nian gaped in shock, his purple eyes widening to the maximum. In front of them, the bride halted mid-step, the terrifying black holes of her eyes transfixed on Jin Jiuchi. Even her blood had stopped dripping to the floor.
However, Jin Jiuchi took no notice of their reaction for he was still immersed in the tide of nostalgia. Now that he had sung the song out loud, it was as if the locked crest inside his head suddenly burst open, flooding him with one piece of memory after another.
Jin Jiuchi had no idea why, but the time he spent in the asylum had quickly become a blur in his mind after he was discharged. In hindsight, it was the place which he had spent most of his life in, so wouldn't it be reasonable for him to remember everything?
Alas, it was not the case for him. Let alone his fellow patients, he had even forgotten what the room he stayed in looked like. It was as if someone had applied a layer of film to his memory, making it blurred and hazy.
It was not until now, until he heard the bride singing this familiar song that he recalled something – or to be exact, someone – with vivid clarity. Happiness swelled in his heart as he continued to sing, "I'm leaving my home, to start a new life..."
The bride slowly parted her lips. She took back her right foot and stopped a distance away from Jin Jiuchi. "Becoming a wife, leaving behind my strife..."
"What the—" Nian looked at them back and forth, flabbergasted. "You... why are you... how..." he was so shocked that he couldn't even form a coherent sentence.
When Jin Jiuchi looked at the bloody bride again, his eyes lit up impossibly brighter. He took a tentative step forward, hopeful. "By any chance... is your surname Zhao? Is there an Old Zhao in your family?"
It might only be a figment of imagination, but he seemed to see the crimson blood on the bride's ghastly skin recede bit by bit. A flicker of recognition flashed in her bottomless eyes as she regarded Jin Jiuchi in a new light. "Old Zhao..." she said slowly, almost dragging on her words as if she was digging deep into the forgotten part of her memory. "My father... everyone used to call him Old Zhao..."
Jin Jiuchi was positively glowing by now. Without a warning, he let go of the jade doll in his arms in lieu of rushing forward to take the bride's hand for a handshake. Her skin was cold and slimy, it was as if what he was holding was not a hand, but a slippery eel. He did not think too much about it though, too excited to hear about an acquaintance.
"So you're Old Zhao's daughter! Nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you before!" He shook her hand with vigor, his manner was akin to meeting someone from the same hometown in a foreign country. "I am your father's friend, you see. He has always talked about you and your marriage! Are you the one whose wedding we will celebrate in a few days? Wow, to think that I will be able to attend Old Zhao's daughter's wedding... as expected, it's the right decision to board the bus and come to this place!" He threw his head back and laughed uproariously, full of joy and satisfaction.
The ghost bride: "..."
Nian: "..."
Nian stared at Jin Jiuchi who babbled nonstop, then at the ghost bride who looked like she was starting to question her whole life's decision that led her to this moment.
Her terrifying face was radiating confusion as if asking, 'Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing here?'
This was the first time Nian had ever felt something akin to sympathy for the ghost. Because right now, he was also questioning the same thing in his mind.
What the hell is going on here?!
On top of acting so familiar with the ghost, he was also... what? He was friends with the ghost bride's father?! Nian had met so many kinds of people in the Cycle; the cunning ones, the self-sacrificing ones, the ruthless ones, the cowardly ones... but never before had he met someone who could talk nonsense better than Jin Jiuchi!
He scrutinized Jin Jiuchi's brilliant smile closely.
But why did he feel like the man was not lying at all? Not to mention, he also knew how to sing that damned song and could accurately guess the ghost bride's surname.
Nian furrowed his brows in thought.
Was this man really a newbie or...
Jin Jiuchi was so thrilled to meet an acquaintance here that he could not stop talking. "Once again, I'm very sorry for occupying your bridal room, Miss Zhao! But now that we're already here, why don't we chat a bit? How is Old Zhao doing now? I don't remember the last time I saw him, but I recalled him talking about your marriage all day long. Wait a minute..." he was practically buzzing with elation. "Now that you will have your wedding here, does it mean that I can meet Old Zhao? Is he here?!"
Finally, the ghost bride found a chance to interrupt Jin Jiuchi's barrage of words. She twisted her hand out of Jin Jiuchi's grip and staggered backward. "My father... is dead..."
Jin Jiuchi blinked, his hand still hanging in midair. "...What?"
In the next second, the bride's body started to turn transparent.
"Wait, wait, don't go! There are so many things we haven't talked about yet!" Jin Jiuchi hurried to stop her from leaving, but it was already too late.
All he could grab onto was empty air as the bride's body completely faded away. Even the blood on the mattress and the floor vanished without a trace. If not for the pair of exquisite bridal shoes left on the floor, it would look like she was never even here in the first place.
"Augh!! How can she leave so fast?!" Jin Jiuchi punched the air in frustration. And to think that he had been so excited to meet her...! Vexed, he turned to the jade doll to complain. "Why do you think she's in such a hurry to go, Nian'er? Does she— wait, why are you looking at me like that?"
Nian asked blankly, "Like what."
"Like..." At an utter loss of words, Jin Jiuchi could only gesture vaguely at the dumbfounded jade doll. "Like this."
Nian opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it again upon realizing that he had no idea what to say. He felt like his three views were on the verge of breaking apart and no amount of mental preparation could prevent it from happening.
He stared at the man in front of him, speechless.
'What are you doing, getting chummy with a ghost? You even tried to chat her up? And begged her not to go? Crazy pervert, no wonder she can't wait to get away from you!'
And the thing Nian was angriest with was how Jin Jiuchi managed to chase the ghost away without any skills or props whatsoever! He had entered the Cycle a few times before, enough to know that the first night tended to be the riskiest. They still had no clear idea about the rules in this place and thus would not know whether they would trigger the death conditions. But with the feat Jin Jiuchi had just done, there was no way the bride would dare to come back again tonight!
What did it mean?
It meant that Jin Jiuchi had kept them safe and let them evade death for the first night – with such a ridiculous method to boot!