Proofreader&Editor: Howard Wong
Wen Rou and I continued walking forward.
Just a few steps in, Wen Rou suddenly stopped, her gaze fixed intently on me.
I was somewhat baffled by her stare, and of course, my heart rate quickened.
Since she had stopped so abruptly, I accidentally bumped into her.
Now our bodies were almost pressed together!
Under the moonlight, I could even see her curved eyelashes fluttering, clear and beautiful!
Feeling nervous, I stuttered, "Wha… What's wrong?"
Wen Rou stood still, tilting her ear and said, "Listen, do you hear that?"
I listened carefully and soon heard it too.
From a distance, there seemed to be a "yi yi ya ya" sound, like that of suonas and erhus.
"Sounds like a band!" I said.
Wen Rou replied, "In these desolate mountains and wild ridges, what band could there be!"
The sound grew closer and soon reached nearby.
I climbed up a small mound and to my surprise, I saw a wedding procession coming our way!
At the front was a white horse, with the groom seated on it, dressed in a festive bright red outfit!
Behind the groom was a large sedan chair carried by eight bearers, all bare-armed and looking very robust.
Additionally, there was an obese old woman walking beside the sedan, holding a fan, probably the matchmaker.
By then, Wen Rou had also climbed up and said, "It looks like a wedding procession!"
I remarked, "There's no sign of human habitation for miles around, how strange!"
Wen Rou asked, "What are you trying to say?"
"Could it be ghosts?"
"You're trying to scare me!"
Wen Rou pouted, leaning slightly towards me in fear.
I wasn't really trying to scare her; it's just that I had encountered so many supernatural events recently that I had become somewhat accustomed to them!
I said, "This kind of wedding pomp, it's not seen anymore, right?"
Wen Rou replied, "This is the central region, the mountainous area, it's different from the plains where we are from, many places are still very backward!"
"Maybe!"
I could only pray silently in my heart.
While we were talking, the wedding procession had already reached us.
The groom was young, looking not even twenty, his face flushed with drink, reeking of alcohol even from seven or eight meters away.
Seeing Wen Rou and me, the groom urged his horse forward and greeted us with a fist and palm salute, "May I ask if you two have seen my bride?"
Wen Rou and I exchanged glances and shook our heads simultaneously.
The groom touched his nose, as if smelling something, then turned his horse around and headed towards the hot springs.
The matchmaker, on the other hand, threw some candy at Wen Rou and me, chuckling, "Congratulations! You two are a match made in heaven, a perfect pair!"
Before Wen Rou and I could even begin to explain, the wedding procession had moved on.
After a while, Wen Rou said, "They speak so strangely, so affected, I don't like it!"
I said, "They seem to have gone towards the hot springs."
Wen Rou asked, "So what?"
I had wanted to go and see, but considering I had urgent matters to attend to and that it's better to mind one's own business, I said, "Nothing, let's go back!"
***
Back on the highway.
Not a soul was in sight in the car.
In the vast carriage, there were only Wen Rou and me.
Moreover, this highway was so remote, hardly any vehicles passed by, and the silence around us was terrifying!
Wen Rou and I sat side by side as before.
Due to exhaustion, we unknowingly leaned on each other and fell asleep.
In a daze, Wen Rou suddenly made a "ying" sound.
I opened my eyes to see her clutching her stomach, a pained expression on her face.
I asked with concern, "What's wrong?"
"My stomach hurts!"
Wen Rou's brows were tightly furrowed.
"Stomach pain?" I said, "We didn't eat anything, and we drank the same water!"
At that moment, something occurred to me, "The candy the matchmaker threw earlier, did you eat it?"
Wen Rou nodded, "I ate one… Oh!"
Before she could finish, she suddenly got up and ran outside.
Reaching the door, she couldn't hold it in any longer and bent over to vomit.
I quickly got her some water.
After a while, Wen Rou had almost finished vomiting.
I looked down and saw a black, green-eyed worm wriggling in the vomit, consuming it as it moved.
"Damn!"
"That's disgusting!"
I stepped forward and crushed the worm with my foot, its green juices squirting far away!
I handed the water to Wen Rou and gently patted her back, asking, "Feeling better?"
Wen Rou squatted for a while, rinsed her mouth, and said, "Much better!"
I said, "It must have been the candy!"
"Mm!"
Wen Rou said, "Maybe it was expired or spoiled, but I didn't notice when I ate it!"
We squatted in front of the car door.
As the night grew darker, we could hear the occasional roar of wild beasts from the mountains.
Wen Rou curled up in fear, "If a tiger, leopard, wolf, or something rushed in now, we'd be doomed!"
I said, "There are more people by the hot springs, shall we go back and join the main group?"
Wen Rou didn't speak, seemingly hesitant.
Just then, the female tour guide returned.
Seeing Wen Rou and me, she breathed a sigh of relief, "So you two are here, you scared me! I thought you were lost!"
I looked behind her and saw nothing, curious, "Where are the others?"
"Well, " The tour guide said, "We ran into a wedding procession just now. It turns out there's a family living on the mountainside, and they're having a wedding banquet today, inviting us to join!"
I said, "In these desolate mountains and wild ridges, how can there be any family!"
"There is!"
The tour guide insisted, "The others have already gone, I came back to find you two when I noticed we were missing people!"
I said, "What if the driver comes back and can't find us?"
The tour guide checked the time, "Even if he comes back now, it will take at least an hour to fix the car, enough time for us to have a drink!"
Wen Rou looked at me, her voice soft, "Shall we go together? It's too scary here with just the two of us!"
"Alright!"
After thinking it over, I took out our luggage and found a wooden stick about a foot long from inside.
It was a peach wood stick.
Due to the recent supernatural events, I had prepared it beforehand, just in case something unexpected happened on the road.
The tour guide and Wen Rou both looked at me, asking in unison, "What's that?"
"Nothing!"
I tucked the stick into my waistband, "Just an ordinary stick!"
"Then let's go, quickly!"
The tour guide urged, "The others are probably almost there!"
Wen Rou and I followed the tour guide, walking through the hot springs and up the winding mountain path.
After climbing for about fifteen minutes, we finally saw the house on the mountainside.
The house was grandly built.
On both sides of the entrance hung two large red lanterns, which from a distance looked like two crimson eyes, emitting a sinister glow.
I couldn't help but stop.
The tour guide asked curiously, "Why aren't you moving?"
I frowned, "Maybe… we shouldn't go after all!"
The tour guide said, "We're already here, what's this about! A big man like you, why are you hesitating! The host said they invited us over for the joy of it, no gift money required!"
Wen Rou whispered, "If there's a gift fee, I'll help you pay."
I said, "Sis, it's really not about the money!"
Wen Rou said, "We're already here, let's go together! Down the mountain… I'm really scared!"
I said, "What if it's even more dangerous here?"
Wen Rou replied, "At least there are more people, we can look out for each other!"
I thought it over carefully.
If there was something wrong with this family, hiding in the car might not be safe either!
It might be better to be with everyone else.
If something happened, as long as I could run faster than the others, there was still hope!
So I nodded, "Okay! But remember, sis, once we enter, you must not leave my side, got it?"
"Got it!"
Wen Rou's face bloomed with a shy charm typical of a young woman, she tiptoed and leaned close to my ear, "I prefer being with you over Xu Ming!"