Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 377 Legal Affairs
Zhou You also saw that man.

He was just an ordinary man.

His appearance wasn't particularly striking, and he was wearing a common northern-style padded jacket—though much cleaner than Old Man Li's. The only odd thing was that his face was much whiter than other people's, with fewer signs of sculpted features, making him look nothing like the typical traveling merchant.

However, upon seeing the abacus hanging from his waist, Zhou You immediately understood.

He seems to know his way around accounting.

Indeed, in the late Qing Dynasty, or rather, throughout ancient China, these were highly educated individuals, considered among the lower ranks of the profession. Their status and position were far superior to those of funeral officiants, so they naturally did not need to frequently endure the elements.

Putting aside his doubts, Zhou You smiled.

“That’s perfect. Here, please wait a moment, friend and the rest of the villagers. I’ll tell you about some things to keep in mind. The rest of you can stay in the village and make some preparations—we’ll start cooking around 5 PM.”
-
into the night.

Chenjia Village fell silent once again.

The village had been extremely quiet during this period. Although the villagers were illiterate, they at least knew what evil spirits were, so they tried not to make any noise after dark to avoid getting into trouble.

However, this atmosphere was suddenly shattered today.

Perhaps it had finally accumulated to a certain point, or perhaps it had sensed something, but that thing in the village finally started to act out of character.

Under the moonlight, a tall, slender woman walked along the narrow path, her footsteps crunching through the snow of the dead of winter.

She was only wearing a short cloth robe, so it was as if she couldn't feel the cold around her at all. As for her face, it was quite delicate—even too delicate—but for some reason, it was deathly pale, as if it were covered with lead powder.

The woman walked to a house and gently knocked on the door.

"Excuse me, I'm from Dengjiang Town next door. My husband and I were on our way to the market, but we got caught in a heavy snow and got lost. We're so sorry, could someone kindly take us in? We'll leave at daybreak tomorrow, and we'll be very grateful for your help."

However, naturally no one inside the door answered.

Putting aside the fact that the village itself was already plagued by ghosts and disturbances, the woman's words were full of inconsistencies—not to mention...
There is no place called Dengjiang Town in this vicinity at all.

Seeing no response, the woman didn't pay much attention, but instead peered through the crack in the door.

Then, she squeezed her entire body through the gap, which was less than an inch wide.

That face, that body, as they passed by, seemed to become a thin sheet of paper—and what's even more bizarre is that even when they were compressed to this extent, her smile never changed.

She quickly entered the house, her body returned to normal, but her smile became even more eerie. Then she groped her way to the master bedroom, looked at the villagers wrapped in tattered blankets, and suddenly grinned.

In the dim light, her lips appeared even more crimson and alluring. The woman walked over and gently pulled back the covers.

But the next moment, she suddenly stopped moving.

There was no one in the quilt, just wrapped in a straw mat.

"."

The woman didn't say anything, but instead threw off the blanket and squeezed out through the crack in the door again.

Old Li was right. Most of the evil spirits were just like natural disasters. They didn't have many thoughts of their own; they just killed humans like instinct.

Therefore, the woman didn't notice that there were some extra things in the room.

It was a cheerful couplet pasted on the front door.

Soon, the woman searched several more houses.

In the same way, no one was in any of the rooms.

Although she herself was the cat in the cat-and-mouse game, the woman still instinctively became impatient—

But soon, she discovered another problem.

It seems like I can't get out of this situation.

The village is not large, with only a few dozen households. The roads are not complicated either. If you walk from one end of the village to the other, it usually takes less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick.

But now, she has been walking for half an hour and still has no end in sight.

No matter how long she walked, the houses around her remained unchanged, each one equally dilapidated, with even simpler couplets pasted on them.

But for some reason, I just can't get out of there.

Even without intelligence, the woman couldn't help but feel a little impatient. After trying again in vain, she suddenly stopped and gently wiped her lips.

A splash of red smeared onto her hand, vaguely transforming into a weeping face—one of the people who had died of illness during this period—but she quickly dismissed it.

With this, the scenery in the village finally opened up, and the path underfoot was no longer winding and twisting, but became flat again.

Similarly, a burst of noise reached her ears.

Is it there?
Sensing the voice and breath of a living person, the woman grinned again and walked towards it step by step.

Before long, she arrived at the place.

It looked like the village chief's house. I didn't know what was going on inside, but I saw that candles were lit, which was unusual. Peeking through the crack in the door, I could vaguely see some figures clinking glasses and exchanging toasts, as if they were celebrating something.

The woman knocked on the courtyard gate again, just as before.

"Excuse me, I'm from Dengjiang Town next door. My husband and I were on our way to the market, but we got caught in a heavy snow and got lost. Is there anyone kind enough to take us in? We'll leave at daybreak tomorrow."

However, no one answered.

The people inside seemed to be quite drunk and didn't hear anything outside—but the woman, with an increasingly pale smile, forced her way back in.

—Those guys are already my meal, so why should I be anxious?
Then, she pushed open the door.

But then, she was suddenly startled.

There were exactly six people sitting in the room, no more, no less.

Four of them were probably villagers, another seemed to be a recent merchant, and the last one, who was sitting in the main seat, was a smiling young man.

Upon seeing her enter, he even raised his glass in a perfunctory gesture of respect.

Very strange.

When they saw him, these people were not afraid at all.

No, and it shouldn't be said that way.

There was fear, for example, in the case of those villagers; they were clearly terrified and were only managing to force a smile. The merchant was also barely managing, only slightly better than the villagers. Only the young man...
There was no fear in his eyes; on the contrary, it was as if he were looking at prey.
While the woman was looking at Zhou You, Zhou You was also looking at the woman.

Although it's newly created, this thing doesn't seem to be too weak; if you really want to rank it, it's about two levels below that coffin—but it's still within my capabilities. The only problem now is...
This was the first time he had performed this kind of White Gate ritual by himself without any guidance.

To be honest, he was also a little unsure of what to do.

Then, Zhou You sighed silently again.

—But it's already come to this point, so we have no choice but to go for it, right?
So he raised his glass and delivered the opening remarks.

"Now that the auspicious time has arrived, please invite the bride to take her seat in the hall!"

The woman opposite was truly puzzled—but what puzzled her even more was yet to come.

Although the villagers were terrified, they forced their trembling hands to hold up their cups and echoed the sentiment.

"Dragon and phoenix accompany each other, opening the mouth of the fish, facing each other every night, bringing wealth and prosperity for ten thousand years!"

Strangely enough, the moment she finished speaking, the woman's eyes suddenly became unfocused, and then she actually sat down on the empty chair next to her and picked up her chopsticks.

The people next to it trembled immediately, but thinking that if they couldn't hold on, their whole family would die, they forced themselves to endure it.

Upon seeing this, Zhou You sighed inwardly.

His origami skills were far from reaching Old Man Li's level, so he could only use living people as attendants. These were, after all, untrained commoners, and it was already quite impressive that they could memorize these few words under pressure and sit still.

Then Zhou You raised his hand again and offered a toast.

“The lavish brocade dowry was arranged in rows, and the gold cups and jade goblets were all gleaming.”

This time, the woman looked even more bewildered. She picked up her chopsticks and reached into the plate—but there were only neatly arranged stones inside. Then she picked up her cup and pretended to drink—but there was only melted snow water inside.

Come to think of it, this makes perfect sense. Chenjia Village is so desolate that people are eating tree bark and digging for grass roots. How could they possibly have any spare time to entertain people? Oh no, I mean entertain ghosts?

The woman sensed something was wrong, but when Zhou You gently tapped the cup, she still downed it in one gulp.

As the wine entered their stomachs, it felt as if the place had truly become a wedding hall, filled with distinguished guests and the clinking of bowls and chopsticks—then, the two elders in the hall gently waved their hands.

The woman naturally stood up and walked towards him, while the groom had been waiting nearby for a long time.

—Of course, this is from a chaotic perspective.

From the perspective of these ordinary people, the woman, with a bewildered smile, walked step by step to the end of the house, bowed to the moldy God of Wealth picture, and then tied her arm around the half-eaten Earth God statue next to it.

Everything proceeded in the normal order.

Zhou You chose this auspicious funeral for two reasons: firstly, it was a relatively unorthodox level within the White Sect, requiring little magical power, which suited his current miserable body; secondly, he had at least participated in wedding ceremonies before and knew the process.

In retrospect, it was the right choice.

He walked and stood next to the woman, acting as the master of ceremonies, and called out.

"Worship heaven and earth."

"Two thanks to the high hall."

"Husband and wife bow to each other."

"Send her to the wedding room!"

By this time, the evil spirit had stopped moving much. A few of the bolder ones carried the light body, while Zhou You cut a piece of cloth from its clothes and threw it into the brazier in the center of the room.

The flames instantly turned from orange-red to blue, and dozens of wailing faces vaguely appeared within them—Zhou You ignored them completely. He first took out a red string and tied it to the woman's and the Earth God's fingers, then carefully took out a paper figure from his pocket and stuck it on the woman's forehead.

Then came the final words.

"Tonight in the wedding chamber, two mandarin ducks, born at the wrong time, will die together!"

Dust rose up, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees in an instant. The lit candle suddenly went out, leaving only the cold moonlight to provide a faint glow.

Zhou You's profession is that of a funeral director; normally, weddings and other celebratory events shouldn't be handled by them.

But.
—If this is a ghost marriage, then it's different.

The bride is a spirit, the groom is the Earth God, the ceremony is performed by paper figures, and the figure on display is the Underworld Emperor.

With those final words, the woman was gradually 'stuffed' into the paper figure, starting from the beginning—only then did it come to its senses and struggle to resist, but it was too late.

However, just when it seemed that everything was about to end.

A scream sounded.

"Mother!"

The group turned to look and saw a man kneeling on the ground, weeping bitterly over a face in the flames.

It seems this was a family member who died and was captured by this evil spirit. It's understandable that he would have an emotional breakdown upon seeing them, but...
Now is not the time for him to cry!

As the guests left this seat, the wedding hall, which had already been prepared, began to become unstable again. The woman's speed in entering the paper figure began to slow down, and it even showed a tendency to reverse.

Everyone was stunned, including the one who was crying—except for one person.

Zhou You decisively drew his short knife, took three steps in two, and stabbed the paper figure with force. At the same time, a yellow talisman in his hand spontaneously combusted without wind.

As the blue flowers bloomed, the woman was forcibly forced inside again, and the paper figure began to sway constantly, as if something inside was rampaging and trying to escape.

Without hesitation, Zhou You first bowed three times to the stone statue of the Earth God, then untied the red rope and threw the paper figure and the rope into the flames.

The flames suddenly reversed, and then went out completely.

The deathly silence lasted for a full ten seconds before Zhou You finally uttered a sigh.

"It's done!"

Seeing the village chief rush in and slap the man across the face, the middle-aged man who was also sitting at the table stood up and walked out without disturbing anyone.

Soon, one of the caravan members approached—but didn't speak immediately. Instead, after turning several corners and reaching a secluded alleyway, he finally spoke.

"Shang Jun, it seems we don't need to intervene this time. What should we do next? It still seems we can't get to the port. Should we take a detour?"

The middle-aged man looked at the still bustling house, then at the red paper pasted all around, and suddenly laughed.

"No rush. We'll have to come back eventually anyway. There's something interesting here, why don't we take a look first?"

(End of this chapter)