NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7: A Curious Request
Chapter 7: A Curious Request
“Can… can you really do this?” Lu Yuan asked, blinking skeptically.
His wife seemed quite confident in her approach—something about lines and rituals that sounded surprisingly professional.
Su Liyan nodded with unwavering certainty. “Of course it will work. I learned it from my mother. I’ll speak to the spirit tonight, and it won’t dare frighten you anymore.”
Seeing her confidence, Lu Yuan agreed despite his doubts. Whether reliable or not, there seemed no harm in trying.
The couple took a longer route home. Upon arrival, Su Liyan immediately began organizing their purchases from town. Lu Yuan didn’t offer help—partly because household matters would be Su Liyan’s responsibility from now on, but mostly because he was full from their meal and feeling rather lazy.
Su Liyan proved remarkably efficient. The mountain of items scattered across the yard disappeared within half an hour, everything neatly arranged in its proper place.
Next, she retrieved an old bowl from the corner—formerly used for a dog that had since passed away—gathered three stones, and collected a handful of sand. With these peculiar items assembled, she turned to Lu Yuan with bright eyes.
“Brother, shall we go?”
Lu Yuan stared at her makeshift tools in confusion. “What are you holding?”
Su Liyan held up the stones. “These are steamed buns.” She raised the broken bowl filled with sand. “And this is rice. They’re all for the ritual.”
Lu Yuan frowned. “Is this really going to work? Aren’t you just pretending?”
Su Liyan nodded solemnly. “Yes, it’s merely symbolic. The water ghost is just accumulated resentment—it doesn’t need real offerings, it can’t actually see.”
“I think we should steam actual buns with white flour, and prepare real rice,” Lu Yuan countered. “We’ll need dinner anyway.”
Su Liyan’s face fell. “But… that would be wasteful! We can’t eat food that’s been offered to spirits…”
Amused by her distressed expression, Lu Yuan smiled. “Hurry up and be a good wife. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can return home to rest.”
Su Liyan’s pretty face flushed at this suggestion, and she obediently prepared proper offerings.
Soon they set out with their basket of provisions. The steamed buns hadn’t had time to rise properly and remained rather dense, but Lu Yuan considered them vastly superior to symbolic stones.
Darkness had fallen completely. As they walked beyond the village boundary, Lu Yuan mentioned, “When we return home, we’ll change into our new clothes and visit the ancestral temple for worship.”
In this world, marriage required no certificates—simply the bride presenting herself at the ancestral hall to receive the blessing of family ancestors.
Su Liyan nodded shyly, feeling emotional. She had once believed she would never marry, or that anyone willing to take her would surely be a man of poor character. Yet here she was, wed to a kind, caring husband. The entire day felt dreamlike to her.
The couple approached the stone bridge. Lu Yuan eyed the dark structure and the gurgling water beneath it with apprehension. Despite his newly acquired “Holy Body” that supposedly rendered him immune to malevolent forces, psychological trauma lingered. Even if he had traveled through time and space to become a legendary warrior instead of a scholar, such supernatural encounters would still terrify him.
“Perhaps I should… wait here?” Lu Yuan suggested suddenly, pointing to a nearby tree. “While you perform the ritual.”
Su Liyan turned to look at her husband with surprise. For reasons she couldn’t articulate, she found his fear endearing. He had shown such boldness earlier—confronting the village chief without hesitation—yet now trembled before an incorporeal spirit. Weren’t humans ultimately more frightening than ghosts?
“That’s fine,” she agreed. “I’ll speak with it myself.”
Lu Yuan waited beneath a large tree while Su Liyan carried her basket to the riverside near the stone bridge. She lit two candles and began murmuring incantations.
Unable to hear her words, Lu Yuan could only wait anxiously. Whether due to imagination or something more sinister, he sensed a faint luminescence behind him and felt unseen eyes watching from the darkness. As Su Liyan’s ritual stretched on, his unease grew. Strangely, he felt he might be safer at her side.
Finally gathering his courage, Lu Yuan approached her. Drawing near, he could at last make out her words—not arcane mystical phrases as he’d expected, but simple, straightforward statements.
“My husband has given you white flour buns to eat, so please stop frightening him…” she was saying.
Lu Yuan found her approach both adorable and bewildering. Could such a simple appeal possibly work?
Upon his arrival, Su Liyan finished her incantation. She picked up the bowl from the ground, moved it in a circular pattern, and completed the ritual. Together they returned home, washed up, and changed into their new clothes.
Where earlier Su Liyan had worn only a simple linen dress yet looked stunning, now she was transformed. Dressed in beautiful garments, with a touch of rouge on her cheeks and a large red flower adorning her long hair, she was breathtaking in the candlelight.
Lu Yuan almost suggested skipping the ancestral temple visit altogether. But there was no need to rush—she was now his wife and wasn’t going anywhere.
At the ancestral hall, they located the Lu family memorial tablet, knelt together, bowed respectfully, and spoke the traditional words. With this simple ceremony, their marriage was officially recognized.
Afterward, Lu Yuan eagerly led his shy bride home. He asked her to wait inside while he secured the doors and windows. Upon his return, he found Su Liyan sitting demurely at the edge of their bed, her expression timid and uncertain.
Lu Yuan rubbed his hands together with anticipation, looking at his bashful wife with a mischievous smile.
“Now then,” he said, “show me your big tail first!”
Su Liyan stared back at him, utterly bewildered.