Chapter 103: The Dashing Guest

Ming Zhuo couldn’t pull his hand back; his fingertips were tightly pressed against the wound. With any slight movement, he could imprint himself further onto Luo Xu. The matchmaker outside the bridal sedan continued to chatter, speaking auspicious words. Despite these cheerful, noisy surroundings, a confrontation was forming between the two in the narrow sedan, their hidden gazes intertwining, making their already unclear emotions even more blurred.

“A dog like you that enjoys being taught a lesson,” Ming Zhuo’s words were harsh. “This is the first time I’ve seen such a thing.”

“This matter is one thing, and that is another,” Luo Xu said. “This handkerchief was given to me by you, and now I’ve soiled it. I can’t return it to you in this state.”

“A handkerchief,” Ming Zhuo said, “even if taken back, would just be thrown away.”

“If the handkerchief isn’t important,” Luo Xu asked, closing the remaining distance, “then what was all that talk of ‘bookkeeping’ for?”

Ming Zhuo, seeming indifferent, slowly leaned forward, “I can have any reason I want.”

“How many people have you said this to?” Luo Xu tightened his grip, holding Ming Zhuo even more firmly. “Every person you call a ‘dog’, do you control them this strictly?”

His reaction piqued Ming Zhuo’s interest. Observing his expression, Ming Zhuo cruelly said, “I can’t remember, you might be the only one, or you might be the ten thousandth.”

Suddenly, his fingers were gripped painfully, and he felt the stickiness of blood as the wound began to bleed again.

“The ten thousandth,” Luo Xu’s voice remained lazy, as if unfazed. “Marked by a contract, kissed a few times, and I am still the ten thousandth. You have that many dogs?”

Ming Zhuo replied, “Isn’t that how Lords are?”

His tone was too playful, exposing his intention, as if testing Luo Xu was an amusing endeavour.

The bridal sedan continued to move, and as the curtain swayed, a few pieces of paper money floated in. Ming Zhuo’s attention was drawn to the paper money, diverting his focus as he said, “The colour has changed—”

Luo Xu suddenly pulled him close, their noses almost touching, and kissed him. Ming Zhuo’s back immediately hit the wall, half of his body being pressed down. Soon, he realised this was not a kiss but a bite.

Ming Zhuo should not have looked away. He underestimated Luo Xu’s possessiveness. They had kissed many times in the array, but each time was just a kiss, making Ming Zhuo almost forget how much of a scoundrel Luo Xu had become.

He might have called Luo Xu’s name, but no one could hear it because his tongue was numb, unable to form complete words. He could no longer be distracted; all his reactions were for Luo Xu alone.

Luo Xu had once rubbed the corners of Ming Zhuo’s eyes and squeezed his waist. However, this time, apart from holding Ming Zhuo’s hand, he touched nothing else. He just bit him, and kissed him, making Ming Zhuo choke, feeling like he was drowning in the rocking sedan chair—each breath like a plea for mercy.

He did not kiss to borrow spiritual power.

The sedan suddenly thudded to the ground with a guāngdāng, causing a jolt inside. The matchmaker gleefully said, “We’ve arrived, just in time! Ruyi Lang, Jiang Lun-jun, come down to pay your respects!”

With that, the curtain was lifted. The matchmaker, half her face covered with a cloth, peeked inside. The bright lights outside illuminated the sedan's interior. She was about to take a closer look when a red shadow flashed inside. The "Jiang Lan-jun" in wedding attire got out of the sedan.

The matchmaker said, “Āiyō, Jiang Lan-jun, why is your wedding robe so wrinkled? It won’t look good during the ceremony.”

Luo Xu’s outer robe was lost while blocking Lin Changming, and now his front was dishevelled. With his face, he looked less like someone about to attend a wedding and more like someone returning from a drunken night of fooling around. He turned sideways, holding the sedan door, and said inside, “Whether it looks good is up to Ruyi Lang, right?”

“Ruyi Lang” seemed to only be waking up now, the bracelet on his upper arm out of place. Half his face hidden in shadow, he was still wiping the bitten corner of his mouth with his thumb. The two of them exchanged a look, and Ming Zhuo tasted a bit of blood. It was Luo Xu’s blood that lingered on his fingertips.

The matchmaker lowered her veil, laughing until her eyes disappeared. “Yes, yes, yes, as long as Ruyi Lang thinks it looks good. Everything is ready inside, the guests are already seated, just waiting for you two. Let’s go, ba!”

Ming Zhuo squeezed out two words, “You’re capable.”

With the important task at hand, he picked up a few pieces of paper money and got out of the sedan. The colour of the paper money had changed; originally, they had been red, white, and yellow. Now, they were only white.

“This is the wedding venue Lin Changming wanted for the marriage,” Luo Xu folded the dirty handkerchief and wrapped it around his hand, “half a wedding hall, half a mourning hall—quite a strange spectacle.”

The courtyard in front of the sedan was none other than where Lin Changming and Jiang Linzhai used to live. The gate was wide open, and inside, it was filled with guests, all familiar faces from their previous days. The courtyard’s worry-free trees were hung with fire fish lanterns. Ahead was the main hall for the wedding, and to the side was the mourning hall with a coffin.

Ming Zhuo glanced at the coffin in the mourning hall, “He’s quite considerate, he didn’t miss anyone who should be invited.”

As he spoke, someone stepped out of the main hall. The person was short, still looking like a teenager. Seeing Luo Xu, he joyfully called, “Shifu!”

This shout was like a stone falling, stirring up a wave of other calls. The guests waiting in the main hall were none other than Jiang Linzhai’s disciples who died in the small town.

“Obsession turns into delusion,” Luo Xu took the paper money from Ming Zhuo’s hand, “this paper money didn’t change colour, it lost its colour.”

As if to confirm his words, the surrounding music became discordant, and the courtyard was filled with laughter. Everyone laughed until they lost their eyes, then their heads, and finally turned into thin paper figures, bending over, covering their mouths, making cackling sounds.

Lin Changming’s body was taken over, his mind was chaotic. To maintain a flawless world would consume all his strength. However, the spiritual power he used to activate the array was originally from Ming Han. Now, it was running out, and everyone in the array revealed their true forms.

“Hurry up, pay your respects,” the matchmaker swayed, urging them along with the crowd, “first bow to heaven and earth, then to the parents—”

The crowd surrounded them, pushing the two toward the wedding hall.

Ming Zhuo didn’t know who handed him a lead cloth with an unfamiliar knot in the middle, the other end held by Luo Xu. Something fell onto his shoulder and hair; looking up, he saw Wuyou flowers falling like snow.

The crowd said, “The couple will bow to each other—”

Ming Zhuo and Luo Xu bumped heads and squeezed toward the so-called wedding chamber among the paper people. The candles in the hall flickered, and Ming Zhuo suddenly stopped, saying, “Something’s wrong.”

Luo Xu’s guess had been correct, but it was based on Lin Changming believing Jiang Linzhai had liked him. They had overlooked a singular fact: Lin Changming knew he had been fooled.

He knew all the responses he received over the years had been guided by Ming Han. In other words, when Lin Changming realised he was deceived, he understood Jiang Linzhai never had feelings for him. Since there were no feelings, what was the marriage for? What was the wedding night for? Obsession could turn into delusion, but it would not turn sordid. A gentleman befriends a gentleman. Ruyi Lang might be a romantic, but he was not vulgar.

Ming Zhuo gripped the lead cloth, abruptly turned, and coldly said, “Ming Han, another scheme within a scheme.”

The courtyard suddenly gusted, blowing paper money and flower petals into disarray. One fire fish lantern after another went out, and finally, everything disappeared, just like when Lin Changming woke from his dream.

Everything was fake.

The Author Has Something to Say

How’s the meal? (shakes head)

Thanks for reading.