At 7:00 a.m., a bright yellow sun climbed into the sky, bathing the little village beside the flowing river in warm sunlight.
The fourth lunar month was peak flower season in early summer. The back garden of He Manor was a riot of color. Soft, delicate dianthus bloomed along the cobbled paths, while the lotus flowers in the water jars awoke to unfurl pink-and-white petals into bright, smiling faces. Their pale yellow stamens gave off a faint, sweet fragrance.
Several graceful pomegranate trees stretched lazily at the crossroads. Fiery red buds hid among their emerald crowns, making the trees look as if they were laden with red pomegranates. Fallen flower buds plopped into the little pond.
The pond's surface rippled, then grew still, reflecting a disheveled young woman hurrying past its bank. Her expression was anxious, and she looked pressed for time.
Ye Miaozhu dashed beneath the pomegranate trees, checking the messages on her phone once again. They had come from a contact saved as "Yunqing":
[I climbed out of the river.]
[The river water is so cold.]
[Where are you?]
[I want to see you. Come find me. I'm at...]
Those messages were the reason Ye Miaozhu had come here, like a fish hooked by bait.
Even though Gu Yunqing had died right in front of her, even though she was a medical student and could say with certainty that his heartbeat had stopped and his body had already gone cold, when she saw that familiar name appear on her screen, Ye Miaozhu still chose to believe in that tiny, improbable possibility, throwing reason to the wind.
Even though she knew a ghost wandered the village, stealing people's identities and disguising itself as a human, she was willing to bet her life on a hope that didn't exist.
Women in love had never been rational. They were simply not made for "sticking to the facts."
Ye Miaozhu hurried along the round pebble path bordered by dianthus. Her fluttering hem brushed the lotus flowers in the water jars as she rushed around the garden to the west side of the main building in He Manor, then looked down at the message on her phone once more.
Following the directions in the message, Ye Miaozhu soon found an unlocked storeroom. After taking several deep breaths, she nervously pushed open the door.
The sealed room had no lights on, and even its windows were boarded up. It was pitch-black, despite the morning. Sunlight spilled in through the open doorway, faintly illuminating the floor at Ye Miaozhu's feet.
She pushed the door all the way open and tentatively called, "Yunqing? Are you in there?"
There was no answer.
Puzzled, Ye Miaozhu took a few steps inside and looked around by the light of the sun.
It was a sealed, dry storeroom. The bamboo-slat floor was raised off the ground to keep out dampness. Several shelves stood against the walls, holding an assortment of women's belongings:
A bolt of Double-Winged Flying Gold-Thread Red Waist Cloth
A White Jade Bracelet in a brocade box, marked with a streak of blood-red
A Pure Gold Hairpin in a sandalwood box, its tip carved into a pair of Twin Lotuses
A Silver Head Crown intricately carved with Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix
A Purple Sandalwood Dressing Table set facing the storeroom door
A basin-sized Bronze Mirror set into the Dressing Table, also facing the door
Several Camphor Wood Chests filled with clothes, giving off the scent of camphor
These were most of the items in the storeroom.
Ye Miaozhu folded her arms over her chest, feeling a little self-conscious, and called out tentatively again, "Yunqing? Are you in here? Is that really you?"
A low male voice came from the darkness.
"You were lured out by a few messages?" A man in a suit stepped out from behind the Dressing Table. Sunlight fell across his face. It was Zhang Yangxu. "I didn't think you could actually be this stupid."
"You?" Ye Miaozhu ground her teeth in anger. Then she spotted the two phones in Zhang Yangxu's hand—one his own and the other Gu Yunqing's. "You used Yunqing's phone to trick me?!"
"Rather than saying you were tricked, I'd say you were eager to believe, all on your own, that Gu Yunqing was still alive." Zhang Yangxu shook his head. "Or maybe you wanted to believe it? As long as it's Gu Yunqing speaking, you'll believe anything he says?"
Ye Miaozhu snapped, "I'm willing to let him trick me. It's none of your business!"
Yeah, yeah, whatever...
After a moment, Ye Miaozhu had calmed down a little. She continued, "Tell me, why did you use Yunqing's phone to lure me here?"
Zhang Yangxu chuckled and gestured toward the shelves lined with women's belongings. "I wanted to tell you that I've found a way to leave He Family Village and return to the real world."
"You?" Ye Miaozhu looked doubtful. "If Ning Zhe or Yunqing said that, I might believe them, but you? No way."
"Believe it or not, I'm just telling you what I know." As he spoke, Zhang Yangxu walked over to the shelves.
He gently lifted a bolt of red cloth embroidered with two flying wings. "This is material for a waist wrap. Qinzhou has a feudal custom: when a young woman gets married, she wears an extremely elaborate wedding outfit that makes her look bulky. So she needs to wrap a piece of cloth around her waist and pull it tight to accentuate her figure. That's called a waist wrap. People don't care about this custom nowadays."
But they did in He Family Village.
"What are you trying to say?" Ye Miaozhu's expression grew increasingly impatient.
Zhang Yangxu set down the cloth and continued with a chuckle, "Take a look at the other things: bracelets, hairpins, a silver crown... all kinds of jewelry. These are a dowry."
"A dowry?"
"A dowry." Zhang Yangxu nodded. "The owner of this manor is about to marry off his daughter. I heard it from one of the servants. Miss He is to marry into another village, and the groom's party will arrive tomorrow to escort her. These things in the storeroom are Miss He's dowry."
"So what? What does that have to do with anything?" Ye Miaozhu frowned.
"Miss He is getting married. Do I really have to spell it out?" Zhang Yangxu sighed helplessly. "Lord He will also send some servants and maids to accompany his daughter. They're leaving tomorrow. If you can find a way to blend in with them, you can leave He Family Village with the wedding party."
"Really? If I sneak into the wedding party, I can leave here?" Doubt deepened in Ye Miaozhu's eyes.
"Really." Zhang Yangxu nodded. "Follow the wedding party, and you can leave He Family Village."
"I see..." Ye Miaozhu's gaze dimmed. She didn't ask Zhang Yangxu where he had gotten this information.
--If what Zhang Yangxu said was true, why wasn't he hiding somewhere, waiting to leave with the wedding party tomorrow? Why go out of his way to tell me?
That was what puzzled Ye Miaozhu most.
The more she thought about it, the stranger the situation seemed. Before, the messages from Gu Yunqing's phone had made her irrational, gullible, and blind. Now that the lie had been exposed and she had regained her composure, Ye Miaozhu could finally think about what was happening from a more rational perspective.
Looking at Zhang Yangxu's gentle smile, she couldn't help feeling that something was deeply unsettling.
Ye Miaozhu asked again, "Are you sure? If I follow the wedding party, I can leave He Family Village and return to the real world?"
Zhang Yangxu nodded. "That's right. Follow the wedding party, and you can leave He Family Village."
"You..." Ye Miaozhu suddenly realized something. A bone-deep chill crept up her spine from her tailbone. "I'll ask you one more time. If I follow the wedding party, can I return to the real world?"
This time, Zhang Yangxu didn't answer.
He remained where he stood, wearing a warm, approachable smile. The corners of his mouth curled up slightly, but he said nothing.
Ye Miaozhu's fears had come true.
At that moment, she suddenly remembered something Ning Zhe had once said:
[The rules may fall silent, but they won't lie.]
"Answer me, Zhang Yangxu. Why are you silent?" Ye Miaozhu gritted her teeth and spoke one word at a time. "Or are you not Zhang Yangxu at all? Are you a ghost?!"
Before you continue