Grand Feast for the Snake God

After the three strings of firecrackers finished popping, the banquet officially entered the main course stage. Servants of the He Manor scurried back and forth across the courtyard, nimbly clearing away the cold appetizers originally placed on the tables to make room for the upcoming dishes.

Qinzhou belongs to the southern provinces, where banquet dishes are generally divided into three parts: appetizing cold plates, the main course, and after-meal snacks.

The first dish of the main course was soup; milky white fish soup was served in jade-like porcelain bowls. Judging by the appearance, it was likely Crucian Carp.

The tables used for the He Manor banquet were in the standard Twelve Palaces style, but the tables were not filled with 12 people; several seats were empty. The women sitting at the same table as "He Yulan," whose identity Ning Zhe had replaced, were all female. Some women even had children who looked only seven or eight years old sitting on their laps. However, whether they were married women with children or toddlers just learning to babble, everyone in He Family Village had a piece of withered yellow paper pasted on their faces, covering them just enough to obscure their features entirely, with names written on the paper.

After the first dish was served, Ning Zhe did not rush to ladle soup for himself. Instead, he sat upright in his seat, took a silent, deep breath, and closed his eyes.

As he entered the room and sat in the chair, the other people at the table accepted his identity as "He Yulan." The rules of ghosts replacing others were triggered time and again. The identity of the same person refracted into different angles in the eyes of different people, and pieces of silhouettes with varying postures were pieced together on Ning Zhe, causing the memories belonging to He Yulan to surge into his mind.

Without any obstacles, Ning Zhe easily digested these memories:

1. The identity of He Yulan was not special; she was just an ordinary peasant woman from He Family Village with two sons.

2. Just as Ning Zhe had guessed before, this banquet was indeed a wedding banquet. Tomorrow was the day Lord He, He Changzai, the master of the He Family Mansion, would marry off his daughter.

Lord He was marrying off his youngest daughter, He Nianjun, who was 18 years old. According to the traditional customs of Qinzhou, on the day before the groom brought people to collect the bride, the bride's family had to hold a banquet first, and another one would be held once the bride arrived at the groom's home.

3. Just as Gu Yunqing had said before, the time the Snake God fell ill with madness was 18 years ago.

In the past, the Snake God would clearly mark the auspicious and inauspicious days on the almanac every day, but ever since falling ill with madness, one of the Snake God's eyes had gone blind. From then on, there were only inauspicious days on the almanac, no auspicious ones, and He Family Village became more and more fearful with each passing day.

4. ...

Ning Zhe's brain quickly organized and sorted out the useful information in He Yulan's memories. Soon, the second dish was served.

The second dish of the wedding banquet was Stir-fried Eel Slices. There were black marks on the inner walls of the eel slices—that was dried blood. The preparation was very authentic.

Ning Zhe casually picked up a piece of eel and put it into his mouth, chewing it carefully. He already knew what he had to do next.

I hope Aunt can hold on until then without going crazy... Ning Zhe whispered to himself.

Time ticked away, second by second, as steaming hot dishes were placed on the dining table.

In Ning Zhe's impression, whether it was a wedding, a funeral, or moving into a new home, banquets for joyous occasions were always lively. From the guests chatting and laughing at the tables to the helpers busy in the back kitchen, everything displayed a scene of bustling noise and excitement. The heated atmosphere would only gradually subside after the banquet ended.

However, the banquet held in the He Family Mansion was not lively at all; on the contrary, it was terrifyingly quiet.

Except for the three strings of firecrackers popping outside the gate, Ning Zhe had not heard any other noise since entering the He Family Mansion. The guest room was so quiet that only the sound of chewing food could be heard. The little baby sitting in its mother's arms was also just eating quietly, neither crying nor making a fuss.

The main course consisted of 12 dishes in total, and soon it was time for the last dish, Stir-fried Steamed Pork, to be served.

But this time, when the servant carrying the dish pushed the guest room door, he couldn't push it open.

The servant knocked on the room door and shouted, "Serving the dish~"

With a creak, the door opened a crack, and He Yulan's head poked out from inside: "Are there more dishes? The table is already full."

"It's the last one. The master ordered that..."

Before the servant could finish his sentence, Ning Zhe pushed the door wide open, took the steaming Steamed Pork with both hands, and then kicked the servant in the crotch.

Hearing only a miserable cry of "Oh," the man knelt on the ground in pain, his entire body curling up from the extreme agony. Ning Zhe casually placed the dish on the threshold, picked up half a brick, and smashed it heavily onto the back of his head.

The servant was dead.

Ning Zhe's expression remained unchanged. He stood up calmly and carried the plate of Steamed Pork to the table. No one screamed or gasped because of his cold-blooded killing of the servant just now, because they were all dead.

He had killed everyone in this room.

Locking the guest room door, Ning Zhe hoisted the servant's corpse onto his back and hurried past the Albizia Tree.

He had to dispose of this body, in a way that violated the taboos.

From He Yulan's memories, Ning Zhe learned that on her way into the He Family Mansion, she had seen an Albizia Tree in the corner of the courtyard wall that had withered and died. The servants of the He Manor had dug this dead tree out by the roots, intending to transplant a new one, but because they were busy preparing for the young lady's wedding banquet, they hadn't gotten around to it.

Ning Zhe dragged the servant's corpse straight to this unfilled pit, threw his body directly into it, and cleanly filled it back in with the withered sapling that had been leaning against the courtyard wall, along with the dirt.

Qinzhou had customs of tree burial and water burial. Ning Zhe was certain that what he was doing now undoubtedly violated the taboo of "burial."

As for the funeral rites, there was no time.

Because Lord He was about to start the grand banquet for the Snake God.

After burying the servant he had killed, Ning Zhe did not delay for a moment and quickly walked toward the south side of the Main Building.

The people of He Family Village all believed in the Snake God. Whenever there were weddings, funerals, or joyous occasions, the most important part was always to worship the Snake God in public. It was either to ask the Snake God to see off the deceased or to ask the Snake God to bestow blessings upon the living. Early this morning, a large group of people ran to the Ancestral Hall to perform three kowtows and nine bows; that was the ceremony to invite the Snake God out of the ancestral shrine.

"If nothing goes wrong, the servants of the He Manor are already blowing horns and heading toward the Ancestral Hall. They will move the statue of the Snake God out of the Ancestral Hall and invite it to the Main Building of the He Family Mansion for people to worship and pray for blessings."

Ning Zhe couldn't help but quicken his pace: "This is my best and last chance."

Because of the continuous violation of taboos, Ning Zhe's luck was now at its absolute worst. Even a short distance was walked with difficulty, and he fell on the gravel road, covered in bruises and blood. But Ning Zhe didn't care, because it was He Yulan who fell; what did that have to do with him, Ning Zhe?

He, Ning Zhe, was definitely going to do something even more badass.

"Let me try and see if I can kill both the Snake God and the ghost..."

Ning Zhe wiped the nosebleed from his face, scrambled up from the ground with stumbling steps, and continued running toward the Main Building.

He hadn't run two steps before he fell to the ground again. His chin hit the ground directly, and his jawbone cracked with a sound.

But this time, he didn't fall because his foot was tripped by a stone; it was because a Koi in the pond had jumped out for some reason, flopping around on the ground, and happened to jump right under Ning Zhe's feet.

In this situation, Ning Zhe could only be thankful that he was using He Yulan's identity to walk this path; otherwise, he would have been done for before even reaching the destination.

I hope the situation on Aunt's side is better than mine... Ning Zhe thought to himself.

Then he slammed his head into the rockery by the pond, knocking himself bloody.