The Great Banquet for the Snake God

After the three strings of firecrackers had been set off, the banquet officially moved on to the main courses. The servants of He Manor hurried back and forth through the courtyard, deftly clearing away the appetizers from the tables to make room for the dishes to come.

Qinzhou was in the south, where banquets generally had three parts: cold appetizers, the main courses, and after-meal snacks.

The first main course was soup. A milky-white fish soup was served in porcelain bowls as white as jade. It looked like crucian carp.

He Manor's banquet tables were arranged in the standard Twelve Palaces style, but this table wasn't full; several seats were empty. The women seated at the same table as "He Yulan," whose place Ning Zhe had taken, included some with children who looked to be only seven or eight sitting on their laps. Yet whether they were married mothers or toddlers just learning to speak, every person in He Family Village had a piece of withered yellow paper covering their entire face, with a person's name written on it.

When the first dish arrived, Ning Zhe didn't hurry to serve himself any soup. Instead, he sat upright in his seat, silently drew a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

As he entered the room and sat down, everyone else at the table accepted him as "He Yulan." The rule that a ghost could take another person's place was triggered again and again, and the same identity appeared from different angles in different people's eyes. Layer upon layer of shifting silhouettes gathered around Ning Zhe, and He Yulan's memories surged into his mind.

There was no resistance. Ning Zhe absorbed the memories with ease:

1. He Yulan wasn't anyone special, just an ordinary peasant woman from He Family Village. She had two sons.

2. As Ning Zhe had suspected, this was indeed a wedding banquet. Tomorrow was the day Lord He, the master of He Family Mansion, would marry off his daughter.

Lord He was marrying off his younger daughter, He Nianjun, who was eighteen. According to Qinzhou tradition, the bride's family held a feast the day before the groom came with his party to fetch her. Once the bride reached her husband's home, they would hold another feast.

3. Just as Gu Yunqing had said, the Snake God had fallen ill with madness eighteen years ago.

In the past, the Snake God had clearly marked each day's fortunes and misfortunes in the Almanac. But after falling ill, one of his eyes went blind, and from then on the Almanac showed only misfortune, never good fortune. The people of He Family Village grew more and more anxious with each passing day.

4. ...

Ning Zhe quickly sorted through the useful information in He Yulan's memories. Before long, the second dish arrived.

The second dish at the wedding banquet was stir-fried eel slices. Dark, dried traces of blood clung to the insides of the slices. It had been prepared the authentic way.

Ning Zhe casually picked up a slice and put it in his mouth, chewing slowly. He already knew what he had to do next.

I hope the auntie can hold on until then without going mad... Ning Zhe murmured.

Time passed, and one steaming dish after another was brought to the table.

In Ning Zhe's experience, any celebratory feast, whether for a wedding or a move to a new home, was always lively. Guests chatted around the tables while helpers bustled about in the kitchen. Everywhere was full of voices and commotion, and the excitement only faded after the banquet ended.

But the banquet at He Family Mansion was not lively in the slightest. Instead, it was terrifyingly quiet.

Aside from the three strings of firecrackers crackling outside the main gate, Ning Zhe hadn't heard a single other sound since entering He Family Mansion. The Guest Room was so quiet that the only thing he could hear was people chewing. The little ones sitting in their mothers' laps ate obediently, neither crying nor fussing.

There were twelve main courses in all. Before long, it was time for the final dish, Stir-fried Steamed Pork.

But this time, when the servant carrying the dish gently pushed the Guest Room door, it wouldn't open.

He knocked and called, "The food's here!"

With a creak, the door opened a crack, and He Yulan peered out. "Is there still more? There's no room left on the table."

"It's the last dish. The master said..."

Before the servant could finish, Ning Zhe pushed the door all the way open and took the steaming plate of pork in both hands. Then he kicked the servant in the crotch.

The man let out a scream and crumpled to his knees, his whole body curling up in agony. Ning Zhe set the plate on the threshold, picked up half a brick, and smashed it hard into the back of the man's head.

The servant died.

Ning Zhe's expression didn't change. He calmly stood up and carried the plate of pork to the table. No one screamed or cried out at the sight of him killing the servant, because they were all dead.

He had killed everyone in the room.

After locking the Guest Room door, Ning Zhe hoisted the servant's corpse onto his back and hurried beneath the Albizia Tree.

He had to dispose of the body in a way that broke a taboo.

From He Yulan's memories, Ning Zhe knew that on her way into He Family Mansion, she had seen an Albizia Tree in a corner of the courtyard, by the wall. It had withered and died. The servants of He Manor had dug it up by the roots and planned to plant a new one, but they had been too busy preparing for the young lady's wedding banquet to get around to it.

Ning Zhe dragged the servant's corpse straight to the unfilled pit, tossed the body inside, then promptly covered it with the Withered Sapling leaning against the courtyard wall and the earth around it.

Qinzhou had a tradition of burying the dead beneath trees or in water. Ning Zhe was certain that what he had just done had unquestionably violated the taboo against burial.

As for holding a funeral, there was no time.

Lord He was about to hold a great banquet for the Snake God.

After burying the servant he had killed, Ning Zhe didn't waste a moment. He hurried toward the south side of the main building.

The people of He Family Village all believed in the Snake God. At weddings, funerals, and all other major occasions, the most important part was always publicly worshipping the Snake God: either asking him to see the dead on their way or asking him to bless the living. The large crowd that had gone to the Ancestral Hall early that morning to bow three times and kowtow nine times had been performing the ritual to invite the Snake God out of the ancestral shrine.

"If nothing goes wrong, the servants of He Manor are already heading toward the Ancestral Hall, playing their horns. They'll carry the Snake God's statue out of the shrine and bring it to the main building of He Family Mansion, where people can worship and pray for blessings."

Ning Zhe couldn't help quickening his pace. "This is my best—and last—chance."

After repeatedly breaking taboos, Ning Zhe's luck was now at rock bottom. Even though the road wasn't long, he stumbled along it and fell hard on the gravel, bruising his face. But he didn't care. It was He Yulan who had fallen. What did that have to do with Ning Zhe?

Ning Zhe was going to do something even more badass.

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

Ning Zhe wiped the nosebleed from his face, struggled to his feet, and continued running toward the main building.

He had barely taken two steps before he fell again, slamming his chin into the ground. His jawbone cracked on impact.

But this time, he hadn't tripped over a rock. For some reason, a koi had jumped out of the pond and was flopping around on the ground. It had landed right under Ning Zhe's foot.

Given the situation, Ning Zhe could only be grateful that he was traveling under He Yulan's identity. Otherwise, he probably would've been dead before reaching his destination.

I hope things are going better for the auntie... Ning Zhe thought.

Then he pitched headfirst into the artificial rockery beside the pond, splitting his head open.