Rescue

Bian Chunchou thought, How cursed am I? I came down the mountain to help my little companions pick out New Year gifts, and I might end up losing my life. Pah! They said the girls of Little Tree Village were beauties beyond compare—why did he—

The old woman let out a sinister cackle at that moment, seemingly pleased by the disgust on Bian Chunchou's face. "Granny Yuan, begin."

Granny Yuan silently shoved Bian Chunchou. At some point, the brazier on the altar had been lit again, and all the other villagers had gone down. Now, aside from the devout Man'er, only the three of them remained on the platform.

Help help help help help—

He was still a pure young man! He did not want a ghost marriage!!!

Bian Chunchou could not speak, so he could only scream wildly in his heart. That was the only way he could barely retain a thread of reason. Things had reached this point—he would defend his innocence even if it cost him his life!

I'll fight you human traffickers! At worst, twenty years later I'll be another—

A powerful surge of spiritual energy suddenly erupted from Bian Chunchou. In an instant, it struck the two people standing near him: Granny Yuan and the old woman about to be wed.

Granny Yuan was all right. Though she was struck, she quickly dodged aside. But the old woman... fared far worse. She had already been at death's door, her end plainly near. Now, struck directly by the spiritual energy, she went crack—and that was that. She died on the spot.

Dead?

Had he killed someone?

Bian Chunchou's reason snapped back in an instant. As a modern college student educated in the five virtues and four beauties, he could be idle and unambitious, but murder was