After the Wedding Rites, Don't Marry Me for Real

[After the three bows are complete-]

[The bride will formally belong to the groom.]

The final line of bloody text appeared.

Xie Linyuan's face instantly darkened.

Shen Niannian didn't look much better.

(°ー°〃)

"Formally belong to the groom."

No matter how she looked at it, that didn't sound like simply finishing a play.

It sounded more like she was really going to be bundled up and given away.

The livestream chat had completely exploded.

"Holy shit, they're serious?!"

"First it was a ghost marriage between characters, and now she belongs to him as soon as they finish the three bows?"

"Now we know why Xie Linyuan was so afraid of marrying Shen Niannian!"

"No, maybe he's not afraid of the marriage, but of who might come knocking afterward..."

"I want to know what the hell Shen Niannian's dad is more and more!"

Xie Linyuan stared at the line of bloody text.

He fell silent for a few seconds.

Then he suddenly looked at Shen Niannian.

"We can't just do the three bows."

"I know."

Shen Niannian nodded.

"The problem is, we can't refuse either."

The Dead Men's Theater had already proven it.

When a role's actions were explicitly prescribed,

outright refusal was asking for death.

So the way to survive this stage definitely wasn't to flee the wedding.

It was-

how to perform the bows.

Just then,

on either side of the red wedding table,

two chairs suddenly appeared.

A figure sat in each chair, covered by a red cloth.

At the same time,

a paper wedding matron walked in through the doorway.

She was one of the roles responsible for officiating the wedding in the third act.

The human player acting as the [wedding matron]

was forced to stand beside her.

The paper wedding matron called out in a shrill voice:

"Bride and groom, step forward-"

Xie Linyuan didn't move.

Neither did Shen Niannian.

The next second,

both their theater tickets grew hot at the same time.

[The groom and bride are requested to enter the wedding ceremony area.]

Their roles' actions were explicitly prescribed.

They had no choice but to go.

The two exchanged a glance.

In the end, they walked to the red table.

The livestream chat grew much quieter.

Everyone was waiting

to see what would happen at the first bow.

But the moment Shen Niannian took her place,

the ticket in the wedding matron player's hand suddenly updated.

Her expression changed sharply.

[Wedding matron's current role task]

[Before the ceremony begins, announce the names of the groom and bride aloud.]

"Names?"

She looked up instinctively.

"I have to announce both your real names."

Xie Linyuan's expression changed instantly.

"Don't."

That single word

was cold enough to make the temperature in the entire courtyard drop several degrees.

The wedding matron player went pale.

"But that's my explicitly assigned role task. I'll die if I don't announce them!"

Ye Qinglan immediately frowned as well.

That was the problem.

If she didn't announce them,

the wedding matron might make a role error.

If she did,

the ghost marriage might directly bind the two actors themselves.

Shen Niannian's expression shifted rapidly.

Names.

Roles.

Those two things again.

From the first act, the Dead Men's Theater had kept emphasizing-

actors could die.

Roles could not make mistakes.

In other words,

the core of what the theater truly acknowledged

had always been the roles!

Shen Niannian immediately looked at Xie Linyuan.

"Were you so nervous just now because once our real names are announced, this marriage won't be just acting anymore?"

Xie Linyuan was silent for a moment.

"There are two kinds of marriage contracts in the Dead Men's Theater. One completed using the characters' names is a Theatrical Marriage and ends automatically when the curtain falls; one completed using real names writes the actors themselves into the marriage contract."

Shen Niannian's eyes lit up.

Just as she thought!

The livestream chat instantly erupted too.

"I get it!"

"The bows aren't the scary part. The real names are the trap!"

"So the characters have to perform the bows, not the actors themselves!"

"That lines up perfectly with the whole core of the Dead Men's Theater!"

The wedding matron player's voice was trembling with anxiety.

"But my task says to announce the bride and groom's names. It doesn't say I can use their characters' names!"

"Names don't necessarily mean the actors' real names."

Shen Niannian spoke quickly. "This instance has treated the characters as real people all along. Right now, you're officiating the wedding of the Chen Family's youngest daughter and the groom, not the wedding of Shen Niannian and Xie Linyuan."

Ye Qinglan immediately added:

"Announce the characters' titles. Let's see how the theater judges it first."

There was no time to hesitate.

The wedding matron player gritted her teeth.

Then she raised her voice:

"The groom-the young master of the Xie Family of Night Capital!"

"The bride-the youngest daughter of the Chen Family!"

The entire courtyard fell silent.

One second.

Two seconds.

[The wedding matron has completed the name announcements.]

No role error!

It worked!

The wedding matron player nearly collapsed.

Shen Niannian also breathed a complete sigh of relief.

(✧ω✧)

They had found the answer.

The bows were performed by the characters.

Not by her in person!

Xie Linyuan's expression eased considerably as well.

He glanced at Shen Niannian.

"Now do you know why I didn't want this play to involve our real names?"

Shen Niannian nodded.

"Afraid of my dad?"

Xie Linyuan: "..."

[Current status: Does not want to answer]

Very well.

He had tacitly admitted it.

Just then,

the paper wedding matron called out again:

"First bow to heaven and earth-!"

Shen Niannian and Xie Linyuan turned at the same time, following the script.

They bowed.

The first bow was complete.

[Theatrical Marriage Contract established: 1/3]

Nothing unusual happened.

"Second bow to the parents-!"

The two turned toward the back of the red table.

Toward the two figures who had been covered by red cloth the whole time.

But just as they were about to bow-

Ye Qinglan's expression suddenly changed.

"Something's wrong!"

One of the figures covered by red cloth

had no shadow beneath its feet!

The other one did!

Even more bizarrely,

the theater ticket in the master player's hand also began heating up wildly at that moment.

[Master's current role task: Receive the respects of your daughter and the groom.]

He looked up sharply.

"I should be the parent receiving the bow!"

Everyone's hearts sank at once.

The two things sitting behind the red table-

weren't the Chen Family parents at all!

This was a fake!

But the wedding bows had already begun.

Shen Niannian and Xie Linyuan were about to complete the second bow.

"Stop!"

Shen Niannian forced herself to stop bending forward.

The paper matchmaker's face twisted in an instant.

"Why aren't the newlyweds bowing?"

The blood-red text began to flicker as well.

[Second bow to the elders in progress.]

[Please complete the storyline.]

The pressure crashed down.

But Shen Niannian didn't bow.

She quickly looked at the player playing the master of the house.

"Go sit over there!"

The master's player turned pale.

"Me?"

"You're the master of the Chen Family. In the third act, you're one of the elders!"

The problem was,

there was still another seat.

Lin Yue, the player who played the mistress, was already dead.

The one playing the mistress now-

was a paper double!

Almost at the same moment Shen Niannian thought of this,

the paper mistress slowly stepped out of the bridal procession.

She sat down in the other chair on her own.

[The Chen Family elder roles are in place.]

The two figures covered in red cloth behind the red table

raised their heads at the same time.

The red cloths slipped off.

What they revealed weren't faces at all.

They were two pitch-black holes!

[Target: Marriage-Borrowing Ghost]

[Danger level: B-rank]

[Current status: Identity disguise failed]

Everyone in the livestream felt their scalps prickle.

"Another identity trap!"

"What would've happened if they'd actually bowed just now?!"

The answer came at once.

One of the Marriage-Borrowing Ghosts let out a shriek

and lunged straight at the nearest player!

"If you won't bow to me, then give me the elder's identity!"

It clawed at the master's player.

Ye Qinglan drew her blade in an instant.

Clang!

Ghostly claws collided with the short blade.

Ye Qinglan staggered back two steps.

B-rank!

The other Marriage-Borrowing Ghost charged at the paper mistress too.

The scene descended into chaos in an instant.

Yet the paper matchmaker kept urging them on.

"Second bow to the elders-!"

[Time remaining for the wedding bows: 30 seconds]

Shen Niannian's expression changed.

They had to keep the real elders from being replaced

while completing the second bow!

"Ye Qinglan, protect the master!"

"Cao Yong, don't let the other one touch the paper mistress!"

The two moved at once.

Ye Qinglan swept her short blade across,

forcibly blocking the first Marriage-Borrowing Ghost.

Cao Yong dragged a wooden table right in front of the paper mistress to shield her.

He couldn't fight a B-rank head-on.

But he could stall it!

"Bow, now!"

Ye Qinglan shouted through gritted teeth.

Shen Niannian and Xie Linyuan hesitated no longer.

Facing the real master and the paper mistress,

they bent forward together!

[Second bow to the elders complete!]

[Theatrical Marriage Contract established: 2/3]

Boom-!

Both Marriage-Borrowing Ghosts froze in place.

Then an invisible force dragged them straight into the ground.

The crisis was over!

Before anyone had time to catch their breath,

the paper matchmaker had already raised her voice again.

"Husband and wife-"

"Bow to each other-!"

Shen Niannian: "..."

Xie Linyuan: "..."

The two stood facing each other.

The livestream chat instantly sprang to life again.

"Here it comes!"

"The last bow!"

"The first two bows were so devious, there's no way the third one doesn't have a trap!"

Sure enough,

just as the two were about to bow their heads,

the Nightfall Lolita in Shen Niannian's hand suddenly glowed faintly black and red.

[Unknown high-rank anomaly aura detected approaching.]

Xie Linyuan jerked his head up as well.

Outside the courtyard,

at some unknown point,

a tall woman holding a blood-red paper umbrella had appeared.

She didn't enter the Chen Family residence.

She simply stood beyond the courtyard gate,

watching Shen Niannian in silence.

The next second,

the Identity Archive appeared.

[Target: ???]

[Danger level: S-rank]

[Identity: Honored guest of Dead Men's Theater]

[Current status: Stunned]

Then,

the woman got a clear look at Shen Niannian preparing to bow to Xie Linyuan as husband and wife.

[Current status: Shocked]

[Current status: Wants to laugh]

Shen Niannian: "..."

(°ー°〃)

This is bad.

Another one who knows me.