W Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Wedding to Ward Off Evil

Cold.

The biting cold gave Ling Xing a faint awareness.

In the haze, Ling Xing’s mind was muddled, his body weak, and he felt like a ball of cotton.

Suddenly, a sharp, ear-piercing sound exploded beside him, the music making his head ache.

The instrument with such penetrating power could only be a suona.

The suona’s sound woke Ling Xing up a bit more. He slowly opened his eyes and met the gaze of a dilapidated idol.

Half of the idol’s face was missing, and a rat crawled out of the empty space, startling him and making his heart pound wildly.

Before Ling Xing could recover, a woman’s voice, no less penetrating than the suona, rang out from outside the dilapidated temple, “Quick, quickly bring the Ge’er out! It won’t be good if we miss the auspicious time!”

Ling Xing’s head was dizzy, and he only heard hurried footsteps getting closer outside. Then, he was lifted up by two old women.

As soon as he was lifted, Ling Xing’s eyes went black, and he saw stars. He felt severely deprived of blood to the brain and almost fainted again.

He finally recovered, but a dull pain came from his arm.

The two old women looked thin, but in reality, their grip was strong, and Ling Xing’s forearm twitched in pain.

It would be more accurate to say that Ling Xing was being dragged by the two old women than being helped to walk.

Things had happened too suddenly, and Ling Xing was also confused.

He only remembered going to pay respects to his grandfather’s grave when he was trapped in the mountains by a sudden heavy rain and unfortunately caught in a mudslide.

As for the situation before him, Ling Xing had no idea what was going on.

The light outside was too dazzling, and the cold wind was like a knife, cutting his flesh with pain.

In Ling Xing’s blurry vision, he seemed to see a patch of red, and the suona was playing what sounded like joyful music.

Thinking of some of the customs in the village, Ling Xing shuddered.

Could he have been dug up to be matched in a ghost marriage?

After successfully scaring himself, Ling Xing suddenly had a rush of unfamiliar memories in his head.

The memories came too suddenly, and there was so much information that Ling Xing’s head was about to split.

The two old women who were supporting him saw Ling Xing closing his eyes and frowning tightly, and they couldn’t help but worry.

One of them exclaimed, “This Ge’er who’s here for a Wedding to Ward Off Evil, don’t let him kill himself before he can revive the other one!”

The other woman sized up Ling Xing and felt that his condition was really not right, so she reached out and grabbed Ling Xing’s hand, pinching his tiger’s mouth hard.

“Ah!”

The iron-clamp-like force on his tiger’s mouth made Ling Xing shout directly.

If he were really dead, he could be pinched back to life by this old woman.

The old woman who pinched his tiger’s mouth breathed a sigh of relief, “This voice sounds like it has some energy, he won’t die.”

The old woman who was worried that Ling Xing was dead was also relieved and quickly said, “Let’s quickly send him to the old Shen family. Getting some lucky money and eating a feast is better than anything.”

Ling Xing’s tiger’s mouth was still throbbing with pain, but the pain in his head had disappeared a lot. He couldn’t care less about his surroundings, and could only silently digest the unfamiliar memories.

He died, and then transmigrated.

He transmigrated to an unknown dynasty, the Yu Dynasty.

In this dynasty, there were men, women, and another gender, Ge’er.

Although Ge’ers had male characteristics, they couldn’t impregnate women. Moreover, Ge’ers’ physical structure was different from that of men. They had a pregnancy mole and could have children themselves.

Ling Xing had transmigrated into a Ge’er with the same name and surname as himself.

The original Ling Xing was from a wealthy area in the south, and his family was considered well-off. But, unexpectedly, that golden nest was flooded in the summer, and the lake water flooded the entire city.

There were more and more disaster victims, and the government couldn’t manage them all.

It was also because the Yu Dynasty had only been established for a few years, and the forces of all sides were complicated. The government wanted to manage but didn’t have the power to do so, and there were too many forces blocking them.

People who didn’t have enough to eat were prone to trouble, and the first to suffer were those who had some wealth.

After the Ling family’s remaining food was robbed, they had no choice but to follow the team fleeing the famine.

Some of the disaster victims became bandits, committing all kinds of evil deeds along the way. In addition to dealing with these bandits, the people who were fleeing for their lives also had to face all kinds of diseases caused by long-term lack of food.

Some people died of illness on the way to escape the famine, while others sold themselves in order to survive. Still others were separated in the process of repeatedly dodging the bandits’ plundering.

When the original Ling Xing fled to this place, he was already at the end of his rope.

He was so hungry that he was dizzy, and only had a breath left to hang on.

He heard that the Shen family in Xiao Liucun wanted to marry someone to their family for a Wedding to Ward Off Evil, so he took the initiative to beg to marry into the family, only asking for a bite to eat.

He couldn’t die, he still had to find his younger brother, Ling Yue.

His mother died in childbirth and entrusted his younger brother to him at her deathbed. But he was careless for a moment, and his stepmother sold his younger brother to buy pancakes during their escape.

In order to find his younger brother, the original Ling Xing left the team, which already didn’t have many people.

He only knew that his younger brother was in this county, but he didn’t know exactly where.

The Shen family was also in a hurry to marry someone into the family for a Wedding to Ward Off Evil, and didn’t pick and choose when they saw someone willing.

Due to the rules, the new bride or groom couldn’t directly stay at the husband’s family.

The original Ling Xing didn’t have any relatives here, and a Wedding to Ward Off Evil was somewhat unlucky after all. The Shen family didn’t want to borrow someone’s house and be resented, so they could only let the original Ling Xing leave from the dilapidated temple.

Marrying into the Shen family would allow him to register his residence here, have food to eat, and the Shen family also promised to help him find his younger brother.

The original Ling Xing had a good plan, but unfortunately his body could no longer hold on. After eating a full meal, he passed away in the dilapidated temple.

After that, the modern Ling Xing died in the mudslide, but for some reason, he was resurrected in another body and became Ling Xing of the Yu Dynasty.

After receiving the memories, Ling Xing’s limbs were still weak. Other than the piercing pain in his tiger’s mouth that made him shout, he didn’t even have the strength to speak now.

Ling Xing felt like a puppet, unable to control his limbs and only able to be carried by the two old women.

Fortunately, his vision had recovered a lot, and he could see the appearance of things up close. Unlike at the beginning, everything was just a blur no matter how close he got.

The Shen family didn’t live in the village, but at the foot of the mountain, alone.

The mud-plastered house was surrounded by a circle of fences.

The dilapidated temple wasn’t far from the Shen family, and the procession arrived at the Shen family in a short while.

“The new bridegroom has arrived!”

The suona played even more joyfully and loudly as the matchmaker shouted.

Ling Xing, whose hearing had recovered well, only felt deafening. The suona seemed to be playing in his head, his nerves throbbing and his head aching.

After the matchmaker finished shouting, she shouted again, “The groom, come out and receive your bridegroom!”

As soon as she finished speaking, Ling Xing was handed over by the two old women.

The hand in front of him was wrapped in cloth, and he seemed to smell a hint of blood.

Ling Xing didn’t have much strength. After the old women let go, he only had time to glance at the large, calloused hand in front of him before falling down.

Suddenly, a force around his waist was very strong. Ling Xing was lifted up, and he felt like his feet were off the ground.

The man holding his waist with one hand was strong and sturdy. He was thinly dressed in the cold weather, but the palm of his hand on Ling Xing’s waist was still warm.

Ling Xing looked up and saw that the other person was really tall, probably over 1.9 meters.

At his height, he could only see the other person’s sharp jawline, high nose bridge, and thin, tightly pursed lips.

Ling Xing accepted his situation well. He was always open-minded, and he would take things as they came, one step at a time.

But he couldn’t understand why they said it was a Wedding to Ward Off Evil. This person didn’t seem to be sick at all.

“Can you walk on your own?”

The man’s voice was low and magnetic, with some distance and indifference. Ling Xing came back to his senses and opened his mouth to speak, but he still couldn’t make a sound, so he could only shake his head.

Not hearing an answer, the man looked down at Ling Xing, allowing Ling Xing to see his appearance clearly.

It was a face that was so handsome that it felt aggressive.

His eyebrows slightly pressed down on his eyes, his brow containing coldness, and his expressionless appearance was indeed a bit intimidating.

Seeing that the person didn’t see him shaking his head, Ling Xing shook his head again.

The other person frowned slightly, didn’t say anything more, but squatted down and carried Ling Xing into the main room.

The Shen family’s main room was quite spacious.

The Shen family’s elders were wearing patched clothes. Although the clothes were old, they were clean, so it was fine.

At this time, the two of them were sitting on either side of the table with worried faces, looking nervously and expectantly outside.

As the matchmaker shouted, “The auspicious time has arrived, the bridegroom enters the door, and the wedding begins!” the Shen family’s elders perked up and wore forced smiles as they looked at Ling Xing being carried in.

The matchmaker followed him in and said a lot of auspicious words before starting to sing.

“First bow to heaven and earth.”

“Second bow to the ancestors.”

“Husband and husband bow to each other.”

“Send them to the bridal chamber.”

During the process of bowing, Ling Xing was supported by the matchmaker, otherwise he would have fallen to the ground directly.

After the ceremony ended, the two old women who had supported Ling Xing earlier carried him to the east room, one on each side.

Just as he approached the east room, before the door curtain was lifted, Ling Xing smelled a strong medicinal scent.

After entering, the medicinal scent was even stronger, even pungent and overwhelming.

Fortunately, other than the medicinal scent, there were no other strange smells, and Ling Xing could tolerate it.

His body was also very weak, and the clothes he was wearing were too thin to keep him warm.

Seeing that he was freezing, the two old women had to stuff him into the quilt.

The room was relatively dark, with not much light. In addition, Ling Xing’s vision hadn’t fully recovered. Only after getting closer did he realize that there was someone lying on the bed.

The other person’s face was extremely pale, and there were obvious dark circles under his eyes. He was so thin that he was almost unrecognizable.

Looking closely at his face, he did look somewhat similar to the tall and sturdy man outside.

Looking at the person on the bed, Ling Xing understood.

The one lying down and unable to move was his nominal husband.

The one outside was replacing him in the wedding ceremony.

Fortunately, the Shen family had found someone to replace him, rather than making him bow to a chicken.

…

Although the Shen family’s house looked poor, they had put effort into preparing the feast.

It was very cold that day, but there were still many people who came, shivering but still wanting to sit at the table.

They were really greedy for a bit of meat.

Xiao Liucun was a well-known poor village. Even during the New Year, few people could eat a bit of meat.

Everyone in the village knew that the Shen family was slaughtering a pig for this wedding feast.

Even if it meant freezing, they would still come for a bite of pork.

The villagers could only see the meat in their bowls, and didn’t care whether it was cold or hot. As long as it was meat, they would eat it no matter what.

In the east room, Ling Xing and his sickly husband were lying side by side.

After who knows how long, Ling Xing heard the other person say weakly, “My name is Shen Hai. What’s your name?”