Chapter Fifty-Two: The Bride's Tears 22

“If they hadn’t gotten married, perhaps none of this would have happened, and no one would have targeted Second Uncle.” Su Man didn’t know exactly what had transpired in the village, but from his words alone, she couldn’t agree with his reasoning. “Are you Miao Sheng himself?”

“What? Huh?” Zhang Gui looked bewildered.

“You’re not him, so why are you making decisions on his behalf?” She truly disliked the way Zhang Gui spoke. His words reminded her of when she was young and some self-righteous adults would always tell her what she must do and how she must act. She had listened, but things had never gotten better; instead, her life had become even more miserable.

She only knew one truth. “If what they did didn’t affect anyone else, then why shouldn’t two people who genuinely love each other be together?”

“You don’t understand anything! Second Aunt was a Specter!” Zhang Gui shouted, agitated.

“So what?” Su Man didn’t think that was such a big deal.

She was utterly unmoved, and Zhang Gui grew more frustrated. “Don’t you get it? She was a Specter, and my Second Uncle was human. Humans and Specters simply cannot fall in love! Their very identities are an original sin!”

“Says who?”

“What?” Zhang Gui found her impossible to communicate with. “When a Specter and a human are together, it will end up killing the human! That’s common sense any normal person would know!”

“Specters don’t even deserve to exist in this world. The duty of us Celestial Masters is to eradicate them, yet Second Uncle broke the law knowingly! In fact, I wasn’t the only one who realized Second Aunt was a Specter—everyone in the village knew…”

And so, the ending that followed came to pass: both Second Uncle and Second Aunt died. Second Uncle once had such a promising future; he was the most outstanding person in the village, capable of leading the Celestial Master Village toward a better future.

He’d thought that after all these years, he had let go of it, but he hadn’t. Deep down, he still resented that woman. He had always admired Second Uncle the most, but Second Uncle died because of her.

“So, isn’t it clear? What killed them was your village’s prejudice.” She didn’t mean to seek justice for Miao Sheng; she simply didn’t want to see Zhang Gui act so self-righteous after committing such wrongs.

“Prejudice…” Zhang Gui repeated in a low voice. Even though, deep inside, he felt Su Man had a point, hearing the village’s darkness laid so bare was still hard to accept.

“It is prejudice, and you have it too.” Su Man didn’t spare his feelings. “As I said, you’re not Miao Sheng—how do you know he didn’t choose to marry, fully prepared and willing to die for the one he loved? He was a skilled Celestial Master. He probably understood these truths better than you.”

And so, perhaps it was because the one he loved was killed that he grew to resent the village.

“But—” Zhang Gui instinctively wanted to argue further.

Su Man didn’t let him. She fired off questions like a barrage. “Have you ever met that Second Aunt of yours? Did she ever hurt you? Did she ever hurt anyone in your village?”

Hurt him? Hurt anyone?

She hadn’t.

Zhang Gui remembered now—Second Aunt, that Specter, had always been gentle and no different from the rest of them. When he attended their wedding, she had even secretly slipped him a piece of candy, smiling beautifully.

He didn’t answer, but Su Man already knew. “See? She never harmed any of you, yet you killed her. Compared to that, who are the villains? Who are the good people?”

Hearing this, Zhang Gui was shaken to his core.

It was like thunderclap in his ears. He suddenly remembered that Su Man’s words conveyed the same message Second Uncle had once told him. Only, he had been too young to understand back then.

When he pleaded with Second Uncle not to marry a Specter, Miao Sheng had earnestly told him, “Zhang Gui, there are good people and bad people, and the same is true for Specters. You cannot generalize and paint everyone with the same brush.

Assuming humans are good and Specters are bad is an unfair prejudice in itself.”

Zhang Gui’s heart was in turmoil. He realized now he’d been wrong all along. That was why he had never seen the real issue—because he was no different from the rest of the villagers.

Suddenly, Su Man smacked him hard on the head. He cupped his head in confusion, utterly at a loss.

“I’m telling you all this not so you can wallow in guilt and self-blame. I want to hear about the village’s unspeakable secrets. Do you really think I’m some saint, wasting my breath here just to enlighten you? Time is precious.” Su Man refused to indulge in sentimentality. She only said this so he’d know whose side he should be on. “What’s done is done. You should be thinking about solutions. Actions always speak louder than words.”

“You should be guessing what your Second Uncle wants to do now, and what your village chief is planning.”

Only by knowing this could she decide her own next steps.

She was, in truth, very busy.

“I don’t know what the village chief wants, but if Second Uncle is still alive, he must be seeking revenge on our village.”

After a moment, Zhang Gui began recounting in detail what he knew of what happened on Miao Sheng’s wedding night. Everything that happened today had made him resolve to stand against the village. His village was sick now; its rotten roots needed to be dug out and healed.

As for what exactly happened that night, he wasn’t too sure—after all, he had been just a child.

He only knew that Second Uncle had been happy that day, drinking with the villagers. Some of the village women had stayed in the bridal chamber with Second Aunt.

He didn’t hear about the incident until the next day, when rumors were already spreading: Second Aunt had encountered something unclean in the night, had her soul lured away by a Specter, and threw herself into the river.

His first reaction was disbelief. He rushed to Second Uncle’s house, only to find Second Uncle collapsed in despair, still in his wedding robes. Lying on the cold floor in front of him was his bride, also still in her wedding dress, soaking wet, water still dripping from her clothes. She lay there quietly, looking as though she were only asleep.

But Zhang Gui knew better. Even Specters had three souls and seven spirits, but all that lay there now was an empty shell.

He had wanted to comfort Second Uncle, but then he saw Second Uncle suddenly laugh—laughing wildly, as if he had lost his mind—then laugh until he wept. Zhang Gui was frightened and didn’t dare approach.

That very night, he heard that Second Uncle had committed suicide. Second Aunt’s body also disappeared.

The villagers held a grand funeral for Second Uncle.

He suddenly remembered: the custom of the “Drowned Bride for Peace” had emerged that very same year. Looking back now, perhaps it was Second Uncle’s curse upon the village.