Su Wan, daughter of the Su family and an investigating censor in Zhenxi Circuit, is forced to take her place in a sacrificial burial after her father is falsely accused and the family is ruined. But a strange betrothal gift offers a glimmer of hope. Eight hundred chests of gifts conceal mysteries: a bloodstained glass bottle, snowy jade from the northern frontier, and a glazed box from the Western Regions. Each seems to tell a secret. Blood-written characters among the gifts and her mother's silver dagger heirloom draw Su Wan into a shocking conspiracy.
On this terrifying journey disguised as a wedding, Su Wan encounters a strange rain of blood inside the bridal sedan. Blood seeps through its floor, and one mishap after another befalls the wedding procession. She discovers that behind the betrothal gifts lies a cannibalistic ritual tradition that has endured for years. Aristocratic families use betrothal gifts as a pretext for cannibalistic sacrifices, and countless women have fallen victim to them.
Su Wan resolves to fight back. She secretly forms the Burning Alliance, contacts women who have fled their weddings, and investigates the truth behind the betrothal gifts. As the clues gradually come to light, she uncovers the power struggle between the imperial court and the local authorities over the cannibalistic rites, as well as the secret of the Female Eaters' Workshop.
The Marriage Hunt Edict uses betrothal gifts as its central thread, deftly weaving together political intrigue, suspense, and fantasy. Every detail of the gifts conceals a mystery, and every character carries a hidden story. Su Wan's struggle is not only a fight against her personal fate, but also a challenge to the entire system of ritual traditions. The plot twists and turns, keeping readers on the edge of their seats as it unveils a terrifying, eerie world steeped in mystery...
A strange and eerie horror novel... This novel uses a very tense narrative to push the propositions of memory, destiny and redemption to the extreme. Su Huan's struggle between forgetfulness and awakening, Bihao's pursuit of the truth, and the secrets in the poisonous fragrance of pearls, together constitute a tragic movement about human nature and choice. Describe the cruel truth with poetic touch - some forgetting is self-protection, and some memories are destined to be burned before they can be reborn. The story reaches a climax in the intersection of fantasy and reality. What is left in the end is not an answer, but a profound question about the eternal proposition of "forgetting and remembering". The words are like poisonous silver needles, accurately piercing the heart of every reader.