The Grudge Bone Betrothal

In the main hall, a person dressed in wedding robes stood before the ancestral tablets. His toes hovered half an inch above the floor. Beneath the hem, there was nothing but empty space. He had no shadow.

“Bow to each other.”

When those hands clutched her wrist, they were bone-chillingly cold, like a stone dredged from a well. His red tassel hat dropped to the floor with a smack, revealing a handsome, deathly pale face. But his eye sockets were two black holes, and black blood ran down his cheeks and onto the red silk. He leaned close to her ear. His breath was cold and carried the stench of earth. “Save me...”

When she opened her eyes again, she was lying in her own bedroom, her mother dozing at her bedside. But the bluish-black finger marks on her wrist were real. Four fingers were clearly visible, even the shape of the knuckles imprinted in her flesh.

Outside the courtyard gate, her father spoke in a hushed voice. “...The coffin is empty... The master said the marriage can’t go ahead. If that thing latches onto us, the whole family will die...”

Shen Yuwei turned to the vanity mirror. Behind her reflection, a corner of a red wedding gown slowly appeared. Black blood ran from hollow eye sockets as the figure smiled at her.

She didn’t scream. She just watched the bloodstains spread across the mirror. So this ghost marriage had never been about marrying a dead man.