In a dream, Meng Jian once heard her master say that she was born able to communicate with the realms of yin and yang. Her fate was cursed: first she would bring misfortune to her father, then her mother, and finally she would kill her entire family.
She didn't believe a word of it, since her master was nothing but a fortune-teller who made a living by swindling people. Still, she was willing to pretend she believed him completely. After all, she had to flatter her master if she wanted to get anything to eat.
“According to what you say, does that mean I can't get married? Otherwise, won't I bring misfortune on my husband and kill him, too?”
“Don't worry. The husband fate has destined for you is already dead.”
“...” This was getting more and more bizarre.
It wasn't until the day she ran into a ghost that she finally believed her master's ghost stories.
The ghost was dressed in black, lounging high in a tree as he looked down at her contemptuously. “So my destined wife is just a country woman from the mountains. What an insult to me, the august King of the Underworld.”
Who are you calling a country woman?
Meng Jian pulled out a mirror and took a look. Well, he wasn't wrong... The two red circles her master had painted on her cheeks really did look terribly rustic!
He wasn't anything special, either. Some King of the Underworld! It was all hot air! He was just a lonely ghost. He'd been dead for so long that no one had even burned paper money for him.
Luckily for him, she was kindhearted. She went to his grave, piled some dirt on the mound, and shed two tears. “You'd better keep your promise and bless me with riches, so I can leave my master as soon as possible.”
The dead man appeared, smiling as he leaned against the tombstone. “What's wrong with your master?”
She protested indignantly. “He tricks people into feeding him, drinks their food, and makes me work as his maid!”
His face suddenly turned cold. “You cried at the wrong grave.”
She immediately stood up, dusted off her skirt, and rolled her eyes. “You should've said so earlier. All that paper money went to waste.”
*
Later, Meng Jian discovered a secret: her beardless master looked exactly like the dead man!
Master: No. It can't be that I am an evil heretic.
Dead man: He's the one who's sanctimonious.
Meng Jian: ...Neither of you looks like a good person! Wait, neither of you is even human!
Theme: Life is a dream, half illusion and half reality.
