[Audio]

[scrapgege]

I know not many people might be familiar with this, but... I need help to organize a ghost wedding.

[There are enough cultivators here that Xie Lian is pretty sure at least some of them will know what he is talking about.]

I have never had to do this, so I'm not quite sure exactly what rituals are involved. And it has to be a double wedding too, and I need to find one family with an son who died unwed and who would not mind this... I can ask around the village.

.... Do you think this might cost a lot of money to organize? Because that could be a problem ...

[He still has no money, and Yun Yifeng hasn't started his cult yet, so...]

Comments

un: chengmei | voice

[thesuspense]

...why?

[This is all, at first, because he's baffled.]

Do you just have oddly specific cravings?

Re: un: chengmei | voice

[scrapgege]

.... No.

[Why do you keep giving him this reputation, Xue Yang? Is this projecting we're seeing?]

It's because of that ancestor's curse. Mine is a girl who tried to seduce her twin sister's fiancee and to convince him to elope with her and was rejected.

I want to perform a ghost wedding for the right girl and her fiancée, and another one for this girl and another spirit, so they can all pass on.

[thesuspense]

Aish, what is it with all these convoluted stories? Why are these ghosts so particular? If you're resentful, don't be so specific about it.

[He has objections to this world's spirits, but whatever.]

You want to trap some unsuspecting ghost into a marriage with a girl who's bitter over losing a man to her own sister?

You are quite the matchmaker, young master.

[scrapgege]

Why do you hear words and then decide they mean something else entirely, young Master?

Who said anything about trapping?

[thesuspense]

What are the odds of you finding a ghost who is hard up enough that you can convince him some dead hag is his soulmate?

They're dead. They don't really need that much.

[scrapgege]

It's not actually that hard. You just need to speak to them and their families, and be kind.

Not everything needs to be made difficult, yet you always seem to want to do that with everything.

[thesuspense]

I'd think it's a little difficult to make a ghost fall in love with a ghost they've never met. There isn't that much of them left, as far as attachment goes. Or anything.

un: daozhang | audio

[binghua]

I have never organized such a wedding before...or any wedding, but I would be happy to help. I imagine you could have a budget wedding, but the families or the participants probably wouldn't be satisfied with that, so there will probably be a need for money, unfortunately.

[He pauses, voice lowering.]

...Don't take Xue Yang's words to heart. He's... I've been trying...

audio

[scrapgege]

Don't worry about it, Daozhang. He's not saying anything I haven't heard a thousand times before, and with a lot more venom. He's a child who is acting out. It's not your fault.

[binghua]

That still isn't an excuse. I think if you and I weren't friends he wouldn't be half as vitriolic toward you.

[scrapgege]

Daozhang...

You are not responsible for him or for his behavior. Don't let him use you as an excuse.

[binghua]

[He knows that's all true. Xingchen is responsible for himself and his own choices. He might be able to influence other people, but whatever Xue Yang does, he does of his own volition. He knows that.

Except...]

I'm a little responsible for him.

[scrapgege]

He makes his own choices. He needs to learn to take responsibility for them.

[wooden_one]

...I have read about it.

[Which is to say, he went through one and doesn't want to admit it.]

It shouldn't cost too much.

[scrapgege]

Really? That would be a relief, because I would need to organize two...

See this ancestor whose curse I had, she tried to steal her twin sister's fiancé and to make him elope with her... she took her sister's place to trick him, but she was rejected when he found out who she was. So I want to make sure the man gets bonded to his actual wife, and I think to ensure the passage of the other one, she needs to be bonded to someone too. Would that work, do you think?

[wooden_one]

...that should work. However, I will only help if the other party being dragged into this agrees.

[Or their family agrees, he supposed? As long as no one is being forced against their will.]

[scrapgege]

Of course. I'm going to ask around the village if there is a family with a son who died unwed, and of course, we would pay them the appropriate bride price.

What else would be needed? I am guessing offerings, and maybe someone to officiate?

[wooden_one]

The wedding clothes and accessories can be made from paper unless there is a body to be dressed. Some red string will also be needed. Beyond that, the ceremony is similar to normal ones. Since we will be doing two, the grooms and the brides can be in two lines. We only need to make sure the correct bride and groom are marrying.

[Some of this he had read and some of it he had experienced. He will not clarify which is which, naturally.]

Though I do not know who can officiate.

[scrapgege]

I guess I could... but I wonder if I might not need to take the place of the girl whose curse I am carrying.

We could probably repurpose some of the dresses from the fox weddings, I'm sure. They might as well serve for good.

[rumorate]

Weddings can be really expensive, but that usually depends on what the couple wants.

[Oh, look, it's an area where she has some experience. But at the same time ...]

Wait, you need to have a double wedding but you're missing a groom?

[scrapgege]

... This is a wedding for people who are already dead. The offering are going to be for the dead, and some for their families.

And yes, we need another ghost groom, for the second lady.

[rumorate]

Does the ghost lady have any ... preferences?

[Not that she's collected many ghosts. Man, this would be easier if Klaus was still around.]

[scrapgege]

I don't think so... well, no, her preference was her twin's husband but she can't have him.

[rumorate]

Oh. It's one of those ghost marriages.

[Isn't that juicy.]

Did her husband have a twin?

[scrapgege]

No, he didn't. I think I can easily find a family in the village where a generation has a son who died unwed. They have.... they have a lot of dead people.