[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.

[scrapgege]

And again, no one said anything about falling in love. That's never been necessary for a wedding.

[thesuspense]

Sure, but what of the usual reasons can convince a ghost?

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...

[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]

It's not the ghost you need to convince. It's their family.

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.

[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?

[thesuspense]

Then I can see where money comes in.

I guess you could threaten them into compliance.

[scrapgege]

... No. There's no need to resort to that. And the money is for the wedding offerings.

[thesuspense]

No one here has much of anything and everyone in this wedding is dead. You'd be best off offering blood.

[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]

Listen, this is my problem and I will solve it my way. I am not making the situation worse with blood, that would help no one.

[scrapgege]

Daozhang...

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

[thesuspense]

How well do you know the dead?

[scrapgege]

My husband is a ghost, so pretty well, I would say.

[thesuspense]

Huh.

[A pause. It's filled with something.]

That explains how pent up you are.

[scrapgege]

.... I don't understand.

[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.