After the three strings of firecrackers had finished bursting, the banquet officially moved on to the main meal. Servants of the He Mansion hurried back and forth across the courtyard, deftly clearing away the cold appetizers that had been laid out on the tables to make room for the forthcoming hot dishes.
Qin Prefecture is located in the south, and its banquet menus are typically divided into three parts: the appetizing cold dishes, the main courses, and the after-meal snacks. The first course of the main meal was soup. A milky-white fish soup, likely made from crucian carp, was served in jade-like porcelain bowls.
The He Mansion's banquet tables followed the standard Twelve Palaces arrangement, yet not all twelve seats were filled. A few remained empty. Seated at the same table as "He Yulan," whose place Ning Zhe had taken, were all women—some of them with little children of only seven or eight years old on their laps. But whether married mothers or toddlers learning to talk, every person from He Village wore a piece of withered yellow paper over their face, just large enough to conceal their features. Each paper bore that person's name.
When the first dish arrived, Ning Zhe did not hurry to ladle the soup for himself. He sat motionless in his seat, inhaled deeply, and closed his eyes.
As he entered the room, took the chair, and settled in, every guest at the table accepted him as "He Yulan." The rule that ghosts could take others' places was triggered repeatedly. A single identity revealed different facets in different eyes; one silhouette after another, each with a unique posture, assembled around Ning Zhe, and memories belonging to He Yulan began to flood into his mind.
Without any resistance, Ning Zhe absorbed those memories with ease:
He Yulan's identity was nothing special—just an ordinary farmer's wife from He Village with two sons.
As Ning Zhe had guessed, this banquet was indeed a wedding feast. Tomorrow was the day Master He Changzai of the He Mansion would marry off his daughter. The bride was the youngest daughter, He Nianjun, aged eighteen. According to Qin Prefecture customs, on the day before the groom's party comes for the bride, the bride's family hosts a wine banquet; after the bride reaches her husband's home, another banquet must be held.
As Gu Yunqing had mentioned, the Snake God fell into madness eighteen years ago. In earlier times, the Snake God's auspiciousness or inauspiciousness was clearly marked on the almanac daily, but after going mad one eye was blinded, and ever since, the almanac showed only inauspicious days. He Village had grown more fearful with each passing day.
…
Ning Zhe's mind swiftly organized the useful information from He Yulan's memories, and soon the second dish arrived.
The second course of the wedding feast was stir-fried slices of eel. Dark streaks stained the interior of each slice—dried blood—evidence of an authentically traditional preparation.
Ning Zhe casually picked a slice of eel and chewed it slowly, already knowing what he must do next.
"I hope Auntie can hold on without going mad until then…" Ning Zhe murmured softly.
Time passed minute by minute as one steaming dish after another was placed on the table.
In Ning Zhe's experience, whether it was a marriage, a housewarming, or any other happy event, the banquet was always lively—from guests chatting boisterously at the table to busy kitchen hands bustling about. The raucous atmosphere would not subside until the feast ended.
But the banquet at the He Mansion was eerily silent.
Apart from the crackling of firecrackers outside the main gate, Ning Zhe had not heard a single other noise since entering the mansion. The quiet in the guest rooms was such that only the sound of chewing broke the stillness. The toddler in its mother's arms ate silently, neither crying nor fussing.
There were twelve main dishes in total, and before long the last dish—spicy steamed pork—was to be served.
This time, however, the household servant carrying the platter gently pushed on the guest room door, but it refused to open.
The servant knocked and called, "Dish for you~"
With a creak, the door opened just a crack, and He Yulan's head peeked out. "Is there more food? The table's already full."
"Just the last dish, Master ordered—"
Before the servant could finish, Ning Zhe shoved the door fully open, took the steaming pork platter with both hands, and then kicked the servant's groin.
A pained cry sounded as the man collapsed to his knees, his body curling from intense agony. Ning Zhe placed the platter on the threshold, picked up a half brick, and smashed it down hard on the man's skull.
The servant died. Ning Zhe's expression never flickered. He calmly stood up, carried the platter into the room, and set it on the table. No one screamed or cried out at his brutal act—because they were all dead.
He had killed everyone in that guest room.
Locking the guest room door, Ning Zhe hoisted the corpse of the servant and hurried past the mimosa sapling under which he had earlier seen it.
He needed to dispose of the body in a forbidden way.
From He Yulan's memories, he knew that on the way into the mansion he had seen a mimosa tree in the courtyard corner had withered and died. The servants had dug it up, root and all, intending to replace it but were too busy preparing for Miss's wedding feast.
Ning Zhe dragged the servant's corpse to the unfilled planting hole and threw it in. With decisive speed, he shoveled the dead sapling and its soil over the body.
Qin Prefecture practiced tree burials and water burials. Ning Zhe was certain that by burying the servant in this forbidden way, he had irreversibly violated the taboo against proper interment.
As for funeral rites—there was no time.
Master He was about to begin the grand feast for the Snake God.
Having buried the servant he had killed, Ning Zhe wasted no time and hurried toward the south side of the main building.
Everyone in He Village worshiped the Snake God. At marriages, funerals, and all red-and-white ceremonies, the crucial step was to worship the Snake God publicly—either to see the departed safely on their way or to ask for blessings for the living. Early this morning, a large crowd had gathered in front of the ancestral hall to perform the "three knocks and nine bows", inviting the Snake God out of the shrine.
"No doubt Master He's servants are now blowing horns toward the ancestral hall. They'll bring the Snake God's statue back to the main house for worship and blessings."
Ning Zhe quickened his pace. "This is my best and last chance."
Because he had already broken multiple taboos, his luck was abysmal. Even on a short path he stumbled repeatedly, his face cut and bruised in the gravel. Ning Zhe did not care—he was walking as He Yulan, not himself.
He was determined to accomplish something truly formidable.
"Let me see if I can kill both the Snake God and the ghosts…"
Wiping the blood from his nose, he picked himself up and resumed running toward the main building.
After only a few steps, he fell again, his chin striking the ground with a crack. His jawbone shattered.
This time, though, it wasn't a stray stone that made him fall. A koi from the pond had inexplicably leapt out, flopping on the ground and landing at Ning Zhe's feet.
Given the circumstances, Ning Zhe could only be thankful he was using He Yulan's identity; otherwise, he'd have died before reaching his destination.
"I hope Auntie is managing better than I am…" he thought.
Then he slammed headfirst into the rockwork at the pond's edge, blood gushing from the wound.
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Reference Glossary
Snake God – A local deity worshiped in He Village, believed to control fortune and misfortune.
Almanac – Traditional Chinese calendar indicating auspicious and inauspicious days.
Mimosa sapling – A young silk tree (Albizia julibrissin), culturally significant and often planted in courtyards.
Tree burial – A funerary custom where the deceased is interred beneath or within a tree's roots.
Water burial – A funerary practice of laying the deceased to rest in water.
Three knocks and nine bows – A ritual of knocking three times and bowing nine times to invite a deity from its shrine.