Chapter 435 Extra: Ge Quan x Fang Jinrong 4

Chapter 435: Extra Story - Ge Quan x Fang Jinrong 4

September 27th, an odd day in an odd month.

Auspicious for: offerings, weddings, funerals, and breaking ground.

Avoid: all other activities.

Fan Er, having gotten in good with Inspector Wang, entered the Peng family estate alongside Ge Quan and the others. Old Master Peng personally came out to greet them. Seeing so many people, he was taken aback for a moment before ushering them inside.

As Inspector Wang had said, the Peng family's celebration was kept very low-key. Apart from the two white lanterns at the gate being swapped for red ones, many white funeral banners and lanterns around the estate still hadn't been taken down. Servants moving about wore coarse red garments, but white mourning cloth was still wrapped around their waists—red and white mixed together, looking deeply unsettling.

There weren't many guests in the courtyard, but they were still divided into inner and outer seating. Fang Jinrong had no choice but to part from Ge Quan and follow Hong Ying to the back courtyard for the banquet. Turns out there were even fewer tables in the back than in the front—only one table was set up for the womenfolk.

It rains a lot in Jiangnan, and today wasn't a nice day either, so the single table of guests was arranged in the main hall. Of course, it was also possible that everyone at this table was a senior relative of the Peng family, with only Fang Jinrong and Hong Ying being outsiders.

Fang Jinrong sat among a table full of elderly people. Looking up, all he saw were wrinkled faces. Only Hong Ying, a young married woman, was somewhat pleasant to look at. Fang Jinrong decided he'd just feast his eyes on Hong Ying to get through the meal. Since there was still time before the banquet began, he got up and strolled around the courtyard, poking his nose here and there.

"Huh?" Fang Jinrong crouched down at a corner of the corridor. A flash of red was barely visible in the cracks between the wooden planks. He dug at it for a while before finally prying it out—it was half a red envelope, and the contents looked familiar, but the copper coin that should have been inside had fallen out somewhere.

"What are you looking for?"

Hong Ying walked over and suddenly spoke, startling the already distracted Fang Jinrong into a shiver. Seeing that it was Hong Ying, he hesitated for a moment before handing the item over. "Sister Hong Ying, look at this. Isn't this the same kind of red envelope we saw at the dock—the one for ghost marriage contracts?"

Hong Ying was a bit wary of such things. She gave it a brief glance and said sternly, "Throw it away right now. That's exactly the kind of bad-luck junk."

Fang Jinrong knew Hong Ying and her husband weren't exactly buddy-buddy with Ge Quan, so he toned down the spoiled attitude he had around Ge Quan. He obediently tossed it, dusted off his hands, and stepped back.

He thought: if this kind of thing was used for ghost weddings, then were those red envelopes they saw at the Yangzhou dock tossed by the Peng family? So their "bride" was from Yangzhou? Could today's wedding actually be a ghost marriage?

Even if it were true, the Peng family wouldn't do it out in the open.

The wedding customs in Yong'an Town might be different from those in Quanshui Town. Fang Jinrong ate with Hong Ying at noon, and by dusk the bride was just arriving at the door. The elders from the back courtyard went to the front to observe the ceremony, and Fang Jinrong scanned the crowd for Ge Quan.

Someone tapped his shoulder from behind. "Rong'er."

Fang Jinrong heard the voice before he turned around. When he turned, his eyes were already shining. "Ge Quan!"

They'd only been apart for half a day, yet it felt like a whole season of flowers blooming and falling had passed. His voice carried a joy he didn't even realize was there.

Ge Quan's heart was already fluttering the moment he heard his name. Seeing Fang Jinrong staring at him with that blazing, sun-hot gaze, even the dead, still waters of his heart were brought to a rolling boil.

"What's wrong?" His voice was soft as water.

"I was in the back courtyard just now..." Like a little bird returning home to its mother, Fang Jinrong clung to Ge Quan's sleeve and poured out all his theories from the back courtyard.

Ge Quan's job was at the Peng estate, and Ji Wunian's trail also led to the Peng family. He'd just exchanged a few words with Fan Er—this Peng family was probably more than just some rich landlord.

"Rong'er is really sharp, able to see what others miss." After hearing Fang Jinrong out, Ge Quan gave him a heartfelt compliment.

Fang Jinrong was indeed preening with pride.

There were a few more male guests in the front than in the back—just barely enough to make two tables. Everyone stood to watch the ceremony, but they kept a clear line between themselves and the womenfolk. Only Ge Quan, a jianghu wanderer who couldn't be bothered with such rules, stayed close by Fang Jinrong's side. Their closeness drew more than a few sidelong glances, but since they'd come with Inspector Wang, no one dared to talk about it openly.

Ge Quan didn't give a damn about the stares, and Fang Jinrong was even more oblivious.

There was no beating of drums or clanging of gongs. The gates of the Peng estate swung open wide, a woman dressed as a matchmaker chanted something in a voice neither loud nor soft, and a bridal sedan chair was carried straight through the front gate.

No one was curious about the bride's appearance. Everyone stood on either side of the courtyard watching, their faces blank. Occasionally they'd twitch the corners of their mouths, but it was as lifeless as puppets on strings.

There was no groom to greet her. The bride was "hauled" out of the sedan by the matchmaker and a maidservant, skipping all the tedious formalities and heading straight for the decorated ceremonial hall.

Today, thick dark clouds blotted out the sun. A cold wind blew through, making the red and white lanterns in the courtyard sway, casting flickering shadows on the people beneath them. The matchmaker pressed down on the bride's veil that was nearly blown off, carefully tucking it in place, and together with the maidservant, passed before the two or three dozen elders in the courtyard before slowly making their way into the ceremonial hall.

Fang Jinrong pressed close against Ge Quan, practically wanting to burrow into his arms. He lifted his head and breathed softly against Ge Quan's ear, "Look at the bride's~ feet."

Ge Quan didn't notice the feet at all—his ear was damp and warm, and half his heart had already flown away.

Seeing him standing there dumbly without responding, Fang Jinrong pinched his arm and urged, "Hurry up and look!" Ge Quan's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed, and only then did he manage to drag his gaze down to the bride's feet.

Those red embroidered shoes with mandarin ducks playing in water—the toes were already worn through, and both sides were caked with mud and dust. From start to finish, the bride never walked on her own. She was dragged from the sedan to the ceremonial hall entirely by the matchmaker and maidservant.

"What... what's so strange about this?" Fang Jinrong connected it to what Hong Ying had said earlier and started scaring himself. His voice began to tremble. If not for the sense of security Ge Quan gave him, he would have run off in fright long ago.

Ge Quan patted the back of his hand reassuringly. "Don't be afraid. It's all just tricks to scare people."

He'd done plenty of shady work in the dark and seen many strange things. The Peng family might seem odd, but it didn't frighten a seasoned veteran like him.

While comforting Fang Jinrong, Ge Quan stepped back a few paces, snapped off a dry flower branch from the courtyard, and held it between his fingers—about the length of a pinky finger. With a flick of his fingertip, the bride's securely fastened veil was sent flying off by an invisible force.

The matchmaker was greatly alarmed and hastily scooped up the veil to place it back on the bride's head. But that brief moment was enough for everyone to see the bride's face—it was actually a young man.

The young man had a small mole beside his lips, delicate and handsome features, and a pair of eyes that were his most striking feature—upturned at the corners like hooks, with slightly sunken sockets and pale irises. But at this moment, his face was numb, his eyes wide with terror. Far from looking lively, it made those who looked at him feel afraid as well.

Fan Er instinctively glanced back at Ge Quan, saw him guarding Fang Jinrong's side while sweeping his gaze over the young groom with a thoughtful expression, and sidled up to Hong Ying to brainstorm wildly. "Do you think this young groom could be Ji Wunian in disguise?"

Hong Ying, being his true partner, actually gave it serious thought. "Probably not. Even if she disguised herself, I've never heard of Ji Wunian knowing bone-contracting kung fu."

The young man wasn't tall—about the same height as Fang Jinrong. Ji Wunian was half a head taller than them. How could it possibly be her?

Fan Er realized this too, but he still couldn't figure out what Ge Quan's look meant. It couldn't be that he'd taken a fancy to the Peng family's new groom.

The Peng family's relatives didn't seem surprised by the young groom's appearance. Their faces remained numb, as if what stood before them wasn't a person about to be married, but a meaningless decoration.

The matchmaker hastily replaced the veil. The incense table at the center of the ceremonial hall was already prepared, and on it sat not a tablet to heaven and earth, but a spirit tablet covered with red cloth. No one needed to guess—everyone knew it was the Peng family's young master's.

Old Master Peng and his wife sat at the head, neither showing a trace of joy on their aged faces. Instead, they wore expressions of grief.

Ge Quan crossed his arms and watched coldly as the matchmaker forced the young groom to bow to the spirit tablet. If he guessed right, this young man was the one the wanted poster sought to rescue. Using a living person to marry a dead one in a ghost marriage—that was exactly the kind of thing a local tyrant with money could get away with.

No one raised any objection to this absurd wedding ceremony, as if everything was perfectly natural. The bowing ritual was so simple it bordered on perfunctory. The matchmaker's chanting voice sounded especially jarring in the gloomy courtyard. After the ceremony concluded, the young groom was hurriedly taken away. The whole process was so fast it felt like a child's game.

Ge Quan melted into the crowd and slipped out without drawing attention. When Fang Jinrong turned around and couldn't find him, he had no choice but to go to the back courtyard with Hong Ying for the banquet.

In the most remote courtyard of the Peng estate, seven or eight guards stood watch at the gate. Unlike the outside, which still had some red decorations, the courtyard inside was pure white. The doors of the main hall stood open, all furniture cleared out, and the entire room had been converted into a funeral shrine. Beneath the coffin at the center sat three long benches, and the coffin lid leaned against the wall nearby.

The matchmaker and maidservant helped the young groom into the courtyard, then used their last remaining strength to lift him into the coffin. Both let out sighs of relief. But before they could straighten their weary bodies, a faint whistling sound cut through the air, and both collapsed instantly.

The sound of pebbles hitting the ground didn't draw the attention of the guards at the gate, but the young man lying in the coffin had already been scared out of his wits. Any small sound was like a thunderclap to him.

His body was stiff and immobile, and beside him lay a corpse reeking of decay. He couldn't even close his eyes. A turbid breath was trapped in his chest, and tears streamed ceaselessly from the corners of his eyes into his hair at his temples—desperate and terrified.

Whoever you are, save me.

Even a madam or pimp from a brothel would do.

He was only sixteen. He still had parents and an older brother at home. He really didn't want to die!

"Poisoned? Or drugged?"

A clear, resonant male voice rang out. Ge Quan's face, backlit by the candlelight, was hard to make out, yet it made the dead heart of the young man in the coffin leap suddenly.

Ge Quan hauled the man out of the coffin, his moves showing all the key tricks of a corpse retriever. The young man stared at his handsome face, feeling as if he were gazing upon a god, no longer caring how he was being hauled out, his tears of fear turning into tears of excitement.

Ge Quan had only fished him out as an afterthought; he still had to track down Ji Wunian, so he stashed him in the woodshed nearest the side gate of the Peng residence.

The Peng family clearly never meant for this young man to survive, having given him a heavy dose of knockout drugs. Even now, the young man still couldn't talk, but at least he could move his head a little.

"I'll ask, and you just nod or shake your head, okay?" Ge Quan said, crouching beside him, using the firewood to hide him from view.

The young man nodded.

Ge Quan asked without hesitation, "Have you seen a very tall woman? Only slightly shorter than me?"

The young man hesitated, then nodded.

A flicker of surprise lit up Ge Quan's eyes. "And where is she now?"

The young man nodded, then shook his head.

Ge Quan's brows furrowed slightly. "You knew before, but then you split up?"

The young man nodded.

At least he'd gotten a lead on Ji Wunian, so Ge Quan wasn't too disappointed. He pulled himself together and asked, "Is your home in Yangzhou city? Your name is Fanxue?"

This time Fanxue nodded harder, tears spilling from the corners of his eyes again.

Ji Wunian wasn't found, but the person on the wanted list was easily located. Ge Quan's face gave nothing away, using the firewood to shield Fanxue, ignoring his pleading, desperate look, and returned to the banquet first.

The Peng family's feast was a strange affair too—everything in plain, colorless dishes, not a scrap of meat in sight.

Halfway through the meal, the guards posted outside the mourning hall finally noticed the matchmaker had been out in the courtyard too long. Upon entering to investigate, they immediately discovered something amiss—the matchmaker and the maid were lying on the ground, and the new husband in the coffin had vanished.

After the guards reported to the head of the household, Inspector Wang and his party were immediately surrounded by the Peng family's servants. Only five outsiders had come to the house that day; the rest were relatives and friends, making them the prime suspects.

"Brother Peng, what is the meaning of this?" Inspector Wang asked the eldest son of the Peng family, startled and uncertain.

Old Master Peng, being advanced in age, had retired early to rest, leaving his eldest son to preside over the front courtyard. Peng's eldest son sneered, "Inspector Wang, my family's occasion was not suited for entertaining guests. It was you who repeatedly requested, and my Peng family treated you as an honored guest. Even when you brought these outsiders, we received them with courtesy. Now that a thief has entered our home, and all those present are my uncles, aunts, and elders, don't you owe me an explanation?"

Inspector Wang's face turned pale, then flushed. He turned to Fan Er beside him and gritted his teeth, asking, "Fan Er! Did you do this?"

Fan Er guessed that Ge Quan was behind it and naturally wouldn't foolishly admit it. He spread his hands and said, "Inspector Wang, you wrong me. Wasn't I by your side the whole time just now?"

"Then it must be those people you brought!" Inspector Wang regretted his decision, wishing he hadn't brought these reckless jianghu wanderers for the sake of a few taels of silver. He was merely a low-ranking official, and offending the local power broker was not wise.

"You two needn't put on an act. Whoever it was, it must be someone from your group," Peng's eldest son snorted coldly and ordered the household guards and servants, "Keep them under watch. No one leaves until the new husband is found!"

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