Salted Fish Zombie

apture Zhu Shuangshuang?”

“The villagers lied to us,” Zhu Shuangshuang said.
“When they saw the bride alive, they didn’t look shocked, only surprised.”

“Indeed,” Su Wangsheng recalled the villagers’ behavior just now.
“Perhaps the bride knew the truth beforehand and ran away by herself, but she couldn’t escape from this village and was brought back by the surrounding villagers.”

The poor girl didn’t know that the whole village was in cahoots.

Su Wangsheng glanced at the bride and said, “Let’s go now while we have the chance.”

Ning Su nodded in agreement.

Zhu Shuangshuang immediately removed the heavy phoenix crown made of pure gold from her head and threw it on the ground, then untied Su Wangsheng’s ropes.

While the villagers were still surrounding the bride, the three quietly left.

The black-robed man’s assistant exclaimed, “They actually left at this moment, without knowing what Yin Daijun has experienced?”

The black-robed man took a deep breath, wincing in pain as his brow furrowed.
“Never mind them.
We’ll stay here and watch.”

The assistant handed him the broken Soul Locking Rope and asked, “Can it still be used?”

The black-robed man tried holding the Soul Locking Rope and said, “It should still work.”

The assistant’s eyes flickered.
“That’s good.
As long as we watch carefully, we might be able to solve the mystery soon.”

The assistant looked towards the center of the wedding hall, while the black-robed man’s hand holding the Soul Locking Rope trembled continuously.
He stared at the center of the wedding hall with unprecedented nervousness, even starting to pray in his heart.

In the center of the wedding hall, the village elder asked, “Does she still need to kowtow?”

The “groom’s” father replied, “Yes, and it should draw blood.
We need to redo the ceremony.”

The elder became a bit impatient and said, “There’s no time left.
Since we can’t make her willing to marry, let’s just get it over with quickly.”

At his words, two strong villagers immediately came forward and held the bride’s neck, slamming her head onto the floor with a “bang, bang”.

No one stopped them, and the sound of heavy blows echoed in the wedding hall.
In no time, the bride’s forehead was covered in blood.

At first, the struggling bride tried to resist, but now her head was already dizzy from being hit.

She desperately opened her mouth and silently pleaded for help, her nails leaving marks on the floor.

Through the gaps in the crowd, she looked towards the black-robed man with pleading eyes.

The assistant turned to look at the black-robed man, and suddenly, a sharp and mournful scream came from the bride’s mouth.

Under the fierce blows, the bride’s forehead had already been cut open.
To make her blood flow into the coffin faster and more directly, the two villagers pressed on the back of her head and ground her broken forehead against the coffin lid.

The sound was chilling, and even the assistant’s forehead began to ache.

Just then, the second couple to arrive at the wedding, a middle-aged husband and wife, appeared.

According to Su Wangsheng’s conjecture, they were the parents of the dead person that the bride was supposed to marry.

The middle-aged man tapped the ground with his cane and said, “We agreed that we wanted a happy wedding.
How did it turn out like this?”

The “groom’s” father kept apologizing, “She somehow escaped, and this is all we can do.
The girl and the young master are a perfect match.
Suitability is more important than harmony.
We will do it cleanly.
Please allow it.”

“What else can we do if we don’t allow it?” The middle-aged man said, “Hurry up and don’t delay the auspicious time.”

The important client gave orders, and the villagers immediately took action.

The dizzy bride was pulled to the side.

The “groom’s” father twisted the vase of peony flowers, and a pure black coffin emerged from there.

The bride, dressed in a bright red wedding dress, widened her eyes in terror.

The coffin lid was opened, and a person who had been dead for who knows how long lay flat inside.

He was dressed in a gorgeous longevity robe, which was different from the ordinary ones.
The color was the same as the red worn by the bride and groom at their wedding.
The brightly colored longevity robe looked eerie against his grayish-purple, densely covered face with corpse spots.

The “groom’s” father said, “Take off the red clothes on the bride’s body to prevent her from becoming a ghost.”

The bridesmaid ripped the scared bride’s wedding dress off, leaving only a light pink dress underneath.

The bridesmaid said to her, “Don’t blame us.
We pulled you out of the abyss of poverty, brought you to see the world, let you feel a love you have never experienced before, and found you a good family.
In the future, you will not be short of money.”

The “groom’s” father said, “The first step in recognizing your husband is to carve the word ‘husband’ on the bride’s face.”

His voice and tone changed, and this sentence sounded like it was sung in some ancient, eerie melody.

In the pure black coffin, the dead man dressed in a bright red longevity robe emitted a foul and deathly smell.

The wedding hall was shrouded in a cold and creepy atmosphere.

The bride was forced to kneel in front of the coffin.
The old lady who clapped her hands walked up to her excitedly, holding a blood-red thick needle, and touched her face, carving words on her face.

The nail looked sharp, but the carving was very stiff.

Upon closer inspection, the black-robed man discovered that the thick needle, which had been painted red with some unknown substance, was made of wood, perhaps peach or locust, or some other type.

It was not as easy to use as a steel needle, so the old woman had to use more force.

The bride’s face was torn and twisted in a grimace, and blood oozed rapidly under the red wooden needle.

She was being held by two people by the neck, forced to remain motionless with her head tilted back, only able to move her eyeballs.

Her left eye turned to the left on the bloody face, looking at the black-robed man and his assistant.

Filled with horror, despair, and pleading.

 

Translation Corner:

 

*1 – The phrase “to hug someone's thigh” (抱别人的大腿) is an idiom that means to seek protection or support from someone who is powerful or influential.