Even though Bai Feng was a woman, she looked very handsome. To find her missing children, she honed a pair of sharp eyes in the nightmare. She was imposing, and everyone would feel safe around her.
“She is handsome, responsible and capable. It is understandable that people would fall for her.” Gao Ming didn’t act recklessly. The Xi Residence was alive with people, but Gao Ming could only see himself. He couldn’t tell if he was hallucinating or if he was surrounded by ghosts. “It sure is lively.” As anxious as he was, he didn’t dare to show anything on his face.
Compared to the birthday celebration in the north of town, this party was a lot noisier. The Tang Residence was filled with paper dolls. Even though the guests in the Xi Residence couldn’t be seen, it sounded like they were really having a good time.
“Move! Move! The wedding team is about to depart!” A sharp voice echoed in the empty yard. The room doors opened. Items strung with coloured threads, clothes doused with agarwood fragrance, silk, blankets and other everyday items were placed in large red boxex. Then, the heavy boxes were lifted up miraculously. The box tumbled here and there due to its weight. Behind the box followed the gifts of whole pig and goat. They were meant to represent endless wealth. Behind that were plates of peanuts, lotuses, dates and so on. They meant wishes for a lot of children.
“What is this?” The wedding tradition at the Xi Residence was different from the typical culture. The cooked livestock looked like they were crying. The silk and blankets were mixed with paper money. The thing that disgusted Gao Ming the most was that none of the red boxes appeared to be naturally red. A light scent of blood lingered on them. Due to the lightness of the smell, Gao Ming couldn’t tell if the boxes were drenched in blood. He tried to take a deeper sniff, but a light red web appeared in his mind. It kept influencing him to join in the joyful atmosphere. Gao Ming bit his tongue. He recovered through the stimulus of pain. Blood popped in his eyes. Finally, he could see blurry human silhouettes around him.
“Am I being assimilated? Will I become like them as I stay here?” Gao Ming wanted to figure out why Bai Feng’s name was on the trigram, but he realised he needed to focus on Zhang Mingli’s task. “Elder Tang represents greed. Could Madam Xi represent joy and love? However, those two things should be rare here. How did she manage to build such a big home?” Gao Ming slowly stood up as he tried to look for Zhang Mingli’s doppelganger. The yard was filled with invisible guests, and the empty rooms could hide monsters. Gao Ming had just taken two steps when he was pulled back. A middle-aged woman’s voice appeared beside his ears. “Where are you going? Everyone is a valued guest. The alcohol and meat are ready. It’s time to drink.”
He could sense the fragrance of wine. Gao Ming had no idea what was holding him back. He didn’t dare to resist. He picked up the wine on the table and raised his glass. In the midst of laughter and chatter, Gao Ming was pressed back into his seat.
There were drums and trumpets. The wedding team picked up the red boxes and left the Xi Residence. If one ran into them in the dark alley of Dream Break Town, one would be scared to death. The invisible crowd undulated. A copper mirror fell from the vanity table and landed by the room door. Due to the cacophony, not many people noticed it.
When the pressure on him lightened, Gao Ming stared into the wine glass. It was thick and fragrant. Gao Ming had no idea what it was made of. He could occasionally see lines of blood in it.
The reflection in the mirror showed a bloody Xi Residence. There were no festive celebrations. Blood was everywhere. Disembowelled figures cheered happily. They exhausted the last bit of their life in this celebration. After they collapsed, their flesh and blood dissolved into red soup and seeped into the bricks and walls. Their skin was dumped on the ground like old cloth. No one noticed the reflected world. Everyone’s eyes were crawling with blood threads. Gao Ming was no exception.
Gao Ming slipped the copper mirror into his chest. He was about to leave when a male voice came from inside the room. “Madam, is that you? You are finally here to see us.”
The voice was rich with bitterness and age. There was also a browbeaten sense of anticipation.
Gao Ming glanced into the room. The room was decorated with red cloth. A few rough bowls were placed on the table. They contained buns, lotus seeds and chestnuts. They were to wish for more male progenies.
Gao Ming stood right at the door. Why would the man call him Madam? Could he not see the guests like the rest?
Gao Ming turned away from the yard and held up the mirror. He aimed the mirror at the spot where the voice came from.
Gao Ming almost dropped the mirror. The bed in the mirror was a giant urn that was embedded into the ground. The heads of a few men were squeezed at the mouth of the urn. They were melted together. When admired individually, each one of them was more handsome than Tang Hu. However, when they were made into a glob, it was hard to view them without losing one’s appetite.
The bodies of these men had mutated. Their blood and flesh were mixed with herbs and spices. The mixture emitted a wine fragrance. “Is this how the alcohol is made?” Gao Ming was thankful he didn’t eat or drink at the banquet.
“Madam, are you still mad at us? We know we’re wrong. Yong God is weak and moralless. We were tricked by Ji God. That was why we stole from Xi God. Madam, we do not ask for your forgiveness. We only wish for you to come closer so we can hear your voice again.” The human heads had their eyes poked out. Their bodies were used to make wine. However, they still loved Madam Xi. They gladly sacrificed themselves to provide food and wine for Madam Xi.
“Yong God, Xi God and Ji God? Aren’t these used in trigrams?”
One would hear these terms when doing life charts and reading trigrams.
Gao Ming thought back to Dream Break Town’s layout. The Xi Residence was located at the end of the middle street. To its left was the complicated alleys where the night-watcher, Zhang Mingli and other evil spirits resided. To the right was an abandoned dirt road. The road was scattered with soul banners and paper money. It was lined with items to worship the dead.