The Wedding Night

Chapter 104: Marriage

Li Huowang sipped his tea slowly. Not because he particularly enjoyed it, but simply because his dinner had been too salty.

Using the lid to push aside the floating tea leaves, he took a gentle sip, letting the thick bitterness fill his mouth.

"I should have guessed. Village Chief Wu wouldn't have good tea leaves," Li Huowang muttered with a click of his tongue. He set the cup down and turned toward his bedroom.

He hadn't slept well last night because of that nightmare. He needed to get to bed as early as possible tonight and conserve his strength for tomorrow's journey.

As he walked toward his bedroom, his mind refused to rest. He kept circling back to last night's nightmare. Those two jade pendants.

When the hallucination comes again, should I try to take something from it?

He didn't hesitate long on the question.

Try it. But not the jade pendants. Take something that absolutely shouldn't exist here. An IV drip. Handcuffs.

If I can't bring them over, that proves that world is fake. Nothing to hold onto there. But if I can—

Lost in thought, Li Huowang found himself standing at his bedroom door without realizing it.

Creak.

He pushed the door open, and everything inside shattered his train of thought.

Red candles on the table. Red double-happiness characters pasted on the walls. Red pillows. Red quilt. Everything was red. Including the red bridal veil draped over Bai Lingmiao's head as she sat at the edge of the bed.

Li Huowang's heart skipped a beat at the sight.

He stood frozen at the threshold, caught between the red of the room and the darkness of the night outside. A flicker of struggle crossed his face.

He understood what walking through that door meant. It wasn't just gaining a wife. It was weight. Responsibility. A promise he couldn't take back.

He hesitated for a moment, then drew a deep breath, stepped inside, and closed the door behind him. He locked it.

He walked up to the bride and spoke.

"You're sure about this? You know what I am. Can you really accept being married to a madman?"

"Mm."

A pair of small hands gently grasped Li Huowang's calloused palm.

"Brother Li. A married chicken follows the rooster; a married dog follows the dog. No matter what happens, I will gladly spend my life with you."

Bai Lingmiao's voice was as soft as ever, but there was a rare, unyielding resolve beneath it.

If the woman was going this far, Li Huowang knew any more hesitation would make him less of a man. He reached for the red veil. She twisted shyly away.

"Brother Li... I'm embarrassed by things like that... Could you blow out the lamp first?"

Li Huowang turned to the table, swept his sleeve across the air, and the red candle slowly died.

That night, the bedclothes tangled. And Li Huowang finally understood why they said a woman was made of water.

Two hours later, in the pitch-black bridal chamber, Li Huowang collapsed heavily onto the bed, breathing in long, ragged gasps.

He gently stroked the soft hair of the girl lying on his chest, savoring the strange, wonderful feeling of moments ago.

"Husband~"

That single word sent a shiver of pleasure through his whole body.

"Just call me Brother Li," he said. "I'm not used to that."

"Alright. Whatever you say. You're the head of the household. I'll do whatever you tell me to."

Bai Lingmiao pressed her ear against his chest, listening to the rapid pounding of his heart beneath the skin.

Li Huowang let out a long breath, pulled her closer, and kissed the hairpin-studded strands of her hair.

"Once the Danyangzi problem is settled, we'll go home. To your home. We'll hold a proper wedding ceremony."

"What about your delusions? Is there really no way to cure them?"

"I don't know. I heard it from someone else. The nun at Anci Nunnery has no reason to lie to me about this."

His hand slid down, stroking her smooth, slick skin.

"But it's fine now. I have you. I'm rooted in this world now. I won't let those flimsy hallucinations from the other side control me anymore."

"Heh." Bai Lingmiao seemed very happy. She wrapped her limbs tightly around him and nuzzled her head gently against his chest.

For some reason, Li Huowang felt that Bai Lingmiao in bed was very different from Bai Lingmiao outside it.

She said she was shy earlier. She's not shy at all.

Are all women like this? Facing this situation for the first time, Li Huowang felt a little out of his depth.

He felt her start to move again and pressed a hand down on her.

"Wait. I just noticed something."

"What? I did bleed," Bai Lingmiao's voice carried a note of tension.

Li Huowang let out a dry laugh. "That's not what I meant. I mean my senses feel different."

"Senses? What kind of senses?"

"It feels like all my senses have become much sharper. All of them." Li Huowang savored the memory of that transcendent sensation from moments ago. Something had felt very wrong.

It hadn't been as obvious before. He'd thought he might be misremembering. But after what just happened, he was certain now. His body hadn't just improved in recovery rate. His perception had been enhanced across the board.

Touch. Smell. Even taste.

Is this also one of Bashe's abilities? He realized that both abilities it had granted him were related to sacrifice.

Just as he was telling Bai Lingmiao about his discovery, a sharp, stabbing pain shot through the index finger of his right hand.

"Hiss! Why did you bite me?"

"Does it hurt? More than before?"

"Of course it does! It's bleeding! Of course it hurts."

"Then you guessed right, Brother Li. It does increase your pain perception."

The next second, Li Huowang felt the bitten finger sink into something soft and warm. Bai Lingmiao's gentle sucking quickly soothed the pain away.

"You told me about the Wandering Lord before. Have you ever heard any legends about Bashe?" Li Huowang asked.

"Mmn, mmn." Her mouth still full of his finger, Bai Lingmiao shook her head.

Li Huowang opened his eyes and stared at the pitch-black ceiling, thinking.

Why does Bashe give me these two abilities? What kind of existence is it, really?

Instinctively, he tried to piece together an image of Bashe in his mind. But he failed. With normal human senses, it was simply impossible to imagine its form.

Knock, knock, knock!

In the dead of night, a sudden knock came at the door.

Li Huowang tensed. He flipped over in an instant, pulling Bai Lingmiao from his chest into his arms and covering both of them tightly with the quilt.

"Who is it? If it's not urgent, say it tomorrow."

"Brother Li, it's me. Can you let me in? I don't know how I ended up in the woodshed."

The voice was soft and familiar. Li Huowang's mind snapped to attention in an instant.

That was Bai Lingmiao's voice!

The one outside is Bai Lingmiao. Then who is the one in my arms?!

A chill shot through Li Huowang's entire body.

"Heeheehee, husband~"

He felt the thing in his arms shrink suddenly, sliding out from under the quilt and slipping away behind his back.

Li Huowang threw off the quilt and lit the red candle as fast as he could. But the small bedroom was empty except for him.

"Brother Li, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Bai Lingmiao's voice called from outside the door.

By then, Li Huowang's gaze had already fallen on his own finger, now pale and bloodless from being sucked.

The wound on it was a gaping, ragged tear.

It didn't look like it had been bitten by a normal human tooth at all.

It looked more like it had been gnawed by some kind of sharp beast's fang.