Traveling through the world of Paper Wedding Dress

The man and the ghost returned to the hall, but heard a "squeak".

Wang Jiaotong was startled, she leaned closer to Shen Moqing and said, "What...what is this sound!"

Shen Moqing looked around and said, "Ah, it's there. The door of the Paper Figure Temple is open."

Wang Jiaotong and Shen Moqing walked towards the Paper Figure Temple. It turned out that the red ropes binding the temple were all broken. The door was half-closed. Wang Jiaotong looked inside.

"Hiss...there are really a bunch of paper figures inside, and there is also a bride." Wang Jiaotong said.

Shen Moqing pondered: "Paper doll... bride... paper bride?"

"Paper bride? What is that?" Wang Jiaotong looked confused.

Shen Moqing explained to Wang Jiaotong: "When I was a child, I heard from the villagers that there is a tradition of offering sacrifices to paper brides in Zangling Village. On the surface, they are offering sacrifices to paper brides, but in fact... they are offering sacrifices to living people."

"A living person!? What about the bride ghost?" Wang Jiaotong asked in surprise.

"Maybe it's the girl who was sacrificed before..."

"Wuwuwu... Wuwuwu..." A faint crying sound came from my ears.

"Is there crying?" Wang Jiaotong looked around.

"Tongtong, there must be a lot of wronged souls and evil spirits in this paper figure temple. You'd better not go in. I'll go in and take a look alone."

"Then... Qingqing, you have to be careful!" Seeing Shen Moqing's determined eyes, Wang Jiaotong could only pray silently that the evil spirit inside would not hurt her stupid man.

Shen Moqing pushed open the half-covered door and strode into the Paper Figure Temple. The faint crying sounds in the temple immediately turned into strange laughter or half-crying and half-laughing sounds.

Shen Moqing looked over and saw a row of paper figures standing on each side of the altar. On the left was a matchmaker paper figure that looked like a paper ghost. Around it were tablets, each with a woman's name on it. In the middle was a sculpture of a bride wearing a red wedding dress and a red veil.

"Paper bride, wish Xiaohong's position..." Shen Moqing looked at the words on the tablet in front of him and read them word by word.

Suddenly, the laughter became louder and louder, and the joy of welcoming the bride seemed to be getting closer and closer. Gusts of cold wind blew in the paper temple, blowing the tablet to the point of collapse. Suddenly, there was a sound of explosion, and the window on the right side broke directly.

The gloomy wind suddenly disappeared. Shen Moqing put down his hands that were protecting his eyes and took a quick look. It turned out that the paper figures standing on both sides had all disappeared.

"Why are those things just now... gone?" Shen Moqing's face was full of confusion.

Shen Moqing looked in the direction of the explosion. Outside the window, there stood a tall wishing tree, its lush branches within reach from the window.

"Is it... because of the wishing tree outside the window?" Shen Moqing walked closer to take a look. "Hmm! This sign! The Shen family has a long history of prosperity. Shen... Wangzong. It's the name of my second grandfather. Is he hiding something from us?"

Outside the ancestral hall.

The second grandfather was walking back and forth non-stop, and Tangbaba sat on a stone nearby: "Hey, don't walk back and forth, Mo Qing and the others are blessed, just wait for their news."

"Oh, Fairy Tang, I am worried about them."

"..."

While the two were talking, the door of the ancestral hall opened, Shen Moqing came out and asked Tangbaba, "Tangbaba, we saw a scary female ghost dressed as a bride, and she even ate the paper ghost... Do you know what that is?"

"Oh, by the way, I also saw the bride at home. It seemed like she was always following us..." Wang Jiaotong added.

"New, bride ghost?" Second Grandpa was surprised.

"Didn't you say that ghosts get married? How come there is another bride ghost?" Yubaba asked Shen Moqing's second grandfather with a confused look on her face.

"I... I'm not just guessing. I only know a little bit about these supernatural things, I'm just guessing..." The second grandfather defended himself in a weak tone.

"When a ghost eats another ghost, it can absorb the other's Yin energy and become more and more powerful. Ordinary ghosts don't have this ability. They must be evil ghosts who were born with a Yin fate and have been cursed with evil magic!" Yubaba said to everyone.

"What should we do? Tongtong might be in danger if she encounters such an evil ghost. We have been searching here for a long time but haven't found any solution. Yubaba, is there any other way to help Tongtong bring back her soul?" Shen Moqing asked Yubaba.

After thinking for a while, Yubaba said slowly, "There is a way to summon the spirits, but if it goes wrong, it will shorten the life span of both of them. If something goes wrong, they may even lose their lives."

Yubaba suddenly thought of the woman who lost her soul last year. She wiped the tears from her eyes sadly and said, "My daughter didn't learn well. She learned evil magic to harm others, and she lost her soul. I wanted to bring her back, but failed, and I almost lost my life."

"Then...has anyone ever succeeded?" Shen Moqing asked hurriedly.

"I know a man who brought his wife back. He told me that he had help from a master. How about you wait a while and let me ask him. Or I can look through my books to see if there is any solution. There are some unconventional methods that have to be used as a last resort. Saving lives is the most important thing."

"I'm really sorry to have you involved in this kind of thing..."

"I have done a lot of bad things in my life. I didn't teach women well, and I also did things that were against the will of heaven and earth. This is all my debt, and I should do good deeds to repay it."

"I am old now, and I can't do this for many more years. This matter is over, and I, an old woman, will no longer meddle in other people's affairs. I will just listen to operas and drink tea every day and spend my old age in peace."

"Old... Yubaba, thank you..." Wang Jiaotong thanked Yubaba a little embarrassedly.

Shen Moqing remembered the wishing card in his pocket, took it out and asked his second grandfather: "Second grandfather, we found this in the paper figure temple, what's going on?"

Wang Jiaotong saw the words on the wishing sign and asked angrily, "Is that your name? Explain it to me clearly!"

“Ah...this...seems...like...” Second Grandpa stammered and couldn’t speak.

"Huh? What's going on? Wangzong, are you hiding something from us?" Yubaba also looked at Second Grandpa, hoping that he would explain clearly.

The second grandfather hesitated for a while, pinching the rosary beads in his hand, "Oh... this... oh, then I'll tell you."

"Mo Qing, you know that our Shen family was a famous family in the past with many descendants. But in my generation, only your grandfather gave birth to a son, and the other brothers only gave birth to daughters.

A fortune teller said that my father had committed some kind of evil in the past, so the family line would be cut off within three generations. Your father is the only child, and I treat him as my own son.

As a result, they gave birth to a daughter and didn't want to have another one. They also said that boys and girls are the same, how can this be possible! "The second grandfather said angrily.

He continued, "I heard that in ancient times, Zangling Village held a ceremony to offer paper brides. Among them, there was a woman with a lot of resentment who turned into a fierce ghost called Lady Lu. She harmed many people and was later sealed away by the village's great witch.

This lady has great magical powers, and as long as you offer sacrifices to her, you can ask her for marriage and children. So I found the great witch in the village, gave him some benefits, and asked him to let me in to pay homage to the lady.

It really worked, and then you spoke."

After listening to this, Yubaba said angrily: "If you worship such a weird ghost, you owe her. What did you promise to repay her?"

The second grandfather stammered, "Uh... I heard that if you marry Madam Lu, you will owe her a love debt. If you give birth to another boy in the future, he will die at adulthood and be considered as a husband for her. Otherwise..."

"What else?!" Wang Jiaotong said angrily.

"Well, otherwise the eldest son will have to be returned. Take the eldest son away. I guess... Mo Qing wants to marry another woman, so he came out for revenge?"

"It's you who did this!" Wang Jiaotong shouted angrily at her second grandfather.

"Second Grandpa, how could you do such a thing!" Shen Moqing also complained.

"I... I didn't expect this to happen. I advised your father to have another child, but he didn't listen. I told him about Madam Lu, but he didn't believe me. He got angry with me after I told him too much."

The second grandfather said angrily: "I treat him like my own son, how could he treat me like this! He said I was superstitious and...interfered with their lives, alas..."