Lotus Born from a Corpse - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

On the day I married into the Gu Family, the coffin arrived before I did.

It was painted a vibrant red and placed right in the center of the wedding hall, a large red character for ‘Happiness’ pasted onto its lid.

Liang Sanniang stood at the entrance, hands on her hips, her shouting echoing halfway down the street.

“The Gu Family is supposed to be prestigious? Using a coffin to welcome a bride-it’s a wonder your ancestral graves haven’t started smoking in the middle of the night!”

Gu An, the Gu Family steward, offered a placating smile that made his face look like dried parchment.

“Doctor Liang, the Old Madam said that since the Young Master’s constitution is weak, we are simply using the longevity wood to suppress the ill fortune. It isn’t a real funeral.”

Liang Sanniang spat on the ground.

“You’re sending a young girl to stand beside longevity wood, and you say it’s not a funeral?”

I tugged at her sleeve.

“Master, stop shouting.”

She whipped around to glare at me.

“Now you know how to feel embarrassed? Why didn’t you run when they were handing over the betrothal gifts?”

I remained silent.

I wasn’t the one who had accepted the betrothal gifts; the medicine shop’s creditors were.

Holding the debt notes my father had left behind, they had already dismantled half the shop’s door panels.

When the Gu Family’s representatives arrived that day, they promised that if I married in, the debt would be wiped clean.

Liang Sanniang hadn’t agreed; she had chased the matchmaker out with a broom.

But I knew the herbs left in the shop weren’t worth much. If I kept dragging things out, I would drag my master down with me first.

Gu An pulled back the curtain and urged me forward.

“Young Mistress, the auspicious hour is approaching.”

Liang Sanniang opened her mouth to curse again, but I stepped inside before she could.

The wedding hall was freezing.

Despite the dozen or so dragon-and-phoenix candles burning, the flames were so thin they looked like they were about to gasp their last breath.

Old Madam Gu sat in the seat of honor, dressed in dark red brocade, idly thumbing a string of prayer beads.

When she saw me, she lifted her eyelids slightly.

“She has a clean look to her.”

It didn’t sound like a compliment. It sounded like she was selecting an ingredient for a remedy.

I bowed to her.

“Greetings, Old Madam.”

She smiled faintly.

“Now that you’ve entered the Gu Family, you should call me Grandmother.”

I smiled back.

“I’ll call you that after the ceremony is finished. I wouldn’t want you to think I’m too eager to climb the social ladder.”

The expressions of the several elderly maids standing nearby shifted.

Old Madam Gu, however, did not take offense. She slowly turned her prayer beads.

“A sharp tongue is good. The Gu Family has been too quiet lately.”

The wedding coordinator pressed a length of red silk into my hand.

There was no one holding the other end. Instead, it was looped through a bronze ring on the coffin.

I glanced at the bronze ring. There were water stains on it. Fresh ones.

The coordinator’s voice trembled.

“First kowtow to Heaven and Earth!”

I stood still.

Gu An whispered a reminder, “Young Mistress, please, perform the bow.”

I asked, “Where is Gu Changheng?”

The hall fell silent.

Old Madam Gu looked up at me.

“Changheng is ill.”

“Even if he’s ill, he should show his face.”

“The fact that he is still alive to marry you is already the greatest respect the Gu Family can give you.”

I stared at the coffin.

“Then who is lying in there?”

Sweat beaded on Gu An’s forehead. “Young Mistress, please do not miss the auspicious hour.”

Suddenly, a sound came from inside the coffin.

It was very soft, like someone rapping their knuckles against the wood.

The wedding coordinator was so startled she nearly dropped the red silk. Old Madam Gu’s expression darkened.

She said, “Open the coffin.”

Two servants stepped forward and pushed the lid open just enough to create a gap.

A pale hand reached out, slowly grasping the red silk.

No one in the hall dared to breathe.

The knuckles of that hand were elegantly shaped, but it was so white it didn’t look like it belonged to a living person.

The person inside the coffin sat up.

He was dressed in wedding robes, his long hair draped over his shoulders, and his face was covered by a silver half-mask.

The mask concealed the left side of his face, leaving only his right eye and brow visible.

When I saw that eye, my heart gave a violent throb.

Gu Changheng looked at me.

His voice was very low.

“Jiang Zhaoying.”

A chill ran down my spine.

He knew me.