The Marriage Knot - Chapter 6

The next day, I went to the underworld administration and asked one of the Impermanence officers if there was any way for me to be reborn sooner.

He gave me a thoroughly bureaucratic answer: go home and wait to hear from us.

Generally, after an answer like that, you never heard anything again. I wasn’t stupid.

A-Fei said I should stay with her and keep her company. But I couldn’t impose on her forever.

And I, Xiaoxiao, would starve, die out in the open, or leap into the River of Forgetfulness before I went back to that malicious immortal.

So, in this underworld where I had no one to turn to, I had to start supporting myself.

Luckily, Heaven always left a way out for people—ghosts, rather.

While I was wandering aimlessly through the streets, a woman told me I had natural gifts and asked whether I’d like to work at Beneath the Peonies.

What a discerning woman. Had she spotted at a glance that I knew how to grow flowers?

She added that room and board were included. It was the perfect place for me.

That made me even happier, so I went with her.

I’d thought, what could she possibly swindle from a girl as penniless as me?

Once I arrived, I understood. My body.

Shouldn’t Beneath the Peonies have been a flower shop? Why was it a brothel?

Who would have thought ghosts, whose flesh had already rotted away, could run such a thriving flesh trade?

I couldn’t read many words, but I did understand a little about propriety and shame. I repeatedly insisted that I would sell my skills, not my body.

After examining my qualifications, however, the madam discovered that I didn’t seem to have any skills to sell.

Still, did she have to be in such a hurry to dress me up as a seductive ghost and put me up for auction?

I watched, uncomprehending, as the bids for me soared to absurd heights. All the while, I was calculating how to escape.

Just as I was about to be sold to a lecherous old man, that malicious immortal stormed in.

Ao Ye seized my hand and tried to pull me away, but a group of vicious ghosts blocked our path.

He drew me into his arms and declared, “She’s my wife.”

I pulled away. “I don’t know him.”

The lecherous old man addressed him haughtily. “Did you hear that? Miss Xiaoxiao says she doesn’t know you.”

Ao Ye frowned, looking anxious. “Xiaoxiao, stop this. Come back with me.”

What for? So you could kill me, carve me up, and have me do the splits afterward?

The guards moved to drive him out. He fell back on his superior status and threatened them. “If anything happens to her here, the dragons of the Eastern Sea and your underworld will fight to the death.”

Really? Couldn’t you come up with a better threat?

What did people with nothing have to fear from those with everything to lose? These ghosts had already died. Who was afraid of fighting him to the death?

“If you’re an Eastern Sea dragon, I’m the Jade Emperor,” the madam said, apparently unimpressed. “And let me tell you something: this establishment belongs to King Yanluo himself.”

Oh. Was I allowed to hear that for free?

Ao Ye couldn’t be bothered arguing anymore. He waved a hand, set off a few bursts of fire, and pulled me away in the confusion.

Once we’d shaken off our pursuers, he stopped and demanded angrily, “You can be angry with me, but why would you degrade yourself?”

Well, who knew Beneath the Peonies was a brothel?

He looked at me helplessly. “‘Die beneath the peonies, and even as a ghost you’ll still know pleasure.’ Ever heard that saying, stupid Xiaoxiao?”

Ah. The price of an inadequate education.

“Sorry,” he buzzed, barely louder than a mosquito.

“What was that?” Speak up. My eyesight was bad; I couldn’t hear him.

He said earnestly, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you. I won’t do it again.”

He’d actually apologized. Had the sun risen in the south today?

“Well,” he sighed, “we can’t go back to the palace. We’ll have to find somewhere else.”

“Why can’t we go back?”

“I just blew up Uncle Yan’s brothel. If he decides to retaliate, we’ll be on his territory, with no one to answer our cries for help.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be a devoted uncle and nephew?” I asked, puzzled.

He leaned closer. “Xiaoxiao, do you know how he died?”

What did that have to do with anything?

“He fell into a river and drowned trying to retrieve one copper coin. Even dead, he was still thinking about that coin and refused to go with the Impermanence officers. He ended up trapped at the bottom of the river as a water ghost.”

I suspected he was lying, but I had no proof.

“My father was the god of that river at the time. He took pity on him and showed him the road to the underworld. That’s how he got here. After years as a water ghost, he finally worked his way up to King Yanluo.”

Then that copper coin had been a pretty good investment.

“Only because he made it! If he hadn’t, he’d have fallen through all eighteen levels of hell and suffered in every one.”

“No, wait.” He spat in irritation. “You’ve completely missed the point! What this story tells us is that he’s an absolute miser!”

So we couldn’t go back to the palace. Were we both living on the streets now?

“Of course not!” He raised his eyebrows at me. “Have you forgotten? I’ve still got my alternate account.”