The Ghost Bride

by Yangsze Choo

It seemed utterly unfair that the spirit should suffer the torments of flesh without having any.

Well, there was no point crying.

“Tch! Who would want him to come back?”

Lool ow

“He had a fever, to be sure, but he was just as demanding as ever. And then in the morning he was dead. The doctor couldn’t believe it.

Yeah i believe there was foul play

He ate from the same dishes as everyone at the table, which was a good thing.”

Def a clue

And all because his teacup was missing. He had a celadon cup, a family heirloom, but we couldn’t find it anywhere.

She had mentioned to me that she was merely visiting for a while, but she seemed so at home that I couldn’t imagine how they would manage without her.

Sus

for I noticed that in contrast to my own home, my presence here seemed to exert some influence.

I remembered Amah’s tale of how Yan Hong’s mother had died to ensure her daughter’s marriage, and was surprised that she could be so cordial to Madam Lim.

Nah yan hong did not off her own mom

But you did say to tell you if anything unusual happened.”

Sus

With a start, I recalled the stranger who had consulted the medium at such length while Amah and I had waited.

Madam Lim nodded absently, but as she turned away, Yan Hong shot her a look of pure, unguarded hatred.

for surely only a fool would keep such a thing and Yan Hong didn’t strike me as stupid.

Yan Hong had just as much of a motive for murdering Lim Tian Ching if it meant depriving Madam Lim of her son, to avenge her own mother’s death. And her husband was a doctor. It would have been easy enough for her to procure drugs or poison.

Tian Bai had also studied medicine. He had mentioned that his studies were interrupted, but I had never found out why.

yet how else could one account for the quantities of paper funeral food and furniture that were burned to accompany the houses and carriages of the dead?

As a scam lol

“Oh, you mustn’t report me to the authorities!

But how was it that my thread hadn’t gone toward the Lim mansion?

This is not really the afterlife, my dear. It is merely the very tail end of living. From here we all go on.”

A seladang is one of the few creatures that can kill a tiger.

If he doesn’t complete his task, he’s ours anyway, not that he knows anything about

As I hurried after him I wondered what I meant to do. I had no real plan, no course of action in mind.

True

“Did you ever see a ghost in our house?” “Once on the main staircase . . . ” He made a face and said abruptly, “But never you mind. The old master had an exorcist brought in.” Only much later would I understand the significance of his words,

Lol it her mom probably

Amah would have said it was no place for a girl of good family,

With no one to censure me, I was tempted to dip my toes into the waves,

Yes, I was sick.” “They said you were poisoned.

we never got along. He was jealous. And I wasn’t very kind to him when we were younger.

“There I was, almost sixteen, and they said I was betrothed to a little girl in pigtails.

“I should go,” I said at last, although I had no wish to do so. It was just that I had no idea of what to do next.

A theme

The Straits of Malacca face due west and the sun was beginning to set, hovering over the waters and turning everything to a pure and brilliant gold. A few enormous clouds hung in the sky like the islands of an enchanted land;

“I know what the official records say. There is nothing untoward in them.

I dont lol

If I had fallen into the swamp it would have been the final humiliation.

Yeah what wpuld happen in that scenario

He’s not supposed to be dispensing justice by himself, even if he really was murdered. There’s a reason why the courts exist. One assumes that your ghost marriage to him is probably another perk of his obedience.

What obediwnce hes gone rogue

I sighed, wishing Tian Bai was at my side instead of this acerbic, light-footed stranger. I had been studying him covertly and still had no sense of what he looked like. His movements were swift and limber, his form elegant in the old-fashioned clothes that suited him so well.

U sure u no got the hots for this dude

“And are you often surrounded by chattering women?” I ventured. He shuddered. “I find their attentions very tiresome.” I choked at this display of vanity.

Gayyyy

“And how should I do that? Walk up to his house and tell him I’m ready for the wedding?” “It’s not a bad idea at all. Go to his house. See what you can discover.”

Eh it coyld work

I was astonished to find that it was a scale, but one so large that I could not imagine what sort of creature had shed it.

GIRL . Dragon its dragon

Time in the Plains of the Dead doesn’t pass at the same rate as it does here. The rate isn’t constant; it ebbs and flows, but in general it will be faster than time here. That is how someone may die one night and be reborn the next day, yet have spent months or even years in the Plains of the Dead.

A strong wind buffeted me, stirring up the leaves and branches in a whirling maelstrom. I closed my eyes against this onslaught and when I opened them again, Er Lang was gone. Far off in the night sky I saw a streak of light undulating like an eel in the ocean, but it passed so swiftly that I wondered whether I had imagined it.

Haku!!!!!! Serously its Haku

The creature that had shed it must have been a marvelous sight,

As soon as she saw Chendana, however, her eyes lit up. “You have a steed!” I couldn’t help a tinge of smugness.

I didn’t think you wanted the authorities notified about you.” “Oh.” She looked crestfallen. “I suppose you’re right.”

Lie

I stifled the urge to roll my eyes, wishing I liked her better.

Wut

I’m losing substance, I know I am.” I didn’t remind her that it was her own choice to overstay her time in this plane of existence.

Asshole

“Come along, then,” said Fan, sounding pleased with her advantage.

Lol like you were pleased by your awesome horse when she had none

“Towns, villages. They roughly correspond to the places above. There is a kind of Malacca, where you find those ghosts who used to live in there, and then there are the outlying villages. But the dwellings come and go as the ghosts move on to the Courts of Judgment. It’s always shifting.”

“If only my father hadn’t been so stingy with me.” I refrained from pointing out that she was much luckier than the hungry ghosts, who had nothing at all.

So she cant complain unless she is the worst off

had experienced neither thirst nor hunger since we had entered the Plains of the Dead, but despite that, I felt weary with a sense of being stretched ever thinner.

After a time, however, she said in a low voice, “I know you see differently than I do. What is it really like?”

:( assumes lan sees true

He looks quite good for fifty-seven, don’t you think?” Fifty-seven! I had thought the old man was in his eighties at least. No wonder Fan was in such terror of the authorities. I had thought it a simple case of overstaying, but clearly she had been involved in other trespasses.