The Ghost Bride

by Yangsze Choo

“We don’t want time to stop.”

went over to your house as soon as I got his permission. They said you were sick, but you came down to see me. Don’t you remember?”

life in Penang must have suited her, for she had put on a great deal of weight.

Lol more ugly = bad

suddenly last week he barged in and said he had permission to marry her.

“So this is how you repay me, you wretch!”

Repay for what lol

I’m sure you want to know how I managed this. Well, it was very simple. I was always very curious about

Monologue lol

I had the feeling that he dismissed me. Most people do, you know. But I had my own ideas.

Lol

I should have gone to the medium.

Duh

It was a long time before I returned to my senses, and when I did, retching and shuddering, I was terrified by the loss of time.

Lol its liike evrn the bok is mocking her

a wicked-looking woman.

I never heard of a case like yours where the spirit was separated unwillingly from the flesh. Usually it’s because the spirit doesn’t wish to return.”

I caused nothing but trouble to the people around me. Even Er Lang had perished for my sake. With every moment that passed, I despised myself more.

Lol bkind of a bojack

Once out in the street, I called Chendana, feeling a pang of remorse for having left her outside so long.

If only I had told Tian Bai about my condition when I had the chance. Explaining things now was awkward, especially since I had accused him of murder the last time.

Oh noes not awkward

though I was sorry for Lim Tian Ching in the end. They were just using him as a cat’s-paw for their dirty work.”

Lol lie

But I thought the ox-headed demons were guarding your body.”

He didn’t seem to take my demise seriously at all, which pained me. After all, I had missed him desperately, shedding tears and suffering agonies of guilt when I thought he had died.

Lol what a brat

My form was visibly fading.

Oh yeah this is in spirited away too

“What do you suggest, then?” “Something that emperors have killed for.” I was too weak to roll my eyes. “And what would that be?” “Why, my life force of course.”

Dumb dumb dumb

“You are dying,” he said suddenly. “Quick! Choose!” I struggled to regain myself. “Choose what?”

Lollllll just let her die she's not worth it

not conceive of drinking his blood. To do so would be no better than some evil revenant, or pontianak—a wraith with all its attendant horrors.

Ok then

“Thank you,” I said at last. I realized it was the first time I had thanked him formally.

87 % of this bok

have been sent to fetch the daughter of this house,” it said. “No—oh no! I’m not Li Lan!” “You match the description I was given.”

This would be clever in a better plotted book

Uneasily, I considered whether it was only until Fan had taken it, and showed me how charming and seductive my body could be, that I had wanted it back so fiercely.

Although I had spent so much time trying to get back into my body, I felt restless and anxious, longing for the freedom to wander to unknown places. Being half-dead, despite its drawbacks, had been far more interesting than being constrained to my limited social circle.

I had experienced a hidden realm, which though terrifying, had also been a source of pure wonder.

Sure

felt sorry for her every time I came across one of these caches,

Sure

For the hundredth time, I wondered how my mother fared and if we would ever meet again in this life.

Lol trying to convince me i missed 99 times

the extensive grounds backed onto the sea. A low wall covered with a fiery tangle of bougainvillea was all that separated it from the steep drop below.

The rains have been so heavy lately that there’ve been several landslides.

This is fine

Had they passed on to rebirth, or was it possible that in the Plains of the Dead, there was still such a house by the seafront? My skin prickled, and once again I was reminded of how I would dwell on such thoughts for the rest of my life.

Trying to convince me shes dep

We said it was haunted and that a woman had thrown herself down it.”

This is fine

But there was a vast gulf between his position and mine; I had no right to expect anything further.

I thought he needed you as a witness

“You . . . you insane creature! How will we ever get out again?”

Lool he can fly are you daft

It was strange to think that power in this world belonged to old men and young women.

Lol wut being objectified isnt the same as power

We both knew that Tian Bai would only try to protect her. It was better for me to bear the burden of this knowledge than him.

Huh? He shouldnt know because he wouldnt tell?

couldn’t help wishing that matters had turned out differently. For despite everything she had done, I still liked her.

You thought zip about her

would half-sever my thread with this world and never truly fit in again?

She is literally exactly the same as before

My two worlds overlap like distorted panes of glass.

Literally when

Haunted, I chafe at the tight orbit of mahjong parties that I once thought so glamorous, and glance over my shoulder for wind and shadows, yearning for the forbidden.

Lol no you dont

only hope that I may return to visit them, even if it is only as a shiver on the wind.

Lol no guilt for abandoning her family what an asshole

Though given how much I resisted becoming Lim Tian Ching’s ghost wife, it’s not even funny that I’m willing to leave my family for a man who isn’t human.

Its ok hes hot