Ex-Wife is a Big Villainess
Chapter 873 - 426: Bride’s Grave_2

Chapter 873: Chapter 426: Bride’s Grave_2

Jiang Shouzhong looked around, sitting on a chair, his gaze fixed intently on the old woman, asking: "Who is the Grave Master?"

The old woman pursed the thread in her hands, the end brushing across her dry lips, then unhurriedly responded with a question: "Have you seen the Husband Seeking Forest?"

Jiang Shouzhong nodded: "I have seen it, but I heard that place is also called the Ghost Forest."

The old woman’s hand wavered slightly in her needlework as she looked up, her cloudy, yellowed eyes gazing at Jiang Shouzhong, a smile forced onto her face.

"Why is it called the Ghost Forest? What did you see there?"

The smile spread across the old woman’s wrinkled face, like cracks on parched earth, exuding a sense of eerie timelessness.

Jiang Shouzhong said truthfully: "I saw many bride corpses hanging there, and many coffins."

"Thus, that place is also called the Bride’s Grave."

The old woman continued with her needlework, the needle traversing the fabric, producing a soft "sizzling" sound,

"And the one who oversees this Bride’s Grave is the Grave Master. Every year some living people inadvertently wander into here.

If they’re women, they are seized to become the Grave Master’s brides. As for men, they can only become pallbearers or coffin carriers."

Jiang Shouzhong recalled the eerie wedding procession and the scene of Jiang Yi sitting in the sedan chair, suddenly standing up from the chair: "You mean that wedding procession is heading to the Husband Seeking Forest?"

The old woman shook her head, her hands never stopping the needlework, saying in a bland tone: "The Grave Master is at the altar."

"Where is the altar?"

Jiang Shouzhong asked.

The old woman gave Jiang Shouzhong a deep look, and said helplessly:

"Young man, I sincerely advise you not to go. Over the years, I’ve advised too many people like you who insist on going, but very few ever listen to me in the end.

Just take my advice this time, it’s best to wait until daylight to leave, at least that way you can preserve your life.

Life itself is already hard enough, why provoke matters that might cost your life."

Jiang Shouzhong replied: "My friend was taken, just tell me where the altar is."

"Ah, another one who doesn’t value his own life."

The old woman listened to his words, shook her head and sighed once more, then turned to shout into the inner room, "Bao’er."

Before long, a little girl wearing red embroidered shoes walked out.

The little girl’s face was as pale as snow, without a hint of blood, yet she was exceedingly lovely. Only at that moment, her eyes bore an indifferent aloofness beyond her years.

She held a bowl of tea with both hands, walked up to Jiang Shouzhong, and handed the bowl over.

Then she stood there quietly, without uttering a word, her entire demeanor mechanical and silent.

"Drink this Wuwang Tea, and you will find the way to the altar."

The old woman looked at Jiang Shouzhong and advised him once more, "But young man, I must warn you again, your friend is beyond saving.

Anyone who comes here and is chosen as a bride or groom can never leave, it’s a rule that has never changed throughout the years."

Jiang Shouzhong did not accept the tea bowl; instead, he scrutinized the little girl.

The little girl, expressionless, stood quietly, like a ceramic doll devoid of emotions.

The old woman explained: "She is my granddaughter. Poor child, her birth mother passed away early, never having her mother’s love.

Later on, her father remarried, and according to our island’s custom, newlyweds must visit the Husband Seeking Forest. But who could have anticipated that both vanished after going there."

Jiang Shouzhong took the tea bowl, looked down at the light-yellow tea, and suddenly raised his head to stare at the old woman: "Why must I believe you?"

The old woman said: "You can choose not to drink it and wait until daylight, or you can leave here and look for it yourself.

I’ve seen too many like you in this lifetime; I am only willing to extend kindness once to save you, but I won’t extend that kindness a second time, think it over carefully."

Jiang Shouzhong hesitated for a moment, then tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp.

At that moment, he caught the corner of the little girl’s mouth curling into a smile from the corner of his eyes.

The curve of the smile seemed forcibly pulled by invisible hands, exactly like the smiles on the faces of the people in the wedding procession he’d seen outside.

"Young man, thank you for entering this door, now that you’re here... don’t leave."

The old woman’s voice, initially kind and gentle, suddenly became sinister and cold.

She slowly lifted her head, and her once wrinkled face began to contort.

The smile at the corner of her mouth gradually widened, splitting all the way behind her ears, revealing her ghastly white bones and black-red flesh within.

Immediately after, the skin on her face began to peel away like the cracked surface of a wall, exposing the decayed, maggot-ridden muscle tissue beneath, emanating a nauseating stench.

Meanwhile, the scene inside the room changed.

The "double happiness" characters pasted everywhere began emitting a dark red light, flickering with an ominous glow, as if numerous evil eyes were watching everything.

The candles burning on the table transformed into a human hand, fingers warped and clenched, with a flame burning in the palm.

Wax dripped continuously from the fingers, resembling drops of fresh blood.

On the wall, an unadorned space miraculously bore a statue.