[The doll | He raised his hand and pinched the doll’s jaw]
After finishing the few slice cakes, Lin Qingchi curled up on the sofa, picking up a needle and thread to craft dolls.
When making dolls, he was entirely driven by whim. When in a good mood, he would sculpt extra details, even patiently sewing gorgeous clothes and adding intricate finishing touches.
When his mood was just so-so, he simply made whatever came to mind—having dolls with an extra head or missing a leg was a regular occurrence.
As it happened, the original prototypes for these dolls were weird, freakish things to begin with, which made them a rather perfect match for his craftsmanship.
Once a pig doll was sewn, Lin Qingchi examined it for a moment, casually placed it on the display shelf, and gave its nose a gentle pinch along the way.
He walked over to the inner counter, reached his hand into the drawer, and pulled out that wedding invitation.
This wedding invitation had been surreptitiously slipped inside by Zhao Tingsheng when he left; he had noticed it at the time, but didn’t stop him.
Lin Qingchi found it quite novel.
‘How many years has it been? A weird entity actually takes the initiative to come straight to my doorstep?’
‘What an interesting world.’
The wedding invitation was a deep crimson blood color, with four large characters emblazoned on the front:
[Blissful Union].
Lin Qingchi opened the invitation, his gaze sweeping over the text inside.
[To the Fated One:
It is hereby determined that on the auspicious hour of 4:44 a.m. on September 14, 2027, the ceremony of union shall be held.
You are cordially invited to attend the wedding banquet, to witness a pair of newlyweds bound forever in heart, together until white hair, never parted.
The banquet lies far away; a carriage and horses have been prepared for you, and will come to fetch you when the time arrives.
A single thread binds a fated match; to enter the banquet is to become part of the fate.
May you too, at the banquet, catch sight of what you think of and long for, and find what you remember and seek.
—The newlyweds, Zhao Tingsheng & Liang Yuan, respectfully invite you.]
Lin Qingchi’s fingertips rested on the invitation, no one knowing what he was thinking.
A small snake, entirely emerald green, caught a strange scent. It poked its head out from his clothes, stared at the invitation, and drooled with greed.
[Hiss, hiss, master, can I eat this?]
[No,] Lin Qingchi tapped Xiao Qing’s little head. [Keep it, I still have some use for it.]
The little green snake affectionately rubbed its head against its master’s slender fingertips. Feeling his chilly body temperature, it asked in a soft voice: [Master, are you hungry?]
Even though he had just devoured four slice cakes, Lin Qingchi didn’t answer right away. His fingertip tapped rhythmically against the little green snake’s head, and only after a long pause did he speak.
[I’m fine… just a little bit.]
He pressed the little green snake back inside and stepped onto the old wooden stairs of the Dollhouse.
The wooden staircase emitted creaking sounds with every step.
This old-fashioned Dollhouse had four floors in total.
The first floor was the open storefront, the second floor was a storage room, the third floor was also a storage room, and the fourth floor was his living quarters.
He walked up to the third-floor storage room and opened the door.
The storage room was packed with dolls—on shelves, in woven baskets—in all shapes, sizes, and varieties.
He walked straight past the mountain of stacked dolls, making his way into the depths of the storage room.
Deep inside the storage room, there was a space deliberately partitioned off from the other dolls.
In the center of this space stood a black high-backed chair, and sitting upon it was a “person.”
A man.
The man possessed an extraordinarily handsome appearance. A black formal suit enveloped his tall, broad frame, his long legs crossed casually, and his gloved hands rested on his knees.
He sat there in an easy, elegant posture, thin lips curved in a half-smile, his narrow, blood-red eyes gazing fixedly at Lin Qingchi as he strolled over from outside the storage room.
It was deathly quiet inside the storage room.
Not a single whisper of wind.
Only Lin Qingchi’s footsteps.
*Tap, tap, tap.*
Lin Qingchi stopped right before the man.
The man sitting on the high-backed chair maintained that exact same posture and expression.
He didn’t move, nor did he speak.
After all, this was a doll.
A doll crafted with such lifelike precision that it was virtually indistinguishable from a living human.
Lin Qingchi looked down at it from above.
His eyes were like deep, bottomless pools of water, yet also like brilliant green jade, quietly gazing at this perfect creation forged by his own hands.
The blade inside his body released a dull, ravenous hum.
Lin Qingchi’s knuckles twitched. Suddenly, he felt an intense urge to crush something to pieces.
After a long moment, he reached out his hand and pinched the doll’s jaw.
Bending down, he pressed a kiss upon its lips.
……
In the early hours of the morning, the wedding invitation suddenly unfolded on its own, levitating and flying all the way from the first floor up to the fourth.
The blare of suona pipes and the gongs and drums of ceremonial music resounded from within the invitation, accompanied by a creepy child’s voice: “The auspicious hour draws near. Esteemed guest, it is time to attend the banquet…”
Lin Qingchi had just stepped out of the bathroom. Dripping wet, his hair made his cold, pale skin look even starker.
His temper was particularly foul late at night. Reaching out, he pinched the invitation, his voice somewhat raspy.
“Shut up.”
Caught completely off guard, the invitation was pinched tight. Its voice froze abruptly as it squirmed and struggled in desperation.
Yet, despite exerting every ounce of its strength, it remained utterly unable to break free from the pinch of the human’s two fingers.
The invitation was dumbfounded: ‘How—how on earth is this human so insanely strong?!’
“Make any more noise, and I’ll tear you to shreds.”
After dropping those words with a frosty face, Lin Qingchi casually crumpled it into a ball, stuffed it into his pocket, and went downstairs, stepping out of the Dollhouse.
A sedan chair and horses were already waiting outside—or rather, a black sedan chair carried by four paper figures.
All four paper figures were life-sized, their faces a deathly white, with two prominent dabs of blush slapped onto their cheekbones.
Facing the doorway, their hollow eye sockets stared blankly at Lin Qingchi before they suddenly tilted their heads in confusion.
‘Where did our BGM [1] Background music jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3532078_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3532078_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); player go?’
The invitation stuffed inside Lin Qingchi’s pocket: Weak, pitiful, and afraid to utter a single sound.
Looking at the black sedan chair before him, Lin Qingchi knit his brows together, his tone cold and laced with disdain:
“I want a different ride.”
The four paper figures: “?”
Lin Qingchi: “It’s already 2027. When ghosts kidnap people, can’t you at least arrange a proper, modern car?”
Likely the first time they had ever encountered someone trying to negotiate with them like this, the four paper figures stood dazed for a few seconds.
One of them shook its head stiffly.
Lin Qingchi really didn’t care for riding in sedan chairs.
He had ridden in one once before; the journey was long and bumpy, and it had nearly shaken him to pieces.
After brief consideration, he offered a suggestion:
“How about this? You four keep carrying the sedan chair to lead the way, and I’ll walk beside you to the banquet. You get to carry one less person, and I’ll begrudgingly walk a bit more—no matter how you look at it, you’re getting the better deal.”
‘Would that even work?’
One paper figure didn’t think so and attempted to force him onto the sedan chair.
Its arm elongated in an eerie manner, stretching straight toward Lin Qingchi. But just when it was mere centimeters away from touching him, green flames materialized out of nowhere, setting its hand ablaze and rapidly engulfing its entire body.
Seeing this, its companion rushed over in panic to help extinguish the fire, but merely stepping close and getting splashed by a few sparks caused it to burst into flames as well.
The fire raged wildly, and in the blink of an eye, the two paper figures were reduced to ashes.
The remaining two looked at each other.
‘Fine.’
With two bearers missing, the sedan chair could no longer be lifted, leaving the remaining two paper figures with no choice but to bitterly drag it from the front.
The black sedan chair bumped along the ancient, weathered cobblestone road, letting out dull, heavy thuds.
Walking alongside the sedan chair, Lin Qingchi watched as the alleyway ahead—originally familiar—seemed to cross a certain threshold after just a few steps. The surrounding environment suddenly transformed, turning into a gloomy, eerie forest path.
The gate to the Ghost Domain had opened.
At this moment, black sedan chairs were advancing toward a massive mansion in the center via path ways from all directions.
A bright red invitation was pasted on the exterior of every black sedan chair. Suona pipes blared, drums beat, and different children’s voices repeatedly sang the exact same song:
“La-la-la, red wedding flowers hang by the door, binding red strings around fingertips; la-la-la, the auspicious hour arrives, red candles burn, fate is sealed here to linger forever…”
The noisy singing made Lin Qingchi’s temples throb violently. He thought to himself that he should have brought a pair of noise-canceling headphones before heading out today.
A total miscalculation.
The black sedan chairs arriving from different directions converged at the entrance of the mansion. Lin Qingchi’s sedan chair pulled up near the far-left position.
He raised his eyes to look at the grand estate.
The pitch-black, massive mansion sat nestled deep within the forest. Red lanterns hung lit across the sweeping eaves, each stamped with the character for “囍” [2] Double Happiness jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3532078_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3532078_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
A pale-faced housekeeper stood by the mansion’s entrance. Seeing that the sedan chairs had all arrived, he began walking toward them.
The housekeeper had originally been heading toward the first sedan chair parked on the far left. However, as he passed by Lin Qingchi’s side, he caught sight of the two paper figures waving their hands at him frantically. His expression froze for a moment, and his steps shifted direction.
Seeing the housekeeper, the two paper figures looked like bullied children who had finally found a parent. They rushed over without hesitation, performing exaggerated body language while pointing and gesturing at Lin Qingchi.
Barely piecing together the situation from the paper figures’ wild gestures, the housekeeper walked up to Lin Qingchi and asked in an unfriendly tone, “Guest, may I ask what you are here to do?”
Lin Qingchi said, “I’m here to attend the banquet.”
The housekeeper was taken aback, seemingly not expecting him to be here for the banquet rather than to cause trouble. “Then why didn’t you ride in the sedan chair, and why did you burn the sedan bearers?”
“Who said I burned them?” Lin Qingchi said calmly. “It’s dry and crisp in autumn; they caught fire from friction all on their own.”
The housekeeper scrutinized him suspiciously a few times, then glanced at the two paper figures cowering behind his back.
The two paper figures couldn’t speak, nor had they actually seen the ignition process, so they could only stand there scratching their heads in confusion.
Turning his face back, the housekeeper adopted a slightly more polite expression: “Since you are an esteemed guest here for the banquet, where is your invitation?”
Lin Qingchi pulled the crumpled ball of an invitation from his coat pocket, unfolded it, and showed it to the housekeeper.
The weak, pitiful, and helpless invitation burst into a whimper under the housekeeper’s gaze:
“He—he bullied me…”
“I bullied you?” Lin Qingchi applied a tiny bit of force with his fingertips.
“No! I was just kidding, bro!”
The invitation slid straight into a submission kneel.
After carefully inspecting the wrinkled invitation, the housekeeper said, “…Whoever holds an invitation is indeed a fate-bound guest who may attend the wedding banquet.”
“Then let me in.” Lin Qingchi crumpled the invitation back into a ball and stuffed it into his pocket.
The housekeeper reached out an arm to block him: “Before entering to join the wedding banquet, a wedding gift must be presented. What would the guest like to give?”
Lin Qingchi: “Is it mandatory? I was only invited to eat, and I’m not really close with you guys.”
The housekeeper choked on his words. “Guest, a wedding gift is strictly required.”
“Oh,” Lin Qingchi said. “Then I’ll just pick up a rock and give it to you.”
He casually kicked up a rock with his foot.
The rock flew straight toward the housekeeper.
The housekeeper caught the rock in one hand, the corners of his mouth drooping as he said, “Since the fate-bound guest has been invited and granted the honor of entering the Double Happiness Banquet, you may obtain the item you have yearned for all your life and find the person you have dreamed of. The larger your gift, the more sincere your heart appears, and the more happiness you shall receive when blessed by the deity. This is a rare and precious stroke of fortune—how could you dismiss it with a mere rock…”
Lin Qingchi was too impatient to listen to his ghostly rambling and interrupted, “Speak human.”
The corner of the housekeeper’s mouth twitched. “Heart, liver, spleen, stomach, lungs—you ought to give at least one of them, shouldn’t you? At the bare minimum, 400 cc of human blood.”
Inside his clothes, the little snake sucked in a sharp breath.
‘What tier of ghost is this to actually demand my master’s internal organs and blood?’
Lin Qingchi: “And if I don’t give it?”
The housekeeper’s dark, pitch-black eyes fixed upon him, and he suddenly burst into laughter.
His laugh was deeply eerie, sinister, and mocking.
“Among the previous batches of guests, there were also people like you who refused to follow the rules.”
He dragged out his words slowly: “It’s just a pity that those who failed to obey the rules…”
The facial features on the housekeeper’s face suddenly began to fall away. It was as if an invisible blade were slicing off his features one by one, forcefully carving a massive character for “囍” onto his face stroke by stroke.
The flesh around the wound turned inside out, oozing blood continuously, presenting a terrifying, horrific sight.
“—Have ALL ended up like this.”
References[+]