In the pitch-black, narrow valley, the piercing sound of suona horns echoed endlessly.
Clutching the hem of my bright red wedding dress, I ran for my life.
Behind me, over a dozen strong villagers caught up, pinning me to the ground.
I struggled and resisted with all my might, gravel cutting my skin, blood seeping out continuously, but I was still dragged back and tied to the Dragon Head Stone.
A sudden thunderclap boomed, lightning illuminating the entire valley, as a torrent of blood rain poured down.
“Thunder rises, blood rain arrives, the dragon lifts its head, all things are born.”
“The auspicious hour has come, send the bride!”
Thirteen Plum Blossom Coffin Nails, each as long as chopsticks, were pressed against my body as the villagers’ hammers swung down fiercely.
I closed my eyes in terror, my mind filled with despair.
Ten years. In the end, I still couldn’t escape the fate of being sacrificed.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The expected pain never came. Instead, a powerful surge of energy erupted from beneath me, and in an instant, screams erupted all around.
Something crawled under my skirt, climbing up my legs, its rough scales scraping against me, making my whole body tremble.
I snapped my eyes open, but the blood rain blurred my vision, leaving me unable to see anything.
A cold, damp breath lingered by my ear. He kissed the corner of my brow, licked my wounds, and took without restraint, leaving me nowhere to hide.
In the depths of passion, I only heard him whisper in my ear, “Zhenzhen, you’ve finally returned.”
·
I don’t know how I managed to escape from the mountains. Stumbling and staggering, I finally made it home.
In the mourning hall, Grandmother’s coffin was still there, but her body was gone.
I turned and ran toward the village entrance.
The horizon was already tinged with the pale light of dawn. Today was the second day of the second lunar month. Every year at this time, the villagers would have already gathered, preparing to enter the mountains to offer incense to the dragon’s head.
But today, every household’s doors were tightly shut, and the entire village was as silent as a tomb.
I lifted my foot and kicked the village chief’s door with all my might. After more than a dozen kicks, half of the wooden door crashed to the ground.
“Are… are you human or a ghost?”
The village chief stood in the yard, trembling as he asked.
I rushed forward, grabbed him by the collar, and demanded fiercely, “Where is my grandmother’s body? What have you done to her!”
“You… you’re still alive?” the village chief stammered, his lips quivering. “How did you escape?”
I froze.
Zhenzhen. Because of that name.
My name is Huai Yan, not Zhenzhen.
But clearly, that thing had mistaken me for Zhenzhen, which was why I had escaped unscathed.
The village chief let out a long sigh of relief, pulled a letter from his pocket, and shoved it into my hands. “Someone came to the village late last night, took your grandmother’s body, and told me that if you came out of the mountains alive, I should give this to you.”
Inside the envelope was a card that read: Baxia Village, Feng Family.
·
I returned home, washed up, changed into clean clothes, and rummaged through the wardrobe in Grandmother’s room to retrieve those four marriage contracts. Without a moment’s delay, I hurried to the town.
Only when I was seated in the taxi did I finally begin to relax.
My fingers lightly brushed my brow, where a plum blossom-shaped birthmark lay.
Everyone who had ever seen me marveled at its beauty.
But they didn’t know that, from the day I was born, on every second day of the second lunar month—my birthday—this birthmark would turn blood-red, icy cold, piercing like steel needles into my bones, making life unbearable.
As I grew older, every year on the second day of the second lunar month, a new birthmark, identical to the first, would appear somewhere on my body.
From the age of one to twelve, from between my eyebrows to my throat, then to both shoulders and hands…
Those birthmarks connected into a single patch, like a long snake raising its head to gaze at the moon, coiled all over my body—yet it was precisely missing the snake tail.
Grandmother said this was the curse of our Dragon-Locking Village. If a thirteenth plum-blossom-shaped birthmark were to appear on my body, I would not survive.
That year, Grandmother suddenly left home for half a month. When she returned, she held four marriage contracts in her hands.
She had actually arranged four marriage engagements for me, saying only this could suppress the curse on my body and temporarily preserve my life.
The Feng family from Baxia Village was one of them.
Grandmother had said that these four marriage engagements were my life-saving talismans. The other parties had received her favor, and unless I took the initiative to dissolve the engagements, they would remain valid.
Those who violated this would be struck by lightning and die a wretched death.
Now, with Grandmother just dead, the villagers bound me for sacrifice. The Feng family took my grandmother’s body away overnight—likely to force me to personally go and break off the engagement.
When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. They all want me dead!