什么 Kui!

Du Ping sat by his friend's grave, drinking a cup of tea. Technically he didn't have to wait the full three years of mourning, since he wasn't family, but he certainly missed Zhong Kui more than anyone in his own family did. Besides poor Hui, of course. He patted the grave and laughed. "Are you at rest now that you've caused as much trouble in as loud a fashion as you could, old friend?" Most people wouldn't have understood why Kui had done what he had, but for all his dramatic antics, Kui had always been a man of his own sort of principle, in a way. This had been his one chance to rise beyond being just the mountain ugly whose parents were doing well. His nickname had been toad, all his life, and that had not changed when they had arrived in Chang'an. Really a bit inevitable, considering he did LOOK like a toad, but he was going to be Zhang Yuan, and then no one would've ever dared call him toad (to his face anyways) again. When that had been taken away from him because of his face, well. The outcome really wasn't all that surprising when one thought about it. A part of Ping felt like he should've been paying more attention. He was the only one who might have been able to stop stupid Kui, but he'd been too preoccupied celebrating his own ranking, which had been high enough to afford him a decent position that would hopefully bring his family some wealth after years of borderline destitution.

"You always have me thinking of stupid things, you idiot." He scolded the grave gently.

"Should we tell him, you think?" The two ghosts keeping watch over Zhong Kui's grave were not pleasant to look at, supposing Ping had been able to see them at all. They were avenging ghosts, after all, strong enough to serve in the newly created forces combating demons and evil spirits, and they had suitably horrifying facial masks covering the scars of their ancient souls. The ghost who had spoken was known as simply Zhuo in death. "His friend calling him an idiot isn't a crime, but maybe he'd have some punishment for him." It was hard to tell behind the mask, but he was a little excited at the prospect. Death had gotten much more fun since they'd had actual jobs to do.

The convenience of being a ghost was the ability to be at numerous places at once and not at all. One moment Kui found himself at his ancestral home, surrounded by his sad mother and his begrudging sister, the next he heard the voice of a friend at his grave, the mandatory wine accompanying him as he sat next to the pile of dirt and the stone erected for him that read: ‘Zhong Kui, first son of Kui, top scorer of the imperial exam’ and what more boring accomplishments that would have him referred if it wasn’t for the ugly sight of his mug. Accomplishments that decorated Kui as the opposite of an idiot, but yet here his friend sat calling him one. The only one that Kui could accept it from, and the only one that could possibly handle his sister, Hui.

“You could tell him to visit my mother and see my sister,” Kui told the ghosts, hoping to startle them with his sudden appearance. “You could also massage the frown out of Hui’s face, it is unbecoming and she already is no beauty,” he continued, a hand striking over his chin from which a beard grew. Perks of being a ghost; Kui could age himself up older than his father and grow a bear more magnificent as well, which only meant longer in his and his father’s case.

The Zhong family had a problem, and that was the lack of an heir. The Du had another problem, and that was the lack of an income until Ping scored himself a ranked position. This was where Kui saw a solution, smugly combing his beard as he nodded.

“He owes the academy. Who else could have helped him?” Kui stated arrogantly, for all of his ugly features, the man did hold immense pride in himself and the academy run by his father. For Du Ping was his friend, his only friend. And while that was more valuable than any education, or ranking, and thus allowing Ping to call him an idiot, Kui also knew how to cash in on a debt, even if it was beyond his lifetime.

Meanwhile the Zhong academy was in uproar, the students with whom Kui and Ping had spent their time together, both younger and older, surrounding themselves around the table of their grandmaster, while the grandmaster himself; Kui’s father, had to be supported by his hysterical wife and another teacher, looking like life would escape him at any moment as Hui stood on the table, the missive of the emperor himself in her hand raised high above her head, whilst in another hand she held a candle, threatening to burn it as students clung onto one arm and the other to prevent the hands from meeting.

“Don’t you dare curse us!” The phrase was screeched repeatedly. By whom, Hui wasn’t sure, but she sure liked the panic that it induced. As much as she found it distasteful as she was once more reminded how a stupid man somewhere on a stupid throne, dressed in yellow and aged beyond recognition was the one who called the shots. The same type that had denied her brother’s glorious future and that apparently acted like a licence for her father to operate his pretentious business that she as a female couldn’t attend.

“Like Kui didn’t curse us!” was her retort, earning her a wagging finger from her mother that told her not to disrespect her brother, to which Hui stomped her foot and repeated; “Kui, Kui, Kui,” unwittingly summoning her brother right back into the academy to face his sister causing a ruckus as he rolled his eyes.

“The size of a rice grain, but the strength of a bull. I almost feel sorry thinking that Du Ping could handle her,” Kui exclaimed loudly, his hands thrown up in the air as he watched his sister shake off the (male) students that tried to grab hold of the candle and the missive, while also somehow finding the strength to yell and jump.

Not that it was a rare trait within the Zhong family. His mother was holding up his sizeable father, after all, and the man wasn’t the chopstick he once was in his youth. Far from it, resembling a laughing Buddha rather with a missing laugh and on the edge of passing out.

And yet, Kui couldn’t help but think they might make a good match. For his sister was, as much as she liked to deny it, a true sibling of his in both antics and behaviour that few could tame, if at all.

“I will allow all pranks and haunts to watch these two together,” Kui announced, a shake of his head following as he thought of all the disasters that were sure to follow when Hui actually bit at one of the students that tried to lift her off the table.

Pranks and haunts? Pranks and haunts! Zhuo gave a downright evil laugh of pleasure. He'd never tried getting two people to get together before, but how hard could it be? Push a man and a woman together, and they were bound to end up kissing. Before he could cook up anything too ill-advised, however, someone else came running up to the grave.

"Ping-ge! Du Ping!"

Du Ping looked up. He'd been sitting there for some time, enjoying the peace and quiet, and trying to decide if he should try to do something about Hui losing her engagement. Not that Kui had ever really much liked her "fiance" to begin with. Probably would've laughed and said "good riddance," but it did make things difficult for Hui and their family, the academy and family he owed his current success to.

"What's the matter?" The other man was a junior of his, three years below him in class, and neither the brightest, nor the dullest of the bunch. Before he could ask again, the younger man started pulling and shoving him.

"Please come with me! Miss Hui is- The emperor's- You have to stop her!"

Du Ping sighed. Why exactly was he the go-to person whenever one of the Zhong siblings decided to do something crazy? He was given not at all a proper explanation for why he was being dragged off, which made it all the more confusing when he arrived at the academy to see a majority of the students trying to pull Hui off the table, a candle held threateningly in her hand, inches from an expensive piece of parchment. The boy who'd brought him wrung his hands in distress, wiping his brow, but making no move to actually help. Du Ping sighed and began picking his way through the jostling crowd, until he finally scrambled up onto the table with Hui and several others. "Can't you stop that?" He asked a couple of the people still clinging to her arms. It wasn't helping, really. Though plenty of people were still scolding and grabbing at and trying to jostle Hui about, his entrance had managed to quiet things down enough for him to ask, "Hui-ah. What is this situation?"

Someone yelled, "Du Ping! You have to stop the young miss!" Which just made Ping want to sigh again and roll his eyes. Exactly what did they expect him to do that 30 men grabbing at her couldn't?

"You don't have to put the candle down," he casually shoved one foot on the face of someone next to the table opening their mouth to protest, "but could you explain to me what that paper you're holding is?"

If still alive Kui would have lost his temper with his sister, which in turn would have her lose his temper with him, resulting in a screaming match that the students of Zhong Academy had lovingly baptised the ‘necromancy of judge Bao’ who luckily hadn’t risen up from the Underworld yet to chastise the siblings for being loud enough to revive him back into the world of the living.

“Remind me to pay my respects to lord Bao,” Kui stated instead, unusually calm as he watched his friend Ping wrestle his way onto the table who seemed more tired than anything. Somewhere the man did feel sorry for his friend. Being involved with the Zhong family was never an easy thing, but he managed it so well, as proven now;

Hui calmed down instantly, too surprised that anyone could stay so cool in this crazy situation, as she actually lowered her arms enough for the students to blow out the candle and thus preventing a fire hazard.

“What?” she sounded almost offended at the question, her anger flaring up again, but not enough to even notice that there was no more flame as she yanks the arm holding the edict out of the grip of the other students, kicking where needed, as she glares at the edict in hands and at Ping in front of her.

“Don’t ask what, secure that!” Lady Zhong interjects with a yell instead, “the emperor bestowed us with such honour, how can you, once you get down Hui-er, I will!”

The threat falls short at Hui, her temper flaring anew as she throws the edict at Ping before turning to her mother. “What? What will you do? Beat me? The emperor is giving us a lousy edict to replace my brother! A mere post-mortem title. What’s the honour in that when I have lost a brother!”

The admission surprised the crowd, too used to the temper tantrums of the youngest Zhong who had beaten each and every one of them in every possible way, much to the shame of the students.

It even surprised Kui, who started to wonder if he was a bad brother.

At times Ping wondered why nobody ever seemed to get that the Zhong siblings were much easier to handle when you didn't threaten or anger them. It really wasn't all that difficult to keep one's stupid mouth shut, instead of trying to threaten or cajole. Lady Zhong, of everyone, should have known that best by now. He clumsily grabbed the piece of paper thrown so unceremoniously at him, but Hui's words made it clear what it was, even without seeing the words: "Zhong Kui will be posthumously awarded the title of Zhang Yuan" and so on and so forth. Ping's lips wrinkled up, feeling Hui's bitterness in his own mouth. He'd brought home the mangled skull to be buried himself, and now the emperor felt bad enough to give him the title he'd earned in the first place?

He crouched down on the table, gesturing over at the closest person with a light source. The boy looked around himself, and then realized he was being waved closer and tentatively stepped forward. "Can you give me that?" Ping asked, gesturing at the candle the boy was holding.

"What for?" The boy asked.

"Don't argue with me." Ping said, calm as ever, and the boy uncertainly handed the lit candle over. Ping stood, and without another word, set the edict on fire. Several people gasped, but they were all drowned out by the protracted scream of horror Lady Zhong let out. Ping let the burning piece of paper fall to the table before anyone could get up to try and snatch it from him, and stamped it out before it could damage the old, sturdy wood. It was much too late to salvage it now, anyways. "You're not wrong." Ping said, having to shout over Lady Zhong's braying, but appearing as calm as ever. "What's the meaning in a title for a man who's already dead?" He never would have imagined those words to come from his mouth before Kui had died in what felt like such a meaningless way, but he meant them now. "But Hui-er," He got closer to her, so he didn't have to shout so much, "this trouble you're causing also has no meaning. If you're angry, be angry. If you want to cry, just cry. If you want to burn it, it's burnt. What good is it to shout without ears to listen?"

This was perfect. He'd gotten just close enough, all they needed was a push after all. Gleefully, Zhuo shoved Hui forward, right into Du Ping, having been dead so long as to forget that a candle might hurt the living.

The fine silk on which the edict was pressed upon, along with the rice paper on which it was written, both burned and smoked as Ping set it on fire, prompting an instant fainting spell from Hui’s mother and an excited yelp from her father who looked like he had dropped his very soul. To Hui, however, that was the coolest thing anyone ever did, her eyes widening in both admiration and in fear. She, after all, had never really planned on setting the edict on fire, valuing her life more than her stupid brother had done at least.

Just like that, suddenly, the Hui who could not be moved earlier by a school full of students tugging at her arms and trying to calm her down through force, felt herself tip over, losing balance to nothing but air and falling straight into the Ping who had gotten so much closer to her and was getting so much closer than she had been to anyone, even her brother.

“Mother of all,” Kui would have dropped his chin on the floor if it wasn’t attached to his face, his hand stroking it earlier falling uselessly next to him. Bulging eyes bulged further as a toad-like sound escaped him while he watched Hui fall perfectly into Ping’s arms. So perfectly even that her lips were pressed against the throat of his best friend in such intimacy that the students of his father’s school all promptly turned away from the scene, protecting their own eyes.

The demon Zhuo had both done exactly what Kui wanted and also what Kui had not wanted. Somehow, so perfectly, both, or Kui had not known what he wanted himself.

“The audacity!” the mother of the children shrieked, magically revived from her fainting spell as a monstrous strength pulls both Ping and Hui down the table, followed by a frantic father who is also tugging at Ping, begging;

“Please assume responsibility!”

Each more ridiculous than the other, but exactly what Kui had asked for, if not exactly as he had envisioned.

It was to Ping's utter surprise that Hui, a girl he'd always known to be perfectly sturdy on her feet, fell right onto him. He was entirely unprepared, dropping the candle and barely managing to catch himself on his butt with one hand. He felt something soft press against his neck, and looked down in confusion just in time to see Hui basically hugging him, her body practically between his legs. The concept had barely made it to his brain before being practically dragged off the table, by the extremely distressed Zhong family.

"What?!" He said. "Responsibility for what?" He didn't really have much time to dwell on it, because yet another shriek went up from the crowd. He looked around to see one of the students there frantically attempting to stamp out a fire that had spread onto their robes. Everyone was rather distracted by this student, who multiple people were attempting to help, that no one noticed as the candle on the table went from a smoulder from where the rich paper had fell, to a full-blown fire, burning the table. Well. They could tell the emperor the edict had gotten caught up in an accidental blaze, at least. Was the oddly dispassionate first thought that came to his mind, before Ping realized that they were all becoming in rather serious danger of serious burns. "We should probably leave." The words came from his mouth without really capturing the urgency of the situation.

The Zhong family was, like any other family, a patriarchal family, valuing sons over daughters and valuing the chastity of their daughters over anything else. The call for responsibility, of Ping’s responsibility, was not a surprising one, but infuriating all the same. For, with the passing of Kui, the family had to observe the mourning period first, before brokering for marriage at all, which had the increased difficulty that Hui was their only remaining child, and as such the only one that could carry on the name of Zhong.

“I should take responsibility!” Hui had exclaimed, at the very same time Ping had asked about his, both baffled for different reasons. Ping for the suddenness, and Hui for she hadn’t thought of any of the common rites or the patriarchy, but rather the ruined chastity of her brother’s good friend Ping. For, after all, being a friend of Kui meant chasing away all attention, for the only thing more terrifying than the Zhong family's temper was the appearance of the son.

And then to make matters worse there was the spreading fire, right on the table on which both stood, the students once more in a frenzied panic as they were too busy putting out the fire on one of their robes, but in the process of lit the others as well. Somewhere Hui could hear her mother shriek about the edict, her sturdy and fireproof hands (that were soon proven not to be so fireproof) reaching into the flames while her father was yelling something as well and Ping dazedly said something about leaving. Between all of that Hui decided that she should indeed put deed to word and assume responsibility. Hooking up one arm underneath the legs of Ping as the other supported the back of his shoulders, the infamous Zhong strength allowed her to carry off her brother’s best friend in a bridal style as she leaped off the table.

Amongst this all Kui stood baffled at the idiocracy of what was once the most respected academies in the capital city. The very same academy that, just days before Kui’s death, had boasted around to have cultivated the top scorer of the national exam. The students that tried to put out each other’s fires, causing more embers on the delicate fabrics of their clothes than that they extinguished, and his parents who were more worried about the words of a mere man that claimed to descent from gods, and above all at his sister, who had decided that she was going to be the man.

“Zhuo,” Kui called for the demon when he finally found his voice again, “do you think you can make it rain inside?” He asked, which was silly, for demons didn’t make rain, dragons did, but Kui hadn’t been a ghost lord for long and just watched the death of all wisdom within the span of less than half an hour, which at the same time may as well have been the murder of whatever intelligence he had ever possessed.

Ping barely understood what was happening when he found himself lifted off his feet and carried off the table in Hui's arms, except that he was fairly certain he'd known since he was a kid that something insane would happen because of his friendship with the Zhongs. He'd thought they'd passed the worst of it when Kui had bashed his brains out at the emperor's doorstep, but considering the room around him was quite literally on fire, he was starting to doubt the insanity had even fully reached its peak.

Zhuo was looking around the room with perfect satisfaction. Sure, there was a bit more fire than he'd quite expected, but the ghost king's orders had been fulfilled, hadn't they? The girl was carrying the boy close to- was that how things were done in this time? Exactly how long had he been dead? He squinted at the request for rain. What was he, a dragon? He shook his head.

Tilting his head a bit, he swept past the Zhong matriarch making her shiver with a momentary chill, distracting her from the burning edict (and her somewhat singed hands), and then caused the door to bang open. The mild gust didn't seem to make the fire any better, but it seemed to trigger one of the "esteemed students of the Zhong Academy" to think of the well not far from the school, and race out. Finally some sense seemed to be returning to the school as water got sloshed over one person after another.

This took a little time, however, and in the meantime, Ping had somewhat gotten his brain together enough to look up at Hui with his eyes scrunched up and ask, "Where are we going?"

Kui was always the brains of the family. Even as a child he outshined his parents, both hailing from a long line of scholars that taught in the capital. Hui was, compared to that, more normal, not graced with exceptional intelligence, though her wit was as sharp as any lady of a scholarly house. The only thing that Hui did manage to beat Kui in was in strength, and it was often suggested that, had Hui been born a man, she would have made a terrifying general of sorts and brought the family glory and fortune through war.

“To elope!” Hui had snapped at Ping’s question, rolling her eyes as she hobbled down the stairs of the academy with such speed, a child had pointed at Ping and exclaimed;

“Fairy skidding down the stairs!” To which the expression of Hui promptly died out the happy exclamation in a fierce cry of; “demon!”

A description that Kui couldn’t even fight, knowing that the great divine had not granted him his new life as a fairy, or as a deity of wisdom even, seeing the demons surrounding him and the mischief caused so far.

“Oh, the edict, my poor Kui,” his mother cried in the halls of the academy when the fire was subdued. It wasn’t a very big fire after all, and everyone had overreacted a little, but mostly his mother, who was now lamenting the loss of proof of Kui’s elevated name from the emperor. Not that it was worth anything to the man now that the gods had blessed him in the afterlife. Something that no emperor could make happen.

“They will be fine,” Kui sighed, turning around solemnly as he stumbled out of the hall, forgetting about that freshly heightened step that someone had suggested the other day to keep the dead out. Another fruitful attempt and misunderstanding of what the afterlife was truly like. How much humans seemed to misunderstand.

In the meanwhile Hui had made her way down the stairs of the academy, running onto the market and far away from the fire when a waft of something sweet lead her to a stand, promptly dropping Ping down as she stared at the warm sugary treat prepared as if there was no calamity that she was running from.

Patting her waist up and down Hui was quick to be disappointed at the lack of money she had brought with her, her mind turning quickly as she threw Ping a sly look.

“A bag of pastries for carrying you down the stairs?” She opened the haggling immediately, unbothered at the names she had been called so far, or whatever had upset her earlier.

The answer was somehow an utter shock and at the same time precisely the level of crazy Ping had come to expect of the Zhong siblings. Some part of him felt like he should feel something about Hui's sudden decision to marry him, but then again, it was just as likely she'd change her mind once the heat of the moment wore off. And then he supposed, if she didn't change her mind, there would be no standing in her way, so what was there to feel about it anyways?

He laughed and shook his head. "A bag of pastries for not carrying me down the stairs ever again." He offered back, but was already pulling his bag of coins from his pocket. At the very least a pastry would calm her down. He handed her the sweets, giving her a look and taking a step back in the hopes that she wouldn't try to pick him up again once she was done - no doubt with sticky fingers, even. "I don't think we need to elope, Hui." He said, "News of the academy fire will probably be more pressing for now." Now that his head was a little more clear, he understood that her falling on him was news, but there was enough chaos that had happened that day, he doubted they'd be the main portion of the talk, at least for some time. "Are you a little more calm now?"

“Forever is a long investment, one bag will be gone within a day,” Hui remarked, finding the deal to be an unfair one, though glad that she was getting some of the pastries nonetheless. They could negotiate about the price later, if needed, and else Hui felt confident that Ping wouldn’t be able to fight her anyway if she wished to repeat it.

With that settled, Hui hugged the warm bag to her chest, taking a deep breath from the sweet whiff of melted sugar before diving in with her free hand for a big bite. A big bite that immediately headed into the wrong direction. Buckling over Hui gagged and coughed as she chewed and swallowed before facing Ping with tears in her eyes as she rubbed her chest with her (as Ping suspected) sticky fingers.

“Elope?” she chokes out, having already forgotten about that notion from earlier and what she had yelled earlier before staring down at her bag of pastries and back at her brother’s friend.

“Did my brother possess you?” Hui immediately starts to question, her face scrunching up as her brows furrowed together in such a deep frown that her brows became one, before pushing the bag back into Ping’s arms. “If anyone talks about that again I will just punch them,” the female exclaims, her fist balling up as she swung into the air, barely grazing by Ping with a wicked smile, before her eyes landed on the next best stand in the city.

“One tang hulu for each punch I land!”

“Zhuo, are you sure that is my sister?” Zhong sighed, a thing he rarely did while alive for fear of losing his soul, but now that he had no body to begin with and only a spirit the man had started to sigh a lot more. “Did I doom my friend?” the man questioned next, followed with a; “marriages are supposed to be blessings.” The deep lamentations of an older brother whose stomach was rather a bottomless pit for the way she chased down every food stand in sight.

Ping stared at her back when she acted like she hadn't been the one to bring up elopement in the first place. He laughed incredulously, before jumping back to prevent her from punching him. "Will I have to buy you a sweet from every cart here so that you won't punch me or pick me up or threaten to marry me and then threaten to punch anyone who speaks about us marrying?"

He laughed, but said, "I'm afraid I will run out of coins before you run out of things you might eat." He wasn't joking. He'd only brought a purse with enough for trinkets and a meal.

Zhuo wasn't certain what his new master was so worried about. He shrugged, "A man's marriage is a matter of the heavens. They do not seem to have ill feelings towards each other." And it wouldn't matter once the man was dead, anyways. His voice was gravelly and low, as though his throat itself was made of stones. The ghost had had very little occasion to use it in his many years dead.

The deal, one snack for every punch, sounded like a good one to Hui, but Ping clearly thought differently, the pain and damage already felt in his pocket while Hui wondered just how many would dare to suggest a marriage for Hui anyway.

“Marriage is decided by our parents anyway. And there is no way yours will consent,” Hui shrugged, reminding ghosts and men of one essential step within the match that Kui had not accounted for.

After all, the Zhong parents were more than eager to marry off Hui to whoever was willing, as long as it wasn’t to marry her down, or to anyone weaker, or the inability to control her. Which left the pool to be quite dry, but there had been options and a long-standing gamble between both the matriarch and the patriarch.

“Zhuo, can you get my parents' bingo book?” Kui questioned, wondering if they had made any new bets now that Hui was of a marriageable age and if any negotiations had started already. Now that he was reminded Kui was best off making sure his parents weren’t going to gamble themselves into ruins as his sister ruined all of her chances.

“Besides, do you even want to marry me?” Hui loudly exclaimed the question, the marketman of the next stand nearly choking on his own spit when he tried to catch Hui’s attention to buy a snack at his place as well, which, of course she did, as soon as one of her hands were unoccupied.

Even Kui had to rub the back of his head in embarrassment, wondering to what he had subjected his best friend. It sounded more like a nuisance than anything, a tragedy to his wallet for sure.

So they were back on the topic of their suddenly proposed marriage. Truthfully, Ping suspected Hui was right about his parents. They'd never minded his friendship with Kui, particularly now that his title had been reinstated (provided the emperor wasn't so offended by the burned edict that he took it back), but Hui was a whole other story. Even her accidental fall on top of him might be explained away, especially with how crazy everything else had been. He'd never spared a thought about Hui as potential marriage material - if for no other reason than that he could hardly imagine her ever marrying anyone at all. "That is..." He squinted at her, not quite knowing what to say.

"Hui! Hui-er!" The sound of Hui's mother ringing down the stairs broke the bizarre flow of their conversation. The woman was red in the face, though with her strong constitution, Ping rather suspected it was more from rage than exertion. She grabbed Hui sharply by the arm, managing to avoid the sticky fingers by complete accident. "Where did you think you were going? You made this mess, you're going to help clean it up." She turned to look at Ping, fluttering her eyelashes in a way that somehow made her less attractive to look at than normal. "Son-in-law. Don't worry about anything, okay? We'll see you again soon." And with that terrifying statement, she dragged Hui away with all her strength.

Ping took a breath, and looked down at his now quite loose pouch of money. His parents were going to kill him when they found out about all this.

As soon as Kui had spoken, Zhuo had disappeared to find the Zhong's bingo book. The book said as much as could be expected. The Zhang family had been one of their last hopes, and his father's bets were more desperate than wise.

The normal way would require the groom’s family to visit the bride’s, but the Zhong family were anything but normal and it showed in the whole parade the Zhong had drummed up within short notice to march to the Du household, filling the street with a long line of treasures and gifts that they planned to gift for the engagement alone. 

“Oh, Madam Du, it is such an honour for us to visit you,” Madam Zhong had said, her face pulled into a wide smile that somehow made her look more scary than amiable. Within her hands, hidden behind her fancily embroidered napkin (not stitched by Hui), a familiar red paper could be seen that contained the eight birth signs of Hui, though the madam had it deftly hidden from public view a the matchmaker following in tow was bound to gasp and ruin everything before it even started. 

And when Madam Zhong was finally seated the lady spared no moment to get straight to the point, not even waiting for the tea to be properly served as she already folded her hands into her lap and smiled willfully at the Du parents. “As uncommon it is to propose during the mourning rites of my eldest son, I am sure that Kui’er would love to see his best friend and dearest sister bound in an union now that he isn’t there himself to bind them,” the madam said, putting special emphasis on the supposed relationships Kui supposedly had. 

A claim that had ghost Kui groan, for he did think of Ping as his best friend, but didn’t consider Hui his dearest sister, or even a blessing into a marriage with anyone, let alone the poor Ping or the whole of Du. 

“Please tell me there is an option left in the book?” the ghost asked.