Chapter 97: The Fox's Wedding

By rights, someone like Hao Dalong, tempered by the materialist discipline of military life, ought not to have believed in ghosts and goblins and all that feudal nonsense. And yet he had grown up in the countryside, deeply influenced by his parents, which left him with a lingering half-belief, half-doubt.

In the Northeast, to be honest, tales of uncanny happenings and supernatural oddities have never been any less common than they are in Hunan or Guizhou. And where he was now was no longer the city. The county road on either side was not some desolate wilderness, exactly, but it was wide open and lonely enough.

Who still used such old-fashioned wedding customs these days? A grand sedan chair...

Even if those things just now had looked human, they definitely were not. If they had been real people, they would not have reacted like that, not with a truck nearly crashing into them and not a trace of fear on their faces.

Hao Dalong was terrified out of his wits, but although he was young, he had a decent constitution of mind. His first instinct was to get away from there as fast as possible. He hurriedly started the engine again, let out the clutch, stepped on the accelerator, and did not even bother changing gears, simply sending the truck tearing down the road.

He had drunk some earlier, but he had once served in a motor transport unit, so his driving was still good. Now that the alcohol had been jolted out of him, he was only more distracted. After driving a mile or two, he suddenly realized something was wrong... why did he seem to hear that procession's music again?

The suona was already a loud instrument, its sound piercing and far carrying, and even the rumble of his little truck could barely drown it out. He glanced sideways into the rearview mirror... it looked as though a few red-clad "people" were following behind the truck, hazy and indistinct.

He picked up a little more speed, but after driving some distance he still could not shake them off, and it seemed they were drawing closer and closer. Most unsettling of all was that cheerful, eerie wedding-band music.

At that moment he became even more certain of what he had suspected in his heart. After living this long, he really had run into something unclean. He was already driving fast, and yet they were still keeping pace like that? Did that not prove something?

After traveling several more miles, Hao Dalong finally saw some buildings ahead on the road. They were not a gas station or a service area; he was nearing the entrance to the county seat.

The sounds behind him gradually faded, until at last they could no longer be heard at all. The tightness in Hao Dalong's chest eased somewhat. He had not even dared breathe too deeply before, so concentrated had he been. Now that he slowed the truck down, he pulled over by the roadside near a row of night-market stalls, wiped the cold sweat from his body, and steadied himself.

There were a few people moving about there too. At the very least, it no longer felt as terrifying as before.

He had barely rested for half a minute when someone knocked on his window... he jumped again. There stood a middle-aged man in glasses, smiling at him and waving. It was Yan Bo.

At that time Yan Bo was still somewhat younger, and even more energetic than he was now.

Hao Dalong was still in no state of mind to deal with anyone. He rolled down the window and snapped irritably, "What? What do you want?"

Yan Bo paused slightly, thinking how sharp this young man's tongue was, but he still asked politely, "Young man, may I ask you something? Are you heading to Bin County? I was wondering if I could get a lift. It's too late, there are no cars around here, and I'll pay you."

In his bad mood, Hao Dalong was instinctively about to refuse, but remembering what had just happened, he swallowed the words back down. The passenger seat was empty anyway, and if someone were with him on the rest of the road, maybe he would not be quite so frightened.

He waved Yan Bo up to indicate that he could get in.

"Thank you, thank you." Yan Bo climbed in with his travel backpack.

After drinking some water and resting a little longer, they set off again.

Wasn't Yan Bo a talker? No matter how unfamiliar he might be with someone, he could quickly strike up a rapport, and once in the truck he never stopped talking.

Hao Dalong did not say much, but because of him he did calm down quite a bit.

Seeming to notice that Hao Dalong had something on his mind, his brow knit and his expression far from good, Yan Bo changed course and asked, "Young man... I can tell you're in a bad mood, a bit irritable. Is something not going well?"

Hao Dalong did not say what was troubling him, only brushed it off in vague terms. He did look burdened with worries.

After they were on the road again, Yan Bo's mouth eventually grew tired from talking. He slumped back and wanted to close his eyes for a bit. It was cold outside, and with the truck warm inside, people tended to get drowsy.

But when the truck reached another stretch of deserted road, that strange suona music rose up again...

Hao Dalong sucked in a sharp breath. They were still following?

The suona was even clearer than before, wailing on and on through the night.

Hao Dalong gripped the steering wheel and could not help wanting to glance back. Just as he turned his head, Yan Bo, who seemed half asleep, suddenly spoke up. "Don't look! What's there to look at... just focus on driving."

He spoke very calmly, as though the things behind them were no great matter at all.

Hao Dalong wanted to ask more, but Yan Bo immediately said, "No wonder you're so frightened... after all, you've blundered into someone's joyous occasion. Bad luck, that."

"You... you know what those things are?" Hao Dalong was astonished again. What shocked him this time was how the man he'd picked up had so quickly seen through what had happened to him. Could he, too, be some kind of unclean thing?

"Mm-hmm..." Yan Bo gave a light, unhurried chuckle. Hadn't he been leaning there with his eyes closed? Now he half-opened them and looked into the rearview mirror, glancing left and right. At last his expression also turned somewhat grave. "Tsk... this is... a fox wedding? Oh, that's a bit troublesome."

"A fox wedding? What does that mean?" Hao Dalong asked blankly.

"Listening to your accent, you're from the Northeast, aren't you? In the Three Northeastern Provinces, how many mountain spirits and wild things there are, and you don't know? A fox wedding... I mean exactly what the words say."

As Yan Bo said this, Hao Dalong still did not fully react, because he had discovered something even more frightening: at some point, he had already veered off the original lane.

Before this, they had been on a county road, level and straight enough. So now... where was this? The road was bumpy and uneven, and the surrounding scenery had grown even darker. Even with the high beams on, his field of vision was not very wide. This was absolutely not the road they had been on before, but when had he gone off course? As the driver, he had no idea at all.

Yan Bo naturally noticed it too; otherwise his face would not have gone so grim. He sat straight up, twisted his neck, and said, "Stop, stop... pull over first. Keep driving like this and you'll only end up farther and farther off."

"Stop? Have you lost your mind? Didn't you hear those things right behind the truck? If I stop now, that's as good as asking to die!" Although Hao Dalong still did not know what sort of man Yan Bo was, the bizarre events before him had already made him ignore that.

But Yan Bo insisted, "I said stop, so stop. Otherwise, when the truck flies off a cliff later, you won't even know how you died..."

Hao Dalong had not believed that at first. But then he saw that the darkness around them seemed to be growing heavier and heavier. This was not just night; it was as though they had been swallowed beneath a mass of black smoke, and the headlights could only illuminate a few feet ahead...

With the road so uneven, if they kept driving now, would they not simply end up overturned?

He hurriedly slammed on the brakes and brought the truck to a stop. Yan Bo scratched his cheek, sighed, unbuckled his seat belt, and opened the door to get out.

"Just stay in the truck and don't move. Wait for me to come back..."