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Folk horror tales
墨書 Inktalez
The story takes place in a poor mountain village in the 1960s.
That day, explosive news spread in the small village: Queen Dowager is going to "matchmake her daughter".
The so-called "matchmaking" means that no matter who marries her youngest daughter, she not only doesn't ask for a dowry, but also brings along the well-tended herbal garden as part of the marriage arrangement. However, there is one condition: when the youngest daughter gets married, the eldest daughter also goes with her.
As soon as this statement was made, it immediately caused a huge stir in the village. Everyone said that Queen Dowager was confused and had lost her mind.
Actually, Queen Dowager is mentally sound, but she has a serious illness in her body. Not long ago, she fell and hurt her foot, making it impossible for her to walk, so she had to go to the county hospital.
In the end, her foot problem was not serious, just needed some injections to reduce the swelling, but they found another issue—late-stage stomach cancer.
Upon receiving the news, the Queen Dowager disregarded her grief and wholeheartedly focused on how to settle her two daughters. Of the two daughters, the Queen Dowager is most worried about the elder one.
Although they are both born of the same mother, the two daughters are vastly different: the eldest daughter, Shan Hua, is a dwarf, only 1.3 meters tall at 23 years old, with a pigeon chest and bowed legs; the younger daughter, Shui Hua, is beautiful and striking, tall with fair skin and especially her speaking, big, bright eyes, which are both dark and shiny.
In recent years, as the two daughters have grown up, with one being beautiful and the other ugly, all the suitors have set their sights on Shui Hua, and not a single person is willing to marry Shan Hua.
Now, Queen Dowager understands that she has a terminal illness. In desperation, she came up with the idea of "arranged marriage" in order to secure a stable future for her elder daughter in exchange for the beauty of her younger daughter.
But Queen Dowager's approach is really lacking in careful consideration.
The villagers were all talking about it, and her family was in an uproar! Shui Hua never expected her mother to resort to such a "tactic," offering her "ugly duckling" sister as a "dowry." In doing so, wouldn't she also become "unsellable goods"? In order to dissuade her mother from this idea, she threatened to cut her throat one moment and hang herself the next, causing chaos in the household.
One day, Shui Hua cried loudly at home, calling for her father and accusing her own mother of favoritism, pushing her daughter onto a dead-end path... After being stirred up by her daughter, Queen Dowager felt a sudden darkness before her eyes, a sweet sensation in her throat, and then, with a stretch and a closing of her eyes, she spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground, unable to get up.
Shui Hua At first sight, she was too busy to cry. She hurriedly brought Queen Dowager into the room, pinching the person's acupoint and patting their back in a fluster, sweating profusely.
At this critical moment, a lifesaver arrived at the door.
Who is Liu Banxian?
Liu Banxian is both a witch and a local healer in the area. In addition to performing supernatural activities, she also gives people acupuncture and prescribes herbal medicine, so everyone calls her "Banxian."
Liu Banxian lives in the village ahead. The reason for coming uninvited today is because I heard that Queen Dowager is critically ill. I rushed here to take a look, and unexpectedly arrived just in time to save her.
After all, she is Liu Banxian. She remained calm and composed, took out a few silver needles from her portable medicine box, and pricked Queen Dowager with them. Then she closed her eyes and muttered something for a while.
Before long, Queen Dowager took a deep breath and woke up. Shui Hua saw that her mother was fine, so she got up to make tea for Liu Banxian.
Liu Banxian comforted Queen Dowager, saying, "My dear sister, why worry yourself so much for your two daughters?" Upon hearing this, Queen Dowager wiped away her tears and said, "Shui Hua is not yet married, and Shan Hua has no settled future. If I were to leave like this, you must tell Shan Hua to..." At this point, she burst into tears.
Liu Banxian said: "Why are you crying! You really have no worries, yet you worry as if there's no sun in June.
Let me tell you, in our surroundings, you have the best luck! Your youngest daughter, no need to mention, is as beautiful as a flower and as precious as 'a thousand gold pieces,' but do you understand that your eldest daughter, Shan Hua, is worth 'ten thousand gold pieces'! So, just wait and enjoy your blessings!"
"Ah! Stop teasing me."
"No no no, I absolutely didn't mean to tease. Really, your eldest daughter is a treasure. Listen to me, maybe someone will come with a big betrothal gift to marry her, and in the future, you will still benefit from her!"
Queen Dowager Hearing the vague statement, I couldn't help but ask, "Why is that?"
"The divine plan cannot be revealed. I cannot say. You will understand in the future." Liu Banxian teased, didn't even drink the tea, and got up and left.
It's strange to say, but three days later, the situation did indeed change.
There were even more matchmakers coming to the door, and visitors from afar could be described as endless.
But unlike in the past, they all set their sights on Shan Hua! Some wished to marry Shan Hua as their wife, saying that although Shan Hua is ugly, "an ugly woman makes a good wife"; others wanted to take Shan Hua as their daughter, saying that Shan Hua is reliable.
The conditions offered by these people are even more enticing one after another.
Just as Queen Dowager was puzzled, her brother, who had been doing herbal medicine business outside for years, rushed back in a flurry.
Ignoring the fatigue of the journey, he dragged Queen Dowager into the inner room and breathlessly said, "Sister, I just returned from the northeast a few days ago. Before I even entered the village, I heard people spreading rumors that our Shan Hua is a Cinnabar bones, worth at least tens of thousands of dollars, like the 'Black Gold Bodhisattva'!"
After hearing his younger brother's words, the Queen Dowager was first stunned, then suddenly enlightened! No wonder my once universally avoided ugly daughter became a "hot commodity" overnight. It turns out that those unsavory matchmakers who came knocking were not interested in her as a person, but in her "bones"!
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