My dad was stunned, then asked anxiously, “Who are you talking about?”

Who else could it be?

The blood jade ring around my neck had been growing brighter and more lustrous these past few days, as if it had drawn nourishment and come “alive.”

“Xiao Qiao, talk to him… see what he really wants.”

What does he want?

I think he wants me dead.

On the third night, unable to endure the torment any longer, I pushed against his shoulder and said shakily, “Can we, can we talk?”

“Talk?” He sneered. “What do you want to talk about?”

Even as he spoke, he didn’t stop his actions, and my words were shattered by his thrusts.

“What do you… what do you want…” I gathered my courage and asked, “Has our family… offended you? Or… do you have some unfulfilled desire?”

He chuckled lightly, pausing his movements for a moment, allowing me to catch my breath.

“A ghost marriage is between two spirits… We… aren’t suitable,” I gestured to myself, still alive, “You should find someone more suitable.”

Find a female ghost; stop bothering me.

“You’d be suitable if you were dead,” he said with a chilling laugh.

My great-grandfather had said situations like mine always end in death, either through mysterious accidents or suicide.

Is death really the only way to fulfill this ghost marriage and end it?

“I…” Tears welled up in my eyes.

He smiled and said, “It’s unfair, isn’t it? You did nothing wrong, yet you’re the pawn to pay a debt.”

His hand pinched my chin, his fingers cold.

“Who asked you to be born into the Mu family?” His tone suddenly turned cold, devoid of sympathy, instead tinged with mockery.

All I could do was cry.

My father told me to talk to him, but how could I?

Being born a Mu was my original sin, something I couldn’t change.

“Stop crying!” he growled impatiently. “If I wanted you dead, you would have died two years ago. Don’t be ungrateful!”

What did that mean? That absurd ghost wedding night, the nightmares every night, the endless torment—all his doing, and I’m supposed to be grateful for this “gift”?

“So what do you really want?” I couldn’t stand it anymore and pounded on his shoulders, but my efforts were as feeble as scratching an itch.

I had no strength left to resist.

“Is death the only end?!” I yelled. “Then I might as well do it myself; can you leave me alone then?”

I reached under the pillow for the scissors, said to ward off evil spirits when kept under a pillow, but they were utterly useless against him.

My attempt to stab myself with the scissors angered him; he flicked my elbow, causing intense pain, and the scissors fell under the bed.

“Dare to harm yourself and see what happens!!” His icy rage was sharp as a blade, the chill piercing my skin.

“Mu Xiao Qiao, don’t say I didn’t warn you—if you dare to self-harm or seek death, just try it. I’ll make sure you and your Mu family neither live nor die as you wish.”

He grasped my throat with a force that was neither too light nor too heavy, yet it gave me the illusion of suffocation.

“Isn’t a ghost marriage supposed to want the other person dead? You…

“Stop torturing me.” I tried to plead.

“Torture?” He laughed coldly.

“You think this is torture? There’s no helping it; you are my wife in this ghost marriage, until death do us part, even if it means enduring torture! After seven days, even if you beg me I won’t touch you! Your rigid body is truly disappointing!”

Seven days?

Four more days to go…

His anger tightened his grip on my waist, manifesting his rage in his actions.

I lay despondent on the bed, wondering if I would die under him.

As my consciousness drifted away, I felt myself sinking into a hazy tumult of desire.

Nearly drowning.

》》》

What does it feel like to have kidney deficiency?

As I got out of bed, I seriously considered drinking some kidney-tonifying herbal medicine; otherwise I wouldn’t make it to the seventh day.

My entire lower back was sore and unbearable, a painful mix of sourness, numbness, swelling, and pain, threatening to end me. Plus, a fiery burning inside my lower abdomen, every joint in my body protesting.

These past few days, he had left quite a bit inside me; should I take some medicine just in case?

My thoughts were a mess as I glanced at the time on my phone, hurriedly washed up, and headed out.

I had just started university this year, and today was the first day of school. If I was late on the first day, my class advisor would definitely take the opportunity to make things difficult for me.

Our class advisor, a working graduate student and apparently a nephew of some school leader, was typical at the university, where working grad students often serve as advisors to undergraduates.

Ever since the welcome party where I participated in a catwalk for my class, he had been looking for excuses to call me to his office, asking if I was interested in taking on a class role.

I had always been careful to keep my distance from him, but today I just couldn’t run. I rushed to the classroom but still arrived late.

The class advisor smiled and told the whole class, “I’m very open-minded, you know. Late arrivals, early leavings, skipping classes, failing grades, all make you do hard labor… Mu Xiao Qiao, come to my office later.”

The classmates booed him for a while, and I sat down next to Song Wei with my head lowered.

Song Wei rolled her eyes at the advisor and whispered, “He’s got a snake spirit disease. Who can’t see what he’s up to? With your big boobs and perky butt, and that tiny waist, it serves you right! Be careful yourself!”

The class meeting ended quickly, and Song Wei planned to accompany me to the office to do the work, but she was suddenly called away by the student council, so I had to go alone.

In the office, it turned out to be just him; the other teachers hadn’t come back yet. He ended the class meeting so early; was it with an ulterior motive?

He asked me to sit at his computer to organize the student contact list, then kept leaning close as he bent over beside me.

I was no longer a naive girl; that ghost from two years ago had taught me what relations between the sexes entail.

I stood up and said, “It seems you’re not intending to let me focus on my work, teacher. I’m leaving; find someone else to do it.”

Suddenly he grabbed my arm and smirked, “Mu Xiao Qiao, I’ve been watching you for a long time; I thought you were some pure girl. Look at this, all the marks on your body. How intense was last night?”

He yanked hard, and my T-shirt was pulled up to my shoulder.

Collarbone, chest, and even the upper edges of my breasts showed faint purple marks.

Those weren’t kiss marks; they were the faint red impressions and bruises left by his forceful pinching.

“Look at you! Big boobs and a perky butt—you’re just a slut! Was it SM? Quite intense, huh?” His breathing grew rapid, his whole body pressing close.