“…Qiao… Xiao Qiao…”

A husky male voice echoed in my ears.

The blood-red ghost face on my dad’s back became increasingly distinct.

The pattern was not still; it moved with my dad’s movements, and those copper bell-like eyes, completely white, fixedly stared at me.

The blood-red large mouth also revealed a sinister smile…

“Qiao… Xiao Qiao…” Whose voice was that? Was it calling me?

“Xiao Qiao!” A strong pat came from my shoulder.

I shuddered and instantly snapped back to reality.

My brother glared at me and said, “Really, you can space out even while standing! What are you looking at? Go cook. I’ll give dad a back scratch.”

“No! Don’t! There’s something on dad’s back—”

I looked intently, and the ghost face silently vanished, and the husky voice disappeared as well.

“What’s there? You think there are lice, haha.” My brother laughed and walked over.

Both he and my dad knew some Daoist practices; there was no reason they wouldn’t see it, right?

As I minded the soup pot, my mind wandered far away.

What’s been happening to our family recently?

That ugly ghost husband suddenly showed up, forcing me every night till I passed out, wanting me to get pregnant.

My dad and my brother, both old drivers in their own right, suddenly came back injured, and now there was a ghost face on my dad’s back…

My brother unexpectedly came up behind me. “Salvia and black-bone chicken?” He lifted the lid and laughed, “Are you suffering from kidney deficiency? Needing to nourish yin and replenish qi and blood?”

I kept my head down and didn’t dare to answer. Three more nights to go, and now there, it was swollen and painful, my waist sore and legs numb; I didn’t know if the soup would help.

》》》

Approaching midnight, I sat on my bed nervously biting my finger, the ghost face on my dad’s back constantly flickering before my eyes. That ugly ghost husband appeared in front of me all of a sudden, making my whole body shudder!

Right, it was this mask, but the one the ugly ghost wore was black, the one on my dad’s back was red!

Since the ugly ghost had already said a lot today, he now proceeded with the “routine business” silently.

I knew his purpose and was prepared to grit my teeth and bear it, but when he entered, the icy and harsh pain still made me tense up and tremble.

He was very irritated, my reactions only made him more violent.

Everything that needed to be said had been said, and now the only sounds left in the room were those of our bodies clashing together.

My body could hardly bear it, tears welling up in my eyes; I even wished he would draw some blood to help lubricate things.

Thankfully, he only did it once tonight.

Perhaps he was tired of it? I secretly rejoiced in my heart that my body hadn’t compromised, as long as he didn’t feel comfortable, he should soon get tired of this.

As he got off the bed, I quickly spoke up, “Hey… that, ugly ghost…”

“Who are you calling?!” His suppressed anger burst forth.

I was startled but didn’t want to back down, “I don’t know your name, who told you to wear an ugly ghost mask.”

“If you don’t know my name, you could call me husband, I allow you to call me that.” His tone was full of superiority.

Nonsense, in front of a sacrifice, of course he felt superior.

“Can I call you something else? I don’t want to call you husband.” Knowing I was just a tool to him, my fear lessened a lot.

He pondered for a moment, then coldly said, “My name is Jiang Qiyun.”

“Jiang… Qiyun…” I murmured softly. His name sounded nice, far unlike his brutish actions.

“I want to ask, do you have a mask… in blood red?”

He suddenly lowered his arms he had been holding across his chest, and asked gravely, “Where did you see it?”

“I saw it on my dad’s back, it showed a weird smile and then disappeared, but neither my dad nor my brother saw it… My dad went to deal with a tricky thing a few days ago, and he’s been under the weather since he got back, he’s never been this severely injured before.”

I rambled on, not noticing the veins on Jiang Qiyun’s hands bulging darkly.

“Enough.” He spoke, “I’ll take a look tomorrow, now shut up and sleep.”

He was still standing in front of my bed, how could I possibly sleep under his gaze?

He didn’t disappear immediately tonight, instead, sitting at the edge of my bed with his back to me.

He wasn’t planning on leaving?

I struggled for a while, and just as I was about to drift off to sleep, he was still sitting there unmoved, not leaving.

Does the identical red ghost face have anything to do with him?

》》》

I finally had a peaceful sleep.

When I came home from class, I saw my dad closing the shop door and hesitated to ask him, “Dad, is your back okay?”

My dad looked at me puzzled, “What could be wrong with my back? Just a little itch.”

I didn’t go into details, I was afraid my dad would worry. I had always heard from family that the most terrifying ghosts are the red ones that smile; these are often malevolent spirits.

But our family has many genuine magical instruments, and my dad is knowledgeable in Daoism, how could a ghost face attach to his back?

“Xiao Qiao, come, dad has something to show you.” My dad smiled mysteriously.

He probably hadn’t slept well for several days, his eyes were bloodshot.

He brought over a dark red wooden box and placed it on the coffee table, muttering, “Someone came to sell this today, I thought it suited you, so I kept it for you, try it on, does it fit?”

Does it fit?

My dad pulled out a set of red old wedding clothes from the box, beautifully hand-embroidered but too old, reeking of choking dust.

I was a bit unhappy, “What do I need this for? Do you think I’m not dying fast enough, rushing me to marry that ghost?”

My dad laughed, “Of course not, you can keep it for when you get married.”

Get married? I will never get married in this lifetime.

I felt something was off with my dad; he usually kept me away from these shadowy things because my mom died early, he was careful not to let me get involved in his business, why was he pushing me to try on this obviously ominous set of wedding clothes today?

I firmly refused to wear it. My dad’s face gradually turned cold, then suddenly I heard a voice: Drink the penalty if you refuse the toast!

I was stunned, instinctively looking at my dad.

His eyes were swollen, his expression ominously dark.

At that moment, alarm bells rang in my heart, this was not my dad!

“Dad! Dad! What’s wrong…Brother! Brother!” I jumped up, shouting loudly.

But my dad didn’t answer, and my brother was out, only I was at home.

“Xiao Qiao… Qiao… Xiao Qiao… my wife…” that raspy male voice echoed in my ears again.

Terrified, I looked towards my dad whose eyes now had the blood-red spread across the entire white part.

He grabbed the set of wedding clothes, stepping over the coffee table towards me—