My name is Yin Mingyang, 26 years old this year, and I work as a master of ceremonies for a wedding company on Changle Road in Xi'an. The surname Yin is already very rare, and because of this, many clients are very reluctant, thinking that my name is not festive enough, and even a bit ominous.
Precisely because of my name, my job search has been very difficult. Many wedding companies, upon hearing my name, would ask me to wait for news at home, but in the end, it's like my application disappeared without a trace, without even a phone call, not to mention a text message.
I have no way to change that; my surname was given to me by my parents.
I was born in the countryside of Xianyang, a rural area in December, and according to the way of fortune-telling by bone weight, I belong to the type of short life and many disasters, and can't achieve anything great in life.
It is said that on the evening of my birth, the sky was clouded over with rolling thunder. Thunder in winter is not a good sign, and the fact that it thundered on the night of my birth made people more uneasy.
My father, who was a new father at the time, was happily spinning around in the yard without any worries about these things. But my grandfather understood these things and sat inside the room, puffing away on his pipe.
My grandfather was a renowned fortune teller from our hometown, and my grandmother, who had followed him all her life, also had some understanding of these matters. She hurriedly said that my fate was not good and implored my grandfather to quickly think of a solution.
My grandfather, with a worried look, finished smoking his pipe and then calculated it. He said that my Eight Characters were incomplete, with only JiSi, YiHai, and YiWe, without a specific time. He also said that my Five Elements were incomplete, with too much Yin energy, and combined with my light bones, it would be very difficult for me to live to adulthood.
My grandmother almost fainted when she heard this, crying and asking my grandfather to save her eldest grandson.
My grandfather filled his pipe again, remained silent for a long time, and then decided to name me Mingyang, hoping to suppress my Yin energy and bless me to reach adulthood.
This was a helpless situation; my grandmother was still very worried. My grandfather sighed, but just as he walked into the yard, the village chief pushed open the door and rushed in anxiously, without saying a word to my grandfather, he grabbed him and walked hurriedly towards the door.
Later, I heard from my grandmother that on the night of my birth, a hillside behind the village collapsed, and an unknown coffin was revealed. After my grandfather opened the coffin, he found a female corpse wearing a phoenix coronet and a red skirt, and a wooden tablet.
My grandfather examined the remains and found that the young woman had died at the age of 18 or 19. With unknown years passed, only the skeleton remained, but the clothes on her body were still in a vivid red, as if dyed with blood. According to the epitaph on the wooden tablet, the woman was from the late Qing Dynasty, came from a prominent family, and was forced into marriage by her parents against her wishes. In a fit of anger, she hanged herself. Before her death, she was a well-known lady, but after her death, her family did not want to leave a lonely grave, so they wanted to find a companion for her and hold a ghost marriage.
Unfortunately, at that time, there were no eligible men who had died young, so the matter had to be dropped, and in order to prevent their daughter from becoming a lonely spirit causing trouble at home, they buried her alone in the wild.
At that time, the status of women was very low, not to mention being buried in the wild; if she turned into a ghost and harmed people, it was likely that there would be corpses everywhere.
After looking at the wooden sign, grandpa calculated the fortune of the female corpse, and found it to be a pure yang fate. He suddenly looked happy, saying "My grandson is saved," and hurriedly found a good Feng Shui location to bury the corpse, then quickly ran back home.
Later, I found out that grandpa's intention was to arrange a ghost marriage for me, to marry the female corpse from the late Qing Dynasty to me. My destiny was very light, with many disasters and dangers. If I were to marry the female corpse in a ghost marriage, her pure yang fate would transition to me, allowing me to weather crises when needed, even though my life would remain ordinary.
These things sound extremely absurd now, but at that time, people were still in a feudal mindset, deeply believing in the things left behind by our ancestors. So, being a baby, I ignorantly became a husband to a female corpse as if she was my ancestor.
When I turned one month old, my parents went out to work, leaving me as a left-behind child. But, my grandparents were very good to me, worrying about me being too hot in the hot weather, and fearing I would be cold in the cold weather. In short, they completely treated me like a delicate flower in a greenhouse.
I don't know if it was due to their careful care, or the effect of the ghost marriage, but until I was ten, I didn't experience any disasters, not even a serious illness.
However, what bothered me was that the adults in the village never let their children play with me, saying that I had a ghost bride, and anyone who played with me would be affected by bad luck, and might even see ghosts.
At ten years old, I already knew everything. I cried and asked my grandfather, who was very calm at the time, and consoled me while smoking, saying that I was not an ordinary person from birth and would become an important figure in the future.
I believed him without doubt. Since no one played with me, I didn't force them.
Every time I went to and from school, I was alone. While others chattered and laughed in small groups, I walked alone, silent and low-spirited.
I still remember that one winter with pouring rain. The school was across a road, and we had to cross the road to enter the village. That day, the school organized a math competition, and my academic performance was among the best, so I was naturally selected to participate.
After the competition, it was already past eight in the evening. Another student with me was from the same village, named Luo Changsheng. He was very timid, with three older sisters who received a lot of love from their parents as he was the only boy.
At past eight in the dark winter evening, Luo Changsheng did not dare to walk alone, disregarding the fact that I had a ghost bride, so he asked me to walk home with him.
I agreed, even though I wasn't afraid, but in such creepy weather, I was also scared. Luo Changsheng was timid, and at least someone would be able to talk to me on the way.
After we left the school gates, Luo Changsheng talked to me hesitantly. I just nodded in response. I had never talked to anyone outside before, so for a moment, I didn't know what to say.
I remember that day very clearly. The rain was pouring, and there was not a single vehicle on the road, not even a shadow. However, when we reached the center of the road, a large truck suddenly rushed out from the curtain of rain, appearing about ten meters away from us.
In theory, it was entirely possible to avoid it from such a distance. But at that moment, I felt like my feet were being firmly held, and there was no way to move.
I panicked and used all my strength, but to no avail. I watched helplessly as the truck was about to hit us. Alongside me, Luo Changsheng burst into tears.
When the truck was just one meter away, I distinctly felt someone slap my back, the binding feeling vanished, and I fell onto the other side of the road.
Almost simultaneously, I heard a "rumble." When I turned my head, the truck had stopped, and Luo Changsheng had been thrown over three meters, lying in a pool of blood, convulsing.
I was also trembling in fear. As the truck driver turned off the engine and got out of the vehicle, I saw two dark figures squatting motionless in the middle of the road.