The Imperial Custodian ordered his men to harness a cart for Lu Chong. His wife saw him to the middle gate, she looks at him and whispers ‘this is as far as I can go. We’ll meet again; this is all I can promise’. They held hands and shed tears.

                Outside the gate, an oxen-drawn carriage awaits him carrying a driver wearing a faded blue uniform. The clothes he had worn before was inside the carriage together with his bow and arrows. A messenger came running after him, bearing a package bound in a silk cloth. A note from the Imperial Custodian came with the package. Lu Chong decided to read the note later after he has left. His heart felt heavy as his carriage departs from the grand house.

                He arrives in no time at his hometown. When his people saw him, they did not know whether to be glad or sorry for word has spread that he’s been to the Imperial Custodian’s estate. Lu Chong seems oblivious though; he ignored the staring and went straight to present his mother the gifts he’s received from his newly acquired family.

                Four years has passed, Lu Chang has long found out about the gossip surrounding the Imperial Custodian and his whole household. Lu Chong ignores these rumours, owing his family’s prosperity to his fated marriage to the Imperial Custodian’s only daughter.

                On the third day of the third month, Lu was strolling by the stream (a entire land full of fruit bearing trees and interesting fauna that his family now own). He saw a cart drawn by oxen with a familiar driver wearing a faded blue uniform, approach through the water. Lu opened the back door of the first cart as soon as the carriage stopped. He found his wife with a three year old boy. He was overjoyed to see her that he wanted to take her hands. But she raised her hand to point at the carriage behind.

                “You better see my father first…” She said.

                So he met with the Imperial Custodian and greeted him. The meeting was brief, his father-in-law has declared him as a son and his son as an heir of everything the Imperial Custodian owns. Lu Chong has noticed the paper white skin, the cold hands and the Imperial Custodian looking almost transparent. He rushed towards his wife’s cart as soon as he was dismissed, not wanting to waste the chance to see her before she too disappears.

                The girl has a smile on he face upon seeing her again, she inquired about the note that was handed to him four years ago and he says that he has kept it.

                “I haven’t opened the note nor the package. My mother’s too scared to do so…”

                “Tell her not to be and to welcome her grandson whole heartedly into your family. Everything my family owns belongs to you and our son now. Please take care of him… I’m sorry I can’t be with you both…”

                Lu Chong tries to hold on to his wife’s hand but it disappeared before he was able to grasp it, so did the carriages. All that was left is a sleeping child of three wrapped in a blanket holding a golden bowl.

                The Imperial Custodian’s estate slowly materializes as the fog around the place thins. The familiar mansion with the quiet servants welcomed him in. A porter carried his son inside.

                 The entire place look more alive than when he first set foot in it four years ago. The plum trees are in full bloom and everything seems new. A servant approached him leading him towards the main house, there his mother waits, looking all sorts of panicked and scared. Upon seeing him, relief washed all over her face.

                “What’s happening? I was asleep and when I awake I was here…”

                “It’s a gift from my father-in-law… Everything you see here is ours. Come, I want you to meet someone…”

                His mother dreads this someone. She is aware of the marriage and is not keen in meeting her daughter-in-law. Though seeing what was bestowed to his son makes her thankful of the union, that doesn’t mean she accepts it fully.

                Her husband has gone ahead and made this arrangement when their son was barely a few months old. He could hear the desperation from the Imperial Custodians voice. He’d wait until Lu Chong is of age to marry. There will be a marriage no matter what happens that’s what his husband has told her. Long after he died, that promise remains unbroken.

                And his son has gone ahead and fulfilled that promise, again without her knowledge.

                They were escorted inside a private quarters close to the offices, surrounded by plum trees. They walk through a corridor adorned with an ornamental window of a nightingale. A spacious chamber opens at the end of the corridor. The chamber is filled with story books and toys. Walking further into the room, Lu Chong smiled. The servant left them on their own, as Lu Chong and his mother stepped into another inner chamber with an alcove that houses a small bed.

                “Mother, may I present to you my son, Lu Xun.

~0~

                Lu Chong opens the packages to find a few more ornamental things and beddings, the note in his hand. He read it thoroughly trying to decipher it’s meaning to no avail. He has kept the letter close to him at all times until his wife decided to come back.

                One day he went to the market to sell the bowl. He asked a very high price for he didn’t really intend to sell it. He just needs someone to identify it. He approached another vendor and an old woman slave recognized it and went to tell her mistress.

                The vendor asked for Lu Chong to stay awhile, someone is interested in purchasing his bowl regardless of the atrocious price.

                Lu Chong waited for half an hour when a gentleman and an elderly woman entered the shop.

                A servant asked to see the bowl and presented it to the old woman. After inspecting the bowl, the latter asked, Can you tell me how you came by this bowl?”

                Lu Chong narrated the story of the promise his father made to the Imperial Custodian.

                The young man approached Lu Chong, introducing himself. “My name is Zhou Mi, my late aunt was once married to the Imperial Custodian; she was really young then. They had a daughter, my late aunt died of childbirth and my aunt here never got to see her niece…”

                “Not until her death…” the old woman stepped towards Lu Chong eyeing the golden bowl with sadness. “My niece was born at the end of the third month. Wen Xiu as she was named by her father, hoping she will prosper.”

                Lu Chong frowns, the name sounded quite like “wedded in the grave”. Why would they name a girl as such?

                “My niece died long before she was married. I was so stricken with grief that I presented a golden bowl to be put in her coffin.”

                “This same golden bowl? But I… I just met her, she gave me a son…” Lu Chong is not able to comprehend the entire situation. But recalling what was written on the note, the poem that he wasn’t able to decipher then, understanding dawned on him

                “May I see your son? He is also a family of mine after all…”

                Lu Chong obliged and led them to the carriage where he left Lu Xun. The child looked so much like Wen Xiu with a mix of Lu Chong that the elderly woman is not able to question Lu Chong’s story.

                The elderly woman and the young man left. But not without thanking Lu Chong for saving their Wen Xiu and blessing his son with a bright future.

                Lu Xun grew into a talented man and became a successful businessman and so are his descendants after him.

~0~

                “And my grandfather Lu Meng is one of them…” Yi Xing adds. “Thank you auntie for telling us that story. You may take a rest now…”

                The story ends and he doesn’t know if he understands or if it made everything more complicated. “You’re…”

                “I’m Lu Han’s cousin, technically not a legal heir regardless if my mother was born first. She’s a girl and as tradition dictates only sons can handle business. Not that my mother lacks anything.”

                Kim Min Seok is silent. Yi Xing makes it like the story was just that, an account of history, one for bed time stories. But he feels like there’s some truth to it. “So the ghost marriage…”

                “Is a weird family tradition, more like a curse because no one seems to survive being betrothed to a Lu… well except for one or two, I just recently found out…”

                “Me?”

                “Lu Han’s mother… and another one…”

                “Not me… so I’m most likely not to survive…”

                “Lu Han took your curse into his own. You’ll survive, ge.” Min Seok is waiting for the joke, he wants all of this to be one whole laugh trip. But Yi Xing continues. “Lu Han knows more than he lets on…I feel guilty leaving him there…”

                “Why did you leave?”

                “My mother died… My only connection to the Lu’s died with her. My father is disliked, so my grandfather decided to transfer us to a house my Mom owns. I felt like they’re scared of my father, like he knows things that shouldn’t be made aware to outsiders. It’s okay though… I don’t really hate them for it…”

                There was a pause. Yi Xing’s face has gone serious all of a sudden. “My grandmother has become more selfish. It needs to stop…” He looks at Min Seok, eyes full of determination. “I’m going to save Lu Han.”

                “Let me help then… We’re promised to each other after all…”

                “Ge, you don’t need to…”

                “I want to bring Lu Han back…”