Starting Cultivation by Marrying the Weaver Girl

Chapter 1: A Warm Wedding Banquet

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In the courtyard, guests clinked their cups and exchanged toasts.

Bright red silk decorations hung from the beams, and the setting sun was half-hidden, signaling the approach of the wedding night.

Lin Yao, holding a wine cup, moved through the courtyard with a festive smile on his face.

After all, his beautiful bride was waiting for him in the room behind.

However, when he glanced at the room where the intimate night was about to unfold, a lingering sense of…

fear!

…could not be shaken from his eyes.

Lin Yao drank another cup of wine and excused himself to the restroom, making his way to the side of the courtyard.

“It’s been six days,” Lin Yao exhaled slowly, his face filled with exhaustion.

This was the sixth day since he had inexplicably arrived in this world.

The people before him had been feasting for six full days.

Although there was no shortage of food and drink, Lin Yao had barely slept these past few days.

The so-called guests, when they looked at him, the groom, their eyes revealed undisguised greed and desire.

They hadn’t touched the dishes at the banquet, as if waiting for the final main course to be served.

And that final course was likely Lin Yao himself!

During this time, he had tried to find a way to escape.

But the courtyard didn’t even have a main gate, and the towering walls were beyond his reach.

“They’re getting more impatient. It seems tonight is the night I’ll have to enter the bridal chamber,” Lin Yao narrowed his eyes slightly and sighed helplessly.

“Could it be that I really have to make a deal with that old yellow ox?”

Before Lin Yao could stand up, a voice came from beside him.

“Young master, why are you sitting here?”

He turned to look and saw the bride’s personal maid standing in the shadows.

When Lin Yao had first asked her name, she had simply said,

“I’m skilled in spinning and embroidery. You can call me Xiu Niang (Embroideress).”

“Do I need to explain my actions to you? Do you not know your place?” Lin Yao glanced at Xiu Niang, though his hand inside his sleeve trembled slightly.

Xiu Niang appeared delicate and harmless.

But on the third day, when Lin Yao was toasting the guests, one of them, unable to contain his greed, lunged at him.

The look in that man’s eyes, as if he wanted to devour Lin Yao, was something he would never forget.

Just as Lin Yao was about to struggle, Xiu Niang, who had been following him, grabbed the guest.

The burly man, over eight feet tall, was effortlessly dragged away by the petite Xiu Niang.

Not long after, a new dish appeared at the banquet.

Not to mention, there were still traces of blood dripping from her hands.

“Xiu Niang has spoken out of turn,” Xiu Niang bowed slightly, her expression unchanged.

“It seems that before the wedding night, these people can’t touch me.”

Lanterns were lit in the courtyard, and the sky was tinged with ink-like hues.

“I can’t wait any longer.”

Lin Yao stood up, and Xiu Niang immediately moved behind him.

“Go check on the lady. I’ll go relieve myself.”

Xiu Niang was momentarily stunned, clearly not expecting Lin Yao to say such a thing.

But then, her expression returned to normal as she said, “Young master need not worry about the lady. However, the courtyard is quite maze-like. Since the wedding night is approaching, Xiu Niang will accompany you.”

With that, Xiu Niang stepped in front of Lin Yao, her tone gentle but firm.

Lin Yao had no choice but to follow her.

The two walked through the courtyard. Lin Yao had basically walked every path here before.

A few days ago, in his attempt to escape, he had asked Xiu Niang to take him around under the pretext of familiarizing himself with the surroundings.

It was during that time that Lin Yao discovered an old yellow ox locked deep within the courtyard.

“The restroom is near the ox pen. I’ll have to make my move there.”

Thinking this, Lin Yao quickened his pace.

However, no matter how fast he walked, Xiu Niang remained a short distance ahead, impossible to shake off.

The journey was silent.

“The ox pen is to the north of the restroom. Xiu Niang is guarding the entrance, so I’ll have to crawl out.”

Lin Yao moved a board blocking a section of the wall, the result of his efforts over the past few days.

The hole was just big enough for him to squeeze through.

He crouched down and crawled out. Xiu Niang didn’t appear behind him.

Lin Yao breathed a slight sigh of relief and ran toward the ox pen.

“It seems I was right. Xiu Niang can only follow what she can see.”

Lin Yao kept running and soon reached the ox pen.

His heart was heavy. When he had first seen the old yellow ox, it had proposed a deal:

Exchange his identity as the groom for a chance to survive.

At that time, he had just arrived in this world and, although he had noticed the guests’ strange behavior, Xiu Niang had been following him closely for some reason.

That was why Lin Yao had spent the past few days digging a hole in the restroom, hoping to see the old yellow ox again and complete the deal.

[Translator: sauron05]

“I agree to your deal,” Lin Yao pushed open the door to the ox pen, and a wave of blood hit him.

His heart tightened, and the image of Xiu Niang’s blood-stained hands flashed in his mind.

“It’s too late.”

Lin Yao walked into the ox pen. The old yellow ox was already dead.

Its hide had been peeled off and laid out on the wall in front of him.

“I was… a step too late.”

Perhaps Xiu Niang had already discovered the hole in the restroom, extinguishing his last hope of survival just as he was about to enter the bridal chamber.

Lin Yao’s heart was heavy. He had crossed into this strange world only to face certain death.

“Living is so hard,” he forced a bitter smile. Even so, he wasn’t ready to give up.

Just as Lin Yao was about to leave, his gaze fell on the ox hide on the wall.

“There seem to be words on it?”

He stepped over the corpse on the ground.

Upon closer inspection, there were indeed a few lines written beneath the hide.

[I am Lin Yao.]

[I am also this old yellow ox.]

[I crossed over and became the groom.]

[I was even a little happy at first, thinking I could live comfortably and marry a beautiful woman.]

[But then I realized I was wrong.]

[These people have been feasting for six days without stopping.]

[This isn’t normal!]

[I secretly went to the kitchen and found it filled with blood-stained groom’s clothing.]

[The final delicacy they spoke of was clearly me!]

[I wanted to escape, but this manor seemed endless.]

[On the sixth day, I found an abandoned ox pen deep in the manor, and inside it was a dry well.]

[I was overjoyed and crawled out through the well.]

[I thought I had escaped.]

[But when I reached the outside of the manor, I realized I was wrong.]

[A woman stood outside the gate. She said her name was Xiu Niang and that she had been waiting for me for a long time.]

[I tried to fight her, but in just one encounter, I found myself turned into an ox.]

[She told me the river outside was called the Heavenly River.]

The rest of the writing was blurry, and Lin Yao could only make out a few words:

[Weaver Girl]

[Wedding Ceremony]

[Bride]

[Way Out]

Cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

Was this old yellow ox someone who shared his name and identity?

Or… was it him?

And the Weaver Girl?

Lin Yao’s mind was in chaos, but the writing on the ox hide wasn’t finished yet.

[A few days ago, I had already given up hope of escaping, until another groom arrived.]

[Xiu Niang told me that if I met someone who looked exactly like me and convinced him to switch identities with me, I could be saved.]

[This groom looked exactly like me.]

[Xiu Niang came and said I had failed, and that the banquet was waiting for its main course.]

[She attacked me. The pain of being skinned was unbearable, yet I remained conscious.]

[She seemed to sense something and left in a hurry before I died. What she didn’t expect was that I regained my human form just before death.]

[If the person who looks like me sees this…]

[Do not trust Xiu Niang! Do not trust Xiu Niang!]

The message on the ox hide ended here.

Lin Yao’s cold sweat had soaked through his wedding robes.

He staggered to the door of the ox pen and leaned against it.

The surroundings were eerily silent, except for his heavy breathing.

Lin Yao looked at the corpse on the ground, tore off the ox hide, and turned to leave.

At the entrance, under the bright moonlight,

Xiu Niang stood there, watching him quietly.

“Young master, it’s time for the wedding night.”

(End of Chapter)