[Translation] Fate Chooses You (佳偶天成) by Shi Si Lang (十四郎): Chapter 1: A Stunning Glimpse in a Dream

After May arrived, Xin Mei would soon turn sixteen, and her father had been growing increasingly worried lately. One evening during dinner, he suddenly asked:

“Xiao Mei, what do you think of your eldest senior brother? He’s strong, honest, and if you married him, no one would ever bully you.”

Xin Mei was in the middle of picking up a meatball with her chopsticks. She missed, and it rolled back into the bowl. After thinking for a moment, she said:

“…That could work.”

Outside the door came the sound of a washbasin crashing over. Opening the window, they saw Eldest Senior Brother running away with his face covered, completely panic-stricken.

Xin Xiong asked in surprise, “What are you doing?”

Eldest Senior Brother burst into tears and threw himself at him.

“Master! This disciple already has someone he loves! Please don’t force Junior Sister on me!”

Xin Mei tried picking up another meatball. She missed again, and this time it rolled onto the floor.

Xin Xiong had always been a kind-hearted master, so he could hardly force one of his own disciples to marry his daughter. He had no choice but to give up.

As May drew nearer, Xin Xiong became even more agitated. One evening at supper, he tried again:

“Xiao Mei, what about your second senior brother? Fair-skinned, sweet-talking — you’d laugh every day with him around.”

Xin Mei considered it.

“…That could work too.”

Outside the door came another washbasin crashing over. This time it was Second Senior Brother fleeing with his face covered.

Xin Xiong finally abandoned the idea of letting rabbits eat the grass beside their own burrow.

Ever since Xin Mei turned fifteen, Xin Xiong had been worrying over her marriage prospects. Xinxie Manor was fairly wealthy and somewhat well-known, making its living by raising spirit beasts and selling them to the great cultivation sects. For a family like theirs, and with Xin Xiong being far from stingy, finding a son-in-law should have been easy.

Unfortunately, when Xin Mei was just one month old, Xin Xiong had somehow been possessed by a sudden impulse and invited Immortal Yuqing of Mount Suoluo to read her fate. After a long calculation, the immortal finally shook his head.

“Your daughter’s fate is extremely unusual. As for her future marriage… it is rather strange. Her marriage star is half-real and half-illusory. Her future husband will be half-human, half-ghost. Hers is the fate of one who brings harm to her husband.”

Somehow, news of this fortune-telling spread, and soon everyone in town knew that the girl from Xinxie Manor carried the fate of a husband-killer. From then on, everyone stayed wary, afraid that Master Xin might take a liking to them and drag them home as a son-in-law.

As Xin Mei grew older year by year, Master Xin’s worries deepened year by year as well. He had only this one daughter, and her mother had died young. He had no intention of remarrying. Was his only child really going to remain unmarried her entire life?

For several days he pondered the matter so intensely he could barely sleep. Then suddenly inspiration struck. One evening he called Xin Mei over and said with a smile:

“Xiao Mei, Chongling Valley needs a shipment of spirit beasts this time. Your father hasn’t been feeling very well lately, and you’re grown now. Merchant daughters needn’t bother with delicate young lady nonsense. Take the goods there yourself and see a bit of the world.”

Xin Mei noticed the gleam in his eyes and the smile tugging at his lips, and immediately understood something. After a moment she said carefully:

“To be honest… I think I’m still a little young…”

Master Xin cried anxiously:

“Not young at all! Your mother had already given birth to you at sixteen! Any girl not married by sixteen is already an old maid!”

Xin Mei could only say:

“Then… I’ll stay out a few extra days and meet some… um… promising young heroes from other regions. How about that?”

Xin Xiong nodded eagerly.

“Excellent! Wonderful! If you meet someone you fancy, send your father a letter — no need to come back! We can hold the wedding right there!”

Xin Mei pondered this and decided she should bring more money this trip. She would simply buy herself a husband from another region and put her father’s mind at ease. Plenty of families in town bought wives from elsewhere, so surely husbands could also be bought.

No problem. If there was one thing she had in abundance, it was money.

The next day, she changed into traveling clothes, summoned Qiuyue, and led a mighty procession of spirit beasts toward Chongling Valley.

Qiuyue was a gigantic, fat pelican — a gift from her father when she was ten years old. It was indescribably ugly. Back then, one glance had nearly scared her silly. Xinxie Manor raised so many spirit beasts: elegant immortal cranes, magnificent luan birds… yet her father had gifted her an outrageously ugly pelican!

But after using it for years, she realized how wonderful it actually was. No matter the situation, Qiuyue remained calm and composed, carrying itself with dignified poise. It never cried out unnecessarily and usually just curled up quietly to sleep. Compared to those swaying, delicate spirit birds, it flew faster and steadier. Occasionally, if they encountered foolish aerial bandits, one flap of its wings could knock out ten men at once.

From this, Xin Mei grasped a profound truth: men were the same. Being handsome meant nothing — usefulness was what truly mattered!

Well… of course, she still hoped to buy a husband who was both handsome and useful.

Chongling Valley lay over a thousand li from Xinxie Manor, and the journey required crossing the endless Wanlan Mountains. Though Qiuyue flew quickly, the spirit beasts trailing behind were delicate creatures unused to hardship. Once night fell, they began bleating and whining, demanding food and sleep.

Xin Mei had no choice but to find a flat clearing in the mountains, pitch camp, light a fire, and boil water. These spirit beasts had been spoiled rotten — they would drink only boiled water and eat only spirit grain. Fortunately, spirit beasts possessed intelligence and would never flee on their own, otherwise she would have been overwhelmed caring for them alone.

The mountain forest at night was extraordinarily silent, and Qiuyue’s feathers were extraordinarily warm. Xin Mei felt unbearably sleepy. Gradually her consciousness blurred, and leaning against Qiuyue, she drifted asleep.

In the middle of the night, she suddenly realized Qiuyue was no longer behind her. A bone-piercing wind blew across her face, making her shiver as she slowly opened her eyes.

Before her stretched an empty clearing. The spirit beasts and Qiuyue had vanished into thin air, leaving her alone curled on the ground.

The shock nearly made her jump out of her skin. She hurriedly put two fingers in her mouth and whistled. Under normal circumstances, Qiuyue would already have flapped back immediately, but after more than ten whistles, there was still no response.

Calm down, calm down…

She repeated the words silently to herself. This wasn’t entirely unfamiliar. Deep mountain forests were full of ghosts and spirits — probably some lonely wandering soul playing a prank on her.

From her bundle she took out paper money and incense sticks she had prepared in advance. Using a firestarter, she lit them while softly chanting prayers.

Halfway through the chant, she stopped.

The dancing flames before her eyes had turned ghostly green.

A cold gust swept past. From the pitch-black depths of the forest came a woman’s resentful sigh, half laughter and half sobbing. Xin Mei stomped out the green flames and turned her head.

Ghost lights flickered among the trees. Bloodstained red robes appeared and vanished. Hair began growing from the ground in endless strands, writhing as though alive.

No need to say it aloud. Her luck was terrible this time — she had encountered one of the legendary vengeful ghosts.

The thick hair on the ground gathered together, eventually forming the head of a woman. It rolled toward Xin Mei and grinned. Its facial features were nothing but bloody black holes.

After thinking for a moment, Xin Mei asked:

“…All right then. What do you want? Aside from paper money and incense, all I have left are empty ancestral tablets and an incense burner.”

When sleeping outdoors during travels, these things were essential — wisdom passed down from her father. Ordinary spirits could be appeased with a few sheets of paper money and three incense sticks. If it was a fierce ghost, offering an incense burner and spirit tablet could at least suppress it for one night.

But whatever she had encountered this time was something else entirely. Even the firestarter produced only ghost flames.

“Heh heh heh…”

The head began laughing, floating up from the ground. Beneath its neck, an illusion of blood-red robes gradually appeared, drifting eerily as it floated straight toward her.

“Wait!”

Xin Mei shouted suddenly, and surprisingly, the ghost actually paused.

“I still have this.”

She smiled slightly and took out a golden talisman from a pouch hidden close to her body. After all, she technically belonged to half a cultivation sect family — it would be embarrassing not to carry at least a few evil-banishing talismans.

Biting her fingertip, she let blood drip onto the talisman and tossed it lightly. The ghost-banishing talisman seemed to grow eyes of its own, flying straight onto the ghost’s forehead with a whoosh.

It froze.

She froze.

Nothing… happened.

Xin Mei stood stunned for a long time, cold sweat trickling down her back. The “ghost” also stared blankly for a while, as though a bead of sweat had rolled down its forehead.

If even ghost-banishing talismans didn’t work, then that could only mean one thing…

“There’s a patch of skin peeling off your left cheek,” Xin Mei kindly pointed out helpfully.

“Oh, thank you.”

The “ghost” reacted instinctively, casually patting the loose skin back into place before thanking her.

An awkward silence spread between them.

Mm. Something that could talk and wasn’t afraid of talismans could only mean one thing: it wasn’t actually a ghost.

After a long while, the “ghost” finally said:

“Well then, I’ll just be going now. Sweet dreams, goodbye!”

It turned and ran.

But suddenly its back tightened. Xin Mei grabbed it by the collar, lifted it up entirely, and spun it around. Its terrifying face ended up directly in front of hers.

This beautiful young girl, peach-blossom-faced and willow-slender, stared at it seriously for a long time before finally saying:

“So you’re not a ghost after all.”

It struggled frantically, but despite looking delicate, the girl was astonishingly strong. It couldn’t break free.

Smack!

A loud slap landed across its face.

The creature was stunned senseless.

Xin Mei slapped it repeatedly while shouting:

“If you’re not a ghost, then you’re a demon! Rotten demon! Give my spirit beasts back or I’ll boil you and eat you!”

The creature burst into tears. Suddenly its body curled up, smoke drifted around it, and the bloody ghostly woman vanished completely. In Xin Mei’s hand was now a boy around eleven or twelve years old, with pale yellow wings growing from his back — evidently a bird demon.

He had a round face and round eyes, and now his face was covered in tears and snot.

“Talk or not? Talk or not?!”

Xin Mei kept slapping him. Suddenly noticing his wings, she added thoughtfully:

“I’ve heard grilled chicken wings are delicious.”

The boy cried even harder. His little wings flapped twice helplessly before shrinking tight against his back as he trembled.

Xin Mei reached out to pluck a few feathers to scare him, but just as her fingers touched the soft wingtip feathers, a cold yet extremely pleasant voice suddenly spoke behind her.

“Close your eyes.”

She froze, uncertain who was being told to close their eyes. Turning around, she suddenly felt the weight in her hand disappear — someone had snatched away the bird demon boy.

“Hey!”

Xin Mei panicked and reached out to grab him back, but the other person had already drifted more than ten steps away.

In the darkness she couldn’t clearly see his face. He appeared to be a man wearing light-colored robes, with black hair falling to his shoulders. The bird demon hung unconscious in his hand.

He lowered his head to glance at the boy, paused briefly, then turned to leave again.

Xin Mei hurriedly called out:

“Wait! Where are my spirit beasts?”

He turned back.

Even in the darkness, his features seemed deep and strikingly handsome, though his gaze was distinctly unfriendly.

“Leave.”

He waved one hand. A cold flash shot toward her, striking her directly in the shoulder.

Her whole body jolted violently.

Suddenly she awoke.

Qiuyue was still dozing behind her. The firelight before her still flickered warmly. The spirit beasts were still asleep in place, not one missing.

Had she… only been having a nightmare?

Xin Mei covered the shoulder where she had been struck. It didn’t hurt, but the sensation remained.

She searched through her belongings. Several sheets of paper money were gone. Three incense sticks were missing. The ghost-banishing talisman from the pouch against her body had disappeared too.

It wasn’t a dream.