The Ghost Bride

Fan and Li Lan arrive at the ghostly version of Malacca. Li Lan observes that while it does look like the real Malacca, there are some buildings that are curiously missing and others that look much larger or stranger than they do in the land of the living. Fan and Li Lan arrange to meet up again in 10 days to return to the material plane. Fan tells Li Lan that she can stay with her while she is in the Plains of the Dead, but Li Lan is suspicious of her motives and declines the offer.

While Li Lan is wandering the streets of the afterlife’s Malacca, an old man appears and peppers Li Lan with invasive questions. She asks him about the location of her family’s household and the ghostly merchants’ quarter, as well as about the possibility of influencing the border officials. Li Lan decides to see if her mother’s spirit is still in their house on this plane. When she arrives at the location of her family home, she is puzzled to see that there are three houses sitting on the same plot of land, somehow coexisting in the same exact space. She chooses to knock on the door of the most welcoming and least pretentious house and hears a voice call out, asking her what she wants.

Li Lan sees an old woman leaning out of the smallest of the three dwellings. The old woman is immediately able to tell who Li Lan is, stating that she looks exactly like her mother, whom she refers to unkindly as a “whore” and a “hussy.” She tells Li Lan that she was her grandfather’s third concubine. She unravels a multilayered family history for Li Lan, explaining that she once had a lover by whom she became pregnant. Her lover made her have an abortion, as he had another woman in mind who intended to marry—Li Lan’s mother. However, her mother rejected him, and he had to settle for marrying her cousin instead. The old woman became Li Lan’s grandfather’s third concubine and was terribly mistreated by the other women of the household. She hoped that having a son would bolster her position, but she was unable to become pregnant. She turned her attention to Li Lan’s father, who was younger and more handsome. However, he too rejected her, as he was in love with and eventually married Li Lan’s mother. The Third Concubine formed a vendetta against Li Lan’s mother and admits that one night, she tried to push her down the stairs. She was saved by Li Lan’s father, and as he reached out to grab her mother, he inadvertently nudged the Third Concubine, who fell down the stairs and died instead.

After her death, the Third Concubine admits that that she bargained with a demon to send the smallpox to afflict Li Lan’s household. In exchange, she gave up her youthful beauty. When Li Lan’s mother died and found out what Third Concubine had done, she left the ancestral home and went to take up residence in the home of Third Concubine’s former lover. Li Lan learns that this infamous lover is in fact the current patriarch of the Lim family. Thus, Li Lan’s mother has gone to live in the ghostly house currently occupied by Lim Tian Ching.

Li Lan leaves to find the Lim household. She knocks on the door of the ostentatious home and is greeted by a manservant, who assumes she is looking for a job. She lies and says she heard they needed another worker in the kitchen, and the manservant leers at her, saying she would be much better suited as a concubine. She is saved by the appearance of another servant, the steward, who is also skeptical of her aptitude for the kitchen but agrees to take her to meet the cook.

The cook agrees to employ her for a trial period. Li Lan is grateful and begins to introduce herself (using a pseudonym) but is told that the ghost servants do not use names, in order to preserve their pride and status. He tells her she will simply be “Girl Number Six” since there were five girls working in the kitchen before her. As part of her trial, Li Lan is instructed to prepare a fish, which she is surprised to learn is fake. All of the food, she learns, is not real and it all is essentially tasteless. Therefore, it is the kitchen’s job to prepare the fake funeral food to make it palatable for the household and their guests. Li Lan passes her trial when she elects to use sour plums, mashed into a paste, to create a flavor accent for the fish.

The next day, the cook tells Li Lan to deliver breakfast to his other helper, who is called Auntie Three. She is recuperating from injuries that resulted from an incident with the Second Wife; she threw hot soup on her. She brings a tray to Auntie Three’s room and is greeted by a wary, but kind older woman. Li Lan is struck by how much Auntie Three reminds her of Amah and stays to wait on her, given that she is still healing from her burns. She cautions Li Lan to stay far away from the Second Wife, especially when she is in a bad mood. Li Lan reflects on the information that Auntie Three provided for her and has a foreboding feeling that the Second Wife is, in fact, her mother.

One night, Li Lan has an opportunity to use her skills as a server—and a spy for Er Lang—by attending to dinner. Her job is primarily to mind the puppet servants who are bringing the food from the kitchen and to create the individual serving portions. Knowing that Lim Tian Ching is not at dinner, Li Lan feels up to the task. However, once she enters the dining hall, she sees that one of the guests the steward mentioned is an ox-headed border official.

Li Lan is so distracted by the presence of the border official demon that she neglects to properly watch over the puppet servants. One of them carelessly bumps into the demon, and in response, it bites off its arm. As Li Lan attempts to recover the arm, she is confronted by the same old man who asked her so many questions upon her arrival to the afterlife. He is immediately suspicious of her and calls attention to her presence to the master of the house and the Second Wife. The old man, whose name is Master Awyoung, insists that she is up to no good. He tells them that he met her at the entrance to the town some days ago and that she was asking too many questions about border officials and corruption. They decide to imprison Li Lan and have her questioned later.

Li Lan is taken to a small, dark cell, with only one window boarded up to prevent escape to the outside. She takes out Er Lang’s scale from the pocket of her robe and, following his directions, blows on the rippled edge. Master Awyoung and Second Wife, who she still assumes is her mother, come down to interrogate her. They decide that they will call one of the ox-headed demons to investigate her soul and determine if she is being truthful.

Li Lan decides to use Er Lang’s scale as a makeshift hacksaw to cut through the slats of the window and create a means of escape. After sawing at the boards for some time, she grows exhausted and blows on the edge of the scale again. Dawn approaches and she sees a strange shadow appear in the courtyard. As the figure speaks, she realizes it is Er Lang. Li Lan is stunned that he was able to enter the Plains of the Dead and he explains he was only able to get there thanks to Li Lan’s help since she was the one who called him. She relates what she has learned about Master Awyoung, the Lim household, and their connections to the demons, but there is still not enough evidence to support clear wrongdoing. Er Lang guesses that Master Awyoung is the mastermind, but that he himself is being controlled by a Judge of Hell, with whom he made some kind of deal.

Li Lan asks Er Lang to remove the wooden bars on the windows so she can climb out. As he begins to pull her out from the small window, Li Lan blushes at their physical closeness. Er Lang tells Li Lan that she should return to the Lim mansion and do what she can to find out more about what Master Awyoung has planned.

Li Lan begins her investigation in the private apartments of the Lim household and suddenly hears approaching footsteps. She ducks through the closest unlocked door and conceals herself behind the bed’s curtains. The approaching figure also enters the room. It is the Second Wife, calling out for Master Awyoung, meaning that Li Yan has inadvertently hidden herself in his chamber. Master Awyoung enters the room and asks Second Wife why she has come to visit him. She wants to know whether Lim Tian Ching has accomplished his task. As Li Lan listens in, she learns that Lim Tian Ching is merely being used by Master Awyoung. He is an errand-runner, delivering messages and packages to Awyoung’s contact in the Courts of Hell. Throughout this conversation, the Second Wife has been slowly undressing, and Li Lan realizes that she and Master Awyoung are having an affair.

As Master Awyoung and Second Wife continue their conversation, Li Lan makes her way out of her hiding spot and toward the door, but at that moment, someone knocks. Auntie Three opens the doors and is shocked to see Li Lan standing right in front of her. She tells Master Awyoung that she comes bearing a delivery from a messenger. As Auntie Three leaves, she ushers Li Lan out with her and they hurry away. Li Lan tells Auntie Three about her imprisonment, as well as the troubles she faced before coming to the Plains of the Dead.

Auntie Three is puzzled as to why Li Lan would risk coming to the Lim household, and Li Lan confesses that, among many reasons, she heard her mother had taken up residence in their home. She tells Auntie Three that she knows that her mother is the Second Wife and she is repulsed by the kind of person she has turned out to be. Li Lan tells Auntie Three that she will meet Auntie Three in her quarters after she is able to investigate one last thing. Auntie Three calls Li Lan by her name and urges her to be careful.

Li Lan is going to investigate the old master, Lim Tian Ching’s great-uncle, whom she finds sitting in an atrium, having tea served by a puppet servant. She hides behind a folding screen and notices him examining a letter. She hears someone else approaching, and the old master quickly folds the letter. Lim Tian Ching enters, having recently returned from one of his errands. The old master shares that they caught a young woman, presumably a spy, and are holding her for questioning. Lim Tian Ching asks if the girl is Li Lan, and his uncle replies that it is entirely possible since she is quite young and attractive. Even if she is not Li Lan, he tells Lim Tian Ching he can still keep her as a concubine.

While Lim Tian Ching is caught up in his own thoughts, the old master examines the letter once again, and Li Lan is able to use her keen eyesight to make out part of what is written. She is able to determine that it is the Sixth Judge of Hell that is currently engaged in these illegal acts, in order to gather resources for an uprising. The old master places the letter on his desk. Li Lan takes two oranges from a bowl on the table and tosses them across the room, using the confusion to seize the letter and dash away. However, she collides with the puppet servant, and Lim Tian Ching and the old master spot her. The two men restrain her, and Li Lan is so overcome with fear that she faints.

Li Lan awakens in Lim Tian Ching’s bed chamber and is relieved that the letter she pocketed is still safely hidden in her shirt. Lim Tian Ching believes that now they can finally be together, but Li Lan continues to reject him. He rightly assumes that she is still enamored with Tian Bai and tells her that Tian Bai was the subject of a scandal while he was studying in Hong Kong. He had a lover there, and they may have a child out of wedlock. As much as Li Lan would prefer not to believe him, she also remembers the beautiful Isabel from when she entered Tian Bai’s dream. Tian Bai leaves the room, telling her that he will return when she is ready to have a more reasonable conversation with him.

Li Lan unconsciously calls out for Er Lang to help her. He attempts to materialize in the room but fails and asks for Li Lan to call out for him again. Once his form is stable, Li Lan gives him the letter and relates the details of the corruption plot she discovered. Er Lang is pleased, remarking on that he was smart to choose her as his spy. Ignoring his arrogant comment, Li Lan pleads for him to help her escape. Er Lang will go to find Auntie Three while Li Lan makes a run for it.

Li Lan arrives at the servant quarters, where Auntie Three is waiting for her. Li Lan asks Auntie Three how she knows her name is Li Lan, for she never told Auntie Three her real name. Auntie Three reveals the truth of her identity, which is that she is Li Lan’s mother. Li Lan finds this revelation hard to believe, given that Auntie Three is so old. Her mother explains that after she died and came to the afterlife, she met the Third Concubine, who revealed her nefarious plot. Li Lan’s mother, determined to save her own daughter from smallpox, traded her youth in much the same way, to ensure Li Lan would recover from the illness. Afterward, she was afraid to return to her own household, for fear that the Third Concubine would discover the deal she had made to protect Li Lan, so she wandered around the Plains of the Dead, waiting for her time to pass on to the Courts. Eventually, she decided to seek employment at the Lim household after she heard that the recently deceased young master was smitten with the daughter of the Pan family. Li Lan begs her mother to come with her when she escapes, explaining that she still needs her. However, her mother assures her that she will just be a burden during her escape and that Li Lan is not a little girl who needs her mother anymore. She gives Li Lan a package of meat to feed the dead, should they send pursuers after her. Her mother says that she will cross the Plains of the Dead to see Li Lan once she safely makes it home.

Li Lan rides Chendana in the direction of the tunnel where she first entered the Plains of the Dead, hoping that she’ll be able to catch Fan before she departs. Chendana stops abruptly, and Er Lang appears in front of them. He collapses, clearly injured. When he regains his strength, he tells Li Lan that he found Fan and convinced her to wait for Li Lan at the entrance to the tunnel. Li Lan insists that he ride to safety with her. She makes room for him on the back of Chendana by offloading the meat her mother packed for her. Er Lang realizes that the officials of the afterlife have sent the monstrous birds in pursuit of Li Lan and that they have run out of time.

The birds are temporarily distracted by the piles of meat that Li Lan left behind. Li Lan scatters the last package of it, but it only slows down the flock temporarily. They start to attack, but Er Lang transforms into his true form—a great dragon, or loong—and takes to the sky to fight off the birds. Initially, he is able to dispatch many of them, but their sheer numbers overwhelm him, and he falls to the ground.

Li Lan arrives at her meeting point with Fan, who confronts her about lying about her true identity. Li Lan is too upset about Er Lang to give complete answers. As Fan and Li Lan wander down the dark tunnel back toward the plane of the living, Fan chatters away about how she spent her time in the Plains of the Dead, but Li Lan barely listens to her. Among many of the things that happened, Fan notes that she met some “high-ranking” individuals who treated her very well.

Fan announces that they’ve arrived at the doorway to the land of the living. Li Lan crosses the threshold but is struck by a sense of unfamiliarity. She turns to ask Fan if she’s sure that this is the right way back and realizes too late that Fan has betrayed her and abandoned her in a strange location.