"Ah."

I suddenly sat up, my chest heaving violently, cold sweat beading on my forehead, and the scene from my mind lingered.

"Han Han, what's wrong?"

"Teng Yu" ran in from outside, turned on the room light, and looked at me with a worried expression.

I was still in shock, staring at Teng Yu's handsome face, with only fear in my heart.

He sat by the bed, took out a towel, and raised his hand to wipe my sweat, but I dodged.

Staring at his slightly changed face, my fear intensified, and I instinctively shrank to the corner of the bed.

Teng Yu gazed at me for a long time and sighed softly.

"Han Han, you never looked at me like that before."

I didn't speak, looking at him nervously.

Teng Yu placed the towel on the bedside, hesitated to speak, then turned and walked out.

I took a deep breath, looking out the window, noticing that the sky was slightly bright, and wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes.

I hurried to the other end of the bed, trembling as I rummaged through my bag for my phone.

The phone battery was low, but fortunately, the signal bar had one more bar than before.

Feigning calmness, I dialed my mother’s number.

This time, the call finally connected. Hearing my mother's voice, my expression relaxed slightly, just as I was about to speak.

My mother's gentle voice came, "Han Han, your dad and I are a bit busy right now, we'll call you back later."

"Mom, I... hello? Hello! "

The phone suddenly lost signal, and multiple redials failed.

In despair, I tossed the phone back onto the bed.

As daylight grew, I suddenly heard the mournful sound of a suona outside, my heart tightened.

I quickly got out of bed, dressed, slung my bag over my shoulder, and opened the door.

A group of people wearing black robes and black hoods passed by the courtyard of Teng Yu's house.

I saw Teng Yu emerge from a side room, dressed similarly to the others, except he was not wearing a hood.

He saw me, walked up to me, and glanced at my backpack.

“Han Han, someone in the village passed away last night, today is the funeral. I need to go help. The village has been unstable recently, don't wander around. There's hot food in the pot, help yourself."

I stepped back two paces, nodded at the people outside.

Seeing that I was avoiding him, Teng Yu pressed his lips together.

As he turned around, I looked at his back and rasped.

"Who died?"

Teng Yu looked at me sideways, his expression heavy.

"The household you visited yesterday, Auntie's husband passed away last night."

My heart skipped a beat, but I showed no reaction.

As Teng Yu left, I pretended to return to my room.

Aunt Zhang, who had previously brought me clothes, suddenly entered without knocking.

"Oh, girl, why are you still in your room today?"

My fingers turned white from gripping my bag tightly. It seemed today's escape plan had to be postponed.

"Is there something you need?"

"Of course, there's something. Didn't you notice the commotion in the village?"

Feigning ignorance, I asked, "Auntie, what's going on?"

Aunt Zhang grabbed my arm and pulled me outside.

"Today’s a rare village ritual. You probably haven't seen such a scene in the city before. Considering your relationship with Teng Yu, you'll need to understand these things for when you marry into our village later."

A ritual? Isn't it a funeral?

Though puzzled by the quick funeral after last night's death, I followed Aunt Zhang toward the so-called ritual.