Du Heng offers Wen the Du house key.

Wen takes the key while Du Heng tries to make a humane promise that cannot fit the situation.

The Du house on the hill receives Wen like an institution, not a home.

Du Heng gives Wen his annotated registry copy.

Wen presses Du Heng on why he would help her.

Wen returns to her grandmother's house with the key and registry.

Wen begins decoding the private registry as a practical document.

The fifth bride's entry suggests survival has rules.

The seventh bride's entry proves leaving can be fatal.

Wen notices how causes of death are erased or softened in the private notes.

Wen finds the eleventh bride's private note: Luo Qing survived by ceasing to be wife.

Wen enters the village pharmacy and meets Old Pharmacist Gan.

Gan avoids naming Luo Qing as bride and points Wen upstairs.

Wen climbs to the pharmacy upper room and meets Luo Qing.

Luo Qing lets Wen in but tests what she understands.

Luo Qing explains the minimum rule of the rite without revealing the full hidden system.

Luo Qing gives Wen the operational truth: the offering need not be love or body, but it must satisfy the village.