Summoning the Soul 2

Chapter 2: Rain Rings the Bell (Part 2)

“How does Second Uncle know our family’s affairs so clearly?”

Fine snow swirled outside the eaves. A female voice approached, tinged with weakness. Everyone in the hall turned to look towards the courtyard as a small procession drew nearer.

Supported by a maid, the young woman wore a pale green robe and a frosty white skirt. Her hair was styled in three looped buns, and she wore a veiled hat, obscuring her face. Her steps were slow, as if she were ill.

“Ni Su, so you admit it?”

Ni Zong lifted his chin, putting on the airs of an elder.

“Admit what?”

Ni Su ascended the steps, coughing a few times. The taciturn Cen Shi glanced at the old steward following behind. He stood outside the threshold, not daring to enter, hunched over and wiping his sweat.

How could he possibly stop the young miss?

“Please forgive me, Second Uncle. I’m unwell and not fit to see guests, afraid of being impolite, so I had to dress like this.” Mama Qian, by Cen Shi’s side, helped Ni Su sit down and gestured for a maid to bring a bowl of hot tea to warm her hands.

“You wore that veiled hat yesterday too!”

Ni Zong’s daughter, Ni Mi Zhi, seeing her father’s glance, stood up and said, “I was returning from our family’s estate and saw you passing through Zao Hua Village. Don’t think I wouldn’t recognize you just because you’re wearing a veiled hat. I recognize your coachman and your maid, Xing Zhu!”

Ni Zong looked at Cen Shi, but seeing her silent as a clam, his face darkened. He was about to speak again when the veiled young woman said, “Really? Who can testify to that?”

“You can’t just condemn me based on your words alone. Can the peasant woman and the midwife corroborate your story? You passed through Zao Hua Village on your way back from your family’s estate, and I also pass through there on my way back from ours. Naturally, I can’t say I wasn’t there, but I won’t admit to anything beyond that.”

“This…”

Ni Mi Zhi pursed her lips. “Who would be as shameless as you, associating with such filthy, low-class people?”

She had considered finding witnesses, but the peasant woman had just given birth and couldn’t get out of bed. She also insisted that Ni Su had only stopped by to ask for a bowl of water. As for the midwife, she echoed the peasant woman and denied that Ni Su had assisted with the delivery.

“By ‘filthy, low-class people,’ are you referring to the peasant woman or the midwife?”

Cen Shi suddenly fixed her gaze on Ni Mi Zhi and spoke unexpectedly. “I don’t know what kind of family we are to speak such words and look down on others. Mi Zhi, when your mother gave birth to you, didn’t your family also hire a midwife? Did you also find her presence in your home to be dirty?”

Everyone in the hall couldn’t help but think of Ni Zhun, Ni Zong’s elder brother.

Five years ago, Ni Zhun had died in a mudslide while returning from providing free medical care to nearby villagers. The county government had sent a plaque inscribed with “Healing the World, Virtue and Pure Fragrance” to his widow, Cen Shi.

Ni Zhun had never looked down upon the poor and needy, so Cen Shi naturally couldn’t tolerate Ni Mi Zhi’s words. Seeing Ni Mi Zhi’s speechless expression, Ni Zong waved for her to sit down and softened his tone. “Sister-in-law, Elder Brother was always kind-hearted, but sometimes kindness can be a curse. There’s no reason for a woman to inherit the family’s medical practice. When Elder Brother was alive, he also forbade Ni Su from studying medicine. But she not only learned in secret, but she’s also following in Ji Ming’s footsteps… I hope Sister-in-law understands my concern. Elder Brother used his life to restore our family’s reputation. Please don’t let her thoughtlessly ruin it again!”

Ji Ming was Ni Qinglan’s courtesy name.

Ever since he was sixteen, when he couldn’t bear to see He Liu Shi suffer and die in pain and treated her private ailment, only for her to drown herself due to the ensuing rumors, the Ni family’s medical practice had declined sharply.

It wasn’t until Ni Zhun’s death, and the arrival of the government’s plaque, that their business improved.

“In a family of doctors, even if you forbid it, it’s hard to avoid exposure. Why must Second Brother be so nitpicky and bring up my Lan’er? Lan’er has now abandoned medicine for literature and is a proper candidate for the imperial examinations. Furthermore, Mi Zhi’s words have no proof. How can I believe you?” Cen Shi twirled her Buddhist beads. “Your family also knows me. I’m not a doting mother. I’m even stricter with A-Xi than you are with Mi Zhi. Whether A-Xi has gone out to show off her half-baked medical skills, whether she has broken our family’s rules, I know better than anyone.”

Cen Shi spoke calmly and unhurriedly, without any sharpness in her tone.

However, Ni Zong’s face grew increasingly ugly. He could hear the underlying accusation in her seemingly calm words, implying that his family’s upbringing of their daughter was inferior.

She was also reminding him that her son was now a valued examination candidate in the county, and after this winter examination in the capital, he might return with an official position.

It was a pity he couldn’t get the peasant woman and the midwife to talk. Even with money, he couldn’t sway them. He didn’t know what kind of spell Ni Su had cast on them.

“It’s not easy for Second Brother and his family to come. If you don’t mind my simple fare, please join me for a meal,” Cen Shi said indifferently.

Ni Zong had come aggressively, but he was now filled with suppressed anger. He couldn’t bring himself to eat, so he simply excused himself with “I have matters to attend to at home” and left in a huff. Ni Mi Zhi was also unhappy and glared at the veiled Ni Su before quickly following her father. Only Ni Zong’s son, Ni Qingwen, stood up slowly, took a bite of a pastry, and kept glancing at Xing Zhu, Ni Su’s maid, until his mother, Liu Shi, nudged him. Then he hummed a tune and swaggered out.

“Sister-in-law…”

Liu Shi didn’t dare linger. She called out to Cen Shi, wanting to speak but hesitating.

“Go back.”

Cen Shi’s cold features softened slightly as she nodded to her.

Liu Shi could only bow and hurriedly leave.

The spring snow melted on the threshold, leaving puddles. The hall became much quieter. Cen Shi remained silent. Ni Su lifted her veil, stood up, walked forward a few steps, and knelt before Cen Shi.

Cen Shi looked down at her. “Did you really go yesterday?”

“I did.”

Ni Su lowered her head, her words clear, no longer the weak and frail demeanor from before.

Cen Shi’s gaunt face was etched with exhaustion. She had some difficulty standing but refused Ni Su’s help. Mama Qian hurried over to support her. Cen Shi didn’t look at Ni Su, simply saying indifferently, “Then go kneel in the ancestral hall.”

Ever since Ni Zhun had forced Ni Qinglan to pursue a scholarly path, the person kneeling in the ancestral hall had changed from him to Ni Su. Sometimes it was because Ni Zhun discovered she was secretly reading his medical notes, sometimes because she had snuck out to identify herbs in the mountains with the herbalists.

As she grew older, she became better at hiding things, so she knelt less often. After Ni Zhun’s death, this was the second time Ni Su had knelt in the ancestral hall.

Ni Zhun’s tablet had been added to the ancestral hall. Incense and candles constantly burned on the altar, filling the air with smoke.

“Fortunately, Miss, you saw Miss Mi Zhi’s carriage yesterday and spoke to the peasant woman and midwife beforehand,” Xing Zhu crouched beside Ni Su. “It was a close call. If Second Master had bribed them to change their story, it would have been bad.”

“Second Uncle is usually stingy, but he wouldn’t necessarily hesitate to spend money on this matter. It’s just that those two wouldn’t accept his money,” Ni Su said. She had been kneeling for a while, and her legs were numb. She reached down to massage them, and seeing her frown, Xing Zhu quickly reached out to help.

“Why wouldn’t they accept it?” Xing Zhu couldn’t understand.

Yesterday, Ni Su had helped the peasant woman deliver her baby alongside the midwife. Xing Zhu hadn’t dared to enter and had waited outside. Looking at the courtyard and the thatched cottage, she thought they looked extremely poor. How could they not need money?

“I have a good relationship with the midwife, and although I’m not close to the peasant woman, people have hearts. If you can see their difficulties, they can naturally see yours.”

Xing Zhu seemed to understand but also not. She pouted. “But I don’t think that Miss Mi Zhi has a heart. She suffers from headaches due to punishments at home. When she came to our private school, she fainted, and you kindly treated her with acupuncture. But she turned around and went home to complain, saying you were secretly studying medicine. Madam punished you by making you kneel in the ancestral hall that time.”

Since then, Ni Zong had been constantly watching Ni Su for any transgressions.

“This time, when Madam asked you,” Xing Zhu’s voice lowered, leaning closer to Ni Su’s ear, “why did you tell the truth? If you had just brushed it off, you wouldn’t have to kneel in the ancestral hall.”

“I never lie to Mother.”

Ni Su shook her head. “In the past, she didn’t ask. If she asks me, I must tell the truth.”

Ni Su knelt in the ancestral hall for most of the day. By the time stars appeared in the sky, her knees were red and swollen, numb with pain, making it difficult to walk. The old housekeeper called a few maids to help Xing Zhu carry Ni Su back to her room.

Cen Shi didn’t ask after her and didn’t send Mama Qian with any medicine. Xing Zhu could only ask a servant boy to fetch some medicinal oil from the Ni family’s resident physician to apply to Ni Su’s knees.

“Miss, it’s cold at night. Go to sleep early,” Xing Zhu advised softly after applying the oil and returning from washing her hands. She saw Ni Su sitting at her desk, wrapped in a robe, her brush moving constantly.

“Brother will be back soon. I want to organize all my findings from the past six months for him to see.” Two candles illuminated Ni Su’s fair and delicate profile as the ink-soaked brush tip moved across the paper. “Compared to when he left, I’ve made even more progress. I have a better method now for administering medicine when the placenta doesn’t descend after childbirth.”

She was so absorbed in her writing that she completely lost track of time. Xing Zhu came in and trimmed the candle wicks, then fell asleep, slumped against the soft couch. Ni Su got up, took a sip of cold tea, and draped a robe over Xing Zhu.

Later that night, Ni Su fell asleep at her desk. The candles burned until dawn, finally melting into puddles of wax and extinguishing their flames.

“Miss, a letter from the capital!”

A clear voice suddenly came from outside the door.

Ni Su woke with a start. She stood up, the robe she had been wearing falling to the floor. Xing Zhu, who had been curled up asleep, also woke and hurried to help Ni Su dress and wash. “Miss, Young Master must have passed!”

If he hadn’t passed, it would be him returning, not just a letter.

Ni Su had knelt in the ancestral hall the day before, so she walked slowly. When she arrived at Cen Shi’s courtyard, she found the servants standing in the courtyard. The old housekeeper’s face was ashen, pacing anxiously on the stone steps.

Servant boys led several of the Ni family’s physicians past Ni Su, hurrying into Cen Shi’s room. Supported by Xing Zhu, Ni Su rushed forward. “What’s wrong with Mother?”

“Madam fainted!”

The old steward’s beard trembled, his eyes red-rimmed as he looked at Ni Su.

“Miss, our Young Master… he’s missing!”

What?

Ni Su’s mind reeled.