Chapter 009 Linjiangxian (Part 3)
The lights were lit again in the room. Ni Su had changed her clothes and was grinding ink at the table. Her shadow was reflected on the window screen. Mrs. Jiang's youngest daughter was washing vegetables in the yard. She had finished her sesame candy and was hoping that her sister would give her another piece, but she was too embarrassed to ask for it. She could only look back at the side room from time to time.
But she tilted her head and saw a ball of furry, glowing light floating next to her sister's shadow on the window screen.
She said "Huh", stopped washing the vegetables, and ran to the door and window of the side room, curiously reaching out her hand towards the bright light reflected on the window screen.
With a creaky sound, the door suddenly opened.
The little girl looked up and saw her beloved sister Matang.
"Ayun, can you help me deliver this to Uncle Sun across the street?" Ni Su squatted down, the hem of her moon-white skirt folded on the ground. She touched the girl's head and handed her a prescription.
Ayun nodded, holding the thin piece of paper in her small hand, turned around and ran out of the yard.
Ni Su breathed a sigh of relief, looked up and saw the glow on the window screen. She turned her head and said, "I thought ghosts wouldn't have shadows."
Also, his shadow is weird.
"Besides you, only children under seven or eight years old can see it."
The eyes of a child are different from those of an adult. They can see things that ordinary people cannot see.
"What should I do? When she comes back later, I will turn off the lights." Ni Su stood up, closed the door and walked over.
Xu Hexue didn't raise his eyes, but just nodded slightly as a response.
He was still wearing the fur collared cloak that was out of place in summer. He was pale and thin, with clear eyes and thick eyelashes. A light shadow was cast under his eyelids, exuding a sense of quiet and dead desolation.
He was like a person who had been ill for a long time. Neither the charcoal fire nor the scorching sun in the world could melt the coldness deep in his bones.
"Miss Ni, come out and have dinner!"
The voice of Madam Jiang came.
Ni Su responded and blew out the candle. She could make out his figure in the dim light coming from outside the eaves and said, "Xu Ziling, I'll finish eating soon."
In the shadows, Xu Hexue did not move or make a sound.
Ni Su pushed the door open and went out. Madam Jiang had already put the food on the table. Her daughter Ayun came back from the opposite side and saw her holding a bowl of pickles. Madam Jiang asked, "Where have you been? Why did you bring back a bowl of pickles?"
"I asked Ayun to deliver a prescription for me. The child was born with great difficulty, and Sister Yue Niang also needs medicine to treat her." Ni Su walked over and said.
"At least they sent a bowl of pickles over. The eldest son of the Sun family is not like his mother. He still has some conscience." Mrs. Jiang took the pickles from Ayun. She made vegetarian noodles with fresh mushrooms, so it was just right to add some pickles to it.
Madam Jiang invited Ni Su to sit down and eat noodles, then went back to her room to serve her mother-in-law half a bowl of noodles, and then came out to eat with Ayun and Ni Su.
"Don't be disgusted, Miss Ni. The only seasonal dishes we have here are good." Madam Jiang smiled at her.
"Sister Jiang is very skilled."
Ni Su said as she ate.
The two chatted for a while. Madam Jiang hesitated for a while, but couldn't help asking: "In my opinion, the girl doesn't look like she is from an ordinary family, and she is so young, how come..."
She thought about the second half of her sentence for a while before she said it. When she saw Ni Su looking up at her, she changed the subject, "Don't blame me, young lady. It's just that what you do is really thankless."
If life wasn't so difficult that people had no other choice, few women would dare to become medicine men. It's not legitimate and is simply despised by the public.
It’s not that Madam Jiang hasn’t seen medicine ladies before, but they were all very old women with half their bodies buried in the ground.
Ni Su arched her eyebrows, "Fortunately Sister Jiang, not only did you not chase me away, but you also treated me to a meal."
"You saved the lives of Yue Niang and her daughter, how could I look down on you?" Madam Jiang sighed, "When I gave birth to Ayun, my father-in-law was still alive. He was just like Yue Niang's mother-in-law, saying that I was not motivated. But fortunately, my mother-in-law was not like that. Other daughters-in-law had to go to bed the next day after giving birth, but my mother-in-law took care of me for a month. Later, she told me that she almost died when she gave birth to my husband Changsheng. Only women know the suffering of women."
"But I think women don't necessarily know the suffering of women," Madam Jiang took a bite of pickles and pointed her chopsticks at the opposite side. "Look at the mother of Sun's eldest son. There are still many people like her in this world."
"Miss Ni, if you do these things, I'm afraid it will be difficult for you to get married."
This was not an offense, but a fact that had been in front of Ni Su for a long time. A man who practiced medicine was a doctor and was respected by people, while a woman who practiced medicine was no different from a medicine woman and was hated by people.
There are many people like Old Lady Sun in this world, but few like Madam Jiang.
"I made up my mind when I was a child. How can I change it just because I get married?" Ni Su put the bowl on the table and met Madam Jiang's complicated gaze. She was frank and relaxed, "I don't believe that saving people is wrong. If my future husband thinks it is wrong, then it is not me who is wrong, but him."
Madam Jiang had never seen a strange girl like Ni Su. Getting married is the most important event in a woman's life, but it is obvious that this is not the most important thing in the heart of the girl in plain clothes and black hair in front of her.
There was no possibility of daily bathing in a farmer's home. When she was away from home, Ni Su had to endure the habits she had at home. She slept in her clothes tonight, and there was always light and shadow shining through the screen on her eyelids.
When Ni Su woke up from her nap, it was still dark. She got up and walked around the screen, only to see a dim light on the table, but the man was not there.
The lantern outside had been extinguished. Ni Su walked out holding the lantern . There was no wind on the summer night, but the locust tree in the yard was rustling softly. She protected the candle flame with one hand and walked under the shade of the tree.
Ni Su raised his head. The corner of his robe was hanging in the thick shade. He leaned lightly against the tree trunk. Perhaps he sensed the light and opened his eyes. There was a rare trace of confusion in his eyes.
"Is the difference between humans and ghosts, and between men and women, really so clear-cut?" Ni Su looked up at him.
She lit a lamp for him, but he would rather stay on the tree in the dark. It seemed that even though he was a ghost, he was a gentlemanly ghost.
She held the lamp in her hand, and the shadow of the lamp fell on her face.
Xu Hexue lowered his eyes and looked at her without saying anything.
"Xu Ziling."
Just at this moment, Ni Su suddenly felt that he seemed a little more friendly, perhaps because of his courtesy, or perhaps because he was playing with a cicada in his hand.
Ni Su suddenly wanted to talk to him, "Do you know that the shell of this cicada can also be used as medicine?"
“I don’t know.”
The cicada that Xu Hexue pressed with her fingers made no sound.
"It's called cicada shells, it can dispel wind-heat, clear the lungs and relieve sore throat, and stop convulsions." Ni Su picked it up with ease, the shadow of the candle flame flickering on her face. "I went to the mountains to pick them with the herbal farmers in July and August last year. The freshly shed cicada shells were crystal clear under the sun, like amber, and very beautiful."
Xu Hexue on the tree looked at her for a moment, "Your mother did no evil in her life, and now her soul has returned to the underworld, so she will definitely have a good place to go."
He could easily tell why she woke up in the middle of the night, what made her sad, and why she was standing under the shade of the tree and talking to him about nothing .
Ni Su was silent for a moment, lowered his eyes, and asked him, "Don't people reincarnate immediately after death?"
"There is thick fog in Youdu . It can wash away the soul fire and change one's appearance, but all of these require time."
Half a year in Youdu is like one month in the human world.
Time has always been a powerful tool for forgetting. The thick fog in the underworld can wash away the memories of the living souls and slowly change the description of the souls. Once the period expires and they enter reincarnation again, they will become a completely different person.
Ni Su had heard many rumors and read many books since she was a child, but none of them were as intuitive and real as what this living soul from Youdu said to her tonight.
Ni Su was looking at the floating and flickering light on the ground again: "But you don't seem to have forgotten."
Otherwise, he wouldn't have agreed with her to go to Yunjing to visit some old friends.
"Although I am in Youdu, I do not belong to Youdu."
Xu Hexue gave a brief answer.
Therefore, the thick fog in Youdu could not wash away his memory, nor could it change his appearance.
Ni Su didn't quite understand what he said, but she knew her limits and didn't want to ask any more questions. She stared at the flickering candle flame for a moment, then suddenly raised her head and said, "Xu Ziling, why don't we hurry on our way now?"
