Chapter 026: Partridge Sky (I)
Taking a boat trip, eating fresh fish, and painting the mountains and lakes with a brush, Xu Hexue felt that he had been away from the world of the living for a long time, and it seemed that only on this day he was truly back in the human world.
The lights in the room were bright at night, and he recalled some of his past.
It has nothing to do with teachers or brothers and sisters-in-law. It is just the scattered memories of his most unbridled youth, when he played and socialized with classmates of the similar age.
Xu Hexue was in a trance for a long time before slowly unfolding the drawing paper in front of him.
Green willows, white egrets, water ripples, mountain outlines, and the red-painted Xie Chun Pavilion, but the person that Ni Su asked him to paint was missing.
Under the candlelight, Xu Hexue stared at the drawing paper for a while before putting it away.
Whether it was the teacher or Ni Su, he didn't dare to put pen to paper.
"Xu Ziling."
A slender shadow was projected on the screen window.
Xu Hexue stood up with one hand on the desk, turned around and saw the shadow, and he said "hmm".
"I chose a piece of white satin with light gold patterns on it and use it to make clothes for you, okay?" Ni Su was standing outside the door, unable to see the situation inside through the gauze window.
Xu Hexue had not expected that she had chosen the satin so quickly after she had just said she wanted to make clothes for him that night. He was always a little weak at night, and was afraid that she could not hear his voice clearly, so he walked to the screen window and said, "Okay."
"Won't you take a look?"
Ni Su's voice came from outside.
As soon as Xu Hexue opened the door, he saw a piece of soft, snow-white satin spread out before his eyes. The lanterns in the corridor illuminated the light gold patterns on it, which flashed subtle luster from time to time.
The piece of snow-white satin moved down, revealing the girl's bright eyes with a faint smile.
“Does it look good?”
She asked.
"nice."
Xu Hexue looked at the satin in her hand again. Seeing that she was about to go to the next room after hearing what he said, he immediately called her: "Ni Su, working on the needle and thread at night will hurt your eyes."
"I know."
Ni Su nodded and went into the house carrying the satin.
For several days, Ni Su was either making clothes or tidying up the shop in front of her. She bought some medicinal herbs and dried them in the courtyard just to smell the fragrance.
There was no shortage of shops selling medicinal herbs on Nanhuai Street . Besides, she ran a clinic, not a drug store. Although the door had been open for several days and there were customers, they just turned around and left when they saw that the doctor sitting in the clinic was a woman.
During these days, only Zhou Ting, who brought a personal officer from the Night Watch who had a leg injury, came here, and there was a young man named Azhou who worked as a waiter at Xiangfeng Building. Whenever it was almost time for dinner, he would come to Nanhuai Street to sell his wares, and Ni Su would always stop him and ask him to deliver food from Xiangfeng Building.
After a few visits, they became more familiar with each other. A Zhou mentioned yesterday that his mother was pregnant again, and had abdominal pain for unknown reasons recently. Ni Su went to his home to diagnose his mother, and then prepared medicine for him in her own medicine box. Considering that A Zhou's family was poor, Ni Su did not charge him a penny.
Today Cai Chunxu invited Ni Su to listen to music in the teahouse. A gauze screen under the railing half-hid the graceful figure of the woman. Her hair was as thick as clouds, and her head was full of pearls and jade tassels.
The bare hands pluck the zither strings, and the music pours out, melodiously and smoothly.
"If you ask me, Sister Xi, you make some incense pills and ointments. If you open a medicine shop and say that they are family recipes, you won't have to worry about no one coming to your store." Cai Chunxu waved a round fan in her hand. "Only in this way will they mind your identity less."
"I opened a clinic not just for income."
Ni Su said.
"Then what's it for?" Cai Chunxu stopped looking at the woman playing the zither below and moved his gaze to Ni Su beside him.
"When I was a child and followed my brother to learn medicine, I had this wish," Ni Su picked up the tea bowl and took a sip, and then said, "Because my father told me that daughters cannot inherit the family's skills, and no woman in the world can stand upright in a clinic."
"I want to establish myself here. If someone comes to me, I will treat them myself. If no one comes, I will prescribe medicine to my father and brothers, and to those who are unwilling to believe that a woman can be a good doctor."
Ni Su understood at a very young age that, because of the saying "marrying a daughter is like pouring water", many family businesses had nothing to do with women, just as medical skills were mostly dependent on the family. As for the lowest class of medicine ladies, what they learned was often ill-gotten, and there were many cases of people being killed by them. These layers of shackles have created the distrust and contempt of today's people towards women who practice medicine.
"This isn't the first time I've heard you mention your brother."
Cai Chunxu leaned his elbows on the coffee table. "These days, the winter exams have been a hot topic. I heard that the policy paper your brother wrote before his death on the new policy was also copied by the bookstore. Even Miss Cao, who is in the Ruqing Poetry Society with me, said that her husband, the prefect of Guangning Prefecture, has also seen the policy paper and praised it highly..."
As she spoke, she could not help but sigh, "If your brother were still alive, he would have achieved great success by now. My husband has been on leave for the past few days and has not left the house, which has caused me to come out. I wonder how the investigation of the Night Police is going? Are there any clues?"
Ni Su shook her head. "The Night Police never leak any information when investigating a case. I have also met that Mr. Xiao Zhou. He only told me that there has been some progress, but I don't know more."
These days, she was getting anxious and tired of waiting.
"Don't worry, sister Xi. Maybe the truth will come out soon." Cai Chunxu comforted her a few words, and then looked at the silk handkerchief still wrapped around her neck, and said, "But the wound on your neck cannot be taken lightly. It's best to use some ointment that can remove the mark. I accidentally injured the back of my hand before, and I used the ointment from the drugstore at the intersection of Nanhuai Street. It was very effective."
"Thank you, Sister Cai. I'll make a note of it."
Ni Su nodded.
It has been raining a lot recently. Just as she and Cai Chunxu were listening to a few songs in the teahouse, it started raining outside again. Ni Su bought a paper umbrella nearby on the street. People were hurrying back and forth on the street, but she and the person beside her were walking slowly in the mist and rain.
"Ni Su, buy some medicine."
Seeing her about to pass by the pharmacy, Xu Hexue stopped.
Ni Su turned around and saw his figure like mist outside the umbrella. His long eyelashes were stained with tiny water droplets, and his eyes were looking towards the pharmacy on the street.
"If I left a mark, would you still feel uncomfortable?" Ni Su approached him with an umbrella and instinctively tilted the brim of the umbrella towards him, but this behavior seemed indescribably strange in the eyes of passers-by.
"Let's go to Azhou's house to see his mother first, and then buy it when we come back."
Ni Su promised the young man A Zhou that she would go to his home again today. If A Zhou's mother's abdominal pain had not been relieved, she would change the prescription.
Azhou's home is in an old alley in the west of the city, a desolate place hidden in the cracks of the prosperous Yunjing. It rained today, and the dampness in the short and old alley became even stronger. Thick green moss clung to the brick walls, making them messy and dirty.
There was some noise coming from deep in the alley, and the two had just entered the alley. The sound of rain blocked their ears, so Ni Su naturally couldn't hear anything, but Xu Hexue was more perceptive.
When he got closer, Ni Su saw the Guangning Prefecture's jailers wearing similar clothes and with blades hanging from their waists. In front of them, there seemed to be another one wearing a green official uniform.
Many people braved the rain and gathered in front of the paint-chipped door at the end of the alley, looking inside.
That is Azhou’s home.
"Get out of the way!"
The man in green official uniform walked over with the runners and spoke in a solemn voice.
The people blocking the door immediately retreated to the sides to make way for the officers.
"Sir! Please do it for me! Please go to Nanhuai Street immediately to arrest the murderer who killed my mother!" A young man spoke with a crying voice, almost hoarse.
Ni Su recognized the voice, and Xu Hexue beside her also heard it. He immediately said, "Ni Su, is it okay for you to be alone here?"
Ni Su only heard the boy crying out the words "Nanhuai Street" and knew something was wrong. She suddenly heard someone beside her say this and she looked at him: "Xu Ziling, don't..."
However, before he could finish his words, his figure turned into mist and disappeared.
At the same time, many people came out of the door. The leading official did not hold an umbrella. He raised his head in the rain and his eyes met Ni Su's, who was more than ten steps away.
"Ni Su."
The officer called out her name accurately.
He was the prosecutor Tian Qizhong who had escorted her back to the Guangning Prefecture's Silu Division for punishment on Qingyuan Mountain.
In an instant, all the servants behind him ran over with their swords in hand to block Ni Su's retreat.
For a moment, everyone's eyes in the rain were focused on Ni Su.
Ni Su threw away her umbrella and walked into the door. There were many people crowded in the narrow and dilapidated courtyard, and in the eaves, a young man was crying bitterly. He was the one who often brought her meals from Xiangfeng Building recently.
Lying on the straw mat beside him was a woman covered in blood and with a pale face. Her eyes were closed and she seemed to have no breath, but her abdomen was bulging.
Ni Su had just met her yesterday. She was the mother of the young boy Azhou.
"You murderer! You killed my mother!" When the boy saw her, his tears welled up even more and he stood up and rushed towards her.
A police officer hurriedly stopped him, and Tian Qizhong came in and asked coldly: "Ni Su, you were punished for talking nonsense in Guangning Mansion before, and now you are cheating people and even killing people!"
Many people gathered in the yard were looking at Ni Su, and words like "medicine woman", "killer", and "evildoer" were flooding into her mind.
"The medicine I prescribe will never kill anyone."
Ni Su met his gaze.
"Then tell me, why did my mother die after taking your medicine?" The young man stared at her with his red and swollen eyes. "You despicable medicine woman, do you know that you have killed two lives?"
Many pairs of eyes were looking at Ni Su, and many accusations and insults were mixed in the sound of rain. Ni Su said nothing, but squatted down and tried to touch the dead woman.
Upon seeing this, the young man immediately rushed forward and pushed her away: "I don't allow you to touch my mother!"
His force was so great that Ni Su was pushed to the ground in the rain. Her clothes were covered in mud and the back of her hand was scratched on the stone steps.
"All doctors in the clinic have records of their patients. What disease your mother had, how I prescribed medicine for her, and how much medicine she took are all recorded," Ni Su stood up on the steps with one hand, water dripping from the hem of her skirt. She looked at the young man, "A Zhou, since you insist that the medicine I prescribed killed your mother, then where are the medicine residues? Where is the prescription? Where is your proof?"
Blood flowed down the back of Ni Su's hand into the gaps between her fingers. The young man watched the blood drops between her fingers dripping and washing away in the rain. He looked up again, but was a little afraid to meet her eyes.
"The drug residue you mentioned has already been sent to the Guangning government office. The judge of our government office has asked a medical worker to check it," Tian Qizhong said sternly, "You are a doctor, but you don't know that Rehmannia root and Chuanwu are incompatible!"
What?
Ni Su was stunned. Chuanwu?
Rainy days make people annoyed, and Tian Qizhong is even more annoyed by the group of people gathered here. He immediately said to the police behind him: "Come on, arrest this girl! Take her back to Guangning government office for trial!"
