Night rain sounded ceaselessly, crushing flowers into mud.
Ni Mizhi carried her maid through the covered corridor. Before reaching the study, she turned to take the hot soup from the maid’s hands, stepped forward several paces, and stopped at the door.
“Even the Great Qi’s laws permit women to remarry, yet she, Cen Zishu, covets my Ni family’s estate. She’s willing to remain a chaste widow for years because of this. Even the county magistrate commended her and erected a chastity memorial arch for her! She lives in our Ni family’s ancestral residence—now I find it difficult even to step through that threshold!”
Inside the room, bowls smashed and angry roars rang out. Ni Mizhi’s shoulders trembled. She pressed her lips together, somewhat afraid to knock on the door.
“Master, why be angry? These past days, this humble servant has seen the resident physicians from the medical practice go there very frequently. In the past, no matter how much she disliked you, she would still invite you in for tea. Now she’s repeatedly closed her doors refusing to see anyone—I’m afraid she’s so ill she can’t get up.” The steward bent down to pick up ceramic shards while raising his head to flatter: “If she’s so ill she can’t get up, and that Young Master Qinglan is neither seen alive nor dead, isn’t this your legitimate opportunity to reclaim your family estate?”
The Ni family’s estate had originally been substantial. Back in Zezhou, it had enjoyed glory for a time. It was just that when Ni Zhun and Ni Zong, the pair of brothers, were in their teens, their father Ni Zhiguang managed poorly. Combined with war in the north, the family fortune was reduced by more than half.
The medical practice was the foundation of the Ni family ancestors’ livelihood. If Ni Zhiguang hadn’t been greedy and meddled in other businesses, he couldn’t have lost so severely. Ni Zhiguang learned from his painful experience, bringing his whole family from Zezhou back to the old residence in Que County. Using the remaining family wealth, he reopened several medical practices and added cloth shop businesses.
Though Ni Zong was a concubine-born son, Ni Zhiguang also permitted him to study medicine together with Ni Zhun. It was just that Ni Zong studied poorly and often made errors. Ni Zhiguang deeply believed this path wouldn’t work for him. Therefore, before Ni Zhiguang’s death, he had the two brothers divide the family. The Ni family’s ancestral residence and medical practices all went to the legitimate son Ni Zhun, while the cloth shop business went to Ni Zong.
But how could the cloth shop business compare to the old established Ni family medical practices?
Over these years, Ni Zong had always harbored dissatisfaction about this.
Especially after Ni Zhun’s death, when the Ni family’s medical practice business was held in a widow’s hands—every time he came to the door, his widowed sister-in-law always had that high and mighty manner. His heart burned with resentment.
“That Ni Su, that obstinate little concubine-born daughter—she’s also a thorny trouble.” Ni Zong sat back in his folding-back chair, turning his face toward the dim lamplight on the desk. “Would she, Cen Zishu, truly dare to hand our Ni family’s medical practice over to such a daughter…”
“Master, how could that be? There’s no such principle. Moreover,” the steward diligently offered a bowl of tea, “women will eventually marry. Once married, they count as outsiders.”
Ni Zong took the tea bowl. Hot mist steamed the wrinkles on his face. He paused, raised his head, and squinted his eyes slightly: “That’s right. Let her, Ni Su, usually act out her mother’s lofty airs, not choosing a husband early.”
He suddenly laughed coldly: “Now, even if she wanted to choose, she can’t.”
The summer night rain wasn’t cold, but through the thin door and windows, Ni Mizhi felt a heart-stopping chill from her father’s vague words. She nearly couldn’t hold the ceramic bowl steady. Coming back to her senses, she realized the bowl wall was no longer so hot. She grabbed one of the maid’s hands and rushed back.
Can’t choose—what did that mean?
On the way back to her room, Ni Mizhi thought and thought. She suddenly stopped. The maid following behind nearly bumped into her back and called out in confusion: “Miss?”
Cold lightning flashed into the corridor. Rain and mist wove together. After struggling for a while, Ni Mizhi still turned back around and said to her: “Go quietly to First Uncle’s wife’s house to find Ni Su. Tell her, tell her…”
She pressed her lips together: “Tell her not to go out these days. There may be ruffians who will defile her purity.”
“Yes.”
The maid bowed, found a paper umbrella, and rushed into the curtain of rain.
The Ni family ancestral residence.
Nanny Qian had already arranged for people to pack luggage onto the carriage. It was raining now and nighttime—the household servants Ni Zong had sent to spy were all sheltering from the rain under the oilcloth canopy of a food stall. No one noticed the alley behind the ancestral residence’s back door. It was the perfect time for Ni Su to leave.
“Don’t underestimate that Coachman Zhang because he’s old. In his youth he also worked as a bodyguard and learned martial arts. That’s why Madam feels at ease letting him escort you to the capital.”
Nanny Qian held an umbrella for the young woman before her, brushing water droplets from her cloak. Her eyes felt somewhat sour: “Miss, going to the capital alone, you must be well, understand?”
In Ni Su’s childhood, it was mostly Nanny Qian who looked after her. She grasped Nanny Qian’s hand: “How am I alone? Uncle Zhang and Xing Zhu are both accompanying me. Nanny Qian, please rest assured. Please…”
Ni Su suppressed her sadness. Her throat grew more parched: “Please take good care of my mother, and take good care of yourself too.”
“Don’t worry, Miss. I’ll be with Madam.”
Nanny Qian patted the back of her hand, then helped her toward the carriage. But after stepping onto the mounting stool, Ni Su turned to look back at the half-open door. A courtyard of misty rain, lamp shadows fluffy.
She suddenly released Nanny Qian’s hand, walked out from under the umbrella, stepped forward several paces, and knelt on the steps below.
Her skirts soaked through, raindrops pattered against Ni Su’s lashes. She bowed down and kowtowed heavily.
Nanny Qian covered her mouth, turned her face, and silently shed tears.
“That Xing Zhu—why hasn’t she returned yet?” The old carriage driver finished harnessing the horse carriage and looked toward the alley entrance.
Ni Su was helped into the carriage by Nanny Qian. With Xing Zhu still not returning, she felt quite unsettled and said to the driver: “Let’s go to the study to find her.”
In the past, when Ni Qinglan taught Ni Su medicine at home, it was quite inconvenient. So he used his saved silver to buy an extremely small courtyard in the east of the city to use as a study.
The sky had just darkened somewhat when Cen Zishu, seeing the rain, decided on the spur of the moment to have Ni Su leave during the night. In the rush, a set of gold needles Ni Su had left at the study, along with several medical texts, couldn’t be fetched in time. There was also luggage to pack at home. Xing Zhu volunteered to go to the study to fetch them for her.
Having followed Ni Su since childhood, Xing Zhu also knew where she kept things. Ni Su called over one or two young servants to accompany her.
The night rain gradually intensified, dripping against the carriage cover. The old carriage driver drove the carriage, wheels hurriedly crushing through muddy water toward the eastern part of the city.
The rain extinguished many lanterns. The streets were dim—entering the alley was even darker. The old carriage driver relied on the lantern swaying beneath the carriage cover and saw several young servants wearing straw raincoats squeezed under the wall’s base laughing outside the study’s courtyard gate. Seeing a carriage approaching, they immediately suppressed their laughter, their faces becoming tense. They pushed and shoved those beside them.
“Oh my, isn’t that the first branch’s carriage…”
Someone squinted to see the lantern bearing the character “Ni” on the carriage.
The two young servants tied up like dumplings in the darkness heard this and immediately struggled to roll into the lamplight, continuously making muffled sounds through the hemp cloth stuffed in their mouths.
The old carriage driver recognized the two bound people. He also identified that among those several servants, one constantly followed Ni Zong’s concubine-born son Ni Qingwen. He turned back: “Miss, they’re Young Master Qingwen’s people!”
Ni Su lifted the curtain. That servant’s gaze met hers. Terrified, he turned to run into the courtyard gate to report. But the old carriage driver moved nimbly down from the carriage and blocked his path.
“Uncle Zhang, beat them for me!”
The rain intensified, drowning out many sounds. Ni Su’s heart grew even more uneasy. Not bothering with an umbrella and without a mounting stool, she lifted her skirt and jumped down from the carriage, twisting her ankle.
These people following Ni Qingwen were all like skinny chicks. Uncle Zhang pressed them into the water and beat them. Ni Su endured the pain and quickly entered the courtyard.
“Help, help…”
Inside the tightly closed door and windows, a sobbing voice shrieked.
The young man with thin eyebrows and narrow eyes pressed down on the woman on the ground’s shoulders and laughed: “Good Xing Zhu, be sensible. Rather than being her servant Ni Su, you might as well follow me. She’s lost her brother, and First Aunt is so ill she won’t make it either. The Ni family estate will be mine sooner or later!”
Xing Zhu’s eyes were full of tears. She screamed trying to dodge his hands but was unable to struggle free due to the disparity in strength between men and women. The man tore open her garment collar. Her silk trousers half-removed, he grinned maliciously, about to lean down.
With a “bang,” the room door was forcefully kicked open.
Ni Qingwen jumped in fright. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled. He turned impatiently: “Who the fuck…”
Cold light wove together. A stick struck head-on. Ni Qingwen’s nose bone hurt intensely. Warm blood flowed out. He cried out in pain and saw clearly that rain-soaked face.
“Ni Su!”
Ni Qingwen recognized her and immediately lunged at her with an ashen face to seize the wooden stick in her hand. Ni Su dodged him in time. Just then Uncle Zhang ran in, intercepted Ni Qingwen, and began grappling with him.
Xing Zhu lay on the ground motionless until a completely soaked person helped her up and embraced her. Only then did the tears accumulated in her eyes fall. She wept loudly: “Miss, Miss…”
To prevent Xing Zhu from escaping, Ni Qingwen had even incited servants to break her right leg.
Ni Qingwen, an ignorant wastrel, had less strength than Uncle Zhang, this fifty-year-old man. He was beaten until he cried out repeatedly.
Ni Su turned a deaf ear, helping Xing Zhu straighten her clothes. She felt her joints and said gently: “Xing Zhu, endure a bit.”
As soon as the words fell, before Xing Zhu could react, she suddenly applied force. Only hearing a sound, Xing Zhu cried out in pain, her eye circles turning completely red.
Xing Zhu’s whole body trembled. That sense of humiliation from being touched made it difficult to suppress the urge to vomit in her heart. Ni Su softly coaxed her. Ni Qingwen, with a bruised nose and swollen face, was pressed to the ground by Uncle Zhang. He shouted: “Ni Su! What do you have to be so proud of! Your mother is about to die. The ancestral residence, the medical practice—sooner or later they’ll all be ours! What are you? If you don’t wag your tail and beg for mercy before me, you even dare to hit me!”
Ni Su released Xing Zhu, stood up, and walked before Ni Qingwen, looking down at him from above.
Water droplets fell from the pearl flower on one side of her dark hair coil, gathering into a crystalline drop on her earlobe. She bent down and gave Ni Qingwen a heavy slap.
“Even if I were willing to wag my tail and beg for mercy to cousin you now, I’m afraid you wouldn’t be magnanimous enough to let me go.”
Ni Qingwen was stunned by this slap. Then he heard her voice and slowly raised his eyes. Before him, this young woman’s dress and skirt were soaked through. Wet, light-colored hair stuck to her ears. Such a pair of eyes, clear and gentle. Her fair cheeks bore moisture.
Ni Qingwen watched as she stood up again, taking the stick from Uncle Zhang’s hands. He widened his eyes: “Ni Su, you…”
One blow struck the back of his head. His words abruptly stopped.
Uncle Zhang saw Ni Su discard the stick, go to the medicine basket outside, and rummage for a while. She returned with an embroidered handkerchief wrapping tender green cluster-shaped stems and leaves. He called out: “Miss, what are you going to do?”
“Uncle Zhang, Xing Zhu has suffered this matter and her leg is injured. I’m afraid it’s inconvenient for her to go to the capital with me, and even less convenient to remain in Que County.” Ni Su threw the handkerchief along with the wrapped grass leaves into Ni Qingwen’s right hand. “Therefore, I have a favor to ask.”
Uncle Zhang watched as she raised her foot, her embroidered shoe stepping on Ni Qingwen’s hand and grinding heavily. White juice from the root stems flowed out, covering Ni Qingwen’s hand.
“Xing Zhu’s hometown Luanzhen suffered floods many years ago. In her childhood, she and her mother fled as refugees here. After her mother died from illness, she had no livelihood and came to my house to be my maid. I heard she still has a relative in Luanzhen. I’ll leave you and her some money. Please send her back to Luanzhen. You’d best also stay in Luanzhen for now and not return—avoid the situation for a while.”
Ni Qingwen had an extremely fierce and domineering wife. His family’s business had only improved considerably thanks to aid from his wife’s maternal family. Even if he suffered this loss tonight, he probably wouldn’t dare make it public. Meanwhile, the new concubine Ni Zong had recently taken into his household was pregnant. Ni Qingwen was afraid that concubine’s belly held a boy. Constrained by his daughter-in-law’s maternal family’s reputation, Ni Zong didn’t permit Ni Qingwen to take concubines. He also hated his ignorant, pleasure-seeking ways. At this critical juncture, Ni Qingwen wouldn’t dare report to Ni Zong but would certainly seek private revenge.
Hearing Ni Su’s words, the dazed Xing Zhu moved. Her gaze shifted over but first saw the stems and leaves falling from the embroidered handkerchief.
Five Phoenix Spirit Branch, medicinally called Painted Marsh—it could clear heat and detoxify, suppress coughs and dispel phlegm, treat ringworm sores. But the fresh juice of its root stems was poisonous. Contact with skin caused festering.
Having followed Ni Su for so many years under constant exposure, how could Xing Zhu not recognize this thing?
The herbs in the medicine basket outside that hadn’t yet been dried—she had also gone to herb gatherers to collect them.
“Miss…”
Xing Zhu murmured a call.
She was a servant. Not to mention Ni Qingwen hadn’t succeeded—even if he had, there wasn’t a single clause in Great Qi’s laws that could seek justice for her.
Rain and mist were hazy, thick then thin under the lamp outside the door. Wind stirred Ni Su’s sleeves. She turned back to meet Xing Zhu’s red, swollen eyes:
“Xing Zhu, don’t be afraid. Whichever hand he touched you with, I’ll make that hand rot away.”
The locust tree in the courtyard was washed by rain until its branches and leaves looked new. In that thick patch of shadow, a young man possessed a pale face.
He sat leaning against the tree, wearing a fox fur-collared black cloak unsuited for midsummer. Inside, snow-white garment hem hung down. His shadow fell beneath the thin, dim lamplight—a mass of luminous light no one discovered.
Through gaps between branches and leaves, he silently gazed toward that doorway.
Between his cold brows and eyes lay the full snow intent of harsh winter.