“What does it matter to you whether my master is sick or not? Besides, haven’t you heard that doctors can’t treat themselves?”
The maid stood just inside the door, staring at the aggressive man outside. Despite his questioning, she didn’t back down.
“You are the ones who want to see the doctor, not us. Do we owe you something? If you don’t want to get treated, that’s fine by us!” The maid snorted, pointing outside the door. “Get out of the way and stop blocking our door!”
The elder brother-in-law had never been scolded like this by anyone other than his own father, and he was so furious that his beard bristled and his eyes widened.
“In-law, you must stop causing trouble. If Yun Niang’s treatment is delayed, whose fault will it be?’ the old lady said from the side.
The elder brother-in-law was even more at a loss for words.
What did she mean by “whose fault will it be”? How did his sister’s situation become his fault?
“I want to go in with her,” he said through gritted teeth.
“That wouldn’t be appropriate. Let Chen Lang go instead,” the old lady suggested.
Her son immediately stepped forward, urging the four men carrying the coffin covered with black cloth to move inside.
“No, your son is an outsider. My sister should be accompanied by me,” the elder brother-in-law said with a cold smile.
The maid of Lady Cheng turned and went inside first.
“Only one person can come in to accompany her. Bring the coffin to the main hall and then leave,” she said.
Even though it was summer, the courtyard felt damp and chilly. The elder brother-in-law walked cautiously in his wooden clogs, fearing he might slip on the moss-covered cobblestone path.
As the coffin was brought into the main hall, the maid quickly ushered everyone out and stopped him from entering.
“Wait outside. My master doesn’t see outsiders when she treats patients,” the maid said.
What kind of rule was this? The elder brother-in-law’s eyes widened in anger.
As he glared, the maid stood with her hands on her hips, glared back, then stepped inside and slammed the door shut.
Being a gentleman, he couldn’t bring himself to force his way in, especially since it was a woman’s quarters.
Inside the house, there were rustling sounds of movement, but no one spoke.
Was it some kind of sorcery or medicine?
The elder brother-in-law paced in the courtyard with his hands behind his back.
What was going on here?
Meanwhile, the old lady and the others waited outside.
“Mother, is what you said true?” her son asked in a low voice.
The old lady exhaled through her nose and ignored him.
“Madam.” The nanny approached nervously, fanning herself as she spoke softly, “Will it work out? If it doesn’t…”
“If it doesn’t?” The old lady looked at the small wooden door, blocked from her view by a folding screen, unable to see the scene inside. She tightened her grip on her cane and forced the words out through her teeth, “If it doesn’t, then we’ll sue her for medical malpractice!”
Being outsiders, both the mistress and her maid were unfamiliar with the area. Could they really handle it? Besides, it wasn’t entirely her fault; they had insisted on jumping into trouble themselves.
The elder brother-in-law had only paced the courtyard twice when the door swung open.
“Go tell them to carry it away,” the maid came out and said.
“How is it?” He asked anxiously, peering into the hall.
The coffin remained in its original position in the main hall, with no one else in sight.
Was Lady Cheng really in there? Could it be that this maid was the sole pretender throughout?
As if to address his suspicions, the sound of wooden clogs echoed from within the hall. Shortly after, a figure emerged from behind the folding screen. It was a woman, her form obscured by the loose robe she wore, making it hard to discern her size or age at first glance. After a brief moment standing, the woman seated herself, and the maid obstructed his view.
“Hey, go call someone,” the maid said impatiently, seemingly displeased with him peeking at their mistress.
The elder brother-in-law withdrew his gaze.
“Is she cured?” he inquired.
“She’s mostly recovered, just lacking the final dose of medicine,” the maid replied.
Four stout maids carried the woman to the bed and then stepped back.
The old lady and the family members gathered around to observe the woman on the bed.
She was still dressed in mourning clothes, her hands and feet bound with straw ropes, lying quietly with her eyes closed, resembling little difference from when she was in the coffin.
Those in the room couldn’t help but shiver.
“Should we… change her clothes?” someone couldn’t help but ask.
Change her clothes? What is she’s not alive? Wouldn’t that mean they’d have to prepare her for burial all over again!
The old lady didn’t answer but turned to look at the elder brother-in-law.
“What did you say she needed?” she asked.
“The hairbrush and mirror that Yun Niang often used,” he frowned, unsure of how to react.
The old lady didn’t care how peculiar the request was. They were curing the dead, what else could be stranger than this?
Immediately, a maid fetched the mirror commonly used by the lady. It was a brass mirror in the shape of a crescent moon, adorned with lotus flower patterns and emerald inlays along the edge.
“Place it on her chest,” the elder brother-in-law said, his tone somewhat anxious and resigned.
Two maids carefully placed the brass mirror on the lady’s chest.
“With the mirror facing downwards,” he added as an afterthought.
The two maids quickly adjusted the mirror, ensuring it was facing downwards on the lady’s chest before stepping back.
Guarding this deceased person sent shivers down their spines.
The room fell into complete silence.
“Then what?” someone couldn’t help but ask.
“Wait,” the elder brother-in-law replied impatiently.
The room fell quiet again, so silent that even breathing could hardly be heard. All eyes were fixed on the woman lying on the bed.
A quarter of an hour passed, and the tense onlookers couldn’t bear it any longer, collectively exhaling.
The woman on the bed remained motionless, just as she had been.
“Go check if there’s any breath!” the elder brother-in-law said.
A maid hesitated for a moment, then slowly approached the bed with some trepidation. Carefully trembling, she extended her hand to feel for breath at the woman’s nose.
“None…” the maid withdrew her hand, her face pale as she shook her head with a trembling voice.
The people inside the room each paled in their own way.
“That’s enough!” the elder brother-in-law shouted. His pent-up anger erupted once more, and he grabbed a teacup, as if to smash it on the ground.
At that very moment, the room was filled with the sound of a woman gasping for breath.
This gasp was heavy and prolonged, as if someone had been holding their breath for a long time.
“Oh my, it’s crushing me! What’s this thing? Move it away quickly! It’s suffocating me!” the hoarse female voice exclaimed after gasping for air.
The maid beside the bed froze as soon as she heard the gasps, her body instantly tensing up with goosebumps erupting all over. Upon hearing the words, she didn’t even dare to glance back. With a piercing scream, she scrambled desperately to flee outside.
“The dead had come back alive!”
The maid stepped into the room with a brisk pace, her steps making hardly a sound on the wooden floor.
“Miss, she’s indeed awake,” she called out, her voice tinged with excitement.
As she spoke, she moved around the folding screen and saw a woman leaning against a low table, lost in thought. At the sight of the woman’s expression, the joy on the maid’s face vanished instantly.
The young woman appeared to be no more than a girl of fourteen or fifteen. She was dressed in a simple dress, her slender frame almost engulfed by a loose black robe, making her seem even smaller. Her complexion was as fair as jade, her hair a lustrous black reminiscent of ink, and her beauty was beyond words at first sight.
However, her eyes were unusual, with very little dark pupils and an excess of white sclera. Combined with her vacant stare at the folding screen, she seemed like a lifeless puppet.
“Miss!” The maid immediately knelt on the ground, clutching the woman’s robe spread out on the ground, burying her head and sobbing, “Miss, wake up, Miss, don’t scare me!”
Accompanied by her cries, the young girl’s eyes gradually began to move, a hint of vitality returning to her dull gaze.
“Who… am I?” she murmured.
Thank you for picking this up !