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墨書 Inktalez
When Xing Ruyi first arrived at the Paper Shop, she heard people mention a local custom. If someone commits suicide by hanging in a room, a mark must be cut into the beam. There are a total of seven marks, indicating that at least seven people have hanged themselves in this room, making it an exceptionally notorious haunted house.
Xing Ruyi let out a light breath and focused her gaze on the Village Chief's smiling face. "It seems that the Village Chief's house has been recently renovated. May I ask if this house is the ancestral home of the Village Chief's family or was it purchased from someone else?"
"To be honest, young lady, I bought this house from someone else. The original owner, as you may have heard, is from the Yun Family, specifically Sister Yun. Lord Yun was originally from our village but moved away after becoming successful. However, this old house remained. After the New Year, my grandson came of age and we needed more space, so we thought about finding another place. This one happened to be vacant and in decent condition, so I had an intermediary discuss it with Lord Yun. Lord Yun is a good person; he understood our situation and didn't charge me a single copper coin for the house. I discussed it with my son and daughter-in-law and decided to use the money we had set aside for buying a new house to renovate this one, which is how it ended up looking like this."
"Since the Village Chief bought the house from Lord Yun and is an elder in the village, do you know anything about its past?"
"The past? You must be referring to that incident?"
"You know what I'm asking about?"
"When I first encountered you at the well, I could tell you are not an ordinary person. Not only are you extraordinary, but everyone around you is also exceptional. When others enter my home, they usually examine the furniture and decor; however, you are someone who has seen grand occasions and naturally wouldn't be impressed by my rough tables and chairs. Yet you only glanced around briefly before staring at my main beam for quite some time."
"Indeed, I am particularly interested in the main beam of the Village Chief's house, especially the knife marks on it."
"This is our local custom: whenever someone hangs themselves in a household, a mark must be cut into the beam. In this old house, seven people have hanged themselves, hence there are seven knife marks on this beam."
"Since the Village Chief knows all this so well, why would you still buy such a haunted house?"
"A haunted house? Yes, perhaps in the eyes of others this place seems ominous and should be avoided by strangers. But to me, this house holds my lifelong memories; I don't find it frightening." The Village Chief pointed to a tree stump in the yard. "There used to be an Osmanthus Tree there where I often played with Lord Yun when we were young. My mother was Lord Yun's nursemaid, so we grew up together. Oh, by the way, Lord Yun's biological mother was the first person to hang herself in this house."
"Why would Lord Yun's mother commit suicide?"
"This is also related to dumplings!" The village chief sighed. "Back then, the Yun family was not what it is now; they were merely one of the wealthier households in the village. The old lady of the Yun family was quite frugal and very harsh towards herself and outsiders. When the old master Yun's mother gave birth to him, it was a breech birth. Young lady, do you know what a breech birth is?"
"Normally, babies are born head down with their feet up, but some are born feet first, which is considered a type of difficult labor. In folk terms, it's called a breech birth, meaning the baby is delivered upright. This situation is extremely dangerous; if not handled properly, both the child and the mother could die. Of course, if luck is on their side, both the child and the mother may come through safely, but mothers often experience significant bleeding."
"That's right; you are correct. I never expected that someone as young as you would understand these medical matters," the village chief said, glancing towards the tree stump outside. "The old master Yun's mother was in such a situation. At that time, things were very perilous. My mother and the old master Yun's mother were old acquaintances, and since my mother had given birth before her, she was invited to help at the Yun household.
According to my mother, when the delivery was halfway through, the old lady of the Yun family told the midwife that if the daughter-in-law died, it wouldn't matter; they could just marry another one for the Yun family. But the child in her womb was the root of the Yun family and had to be saved. In rural areas, when faced with such dangerous situations, most people would do their best and follow orders. However, the old lady of the Yun family came up with a method she had heard from others: if a wealthy woman encountered difficult labor, they would use whipping as a means to stimulate her.
At that time, the Yun family was only slightly better off than ordinary families; they didn't have servants to cater to them like they do now. So, the old lady of Yun decided to have the midwife whip the pregnant woman directly. When the pregnant woman felt pain, naturally, the baby would be born."
"This is by far the most malicious story about a wicked mother-in-law I've ever heard!" Xing Ruyi exclaimed with wide eyes. "Did the midwife really hit her?"
The village chief nodded sadly. "My mother was there at that time; she knelt on the ground crying and begging the old lady of Yun not to do that. If she accidentally caused a miscarriage, not only would her daughter-in-law be lost, but also the root of the Yun family in her womb. The old lady of Yun was particularly stubborn at that time and directly asked my mother if she could bear responsibility if something happened to the child in her womb.
Naturally, my mother could not bear that responsibility and thus could not stop what happened next. Fortunately, with just one lash, young master Yun came tumbling out from his mother's belly; this also saved his mother's life. But what the old lady of Yun did and said truly left a mark on young master Yun's mother's heart.
After giving birth to a healthy boy and enduring so much suffering, she should have been well taken care of for some time. However, because young master Yun was born through difficult labor and his mother experienced severe postpartum bleeding, they had to hire an expensive doctor just to barely save her life. The old lady of Yun naturally complained bitterly about this during those days after childbirth and said many harsh words. One can only imagine how much resentment young master Yun's mother must have felt.
So when young master Yun turned one month old, his mother made a request to his father: she wanted to eat a bowl of dumplings filled with vegetables. His father agreed, but when the dumplings were ready, young master Yun's mother couldn't eat any because there were two eggs mixed into that vegetable filling. She was immediately scolded by the old lady of Yun for trying to ruin their family and causing trouble for them.
Young master Yun's mother simply scoffed three times without saying anything further. After young master Yun's full-month celebration passed, people noticed that they hadn't seen his mother around much—she was nowhere to be found. When they finally found her, she had hanged herself from a beam; her body was already cold."
"Not only was her body cold; I fear her heart had long since turned cold!" Xing Ruyi said with a deep sigh. "Pregnant women are already prone to anxiety after giving birth due to enduring unbearable labor pains and experiencing significant physical exhaustion afterward. If during childbirth they receive not care and understanding but instead scolding and reprimands, it will only exacerbate their anxiety during labor."
During the childbirth process, using whipping as a method to induce labor is truly unheard of. This old lady from the Yun family can be considered quite a peculiar person. The mother was already having a difficult labor, and the process was painful enough; as a woman herself, didn't she understand this? After the baby was finally born, instead of allowing her daughter-in-law to rest and take care of her properly, she relentlessly criticized and blamed her. It's no wonder that a mother would feel like wanting to die, and she ended up taking her own life during her son's full moon banquet.
"Is this also a kind of illness?"
Chang Tai, who had been listening nearby, couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, it can be considered an illness. In my hometown, we refer to this condition as postpartum depression. If it becomes severe, treatment should be sought as soon as possible. However, due to the patient's special circumstances, it is recommended to use traditional Chinese herbal medicine. For example, our Ruyi Rouge's calming herbal decoction is made from 30 grams each of Bupleurum, Poria, Angelica Sinensis, Albizia bark, White Peony, and fried Jujube seeds; 5 grams of Schisandra; 10 grams of Mother Zhi; and 30 grams of Yejiao Teng. One dose can be prepared with water for consumption. There is also another medicine meant for wealthy families called Huanglian Ejiao Decoction, which consists of 10 grams each of Huanglian, Huangqin, White Peony, Acorus, Bupleurum, Licorice, Turmeric, and high-quality donkey-hide gelatin; 30 grams of floating wheat; 15 grams of Jujube seeds; and 5 pieces of jujubes. This too is taken daily with water for preparation and has very good effects. However, even if I had this medicine at that time, given the sharp-tongued nature of Old Lady Yun, she might not have been willing to buy it."
"What you say is true; someone who can't even spare two eggs would hardly be willing to buy those medicines. After Old Master Yun's mother hanged herself, Old Master Yun's father was heartbroken for a while before he remarried under Old Lady Yun's arrangement. This new wife naturally could not tolerate a baby who had just turned one month old and was still nursing. So my mother became Young Master Yun's nursemaid, and I moved into the large courtyard of the Yun family with her. After that, for almost a year, the Yun family was peaceful until the night Young Master Yun's stepmother gave birth when turmoil arose again in the Yun household. Thus, two more scars were added to the already troubled family."
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