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墨書 Inktalez
In Northern China, there is a practice known as Soul Calling.
Soul Calling is usually applied to young children. It is said that when a person is young, the connection between the soul and the body is not yet tightly bound. If a child experiences a fright during this time, their soul may leave their body. Children who have lost their souls typically exhibit signs of lethargy and lack of appetite. In severe cases, they may even fall into a coma.
The symptoms of the Night Watchman are typical of soul loss.
The Night Watchman has dark circles under his eyes, with unusually black pupils and prominent blood vessels in the whites of his eyes, indicating some bleeding in the eye area after experiencing a sudden scare. However, when Xing Ruyi looked closely at his pupils, she noticed something strange. The Night Watchman did not seem to have lost his soul due to fear; rather, it appeared that his soul had been lured away.
“Has anything strange happened in your household recently, Sister-in-law?” Xing Ruyi asked as she pried open the Gravedigger's Son's eyes and found that both father and son were suffering from the same condition, although the son's condition was slightly less severe. She withdrew her hands and looked at the Woman: “Or perhaps there are objects in your home that should not be there?”
The Woman shook her head: “I do not know what strange occurrences or objects Shopkeeper Xing is referring to.”
“Then let me ask differently. Before your husband fell into a coma, did anything happen?”
“My husband is just a night watchman; he goes out in the evening and doesn’t return until dawn. By the time he comes back, my child and I are usually still asleep. This morning, while I was half-awake, I heard some noises in the house and thought we had been robbed. When I opened my eyes, I saw my husband’s night watch gear on the table, but he was lying on the floor. I didn’t know what had happened, so I quietly got up and approached him, gently asking what was wrong. To my surprise, he… he had already fainted.
Seeing my husband collapsed, I quickly woke up my child and sent him out to find a doctor. In my anxiety, I forgot that it was just past dawn, and most doctors probably hadn’t risen yet; how could anyone be at the Pharmacy?
Poor child! He’s so naive; when I sent him out, he didn’t even wear a warm coat. By the time he returned, it was already bright outside, and he was shivering all over. Not long after getting under the covers, he became like this.”
The Woman said as she wiped her tears.
“It’s all my fault! Is there any mother here who has done what I did? A perfectly healthy child has been made ill because of me. Shopkeeper Xing, I’ve heard from others that you are a living Bodhisattva who can heal people; I beg you to help them. Our family is not wealthy; we rely entirely on my husband’s night watch job for our livelihood, and this child is our only one. If anything happens to them both, how will I survive?”
Although Xing Ruyi was a woman herself, she felt uncomfortable facing such emotional pleas from another woman. She looked at the Woman and frowned slightly: “Sister-in-law need not worry; for A Niu’s sake, I will do my best. However, while I can treat this illness, whether they recover depends on whether you are willing to put in effort.”
“Me?” The Woman widened her eyes: “Are you joking with me, Shopkeeper Xing? I am just an ordinary woman; I cannot diagnose or administer medicine and do not understand how to treat my husband or child’s illness. Why would it depend on my effort if you can heal them?”
“Sister-in-law misunderstands.”
"I misunderstood?"
"Yes, you misunderstood." Xing Ruyi pointed at the Night Watchman and then at the Gravedigger's Son, who was also lying in bed. "Your Husband and Son are both suffering from soul loss. I have a potion here that is just right for this condition, but whether the souls can be called back depends on your abilities, Sister-in-law."
The Woman lowered her head and thought for a moment before asking softly, "Then how can I call back the lost souls?"
"First, the Soul Calling must be done at night, and the person being called must stay at home. The entire Soul Calling process must be completed before dawn, that is, before the rooster crows; otherwise, the soul loser’s life will be in great danger.
Tonight, I can set up a Soul Calling array in your home, but you will need to find a few Young Men to help. Prepare bamboo sticks of seven inches, Cinnabar, mercury, Realgar, grass from a magpie's nest, and willow branches of seven inches. The willow branches with leaves are the most effective, but since it is now winter, just find those that are still green and have soft paper-like bark. If they are too dry and break during use, the entire Soul Calling process will fail."
"Don't worry, Shopkeeper. A Niu can take care of these things. Now that both my uncle and Nephew are sick, Aunt is probably unable to help either. Besides what you just mentioned, is there anything else A Niu needs to prepare?"
"Just gather everything I mentioned earlier. However, preparing these items is secondary; the most important thing is to do other tasks." Xing Ruyi asked the Woman to bring paper and pen and quickly sketched a map of Yun Family Gathering on the paper, pointing to three locations: "Sister-in-law and A Niu are familiar with these three places at Yun Family Gathering. These are the three main entrances used by people coming and going. You need to place incense at each of these entrances. When the incense burns down to the length of a thumb nail, you need to replace it promptly while extinguishing the original stick immediately. The three sticks of incense must burn for three nights without interruption. This task seems simple but is quite difficult."
"In this cold winter month, just sitting in the room feels uncomfortable; how can we guard the incense at night?" The Woman gently remarked while glancing at A Niu from the corner of her eye.
"It's true for Aunt. If it were daytime with sunlight, it might be better; but at night, even strong men would find it difficult to endure a whole night at the village entrance," A Niu said with urgency on his face. "Moreover, as Shopkeeper just mentioned, this incense must burn for three nights without interruption. For these three entrances, we would need at least six people to take turns; however, my Maternal Family has very few members—how can we find so many people? I wonder if Shopkeeper has any other methods besides this one?"
"There are methods available, but their effectiveness may be somewhat reduced."
"What does 'somewhat reduced' mean?" The Woman looked at Xing Ruyi in confusion.
"Oh, it means that the effect will be less effective."
"Less effective is still better than not finding anyone and delaying things further. I just don't know what your other method is, Shopkeeper Xing? Is it difficult or not?"
"It can be difficult or easy. I call this method 'Ghost Watching Incense.'" Xing Ruyi smiled mysteriously and noticed the Woman's surprised expression before continuing with a slight grin: "In such a large Yun Family Gathering, there must be some elderly long-lived individuals around? Sister-in-law should prepare some gifts to invite these elders to cut a few pieces of cold clothing and paper money to burn at the entrance. If the ashes from these cold clothes fall onto a nearby grave, tie a red string around the Grave Mound in a circle and sincerely ask for help from the owner of that grave to guard the incense. If the cold clothes do not leave the grave when they burn out, it means that the owner agrees to help. If they do leave, then seek another willing helper. Remember that these tasks need to be done when the sun sets; once it has completely sunk below ground level, regardless of whether you have found three willing helpers or not, you must stop."
"What if we can't find enough people?" A Niu asked as he assisted the Woman with her inquiries.
"If we can't find enough, then we'll have to continue using living people to guard the incense."
"A Niu has noted that down." A Niu pursed her lips and turned to the Woman, "Aunt, you need not worry. Before nightfall, A Niu will definitely help you find these three willing to guard the incense."
"In addition to these three incense guardians, we need a few strong young men. The best choices are those born in the Year of the Tiger or Dragon, while those born in the Year of the Rat, Sheep, or Rooster are secondary options. Once it gets dark, Sister-in-law will call out along the route your Husband used to patrol."
"Call out! How should I call out?"
"Call your Husband's name or any affectionate nickname you used to call each other. In short, you need to let your Husband know that you are looking for him and bringing him home. Oh, and before you go out, you can wear one of your Husband's usual outfits and tuck a red date inside it. With each step, you need to call out three times; your voice doesn't have to be loud—just loud enough for you to hear it, so as not to disturb others at the Yun Family Gathering and scare those with weak hearts."
"How will I know if we've found Uncle and Nephew's lost souls or if they heard us calling them? We can't just wander around the city aimlessly all night. What if when dawn comes, Uncle and Nephew still can't wake up? What should we do then?"
"A Niu, what you just asked is indeed a problem. To be honest, Shopkeeper, I have never properly helped anyone call back their soul before, nor have I heard of anyone successfully calling back a soul without it returning. However, since you've brought it up, I must think of a method to reassure your Aunt." Xing Ruyi said as she rummaged through her belongings and eventually pulled out a mirror. This mirror was a gift from Moxuyou when she was at the Arsenal.
"I have a Copper Mirror here, which is a Taoist treasure from Zhongnan Mountain. The person who gave me this mirror said it can reflect ghosts and spirits. Out of curiosity, I tried using this mirror twice before, and the Taoist's words turned out to be true. Tonight, I'll lend this mirror to Sister-in-law; while calling out, just keep an eye on the mirror. If you see your Husband or Son in it, call them back."
Xing Ruyi handed the Copper Mirror to the Woman.
However, the Woman's expression suddenly changed, and a trace of undeniable fear surfaced in her eyes. She took a small step back and looked at the Copper Mirror in Xing Ruyi's hand: "Such a precious item—how can a mere Daoist woman like me hold onto it? Besides, I will surely be nervous tonight; I'm afraid I won't be able to focus on looking into this mirror."
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