The Apothecary Diaries - Volume 4 - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Bath

“I wonder if there’s anywhere I can get a decent job,” Xiaolan said as she sorted the laundry in the basket. They were in the usual laundry area, and one of the eunuchs had given her a load of dry clothes. “Say, Maomao, you wouldn’t happen to have any connections, would you?”

Xiaolan was into the last six months of her contract. Normally it was around this time that the families of palace women found potential marriages for them, or else the women found matches for themselves. Alternatively, a higher-ranking palace woman or consort who particularly liked them might ask for them to be kept on at the rear palace.

“Connections, huh?” Maomao said. Sure, she had connections. Such as they were. The Verdigris House was always looking for hardworking, attractive young women. Especially ones as good-natured as Xiaolan.

Maomao put a hand to her chin and looked at Xiaolan. She still had traces of baby fat, but she had a good face. And there were certain men who would appreciate the way she occasionally stumbled over her words. Most of all, though, she was earnest, and that would get her a long way. The old madam said girls like that were easy to train up, and she frequently bought them from the procurers—in other words, the traffickers.

Maomao quailed at the thought, though. “If you absolutely, positively can’t find any other job, then I’ll make some introductions.” To be perfectly honest, though, she didn’t want to.

“What? You’d really do that for me?!” Xiaolan leaned toward Maomao, her eyes sparkling. Maomao looked away.

I’m afraid she’s getting her hopes up...

In Maomao’s mind, she was a last resort. Her own firsthand knowledge of the pleasure quarter and the courtesans within it prevented her from being able to recommend it wholeheartedly as an occupation. The Verdigris House, which was essentially Maomao’s own home, was one of the brothels that treated its women relatively well, but by and large the pleasure quarter was not a place where one could hope to work—and survive—into old age. Chronic sleep deprivation and malnutrition, along with whatever diseases the customers might be carrying, conspired to end many a courtesan’s life early. Then there were the ones who tried and failed to cut ties with the place, and subsequently found themselves stuffed in a bamboo mat and pitched into the river as an example to others.

Xiaolan had been sold into the rear palace by her parents; when she left, it would be up to her to make her own way. It was understandable how that might produce some anxiety—or drive her to start asking around about “connections.”

Am I sure I don’t have anything better? Maomao asked herself.

It crossed her mind to recommend her to Jinshi, but then she shook her head. Introducing her to him would only get Xiaolan caught up in who knew what kind of trouble.

Maybe the quack doctor, then. She crossed her arms and grunted—and then suddenly a face appeared.

“What’s up?” The speaker was a tall young woman with a unique hairdo and a distinctly non-courtly speaking style. Shisui.

“Oh, Shisui! Say, you wouldn’t happen to know a good place to work, would you?”

They say a drowning woman will clutch at any straw, and Xiaolan was doing exactly that. Shisui was only a maid herself, meaning her position was very similar to Xiaolan’s. The chances of getting a useful lead from her were slim indeed—but Shisui said something unexpected.

“You know, I think I just might.”

“What? Really?” Xiaolan all but grabbed onto Shisui. The other girl glanced aside and pointed toward the center of the rear palace’s southern quarter, where a large, low building stood. Maomao was well acquainted with it: it was the great bathhouse. It had been built during the expansion of the rear palace, in imitation of the harems of a nation far to the west.

“Well, it’s not so much that I know one right now. But I think I know how we can get one,” Shisui said, and grinned.

The building was huge, the bathing area in general big enough for a thousand people, with a tub large enough for a hundred.

There were three main bathing areas: a small chamber with an attached outdoor bath for the consorts, a second, larger bath where the trio was standing now, and the third, biggest bath, which the maids usually just took quick dips in.

With a population as dense as that of the rear palace, it was all too easy for an illness to turn into an epidemic, so sanitation was paramount. This bath was part of maintaining that cleanliness.

Out in the wider world, a “bath” usually meant simply washing one’s body. One didn’t get in a tub, but simply filled a bucket with water and washed with it, or otherwise wiped oneself down with a wet rag. In the pleasure quarter where Maomao had grown up, bathing in tubs was the norm, but many of the women who served at the rear palace didn’t even know how to use them when they first arrived. Filling a tub with hot water was just that much of a luxury.

In winter, palace women were expected to bathe once every five days; once every other day in summer. Washing away dust and body odor was all part and parcel, Maomao thought, of making life at the rear palace pleasant. It was also a chance to see if any of the consorts were subjecting the serving women to corporal punishment. It was much like how at the Verdigris House, the madam had kept a close eye on the women to make sure none of the customers were abusing them and damaging the merchandise.

The bathhouse could itself be a vector for spreading illness, but in this garden of women, sexually transmitted diseases were rare, and most of the inhabitants were young and healthy, so serious contamination was unusual.

“I knew we’d have the place to ourselves this time of day!” Shisui said. It was still light out, and few other palace women were there.

“But why the bathhouse?” Xiaolan asked. She had a washcloth in her hand and was wearing only a bathing apron, which left the curves of her body clearly visible—not that there were very many of them.

“You’ll find out.” Shisui was dressed the same way. Her body was awfully developed, though, compared to how youthful her face looked. Her chest was large enough to make Maomao’s fingers flex unconsciously. Apparently Shisui dressed to hide her proportions.

Shisui herself, meanwhile, grinned broadly and jumped into the bath.

“Hey! You have to rinse first! They’ll get mad at you!” Xiaolan cried.

“Yipes! It’s hot!” Shisui yelped even as she pulled off her apron. Her skin was turning red where she’d plunged in. Maomao grabbed a bucket and brought over some water from the cold-water bath.

Xiaolan sniffed, annoyed. “Hmph. Have you never bathed at this time of day?”

The eunuchs only filled the tubs once a day, so they started with extremely hot water, and over time, it cooled down until it was the perfect temperature. During the warm season like this, therefore, not many people were eager to hop in the bath immediately after it was filled. But later on it got crowded—so those who did wish to take an early bath were allowed in. That was why Maomao and the others could be there now.

“Hee hee. I always come a little later,” Shisui said.

Maomao mixed cold and hot water in her bucket, then started to wet herself down. She used some shampoo she’d swiped from the medical office; as it bubbled, she wetted her hair and worked her fingers carefully along her scalp.

“Let me have some of that, Maomao!” Shisui said and stuck out her hand. Maomao obligingly poured a bit of the shampoo from its bottle into her palm. Her own head still covered in suds, Maomao poured some of the water from the bucket over Xiaolan’s head and washed her hair with the shampoo as well.

“It stings my eyes,” Xiaolan said.

“Then close them.”

She worked her fingers over Xiaolan’s scalp, getting a good lather going, then washed the bubbles away with more water. Xiaolan shook her head like a dog shaking itself dry, flinging suds in Maomao’s face. “I’m not a big fan of baths,” she said.

“No? But they feel good,” Shisui said.

“I agree.” Maomao sought out a comparatively cool place in the tub and dipped her toes into the water. Concerned that the heat would go to her head, she put more cold water in her bucket and used it to keep her face cool as she soaked.

Shisui slid into the tub like Maomao, while Xiaolan got in the cold bath. She was probably more comfortable there; farming villages like her hometown usually didn’t have a custom of bathing in hot water.

Xiaolan rested her arm on the edge of the tub and looked over at the other girls. “How is this supposed to be a ‘connection’ to anything?”

“Just look over there.” Shisui pointed to the outdoor bath, usually the abode of the more important women of the rear palace—consorts and higher-ranking ladies-in-waiting. It was attached to the small chamber that was reserved for the consorts’ use.

“What’s over there?” Xiaolan asked.

Shisui got up, took Xiaolan by the arm, and dragged her outside. She guided her over to a stone platform beside the outdoor bath.

“H-Hold on, are we even allowed to be out here?” Xiaolan asked, a little panicked, but Shisui only grinned, stood by the platform, and tied a hand towel around her head.

Well, now... Maomao thought. She thought she had a pretty good idea of what Shisui had in mind. She joined the others by the platform and tied a towel around Xiaolan’s head. Xiaolan still looked confused, but soon two women approached them.

“New here?” one of them asked. From her haughty tone, it was easy to guess she must be a consort.

Shisui just smiled and said, “Yes, ma’am.”

Then the consort laid down on the stone platform as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The other woman, evidently her lady-in-waiting, produced a bottle of perfume oil.

“Good and firm, please,” the consort said.

“You’ve got it!” Shisui replied, taking the perfume oil and slowly pouring it over the consort’s shoulders.

“Mmm... A little to the right,” the woman said languorously. Her lady-in-waiting stood by, looking bored.

Kind of doubt she’s been with the Emperor, then, Maomao thought, taking some of the oil and rubbing it into the woman’s legs and feet, trying her best to imitate Shisui. Xiaolan did likewise.

When a woman had been the Emperor’s bedmate, she would become the target of harassment from the other consorts and palace women. She would learn to be vigilant—no one in that position would let an unknown serving girl give her a massage. This woman, though, was flopped on the table like an octopus. She had a certain beauty, as all consorts must, but Maomao couldn’t help noticing that her skin looked a bit abused; there were marks where her fine hair had been plucked.

That really bugs me.

How could it not, Maomao having been raised in the pleasure quarter? On impulse, she ducked back into the building, looking for something.

“What’s that?” Xiaolan asked quietly when she came back. Maomao was holding a thread about sixty centimeters long.

“You’ll see,” Maomao said. Then she struck up a conversation with the consort’s lady-in-waiting. The other woman looked a little suspicious, but listened. At length, she sat down on the edge of the stone platform and held out her arm. Maomao ran the thread along it. The surface of the thread caught her hair and pulled it out.

“It doesn’t hurt too much?” Maomao asked.

“It’s pretty uncomfortable, but it’s sure better than a dull razor.” The other woman seemed like a decent lady-in-waiting. Typically, this sort of thing was done after a good, thorough cleaning, but the women looked like they had already been in the bath, so it should be fine.

“I’ll stop if it seems to be irritating your skin,” Maomao said. She decided to start with just one arm. After carefully removing all the hair, she doused the limb generously in perfume oil. It was a good perfume, modestly scented; it didn’t assault the nose.

“Hmm, well, let’s see how it goes for now. When will you be around next?” the lady-in-waiting asked with a glance at her mistress, who was melting on the stone table.

“When would you like?”

“Say the day after next, maybe?”

Shisui grinned at that. Xiaolan was working on the woman’s thighs, still not quite sure what was going on.

I see what she’s going for, Maomao thought. If they didn’t have connections, they could just make some. The bathhouse was an important venue, a place where they could meet the consorts, whom they could never normally get close to.

By the time the satisfied consort and her attendant left, the next customer for their massage service was already waiting.

Playing bathhouse attendant was tiring work. It took a lot of effort to massage someone’s entire body. It wouldn’t have been so bad doing just one person, but before they knew it, there was a line.

They eventually learned that the lady who used to give massages here had recently reached the end of her contract. One of the middle consorts had taken a liking to her, and now she was employed in the woman’s family home.

In the wider world, bathhouse attendants were often treated as prostitutes, but there were only women here, so it wasn’t an issue. However, perhaps because of the association, or perhaps simply because it was physical labor, many of the palace women didn’t like doing this job. So it was that Maomao, Shisui, and Xiaolan became the go-to women for massages. It meant that much more work to do—Maomao and the others were, after all, supposed to be handling laundry—but it brought its benefits.

“Here, have this. It isn’t much, but take it,” a lady-in-waiting said as she got out of the bath, discreetly passing them a small fabric pouch. This didn’t happen every time, of course. This particular woman seemed to have appreciated the hair removal, that was all. When they peeked inside, they found candy. That set Xiaolan’s eyes sparkling, and she promptly popped a piece into her mouth. “Ahh, bliss...”

So she could achieve bliss just by having something sweet to eat. Lucky girl.

The three of them had finished their work in the baths and were perched on the railing out front, cooling off. The sun was still high in the sky; it was a bit early for dinner. Other women were rushing around, trying to finish their work before sundown. The ones tasked with cooking the food looked especially busy.

Maomao was something of a special case, but for Xiaolan and Shisui, the compromise of getting to the bath early was having more work left to do later. They were enjoying a few precious moments of relaxation before they got back to their jobs.

“I guess it’s not that easy to make connections,” Xiaolan said, rolling the candy around in her mouth. Maybe she’d been expecting that they would be up to their ears in job offers by now.

“Oh, it’s not so bad,” Shisui said. “When your contract is about to run out, just find one of the consorts who likes you all right and whisper in her ear. Tell her your service will be ending soon.”

“I hope it’ll work...”

“Even if she doesn’t take you on personally, you might at least be able to get your contract extended. And even if that doesn’t happen...” Shisui took something from the folds of her robe: a comb missing several teeth. Despite the imperfection, it was a turtle-shell piece that must have been worth a fair bit of money. “...You can always turn something like this into cash!”

“Hoh!” Very clever, Maomao thought. She didn’t much like sweet things and had given her candy to Xiaolan. And speaking of clever...

The word also described the consort Maomao served. Maomao was going to the baths once every two days, and she always seemed to be in the company of Shisui and Xiaolan. Many women might have frowned on her paying so much attention to other consorts. Consort Gyokuyou, however, simply said: “Oh? You hear lots of interesting things in a place like that. Let me know what you learn.” She was unflappable.

It was true; consorts and ladies-in-waiting often spoke offhandedly about things of great interest when they were really relaxed. Perhaps they didn’t realize that Maomao was herself a lady-in-waiting at the Jade Pavilion, or maybe the steam from the hot baths obscured her enough that it was hard to tell. Whatever the case, people spoke to her of their families’ business situations, the behind-the-scenes goings-on of other consorts, and other secrets.

There were rumors about Consort Gyokuyou too. Maomao realized that the sharpest consorts had guessed she was pregnant long ago, and all the talk now was about whether it would be a boy or girl and when it would be born. A handful of gossip held that Consort Lihua might be pregnant as well; Maomao was unsettled to realize people were already thinking along those lines.

But there were still other rumors. Such as one that said perhaps Consort Loulan was with child. She’d been known for her gaudy outfits ever since she got to the rear palace, but recently she’d started to favor billowing clothes and seemed to avoid going outside, both of which fueled the stories.

Hmmm...

Consort Loulan had arrived at the beginning of this year, and they were already at the end of the eighth month, going into the ninth. It was unthinkable that His Majesty would have failed to visit Loulan, a high consort who had arrived with such fanfare. If the rumors were true, it would mean that three of the four upper consorts were pregnant. Happy news? Or tidings of trouble? Either way, it was an unsettling prospect.

And there was yet another interesting story going around...

“I thought making eunuchs wasn’t allowed anymore.”

Maomao knew what Xiaolan was getting at. Alongside the new palace ladies who had been taken on recently, the number of eunuchs had increased as well, but the creation of new eunuchs was supposed to have been outlawed when the current Emperor had taken the throne.

“They’re former slaves,” Shisui said blandly. Slavery was also supposed to have been outlawed; these men probably hadn’t been slaves in Maomao’s country. Among the tribes were some who captured people from the surrounding nations, castrated them, and made them slaves. These new arrivals must have either run away or been rescued.

“They say there’s thirty of them. With a number that big, there must have been a pretty serious move against the tribes.”

When slaves escaped, there was usually some impetus like that behind it. Maomao recalled there’d been some issue with such an expedition the year before; maybe the men had been rescued then. Shisui might look and sound youthful, and she might have a strange predilection for bugs, but she could be surprisingly worldly.

“That’s rough,” Xiaolan remarked.

“You said it,” Shisui replied. They sounded as if it hardly concerned them. Then again, it hardly did.

Then Xiaolan said, “You know, they say one of the eunuchs is awfully cool. I’d sure like to get a look at him.”

That sounded all too familiar to Maomao, who scowled.

“We’re talking about a eunuch, remember. Still interested?” Shisui asked.

“But cool is cool, right? Ooh, maybe he’ll be assigned to bring the water for the baths!” Xiaolan’s eyes were positively sparkling. Evidently it didn’t matter to her whether this man had that most important of possessions or not. She was still so young. “I’m still interested,” Xiaolan added. “Even if he isn’t as great as Master Jinshi.”

Maomao almost fell clean off the railing she was leaning against.

“You okay?” Xiaolan asked, peering at her. Maomao brushed off her skirt and straightened up again, pretending it was nothing. “Come to think of it, Maomao, you and Master Jinshi are always—”

“—running errands for the consort, yes.” Maomao said forcefully. As if to communicate: nothing more and nothing less.

Unconsciously, she brushed at her skirt with her left hand. It was like she could still feel the frog she’d accidentally grabbed hold of. Yeah, the frog. The frog, she kept repeating, trying to calm herself down.

She hadn’t yet seen Jinshi since they’d returned from the hunting expedition. She assumed he would soon be coming to the Jade Pavilion on his routine rounds, and she wasn’t really looking forward to it. She was still repeating the frog, the frog to herself with the intensity of a monk reciting a sutra when two familiar faces entered the bath: an uneasy-looking young woman, and a palace lady attending her. The young woman had a cute face, but at the moment her brow was knitted in distress.

Is that...Consort Lishu?

Yes, and her chief lady-in-waiting. Maomao watched them, wondering what they were doing there.