The Apothecary Diaries - Volume 8 - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: The Go Contest (Part One)

Maomao gave the bandages a mighty thwack. The autumn breeze caught the drying white strips of cloth and they fluttered against the cloudless blue sky. The weather seemed the exact opposite of the clouds that darkened Maomao’s heart.

She’d felt she couldn’t simply walk away from Empress Gyokuyou’s palace on a note like that. She’d been saved by a message from Dr. Liu. He could be hard on his subordinates, but he also looked out for them.

Maomao hadn’t realized the Empress was so cornered—and not by some obvious political enemy, but by a member of her own family.

Her older brother...

She’d heard that the Empress was the daughter of a concubine. Gyokuen was an old man, so Gyokuyou’s half-brother Gyoku-ou must have been considerably older than she was. Complicated family relations were hardly unusual among the nobility, and it seemed Gyokuyou was no exception.

I wonder what happens after this. From what Haku-u had said, Gyokuen had his own games he was playing. He would be Empress Gyokuyou’s ally only so long as there was something in it for him—so what would happen if she lost the Emperor’s affections? Or for that matter, what if something should happen to the Crown Prince?

Even if you’re not interested in power, there are times when you need it to survive, Maomao thought. She sighed as she plunged her hands into the freezing water. It was so cold, it felt like her fingertips were going to fall off. And the weather would only get colder, so working with water would become more unpleasant still. En’en, with her intense devotion to her young mistress, had been plying Yao with balm to keep her skin from chapping.

As she peered at the blue sky, Maomao had a thought. I wonder what that picture was about. The eerie image drawn by the little girl, Jazgul.

That reminded her that the shrine maiden from the west was still living in Li. How was she doing? Well enough, no doubt, with the former consort Ah-Duo to look after her. Yet though she had indeed once been one of the Emperor’s ladies, Ah-Duo, Maomao reflected, seemed destined to take all the country’s dark secrets upon herself. Her home was a haven for the surviving Shi clan children, as well as Suirei, who, though unrecognized, was the granddaughter of the former emperor and the niece of the current one. And now the shrine maiden of Shaoh, who was supposed to be dead, was there too.

Ah-Duo, the beauty in men’s clothing, took all of this in her stride, but how must it appear to those around her? Well, in one sense, it didn’t. All these things were done in complete secrecy, and wouldn’t be discovered so easily. But there were plenty of people with sharp noses in the court. I hope none of them catch her scent.

With that thought in her mind, Maomao poured the last of the water from the bucket into a canal.

“There isn’t a full day’s work to do here,” Dr. Liu groaned. It was an hour when the medical office would normally have been crawling with injured soldiers, but today it was deserted.

“What can we do? Everyone’s playing hooky—starting with the head honcho himself,” said the young doctor, Tianyu. He wore a sarcastic smile, but he looked disappointed. In his hand he held a Go book. “But even more of the civil officials are cutting work today. I hear there were some real brawls about who would get to take today off. At least the soldiers can pretend they’re going over to keep an eye on things.”

Maomao knew Tianyu himself had been desperate to get the day off, but he’d ended up here at work. A minimum staff was always needed in the medical offices, so physicians found it harder than most to take vacations.

“Seeing as there’s pretty much nothing to do, I could probably just go home, couldn’t I?” Tianyu asked, but that sort of wheedling wouldn’t fly with Dr. Liu.

“Since we’ve finally got some time on our hands, we should use it to mix up some medicines, replenish our supply.” The elderly doctor had a nasty grin on his face; he was enjoying turning the screws.

Maomao’s eyes lit up at the mention of making medicines. “What should we make, sir?” she said.

“Er, ahem. Yes. I’m sorry to take the wind out of your sails when you’ve finally found some enthusiasm, but...” He held out a cloth-wrapped package. “I need you to deliver this for me.”

Maomao immediately scowled.

“I know that look. You’re thinking, Who does this geezer think he is?”

“Perish the thought, sir,” she said dutifully.

“Sir, perhaps I could make that delivery...” Tianyu ventured.

“No, you couldn’t.”

Well. No room for argument. If this was something Maomao needed to handle personally, she feared to know what exactly it might entail.

“I want you to take it here,” Dr. Liu said, taking out a map of the capital and pointing to a public square near the theater where the White Lady had performed her wonders.

“Here, sir?”

“Not your favorite place, I take it. It’s obvious from the look on your face.”

It certainly wasn’t—because at that moment, that particular square was hosting a major event. Namely, one related to Go. It was all too easy to guess who would be there. Maomao didn’t know what strings he’d had to pull to get such a prime location, and for two days, no less—this must be quite a large tournament.

“I assume Dr. Kan will be there. He wasn’t assigned to it, but he volunteered to take point.”

Maomao thought she could see what Dr. Liu was getting at. He tried to set up a bulwark for me.

There was no telling what the freak strategist might try, but having Maomao’s old man there would help diffuse the situation. Chances were, Maomao was being sent for much the same reason.

“There are a lot of people there, which means someone is going to feel unwell, whether from playing Go or whatever. This isn’t the sort of thing the medical office would usually involve itself in, but don’t you agree that moments like this are the time to offer a helping hand?” Dr. Liu said, but it sounded rehearsed. She smelled Lahan, who had actually organized the tournament. He knew her old man wouldn’t say no, and that he could get to Maomao by using Dr. Liu, a superior whom she couldn’t refuse.

That no-good...

En’en was interested in Go, so she and Yao had taken the day off, while Maomao was stuck here.

“This is your job, now. I trust you can do it professionally,” Dr. Liu pressed. All Maomao could do was nod. Nod, and ignore the fact that Tianyu was looking at her, green with envy.

She didn’t have to look at the map to figure out where to go—she just had to follow the flood of people carrying Go books. Game boards were set up here, there, and everywhere in the square, attracting crowds of people of all kinds—young and old, men and women alike. A cloth had been hung, the flimsiest excuse for a wind block, and there were only wooden boxes on which to put the boards. A poor show. And holding an event like this outside so close to the end of the year—it was practically begging for people to catch cold.

Still...

With so many people around, even this paltry excuse for a venue started to look rather fine, and indeed was suffused with a surprising warmth. Main-street restaurants and drinking establishments had established outposts here in the square. Children begged their mothers to buy them treats. Hot ginger water and wine were being distributed to keep people warm, although the wine had been heated to take the alcohol out of it.

We’ve seen too many drunks make trouble at festivals.

It wasn’t just Go-related paraphernalia, either—Shogi pieces, card games, and even Mah-jongg tiles could be seen around, perhaps at the instigation of the event organizers. There were even shops selling ornaments and personal accessories, so even people with no interest in the game of Go packed themselves into the square.

That’s a very Lahan-esque idea, Maomao thought. He did love the mercantile trade. She was sure he was charging the shops for the prime location.

Maomao threaded her way through the crowd until she saw some familiar faces. “Yao! En’en!”

There they were. Yao was rubbing salve into a child’s skinned knee, while En’en administered some medicinal tea to a shivering elderly person.

“Maomao? What happened to working?” Yao asked, giving her a look that made it clear she assumed Maomao had skipped out on the medical office.

“Dr. Liu sent me here on an errand. And anyway, what happened to not working?”

“Oh. It’s thanks to your, uh, ‘older brother,’” Yao replied. That immediately put a scowl on Maomao’s face. “Dr. Kan wasn’t supposed to work today, either, but he got roped in. And then your older brother said it was too much for Dr. Kan to handle alone and that he wanted us to help too.”

“You should’ve just told him no.” She felt bad for her old man, but Yao and En’en were supposed to be off today. They weren’t obliged to work like the rest of the medical office. Lahan should have just hired some of the city doctors instead of making her dad and the girls do everything, anyway. And now he was using Maomao too. It was just like that skinflint. “You should send him a bill,” Maomao said, suddenly of a mind to wring a few pennies out of the tousle-haired man with his round spectacles.

“Oh, I don’t mind. I’m not that interested in Go,” Yao said. She finished treating the child’s wound and sent him on his way with a “There we are.”

“Thanks, miss!” the kid said.

Oh hoh. Maomao noticed the little smile on Yao’s face as she waved goodbye to the child. The smile disappeared abruptly when Yao noticed Maomao looking at her. En’en shot Maomao a little thumbs-up as if to say: See? Isn’t my mistress cute? She seemed to be enjoying herself, even if she didn’t get to play Go.

“If you’re on an errand, I assume you’re looking for Dr. Kan? He’s over there,” she said, pointing to the theater where the White Lady had held her performances. It was a large building and used to hold events frequently, but it had been shuttered for some time. “I think the original plan was to hold the entire contest in there. But...well, you see.” The boards scattered around the square spoke to how many entrants there had been.

“Nice that it’s such a success, I guess, but there’s clearly more than the permitted number of people here,” Maomao agreed. Good for them that the square had been there to spill out into, but it presented any number of problems. She assumed there would be people getting injured and feeling sick. If only they’d held the contest in a warmer season.

The elderly person En’en had been tending to seemed to be feeling better; they gave a gap-toothed grin and looked intent on going back to play more Go, so En’en placed a handkerchief around their neck. The weather was clear but dry. If someone got a parched throat and started coughing, a cold could spread like wildfire.

Maomao’s father, of course, was well aware of that. People trotted back and forth among the players carrying cups and large bottles. Anytime one of the players raised their hand, someone would pour from a bottle into one of the cups and give it to them. Maomao presumed it was hot yuzu water or ginger water—something good for the throat. Blankets were being handed out to anyone who was shivering. There was even a fire for those whom even the blankets couldn’t keep warm. Her old man had done everything he could.

“Say, Maomao.” En’en came over and whispered in her ear. “Dr. Kan isn’t the only one over there. Grand Commandant Kan is as well.” Maomao didn’t say anything to that, but looked at her delivery with an expression of intense disgust. En’en said, “I wish I could say I’d take it over for you, but honestly, I sort of need you to deliver it.”

“Why is that?”

“Because when everything’s over, En’en gets to play a game against the grand commandant,” Yao said.

“That’s right. It’s a real honor!”

In other words, Maomao should keep her mouth shut and go see the freak strategist.

“I can’t believe I get the privilege for free,” En’en said.

“What do you mean, free?”

“Usually it would cost ten silver pieces, but we were told that if we helped out we could have a game for free.”

I think nothing is about what it’s worth, isn’t it? Maomao thought. Why would anyone pay that kind of money?

“I’m not sure we could afford it on our salaries otherwise,” Yao said.

Your desserts aren’t a lot cheaper... The snack she ate every day to improve her beauty, health—and bust—was no cheap eat. Did she realize how much it cost each month? Someone’s probably making sure she doesn’t, Maomao reflected. Very in character for En’en.

“Let’s keep our thoughts to ourselves,” said En’en. (This seemed to be aimed at Maomao.) “If you win three games in the square out here, you can proceed into the theater, and if you win three games in there, you earn the right to challenge the grand commandant himself.”

“So it’s not just pay to play? Even if you played as fast as possible, winning six games would take a while,” Maomao said, giving En’en a puzzled look.

“That’s right—you have to battle your way to the privilege. As far as time, the tournament goes through tomorrow. I’m not sure I could have managed to win six games, so if I can get a teaching game from him I’ll consider myself very lucky.”

How condescending could he get? Maomao wondered. Not to mention that tomorrow, the second day of the tournament, she herself was supposed to be off duty.

I can guarantee I’ll be called in, though. With a distinct “Ugh,” she made for the theater.