The Apothecary Diaries - Volume 9 - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Yao’s Request

Utterly exhausted or not, morning still came. And with morning came the need to go to work.

Maomao was so tired, she didn’t want to think. She was dogged by sleepiness, but the insuperable proposal she faced forced her mind to work.

I wonder if I’ll be summoned after I’m done today. I have to think about what medicines I need to treat a burn...

She pondered as she organized a cabinet drawer. The end of the year was approaching, and the apprentice physicians as well as the court ladies assigned to the medical office were cleaning the place top to bottom.

“Phew! Boy, am I tired!” said Yao, giving a big stretch. She had a rag in her hand and was diligently cleaning the shelves.

“You think that about does it?” En’en asked. She wrung out the cloth that she, likewise, was using. The apprentice physicians were mostly handling the heavy lifting; cleaning the room itself was left to Maomao and the others.

“Oh, it’s fine,” Maomao said, returning the drawers. When they were done cleaning, they would be off of work. Court ladies got vacation over the end of one year and the start of the next. The doctors took shifts staying at court, but there was no need for Maomao and the other women to stick around. Word was that if the young ladies weren’t given time off, their families objected vociferously.

Most of them are just here to learn to be decent homemakers, anyway. Or find a husband.

Yao and En’en, however, were here to work, so Maomao doubted they would spend their vacation at home. Yao’s father was dead, and control of her family had passed into the hands of her uncle, who was bent on marrying Yao off. En’en, who lived for her young mistress, regarded him as an archenemy.

“Maomao, what are you going to do on your vacation? They said you were called home yesterday. Are you going to help out with work there?” Yao asked as she dried out her rag and washed her hands.

Being “called home” was a convenient cover for being summoned by Jinshi. The story, she surmised, was that an emergency case had turned up at her father’s apothecary shop and she had been called away to help. After all, there had to be something to excuse Maomao’s late-night disappearance and predawn return.

So he was planning this all along! She felt anger bubbling up in her, but she knew she had to stay calm for the moment.

The answer to Yao’s question was no. Maomao could only wish she was going home for a few days—she would be lucky to get a day trip. A certain idiot nobleman had inflicted a major burn on himself. In fact, he seemed likely to come for her this very day once work was over.

The honest answer, unfortunately, was not one Maomao could give. She tried to think of what she could say instead. Probably best to pretend she would be going back to the pleasure district.

“Yeah. In fact, I expect us to be raking it in this time of year,” she said.

“You do?”

“Not every lord with a bulging purse goes home. The more customers who show up, the more the shop profits. We could be very busy.”

Yao looked perplexed, but En’en took Maomao’s meaning and glared at her. With her information network, she probably knew very well what Maomao’s “family home” did. Maomao hardly expected the two of them to show up at a brothel in the pleasure district anytime soon.

“Maomao, if you’d kindly refrain from saying uncouth things in the young lady’s presence,” En’en said.

But it’s true!

In simple terms, men with ample salaries would come to spend them on the butterflies of the night—and because doctors took this time off just like everyone else, the madam insisted that the apothecary shop remain open. Maomao had been planning to go home, since she didn’t know if her father would be able to. So much for those plans.

The old hag’s going to give me a piece of her mind again. Maomao was particularly curious how the still-amateur apothecary Sazen was getting along, but she wouldn’t get to find out this time. I’m sorry, Sazen! Hang in there!

Even the madam would have to respect orders handed down by an important noble. (Although she might squeeze something out of them for it.) She was a sharp old battle-axe; Maomao would have to be careful not to give her any hint as to the true import of the command.

I entrusted the shop to Kokuyou, so it should be fine...I hope. She thought of the cheery man with the bandage on his face. His knowledge of medicine was trustworthy, but his somewhat lackadaisical personality was less confidence-inspiring.

To these concerns could be added her little patch of medicinal herbs and the madam’s various unreasonable requests.

“The poor don’t take vacations, I’m afraid. I’m going to stay busy,” she said. Yao was silent at that.

“Sounds like you’ve got a lot going on,” En’en said.

“Sure do,” Maomao replied without hesitation.

En’en looked at Yao. The young mistress seemed to want to say something, but unfortunately, Maomao couldn’t guess what. She put away the cleaning implements, and when she looked at Yao again, she could see the young woman’s mouth almost moving. “Is something the matter?” she asked.

“Um... You live at an apothecary’s place, right, Maomao?”

“Yes...” Maomao said cautiously. She’d told Yao about that. The other woman seemed impatient about something.

Maomao looked at her, puzzled, and Yao finally summoned the resolve to come out with whatever she was thinking. “D-Do you think maybe we could come to your house on vacation? I mean, t-to learn something about medicine!”

“Y-Young mistress!” said En’en, shocked. She couldn’t believe Yao had said that.

Well, considering where my house is...

En’en wouldn’t want to let her precious mistress take a single step into the pleasure district. She was looking at Maomao, silently begging her to come up with some reason to refuse.

“I don’t think you should, Yao. It’s not very safe there. And besides, it’s full of men who smell worse than the soldiers around here. I think it could be a little risky for you.” Maomao had already established that she was going to be busy. She needed to put Yao off, and now.

“But you live there, right, Maomao?” Yao wasn’t deterred; in fact, she seemed more determined than ever.

“Yes. I was born there and have lived there my whole life. I know how to handle myself. Not all of us do.”

That seemed like common sense to Maomao, but it only made Yao even more set on not losing this argument. “Then I’ll just have to get used to it too!”

“Young mistress, it’s dangerous! Be a good girl and spend your vacation at home.”

“If I do that, he’ll come around—you know who!”

Maomao didn’t necessarily know, but she could guess: Yao’s uncle.

She’s looking for sanctuary somewhere, Maomao realized. Bringing Yao and En’en to the Verdigris House, however, would pose far too many problems. Maomao had to be available to attend Jinshi, and she couldn’t let anyone know. If worst came to worst, they could shut the madam up with a few coins, but Maomao wasn’t sure the same thing would work on Yao. She had to find some way to deflect the eager young woman.

“But where would you sleep? It is a lodging of a sort, but not the kind of place you’d want to stay.”

Customers were forever coming and going at night, and Maomao’s residence amounted to no more than a shack. A shack in which Sazen and Chou-u were currently living. No, Yao couldn’t stay there.

“I don’t think you could cope with Maomao’s house, young mistress. It’s not, ahem, actually a fit place for human habitation.”

“And how would you know that, En’en?” Yao asked.

Hey! I’m a human! And I habitate there!

So En’en had even investigated where Maomao lived. Talk about your thoroughgoing servants. Maomao wondered if she might even have her suspicions about Maomao’s absence last night. She felt a trickle of sweat roll down her back.

“Don’t you know anyone else around here? You know, a friend you could stay with?” Maomao asked. It must have been the wrong question, because Yao blanched and she looked like she might, just perhaps, start to cry.

En’en snapped, “Apologize right now!”

Oops...

Now Maomao realized: Yao didn’t have any other friends. It was Maomao’s fault for not figuring that out. This was going to take some professional backpedaling. “Of course, with it being the new year, everyone is going to be getting together with their families. Even your friends might not have room for you...”

“That’s exactly right. And she thought maybe you would, Maomao, since you’ve got work. Right, mistress?” En’en flashed Maomao an approving thumbs-up. Maomao wasn’t so sure about this, though. This looked like it was going to end with Yao being invited to the pleasure district.

Worst-case scenario, I guess I can rent them a room at the Verdigris House.

No, that would never do. There were too many customers for there to be any vacant rooms. And even if they had any, the crusty old madam would expect to be handsomely compensated for it—and after all that, Yao would have to endure hearing patrons moan and grunt all night long. Maomao questioned if she would hang onto her sanity. Or for that matter if En’en might simply murder the moaners before the night was out.

The biggest problem, though, was that then Maomao wouldn’t be able to hide her absences. Wasn’t there some place that could solve everyone’s problems?

“So you’re looking to stay somewhere other than a typical inn, right?” Maomao said.

“That’s correct,” En’en replied on Yao’s behalf. “She tried to move to a different house once before, but her uncle found her the next day.”

Who or what is this uncle? Maomao wondered. If En’en was good at information gathering, maybe that was where she’d learned it.

“You aren’t afraid he would find my place just as quickly?”

“No, I think anything in your vicinity would be safe.”

What was that supposed to mean?

“Because there’s someone who would crush any nasty little bugs who showed up,” En’en clarified.

Ah...

She understood: En’en was referring to the strategist who shall not be named.

Maomao felt her blood run cold. Did he suspect anything about last night? If so, the situation had the makings of a civil war.

No... I think I’m still safe.

If he’d had any idea, he would already have smashed through the walls of the medical office. He would be here right now.

Fortuitously, the thought gave Maomao an idea: the perfect place for Yao and En’en to stay. Somewhere safe, somewhere they wouldn’t be detected by Yao’s relatives, and somewhere they couldn’t be extricated from even if they were found.

Yes, such a place existed—but Maomao could hardly bring herself to say it.

“It looks like you’ve got something in mind, Maomao,” En’en said, leaning in. “Won’t you share with us?”

Her nose was barely an inch from Maomao’s. At this distance, Maomao couldn’t even avert her gaze.

Thankfully, Yao stepped in. “En’en, give her some space.” Phew. “So, where is this place?” Not phew.

“Where is it?” Maomao asked, holding up her hands in surrender. “Well, it’s the house of someone you both know. I absolutely refuse to ask him for this, so if you want his help, you’ll have to ask him yourself.” Yao came from a good enough family that he wouldn’t begrudge them a room, at least. “And by him, I mean a certain penny-pinching, tousle-haired spectacle-wearer.”

She spoke, of course, of the freak strategist’s nephew, Lahan.

Lahan’s house would be a dicey place for Yao and her companion to stay. It certainly met their needs, but at the same time, there were some problems.

Problem one: it was the freak strategist’s house.

Problem two: they would be staying at the house of a strange man.

It was, in essence, a widower’s house. Hardly the sort of place people would expect some young women to want to spend their time...

“Ahh, what lovely flowers,” Lahan said, straightening his glasses.

Immediately after talking to Maomao, they’d written to him and convinced a serving man to deliver the letter. He’d come that day after work, slimy-looking, narrow-eyed, and grinning in the entryway of the dormitory.

Maomao slid away from Lahan. “Are you sure about this? He is, after all, a male of the species,” she said.

“I think it should be all right. You can see it in his eyes—he doesn’t look evil,” Yao answered, unconcerned. In Maomao’s opinion, Yao should give it more thought. Lahan could be much more forward than one might expect when it came to women.

“I agree. I think we should be safe with Master Lahan.” En’en, whom Maomao had expected to be against this, turned out to be in favor. The reason? “Master Lahan has never had any particular trouble with women—and always picks older women, anyway.”

I didn’t need to hear that.

He was a playboy, if a faintly ridiculous one, and Maomao did not want to know about his taste in women. There were men out there who got their popularity with the ladies by being good talkers, not by being handsome, and Lahan seemed to be one of them.

So it was that Yao and En’en would stay at Lahan’s house, just like that.

Lahan picked a moment while Yao and En’en were off preparing and came over to Maomao, smiling contentedly. “I’ll be perfectly hospitable to them, don’t you worry.” He tried to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she batted it away. “You wound me, little sister.”

She considered crushing his toes, just a little, but thought better of it.

“Just see that you’re more accommodating than that to the Moon Prince,” Lahan said, rubbing his foot even though Maomao hadn’t stepped on it. What a drama queen.

This son of a...

Maomao glared at Lahan, but he only gave her a meaningful grin. “Now then, I think you’ll soon have another visitor, so I’m going to take these two and be on my way.” He winked. Did he know Jinshi had summoned Maomao the night before? For that matter, did he still maintain some secret connection with Jinshi? Maomao wanted to corner him about it, but she didn’t want to draw Yao and En’en’s attention by making a scene.

This guy is too smart for his own good.

She decided she had better change the subject. “I know it’s a little late to ask, since you’ve already agreed, but did you get permission to bring the two of them home?”

Permission from whom? Why, from the one whose name she didn’t wish to say.

“You needn’t worry on that count. My honored father is out, and won’t be back for several days. Hence why they were able to keep last night a secret too.”

Just how much does he know?! She doubted Lahan had all the details, but she was afraid of what could turn into a very unpleasant misunderstanding.

Deliberately or not, Lahan chose that moment to whisper in her ear, “And when can we expect the pitter-patter of little feet?” His glasses flashed.

Maomao balled up her fist, all but overcome by the urge to punch him, but she knew she would only regret it if she got angry here. Instead she forced herself to give him her least interested look. “Heh,” she snorted. “I don’t know what you’re talking about—you can see I’m completely fine.”

She was going to play dumb to the bitter end. Nothing had happened, nothing at all, and she could hold her head high.

“Perfect health...? Wait—does that mean... Have you been taking customers at the Verdigris House?”

Before she could stop herself, Maomao had crushed Lahan’s toes underfoot. And there was nothing gentle about it.

“Yowch!” Lahan squawked, his normally narrow eyes going very wide for a moment. He looked up, then rotated his neck. After a second, he clapped his hands. “Ah... Ahh, I understand... You only have eyes for the Moon Prince!”

He still seemed to be under some kind of delusion, but then, she’d sort of tried to lead him this way. Lahan was grinning an extremely disturbing grin. “Well! If that’s how it is, then so be it! If you just keep at it, something will happen. I’ll be sure to obtain a guidebook and the most efficacious medicine for you.”

Now his expression outright infuriated her. Maomao thought she might be the very embodiment of an enlightened being, having somehow managed to do no worse to him than crush his toes.

“We’re ready,” said En’en, who emerged carrying two cloth-wrapped bundles and three oblong chests. She looked like she was ready to move house, not stay over for a few days.

“Will that all fit in the carriage?” Maomao asked Lahan, meanwhile grinding his other foot under her heel.

“Of course—ow! Women always bring plenty of—ow! ow!—baggage. There’s more than enough room—ow, ow, ow!”

At least he could be counted on to prepare for something like this. Maomao withdrew her foot and gave Lahan a slap on the back as if to order him to get going.

“Maomao?” Yao gave her a confused look.

“Everything all right?” Maomao asked.

“You’re not coming with us?”

What could the dear young mistress be talking about?

“I’m certainly not. In fact, I can’t fathom what you’re thinking, staying with a man like this.”

“If En’en says it’s okay, then it must be, don’t you think?”

She trusted her attendant—and Maomao granted that it was true: En’en would never let her near a man of ill repute.

Rehashing the argument here would do Maomao no good. If Lahan thought Jinshi’s messenger was coming, then she wanted him and the girls out of here—but there was one thing she wanted to be very clear on first. “You really don’t care if strange rumors start about you?” she asked Yao and En’en. Two unmarried women staying at a man’s house—it was as good as inviting the gossips to draw their own conclusions.

There was a beat in which Yao looked at Maomao, conflicted. She seemed to want to say something, but couldn’t manage.

En’en, unable to bear it, finally spoke up. “There’s nothing wrong with visiting a friend’s house!”

“Excuse me?” Maomao burst out.

“Y-Yeah, so if w-we can make out that that’s what we’re doing, no one will spread any rumors. You have to come with us, Maomao!” Yao stuttered.

“Like fun I do. Anyway, I’ll bet that house smells like old person.”

“Maomao, you would be surprised how little my honored father smells for his age.”

“Excuse me?”

“Maomao,” En’en said, massaging Maomao’s face again. Yao watched them, on tenterhooks. “We know his ‘honored father’ isn’t there, so you can relax. And don’t make that face. It’s scary.”

“Excuse me? ‘Isn’t there’?”

“You remember the Go Sage, yes? He’s taken my father on a little trip. To another Go contest. Our household has extensive debts to pay off, so we need to earn something.”

This was Lahan they were talking about—Maomao was sure he’d made arrangements to sell the strategist’s Go book wherever this other contest was being held.

“You sure about that? No telling what he’ll get up to. He might come back in more debt than when he left.”

“I’m not worried about that. Sir Rikuson’s successor has recently begun to settle into his duties, and anyway, the Sage is with him. He knows how to handle my father.”

Maomao wasn’t clear on what kind of person this Sage was—but if he could beat the strategist at Go, then he must be pretty clever.

“Come on, Maomao, which is it? Are you coming or not?” Yao finally said.

“Yao, my dear, I believe Maomao is otherwise occupied today. Perhaps you would content yourself with me as your guide for the time being.”

Lahan looked back. A man in servant’s garb was running toward the dormitory—one of Jinshi’s messengers. He would summon Maomao elsewhere, put her in a carriage, and take her away.

“I’m very sorry,” the messenger said, “but your apothecary skills are needed again today.” He was careful to be circumspect about how he spoke with other people present, but he knew his message would get through to Maomao.

“Very well, sir,” she replied.

Yao gave her a strange look. “I see... Well, it looks like that’s that.” She turned away, her expression cold. En’en sighed, but nodded respectfully to Maomao. “We’ll see you when we see you, then...” Yao said, but she couldn’t quite seem to bring herself to leave.

“Certainly. And if that little man looks like he’s going to do anything inappropriate, please run away. Do you have a cleaver to protect yourself with?” This question was directed not at Yao, but En’en.

“I certainly do. Right here.” She produced something like a crowbar from the luggage.

“I like the form factor. Short. Useful.”

“It won’t be useful, because I won’t do anything. Nothing to deserve being hit with a crowbar, anyway...” Lahan was holding up his hands in a please-don’t-hit-me gesture. Maomao decided to trust him. For the time being.

“And don’t you dare try to extort money from them for staying with you.”

“I won’t! I swear I won’t!”

Then again, Maomao reflected, if they paid for lodgings, it wouldn’t leave any questionable favors owed. The whole thing stank, but she could only watch the three of them go.