The Apothecary Diaries - Volume 9 - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: A Voyage by Sea

On the day they were to leave, Maomao found herself riding in a carriage with a single bundle of belongings on her back.

It’s as emotional as it is...ordinary, by now.

Yao and En’en had been there to see her off, En’en looking about the way she always did and Yao a bit sulky. Maomao did feel sad to say goodbye, but it wasn’t like she was never coming back.

Her medical supplies had all been prepared in advance and packed. Other necessaries were also with the cargo, so all she had with her specifically were some fresh clothes and the book Yao and En’en had given her. Maomao didn’t suffer from carriage sickness, so she looked forward to passing the time by reading.

I heard there were four doctors going, she thought, but in the end no one had told her exactly who. It nagged at her—there was every indication that they were hiding something.

No sooner had she boarded the carriage than she found out who one of the doctors was.

“Ooh! Is that the ship we’ll be on?”

Tianyu stuck his head out. Maomao had been expecting him—after all Dr. Liu’s prodding, he had still been the only volunteer.

Awfully inexperienced for an assignment like this. Guess I’m not one to talk.

Maomao had been chosen as well, although she wasn’t counted among the physicians. So there were four doctors and one helper. Dr. Liu had talked about a shortage of personnel, so he must have put a lot of thought into this selection.

Maomao had to constantly remind herself that she was ultimately only there to help—while also not forgetting what she was really there for.

The Imperial younger brother, a.k.a. Jinshi, would be on this trip, as would the freak strategist, so this was going to be a bigger affair than last time. Three large sailing ships waited for them, the biggest Maomao had ever seen. She was told they would be going by sea, and the ships looked the part. Each had four or five masts, and she saw cannons as well. The ships’ construction suggested they had been heavily influenced by western technology, but gaudy red, green, and gold coloring marked them as Linese vessels. Maomao didn’t know how large the ships were inside, but they looked like they could easily hold several hundred people each. Maybe even a thousand, if everyone squeezed.

“Is it really going to be faster than going overland?” Maomao asked before she could stop herself. She’d taken a boat home from her last visit to the western capital, but this time they would be going by sea, not river. The route was definitely longer by sea, but you could also travel uninterrupted, day and night.

“It’s probably because of all the cargo. You need it when you have such a big VIP staying somewhere for so long. Plus all the gifts they have to bring.” The explanation, offered with a touch of resentment, came from one of the upper physicians, a man with a beard and a rugged face. His skin was noticeably tanned despite the fact that he probably spent most of his time at a desk. He had light hair that suggested at least some foreign blood in his veins. Maomao vaguely recognized him, but because they worked in different medical offices, she didn’t know his name. Evidently he was one of the four doctors chosen to go on this trip.

“Yes, that makes sense,” Maomao said. Under any other circumstances, she could have simply tried to gloss over the fact that she didn’t remember his name, but this time she was going to need to learn it. She would have to find it out later.

“I’m going to be in charge during the trip,” the physician said. “I look forward to working with you.”

He seemed to have his feet on the ground, Maomao thought. Knowing Dr. Liu, he would have chosen his people not just for their skill, but their attitudes as well. This man gave the sense that he came from the western capital himself.

“The other two physicians are already on board,” the man said. “I’m going to be on the lead ship, Tianyu will be on the rear ship, and Niang-niang, you’ll be on the middle one. You’ll be accompanied by another of the upper physicians.”

Maomao didn’t say a word. Should she tell him he had her name wrong? Then again, did she have any right to, considering she couldn’t remember his either?

She settled for “Sir, a question.”

“Yes?”

“Who else is going to be on the ship with me?” She gave a great, vast, mighty scowl as she spoke.

“The center vessel is for our most important traveler. A relative youngster. Couldn’t you tell by how sumptuous it is?”

The ship in the middle was indeed the largest and most gaudy of all.

“A youngster,” Maomao echoed, wondering if she could feel relief yet. That seemed to imply it was Jinshi, not the freak. I might have guessed, but still.

At the same time, that left her with the question of which physician would be with her. If Jinshi were to summon Maomao to him alone, it could raise suspicions.

“From what Luomen tells us, Grand Commandant Kan is generally fairly subdued on a rocking boat, he just needs anti-nausea medications and some juice to supplement his nutrition.”

“Is that so, sir?”

If he got seasick, that would make him much like Lahan. Evidently it wasn’t just alcohol that made his head spin.

“They’ve told you what you need to know about the ships?”

“Yes, sir. They said there’s a medical office on board where all the necessary equipment will be stored—and where I’ll be sleeping for the most part.”

“That’s right. Although you’re welcome to sleep with the ladies-in-waiting if you like, Niang-niang.”

“The office, please.”

The presence of ladies-in-waiting was natural enough; Jinshi could hardly travel without them. But will Suiren be there?

Suiren, Jinshi’s attendant in the first flush of old age. A trip this long would be hard on her, but if she wasn’t here, the only other candidate Maomao could think of would be Basen’s older sister Maamei. Didn’t I hear something about her having kids, though?

Asking a mother to leave her children for such a long time wouldn’t be easy either. Maomao pondered the situation, but in any case, there would be other ladies-in-waiting on board. Carefully chosen ones, no doubt, but it would still be in Maomao’s best interests to keep her distance.

“The other physician on board can fill you in on anything else you want to know,” said the doctor with the beard.

Yeah, okay, but who is he?

They seemed happy to tell all and sundry that the freak strategist would be along, so why were they being so cagey about the doctor? It didn’t make sense.

“Oh, it’s you, sir?” Tianyu said as he got on his boat.

“Got a problem with that?” snapped, of all people, the middle physician from the convocation. He’d looked like something of an overachiever—and apparently on this occasion it had blown up in his face. Of course, Maomao didn’t know his name.

Not who I’m worried about. She boarded her boat, still wondering who the other physician could be.

On board, the sailors were working industriously.

I wonder if that’s our VIP’s room. Sumptuous chambers jutted up from the deck. They would have a nice breeze, and were certainly well appointed. The same room wouldn’t have looked out of place at a villa belonging to the Imperial family. It looks the most comfortable...but also like the most obvious target.

Maomao went down the stairs, belowdecks. The damp air clung to her skin. There were no walls, perhaps to allow the air to move through better; there were only the flimsiest excuses for dividers in the space. The bureaucrats will probably have to sleep packed in down here, Maomao thought. It would be much the same when they were eating. The ship had hired sailors, so the administrators would have time on their hands. Board games seemed likely to become even more popular, with the ships devoid of other entertainment.

There were enough cannons on board that the vessel could have doubled as a battleship. There were a few areas that were properly walled off—probably rooms for the ladies-in-waiting and the more important travelers. The gender ratio on this ship was skewed very much in favor of the men, and the separate rooms were presumably to keep anyone from getting any funny ideas, as they might have if everyone were sleeping together.

Gee, this is kind of...exciting.

Admittedly, she was probably going to be sick of this ship after seeing it all day, every day for the duration of the trip, but anybody wants to explore a new environment. There were stout ropes and wooden flotation devices here and there on the walls.

The ship had three levels—four, if you counted the VIP chamber abovedeck. The next floor down was similar in construction to the one above, but it contained the medical office and kitchen. Maomao decided to save the medical office for last; instead, she went to have a look at the kitchen. It contained several water barrels and a stove, which was cleverly built to allow smoke to escape.

Scary stuff, using fire on board a ship.

The area around the stove was built with fire-resistant materials, but you would still have to be very careful.

It looked like a very small kitchen considering the number of people aboard—it was probably intended to cook the VIP’s meals and little more. Grunts like Maomao would have to be content with warm soup.

Whatever you ate eventually had to come out the other end—Maomao was just wondering where the bathroom was when she saw a structure built out on the prow of the ship. It was probably made to allow things to fall directly into the sea—possibly including an unwary occupant. Maomao intended to be careful.

At the very bottom of the ship was the cargo. Munitions and water were stored there, along with provisions and what Maomao took to be gifts for the western capital. She was less than pleased to spy some sweet potatoes—it was clear who had done the hard sell on those.

Will they really keep? She peeked into one of the wooden boxes. The potatoes had been stored in rice husks, seemingly as a measure against the humidity.

Once she was satisfied that she had seen the rest of the ship, Maomao went to the medical office. It had real walls, so that they could quarantine anyone who might be sick. When she opened the door, she found the master of the place sitting in a chair—a man of soft and gentle mien.

She didn’t say anything; for a second, she thought it was her old man, Luomen—but no, not quite.

“Oh! Hullo, young lady!”

The voice was carefree—and familiar. It belonged to someone who was normally found in the rear palace: the quack doctor.

“Is that you, sir?” Maomao asked. It came out as a question, and with good reason: the quack’s trademark loach mustache was missing. His face was smooth as a baby’s behind.

“Ack! Don’t look at me. I’m too embarrassed...” The quack blushed and pursed his lips, as if he were a young woman just old enough to start trimming her bangs.

“What happened, sir? That mustache was your pride and joy.”

He sniffled. “They told me I had to shave it. They said it wasn’t normal for a eunuch to grow hair like that.”

“I admit, it’s somewhat unusual.”

Eunuchs were missing what made them men, so they also tended to lose distinctive male physical characteristics. Facial and body hair grew thinner—but of course, there could be exceptions. In some cases, it even seemed that the “male” part actually remained inside the body. In any case, the quack had succeeded in growing a mustache despite being a eunuch, and had appeared to take great pride in it, frequently stroking the thin strands of hair.

“That still doesn’t explain why you’re here,” Maomao said.

“Well, you see, there are no consorts at the rear palace requiring particular attention right now. Consort Lihua is really the only upper consort, and Luomen is more than capable of taking care of her. I heard there might be a new consort coming, but I guess it fell through.”

Was he talking about Empress Gyokuyou’s niece? So she wasn’t going to enter the rear palace after all.

A demotion, indeed...

Dr. Liu was a very thorough man. He’d found Jinshi his physicians, on the grounds that there weren’t enough of them for a trip to the western capital—and if they had one capable upper physician, it wouldn’t look right if they didn’t have at least one more. So he had chosen to use the quack, who had the rank and title if nothing else. It was even possible he’d gone so far out of his way to equip Maomao with medical knowledge because he knew she got along with the quack. Alternatively, maybe he’d chosen the quack because he knew Maomao would be going.

“Hoo hoo hoo! I’ve never traveled by ship before. Doesn’t it make your heart pound? I don’t know what all is going to happen, but I’m sure it’s going to be a fun trip as long as you’re here, young lady.”

If the quack doctor had anything to recommend him, it had to be his optimistic side. Maomao also had the sense that he had the good luck to somehow survive anything that might happen to him. Someone or something she couldn’t identify seemed to like him.

“How about we start with some tea? I’ll boil some water.”

“I think they might get upset if you help yourself to the stove,” Maomao said.

“Really? Well, we can use a brazier, then.”

“I think we might suffocate if we burned charcoal in here.”

The room didn’t get much air, and the charcoal would burn incompletely. There was a window, but it was very small; the room itself was rather dim.

The quack’s face fell. “I’m starting to think traveling by ship might be less cozy than I thought...”

“Needless to say, sir.”

The quack buried his disappointed countenance in the cot nearby. “Sigh! And the beds are hard, I see.”

“I’m afraid there’s not much to be done about it, sir. Just be glad you don’t have to sleep packed in with everyone else. Oh, here, we can use this shelf for our cargo.”

Maomao put her change of clothes on the shelf and opened the book Yao had given her. She set herself up so she could use the light coming in through the window; it was at the perfect angle to allow her to sit on the bed.

“Aww. You’re reading a book, miss?”

“Looks like it’ll be a while before we leave. I’m sure someone will come call us.”

“Hrm.” The quack puffed out his cheeks, disappointed, and took out a portable Go board. “That’s fine. I’ll work some Go problems.” He took out a book of his own—the one by the freak strategist, of course.

They had what amounted to a sending-off ceremony for the ship, and then they set sail. The VIPs, principally Jinshi, conducted what seemed to be some sort of ritual, but Maomao only half paid attention. She spotted the freak strategist nosing around, so she went below and took refuge in one of the rooms.

It was hard to call a ship voyage pleasant, but it was a less dubious mode of travel than she’d pictured. Certainly better than her river cruise, at any rate.

I hear they used to have to eat bug-infested bread on ships. So instead the sailors would put out a live fish to draw out the bugs first. Maomao had been known to eat locusts and snakes, but even she didn’t relish the thought of eating bread full of bugs.

I guess the trip’s not going to be that long.

It felt long to her, but it was nothing like the months that sailors sometimes spent at sea. They might be on the ship upward of two weeks at most, and they would make several calls at ports along the way. For the first meal, they had meat wrapped in bamboo leaves, fish soup, and even tangerines. A touch of luxury for the first day on board, she supposed.

“They even have fruit! This is wonderful!” the quack said, smiling beatifically as he peeled and ate his tangerine. Maomao had long ago finished eating and was brushing her teeth.

She had a vague sense of why they had been served tangerines. “People don’t get enough produce on sea voyages,” she said.

“Too true. It doesn’t last long enough.”

“That causes an imbalance in nutrition and makes people sick.”

“Yes, indeed. A balanced diet, that’s the thing.”

It wasn’t quite clear whether the quack knew what she was talking about or not.

He remarked: “Gosh, plenty of free time on our hands here. There don’t seem to be any patients.”

I’m sure it’s no more free time than you had at the rear palace, Maomao mentally shot back. She swished some water in her mouth and spat it out the window. Some might call that behavior uncouth, but it was just ocean outside. This was quick and convenient.

“If it means no one is getting hurt or sick, then it’s good news,” she said and looked at the office’s shelves. For a ship, they had a generous assortment of medicines, including herbs to treat the most common ailments as well as some concoctions to combat ship-specific illnesses. They even had a few topical medications.

“May I ask you something?” Maomao said, deciding to broach a subject she’d been wondering about for some time. “I seem to recall once when you didn’t even want to look at a corpse, so how did you manage to pass the test to become a doctor?”

“The test? Ah, the test. Yes, I passed it!” The quack gave a triumphant little snort and pounded himself on the chest.

Maomao gave him a doubtful look. “I don’t suppose you’re talking about a written test?”

“Yes, of course. There was no doctor in the rear palace, so they opened the physicians’ examination to the eunuchs. I was the only one who passed!” Another little snort; the quack was obviously quite proud of himself. It was sometimes said that the eunuchs were people who had failed to make it as bureaucrats or soldiers. There were also many among them who were former slaves who had been castrated by foreign nations. To be quite honest, Maomao could understand why most of the eunuchs failed the test: many of them were simply not very educated.

It seemed unlikely that any physician would be eager enough to work in the rear palace that he would become a eunuch for the privilege, so they’d gone with the opposite and tried to make a eunuch into a physician. She wondered if they had expected what they got.

“And what about after that? The practical examination?” Maomao pressed.

“Practical examination? Hmm... I’m not sure I remember any... Ah, now that you mention it, I guess they did make me dissect a chicken.”

“And?”

“Oh, I was at the end of my rope, let me tell you! When I tried to wring its neck, the bird gave me a good, hard peck on the forehead and knocked me clean out!”

Maomao was dead silent—and startled to realize how easily she could picture it.

“They called me to dissect a pig, too, but when it looked at me with those big, dark eyes, well, I just couldn’t do it!”

Naturally. Also likewise frighteningly picturable.

“I see,” Maomao said. After all that, the higher-ups had probably given up on forging the quack into a real doctor, but they still needed someone who could do the rounds for the consorts in the rear palace, so they’d given him the title and left it at that. “Did any other eunuchs become doctors after you?” Surely if they’d administered the test a few more times, they might have scared up someone more qualified.

“Well, about that. You remember the Empress Dowager built a building for the ladies she gathered in the rear palace, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do.”

It had been intended to serve as a haven for the girls who had been the former emperor’s bedmates, somewhere to keep them safe even though they couldn’t leave the rear palace. Unfortunately, in the end, it had been used in the Shi clan’s rebellion.

“While they were between doctors, that place became something of a clinic. They were not pleased when I entered the medical office, and fought tooth and nail against any other eunuch physicians.”

“Ahh...”

It made some sense. The palace women serving at the clinic knew far more about medical treatment than the half-baked quack.

“They claimed the rear palace didn’t need any more doctors, so unfortunately, any talk of promoting more eunuchs fell by the wayside.” So the quack had ended up as the rear palace’s only official physician.

This is a man who lives by his luck alone...

She would have to get him to pull a fortune for her sometime.

Shenlü, that was the woman’s name, wasn’t it? She ended up at the center of it all.

The quack was gazing into the distance.

Shenlü was a middle-aged woman at the clinic. She’d helped Shisui and the Shi clan to escape, or so Maomao had heard. Not only that, but when she had begun to face suspicion, she had reportedly plotted suicide—but Maomao had heard nothing else since then.

I guess she was likely to die one way or another, whether she did it to herself or waited for them to do it to her. Apparently no one had felt Maomao needed to be informed one way or the other.

The quack finished brushing his teeth and began preparing his medical tools. “Now then, we’ll be doing an exam once a day. After mealtime, I’m told.”

An exam of whom? The most important people, presumably. Or the most important person.

“Ahh! I haven’t seen Master Jinshi—ahem! I mean the Moon Prince—in ages. I’m so nervous!”

Maomao hadn’t heard anyone else call him Jinshi in quite a long time. He was the Moon Prince now—or more accurately, he was the Moon Prince once again—and had been for more than a year.

“Yes, of course.”

Granted, the quack had blushed just as hard back when he’d believed Jinshi was a fellow eunuch.

Hrmm...

They’d made Maomao his helper, not that they’d asked how she felt about it.

Jinshi’s room was far more sumptuous than any other part of the ship.

He gets a nice breeze in here. Spacious too. And bright.

Of course, all that came with being abovedeck, but anyway, it had to be pretty pleasant, Maomao thought.

“This way, please,” a woman said mildly.

Sea travel can’t be easy for someone so old.

It was the somewhat elderly lady-in-waiting, Suiren. Maybe there hadn’t been anyone else they could bring. She let the quack doctor into the room without flinching, but when her eyes met Maomao’s a scowl passed ever so briefly across her face.

Good luck, you two, Maomao thought at the other two ladies-in-waiting in the room. They likewise glanced at the quack but studied Maomao. They really did pick good people.

These two could obviously tell what was going on—the reality of things. Maomao actually felt rather fond of them, insofar as they weren’t immediately hostile to her.

One of the ladies appeared to be somewhere in her forties. Old enough that she might’ve been one of Jinshi’s milk mothers. The other lady, Maomao had seen before—it was Chue, who had been at Jinshi’s villa of late.

I guess she must be pretty capable, in spite of the way she acts.

Her occasionally odd behavior seemed to remain unchanged.

Most of the women around the Imperial younger brother looked quite plain, but that was very much in character for him. As Maomao walked through the room, she wondered if En’en would be here, had she remained in Jinshi’s service.

“P-Please, p-pardon the intrusion,” the quack said, already stumbling over his words.

Jinshi, sitting in a chair, waited on the other side of a folding screen. He’d changed out of his ritual outfit into something comparatively easier to move in.

“It’s been quite some time, Master Physician. If you’d be so kind.” Jinshi held out his arm. The smell of incense drifted around the room, but Maomao couldn’t shake the sense that it was Jinshi himself who smelled most fragrant of all. Sparkly Jinshi was on full display, as he had been at the rear palace, no doubt in part because he was with the quack doctor.

You wouldn’t have to be the quack to feel a bit intimidated.

“Eep...” squeaked the quack. Maomao stood to one side and watched him. If he’d still had his loach mustache, it would have been shaking.

The “exam” appeared to consist of little more than taking Jinshi’s pulse and asking him a few questions.

I guess I can’t expect much from this guy, Maomao thought. When it occurred to her that maybe that was exactly why the quack had been chosen, she felt a rush of genuine pity for him. He would never notice the change in Jinshi, let alone have the courage to ask him to take off his shirt for an examination.

Suiren was a woman of experience; she would be quite capable of looking after Jinshi’s health even without the quack’s ministrations.

Maomao, meanwhile, kept an eye out that nothing seemed about to go wrong. Not that she expected the quack, however carelessly and randomly he might work, to suddenly flip up Jinshi’s outfit.

“W-Well, I don’t see any p-problems,” the quack declared, stuttering to the bitter end.

“My thanks. I’ll be seeing you daily from now on.”

“Eep!”

The quack cleaned up his tools, which he had barely touched in the course of the examination. Jinshi was still looking at him. When the quack looked up, he turned up the sparkle even more.

The hell?

Roses drifted behind Jinshi’s back.

“Master Physician, I see you shaved your mustache. It suits you.”

The quack didn’t actually squeal, but he might as well have. He looked like he was on cloud nine.

Jinshi continued, “I must apologize for extracting you from your accustomed environs in the rear palace to make you take a journey by sea. However, you have a most important role to fulfill. I would be gratified if you would accompany me to the end.”

“Y-Y-Yes! Yes, of course!” said the quack, eyes brimming. He took Jinshi utterly at his word.

To Maomao, meanwhile, it looked like a farce. Suiren and the other ladies-in-waiting likewise weren’t buying it. But that didn’t matter. Only the quack needed to believe.

“The others here are aware that you’re a eunuch, Master Physician. If you should find yourself inconvenienced by anything at all on that account, I do hope you’ll tell me.”

“Y-Yes, sir!” said the quack, so eager that the tears were now practically pouring from his eyes. His cheeks were as flushed as could be, and Maomao almost thought she could see a flower blooming behind him too.

“One other thing.” Jinshi looked at the quack with sorrow in his eyes. Maomao glared at him, but she wanted this ridiculous play to be over as soon as possible. “Your name, Master Physician. It’s Guen, is it not?”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

Oh. Is that his name?

“You are the only physician on this ship, and as such, I’ve requested that everyone refer to you not by your name, but as Master Physician. If you have no objections?”

“I... I would be honored!”

The quack, indeed, had no objections. He was practically begging to be addressed by that grand title.

Something’s going on here, I just don’t know what, Maomao thought.

As the quack finished cleaning up his equipment, Suiren said, “Excuse me, but I’ve got a small request. Do you think we ladies could receive daily examinations as well? Of course, I wouldn’t dream of troubling you with such minor affairs, Master Physician. If you could spare the young lady who’s helping you, that would be fine.”

Ah-hah. It begins.

Maomao looked at the quack. “I’m sure you’re very busy, sir. You go on ahead.”

“Yes, of course,” said the quack, who didn’t stumble over his words when speaking to Suiren. “Well then, young lady. Can I trust you with this?”

Maomao took the bag of medical supplies from the quack. “Of course, sir,” she said, with all the enthusiasm of someone reading from a script.

She politely accompanied the quack to the door, and when she was sure she couldn’t hear so much as his footsteps in the hallway, she turned back to Jinshi, who suddenly looked very gloomy indeed. Maomao was about to snort at him, but Suiren forestalled her with a smack.

“How about something to drink?” asked Chue, ever socially conscious.

“I don’t need tea,” Maomao replied.

“Of course.”

Chue could hardly be called beautiful, but would it be rude to say that that was precisely what made it easy to relax around her?

There are too many beautiful people in the world, anyway, thought Maomao. Suiren herself had probably been quite the lovely lady once; even at her age, she still had plenty of her looks left. As for the other, forty-something woman, her face was stern, but nonetheless quite beautiful.

It was also she who spoke first to Maomao, holding out her hand. “Lady Suiren has said she’s willing to wait for her exam, so perhaps you could start with me?”

Hm? Maomao was sure she’d seen the woman somewhere before. If she were just a bit younger...

“What? Is there something on my face?” That face made Maomao think of a predator. She’d definitely seen it before.

“Maomao, Taomei is Basen’s mother,” Suiren said.

“His mother?”

If she was Basen’s mother, that would make her...

“Perhaps you’ve met my daughter, Maamei,” Taomei said. Yes, that was who she looked like. Maamei, the woman who had brought treats to the Go tournament. In another twenty years or so, Maamei would probably be a dead ringer for this woman.

“Er...” Maomao wasn’t quite sure what to say. Should she remark politely that she was grateful for Basen’s good offices? Well, but he hadn’t really done anything for her. And Maamei certainly hadn’t.

But wait—one person related to Taomei had.

“I’m always grateful for Gaoshun’s good offices,” Maomao said. A man attentive to every detail. If this woman was Basen’s mother, that would make her Gaoshun’s wife.

Shit! That means I should be careful.

Maomao had once offered a lady of the pleasure district to Gaoshun—who had refused on the grounds that his wife was a scary woman. Maomao didn’t actually expect Taomei to find out what she had done, but it still gave her a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Oh? That’s good to know. He’s on this trip as well, you know.”

“Master Gaoshun is?”

Maomao stole a glance at Jinshi, but she saw no sign of Gaoshun. Maybe he was patrolling the ship? There were guards at the entrance to Jinshi’s room, but it was all women inside—which made her a bit uneasy.

“What about Master Basen, then?”

“He’s taking a separate route to the western capital. Overland.”

He had to go by himself? Didn’t that bother him?

Basen had been carefully and deliberately distanced from Jinshi recently—he was no political animal, but even he must have noticed by now.

“He has his own job to do,” Taomei said and then chuckled, demurely hiding her mouth as she did so. She seemed vaguely amused by the entire situation.

What kind of job? Maomao wondered. She had half a mind to ask—but right now, she needed to prioritize her job.

“Give me your arm, please,” she said.

“Of course.”

Taomei offered her arm, and Maomao took her pulse. It was good and strong. She seemed to be in excellent health, but Maomao did notice something odd. Taomei’s left and right eyes seemed to be slightly different colors. She studied them for a moment.

“Is something the matter?” Taomei asked.

“No,” said Maomao. The two eyes also appeared to move slightly out of sync. On an impulse, Maomao moved her left hand around. Then she did the same with her right, and only then did she see Taomei’s eyes move.

Is she blind in her right eye?

Sometimes people were born with differences between their two eyes, but the color could also change later in life—often because of blindness.

“Was that some kind of test just now?” Taomei asked. She must have spotted the thoughts on Maomao’s face. She pointed to her right eye—she was every bit as sharp as Maomao might have expected of Gaoshun’s wife.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean to be rude. You don’t find it to be any hindrance in everyday life?”

“No, it’s nothing to be concerned about. It happened a long time ago, and I’m perfectly used to it by now.”

“Very well, ma’am. In that case, is there anything else that’s bothering you?”

“No, nothing.”

“May I look at your eyes and tongue?”

Maomao pulled down the skin under Taomei’s eyes and looked at it. The right eye was definitely blind, its color cloudy. There were conditions of old age that could cause the eyes to become cloudy, but since Taomei said she’d lost her sight in that eye a long time ago, Maomao suspected it had been from an injury.

“Please be especially careful on this voyage. Everything rocks on a sailing ship.”

“I’m aware,” Taomei replied. Maomao felt a little silly for having said something so blatantly obvious. “I must say, though, don’t you think the Moon Prince’s traveling garden rather lacks any flowers of note?”

It was as hard to agree with her as it was to disagree with her.

“If only my daughter Maamei could have come on this trip, an old grandmother like me could have stayed home. We could hardly send her with her entire family, though.”

“Goodness. If you’re a grandmother, I must be a dried-up old husk,” rejoined Suiren.

“I have three grandchildren. I can’t go around pretending to be a young woman anymore, can I?” Taomei said. The way she faced Suiren’s jibe head-on showed her stubborn streak, perhaps. Maomao thought she could almost see the sparks flying between the two of them. It seemed Jinshi had a way of whittling down the women around him to only the strongest and most capable. Maomao finished her examination promptly, then moved on to the younger ladies-in-waiting.

“My name is Chue.”

“Yes, I know.”

“But you can just call me Miss Chue. Like friends do!” She looked dead serious.

“Um... Right,” Maomao said. She was a special one, all right. She was Gaoshun’s daughter-in-law, which made her Taomei’s as well. A rather frivolous young lady for such a stern mother-in-law. Maomao wondered if they got along.

With her dumpling-like nose, small eyes, and tan skin, Chue looked much like her namesake, the sparrow.

She’s not exactly beautiful. But at the same time... Now that Maomao saw her for a second time, she realized it was hard not to find Chue charming. She seemed like she might be better suited hawking wares at a street stall than serving the Emperor’s younger brother.

“Chue is my son’s wife,” Taomei explained.

“Yes, Master Gaoshun told me. Your older son, yes?”

“That’s right. Not Basen, but Baryou. Much as I wish Basen would hurry up and settle down.” Taomei had that same amused look on her face as earlier.

There seemed to be quite a bit going on in this family of Gaoshun’s.

“Since we’re on the subject, let me introduce my older son,” Taomei said. She strode over to a curtain in the corner of the room and flicked it back, revealing a pale-faced man working Go problems.

There was someone else here this whole time? Maomao hadn’t even sensed him.

“Y-Yes, mother? Can I help you?”

“You could at least say hello, Baryou.”

“H-Hello?” Baryou looked much like Basen, if he were smaller, scrawnier, and hadn’t seen the sun in at least six months. “Y-Yes, hello...”

Baryou hardly even looked at Maomao, but he did slump to the ground, holding his stomach. He looked sick, and Maomao was about to trot over and work on him—but Chue got there first, summarily shoving Baryou back behind his curtain.

“Dearest mother-in-law, I sincerely think that when it comes to people he’s meeting for the first time, we need to start with written communications, and then once he’s used to them, they can talk to him through his screen. Just dropping someone on him face-to-face like that—well, there isn’t enough stomach medication in the world to make him feel better!”

What Chue was saying was perfectly reasonable—well, no, it sort of wasn’t, but it sounded reasonable.

“Yes, you always were better at handling him... It seems to me he’s much worse than he used to be, though.”

This was some relationship this mother and daughter-in-law had. Maomao wouldn’t have known what wisecrack to make even if she’d had a chance.

“Don’t you think we should have left Baryou and brought Maamei instead?” Taomei said.

“Yes, but then who would have watched my child?”

“Fair enough. You never were interested in child-rearing. It would be no small help to me if you would pop out at least one more, though.”

The opportunities for wisecracks came thick and fast, but Maomao suspected that if the quipping started it would never stop.

Let’s summarize:

Gaoshun’s wife, Taomei.

Gaoshun’s son, Baryou.

Baryou’s wife, Chue.

All of them very...characterful.

It would have been too much for Basen—for that matter, having him there would only have made things even more characterful. Maomao could see Gaoshun furrowing his brow so clearly it was like he was there with them. However Basen had contrived to get himself a separate trip, it had been the right choice.

Just when Maomao figured that that about did it as far as any interest in exams and was wondering if she should leave, Suiren gave her a poke.

“Yes, ma’am?” she asked. She turned to find herself faced with a gaze as friendly as a swarm of bees. Jinshi was glaring at them from behind his fancy screen.

Maomao had completely forgotten what she was really here for.

“Sh-Shall I call you Master Jinshi?”

After a beat he replied, “Yes.”

Apparently, he had been waiting behind that screen the entire time. He’d finally peeked in when the women’s exams never seemed to end—but all the same, she questioned his judgment for looking when the women were having examinations.

“But only here,” Jinshi added. “Don’t use that name anywhere else.”

“I understand, sir. But the examinations are still...”

Suiren was making tea with a smile. Maomao had said she didn’t need any, but apparently the other party here did. Well, the exams were a facade, anyway. Jinshi beckoned her behind the folding screen, and she had no choice but to go. Behind the screen was a door, and behind the door was a bedroom.

“Take your time, then,” Suiren said, giving Maomao the tea. None of the other ladies-in-waiting followed them. Incidentally, the click of stones could be heard from behind the curtain—evidently Baryou had resumed working his problems.

The bedroom was dark; there were no windows. Instead there was flickering candlelight. There must have been some sort of ventilation, because despite the absence of windows, there seemed to be plenty of air in the room.

“Lock the door, please,” Jinshi said. Maomao set down the tea and obligingly locked the door. It was a swinging door, not a sliding one, perhaps reflecting the western influence on the design of the ship. She placed the bag she’d taken from the quack on the table and took out fresh bandages. It was actually Maomao who had packed the bag, so she’d made sure to include them, along with salve.

I’ll tell the quack I was replacing my bandage. If she showed him the one wrapped around her left arm, he would accept the explanation without thinking too hard about it.

“If you would, then,” Jinshi said. He sat on the bed and took off his overrobe, as he always did.

“Yes, sir. Pardon me.” Maomao wiped her hands clean, then reached for Jinshi’s flank. She touched the red, raised flesh and Jinshi flinched. “It looks like it’s progressing well.”

“I’m starting to get sick of that salve.”

“We need to watch it a little while longer. I’m going to wipe it down, okay?”

Maomao wiped the old balm away and applied new. Jinshi twitched a little—maybe she was tickling him—but he did the same thing every time, so she paid it no mind, just kept working.

Maomao had several burns of her own on her arm, but she had never really treated one as serious as Jinshi’s. She could only evaluate the scarring, trying to remember what Luomen had done.

I wish Yao had copied a few pages about burn treatment for her book, she thought. She’d flipped through the volume, but hadn’t seen anything offhand. She could conceivably ask the other physicians, but she would have to be careful to do so without arousing any suspicions that Jinshi was involved.

Once the medicine was applied, she replaced the bandage, again as always.

“Done already?”

“Done already,” she confirmed.

“Don’t you have anything else to talk about?”

Well, there was nothing else to treat. Except maybe his head. Life would have been so much easier if she could have tightened down the screws he obviously had loose.

Sure, there were plenty of things she wanted to say—would it be rude to tell him, though, that there was nothing she wanted to talk about?

Jinshi was silent; apparently he was as lost for conversation topics as she was.

Maomao cocked her head, then said: “May I be so bold as to speak first, sir?”

“Go ahead.”

“This trip to the western capital. How long do you expect it to last?”

She didn’t expect him to have an exact answer for her, but she was grasping at conversational straws.

“To be honest, I don’t know. I believe we talked about it being at least three months, didn’t we?”

“Yes, sir. Another question, then. About the merits of bringing me on this trip. Do I have any value at all here other than to treat your wound?”

Jinshi didn’t say anything to that, but he averted his eyes.

Argh. I knew it.

“Did you use me to lure in the freak strategist, sir?”

There was another pause, and then Jinshi replied, “Would it help if I said I felt bad about it?”

Maomao wanted to give him a good glare, but she held back. There’s no way I’m getting paid enough for this!

She couldn’t believe it. They had better give her some very expensive alcohol or she would never put up with this. All she had at hand, though, was the tea Suiren had served. She took the first sip, before Jinshi—her tiny way of getting back at him.

“You’re thinking you’re not getting paid enough for this,” Jinshi said. He could be quite perceptive when he wanted to. He took a cloth-wrapped item out of the folds of his robes and unwrapped it to reveal a whitish-gray stone.

“Is that what I think it is?!”

“It should be. Would you kindly confirm?” Jinshi took a needle out of a drawer beside the bed.

“Confirm? You mean...” Maomao took the stone. It felt lighter than it looked. Very light, in fact. Jinshi appeared to be telling her to investigate exactly what it was. “Gladly, sir.”

Maomao heated the needle in the candle flame and then stuck it into the light stone. It produced a distinctive smell.

“It’s real! Not that I would expect you to bring me a fake, Master Jinshi. It’s actual ambergris!” They’d hardly left and Maomao had already procured her souvenir for the old madam.

“Laka—ahem. I mean, the strategist absolutely had to accompany us on this trip.”

“Was that a request from the western capital?” Maomao asked.

“It was. But I also wanted to get his opinion on the place.”

So that’s what’s going on.

The strategist was a freak, trash, and pretty much set the low bar for humanity, but when it came to strategy he had no peer.

“I heard there might be a war,” Maomao ventured, looking around. She hoped that, this being Jinshi’s room, it had been properly soundproofed.

“The best thing to do isn’t to win a war,” Jinshi said. “It’s not to start one at all. But doing what’s best is sometimes very hard.”

In other words, the potential for war was very much on his mind. She was starting to see why the doctors had been brought along, whether they liked it or not.

“I don’t think having me here is going to make it any easier to handle the freak strategist. My father might have been another story.”

Yes, Luomen seemed to have a way with the strategist. If he were younger, if his knee weren’t bad, he might have come with them on this trip. Unfortunately, life wasn’t that simple, and it was the quack doctor who had come instead.

He’ll never be a substitute for my—hm? Maomao thought back on how Jinshi had behaved with the quack. He’d talked the man up, made him feel good. To those watching, in fact, he’d appeared downright unctuous.

He’d particularly complemented the quack’s newly shaven face. Knowing the quack, he wouldn’t let that beard grow back for a while. Moreover, Jinshi hadn’t used the quack’s name at all, but had insisted on referring to him as “Master Physician.” Hardly anyone else on board knew the quack. And, assuming Maomao didn’t use his name, he was no quack—just another doctor. Even if his physical characteristics would probably give him away as a eunuch.

So the upper physicians had been summoned on this lengthy voyage, and one of them was a eunuch. One with whom Maomao was frequently seen.

Suddenly she wanted to pound the table.

No, can’t do that! Calm down!

She went to take another sip of tea to calm herself, but found it was already drunk dry. Jinshi offered her his own cup. She took it without hesitation and drank it down. It was made partly with herbs that had a sedative effect, maybe to help him keep his emotions under control. Suiren was quite something, sensing that they would need something like that.

Maomao let out a long breath, then stared hard at Jinshi. “You’re trying to use the master physician as a body double for my father.”

“You’re always so quick to pick up on things. Saves me having to explain.” He looked at her the same way he had back in the rear palace.

Luomen and the quack were both eunuchs, but they looked very different and were nothing alike in age. To those who had heard only rumors, however, all they would see was a eunuch doctor—and there were only so many of those. They would never imagine Jinshi would deliberately bring along the doctor from the rear palace. If they expected anyone, it would be Luomen, who had emerged from humiliation to serve in the royal court.

This was the reason they had kept Maomao in the dark about the chosen physicians until the very last moment.

“The western capital—or should I say, Sir Gyoku-ou—was insistent that Sir Luomen should come. You understand what that means?”

“I don’t suppose it’s as simple as that they have a patient they’d like him to see?”

Luomen was an extraordinary doctor; no doubt there were plenty of sick people in the western capital who could benefit from his services. But it seemed likely there was something else going on.

“From my perspective, I think they may be under the impression that this will keep the honored strategist tame. Of course, I gave them no specific answer. If they happen to mistake the master physician for Sir Luomen, that’s their problem.”

The tone of authority in Jinshi’s voice indicated that he wasn’t his usual somewhat pathetic self, but was the Emperor’s younger brother. A man who could and would use people as pawns.

“Tame, sir? I think it would be safer to give your hand to an actual fox. Especially because this man Gyoku-ou—he’s Empress Gyokuyou’s older brother, isn’t he?” Maomao asked.

“Many people assume that they can do what others cannot. Sometimes they grow desperate enough to try anything. Not every adherent of a sage is a sage themselves, however. Most of all, there’s no shortage of countries that have been brought to their knees by their queen’s relatives.”

A beat. Maomao felt herself get goosebumps. “Should you really be telling me this?”

“I’m not telling you anything. I’m only speaking of possibilities.”

Yeah, but not ones you doubt.

At the same time, not being told anything would have irked Maomao as well.

Jinshi raised a pointer finger, then pointed it at Maomao. “When they get desperate enough to try anything, who will they target?”

“You’re saying I’m a weakness that could be exploited?”

“You obviously are. And the strategist’s former aide now serves Sir Gyoku-ou.”

He’s talking about Rikuson.

“Sir Gyoku-ou knows about you, of that much we can be sure.”

Rikuson would have to tell them, if they asked him. She was starting to understand Jinshi’s seemingly harebrained selection of his entourage for this trip.

“You thought they would come after me if I stayed in the capital?”

“Again, it’s a possibility. You know how many enemies the honored strategist has.”

That left Maomao quiet.

“I suspect you are far more widely known than you would ever think, and not all those who know you are fool enough to ignore you.”

On that point, she had to agree with him. She should have thought harder before becoming a medical assistant. It was Jinshi who had arranged the opportunity for her, but her life might have been much quieter had the freak strategist not made such a display of himself. Well, lamenting the past wouldn’t do her any good.

“Lahan will be able to manage things, somehow, which is why I had him stay behind. I’ve also requested Sir Luomen put in an occasional appearance in the rear palace. And, with all apologies to you, I needed you to come with me. I thought it would be better for you somewhere the strategist could see you. Not easier, perhaps, but safer.”

“You” this, “you” that. Just when she thought he’d finally started using her name once in a while.

“It also happened to be quite convenient for me.”

You son of a—! Maomao almost exclaimed, but instead she took a sip of tea, exhaled, and said simply, “Is that so, sir?”

Much as they might have disturbed her, Jinshi’s words showed that he had done what he’d done out of consideration for Maomao. He had taken into account her web of personal relationships, the people he needed and where he needed them, and above all what he had thought would be best for her safety.

“I’ve assigned an old friend of yours as the master physician’s bodyguard. One Lihaku.”

“Yes, sir,” Maomao replied coolly. She gave the ambergris a distant look.

I’m not quite sure that explanation sits right with me. She gathered up the tea supplies and made to leave the bedroom. She hadn’t even touched the snacks.

“Won’t you take some snacks with you, Maomao?” Suiren, ever ready, had some baked treats all wrapped up and ready to go.

It will make the quack happy, Maomao thought, so she said, “Yes, thank you.” She took the snacks, bowed respectfully, and left the room.

“Are you quite sure about this, young master?”

Suiren was saying something to Jinshi, but Maomao ignored it.

“Oh, er...” Jinshi reached out, starting to say something to Maomao, but to be frank she had had quite enough talk for one day. Pretending she hadn’t noticed, she left.

Gaoshun had returned and was waiting outside. Diligent supporter that he was, he seemed to sense something when he looked at Maomao, for his brow furrowed, but there was nothing he could say. Maomao gave him a quizzical look but decided to head back to the medical office.