Haku Nyangnyang
had, as expected, not simply vanished without a trace.
Maomao had viewed her as nothing more than a performer, but among certain people she was regarded as something entirely different.
Worship — or what you might call religion.
And some people with intense convictions would become thoroughly consumed by it.
The daughter of Uryou — her name was reportedly
Yakou
— was apparently no different.
Having been deeply moved by watching Nyangnyang's performances, she had attempted to make contact with her. In the end, Nyangnyang had apparently performed a
divination
for Yakou.
"There is one who harbors misfortune near you. Could it be someone in your vicinity, or perhaps someone of your bloodline? Yes, it must be the bloodline. Can you think of anyone it might be?"
Such vague, ambiguous phrasing — she would have been watching for changes in their expression all the while. Giving them a handful of options, selecting whichever word drew a reaction, and steering the conversation from there. A common trick among swindlers.
Yakou, being the daughter of a former concubine herself, likely had her own share of grievances. She had treated her half-sister at home with casual cruelty. The thought that, if by some chance Lady Risu were to bear the Emperor's child — that was what she feared.
Delusions of persecution only grow and spread. And the one who further amplified them was none other than Haku Nyangnyang. A tale as old as time.
And so, speaking of her own sister, Yakou had reportedly said this:
"Oh, if only she would just disappear."
Upon hearing Yakou murmur those words, Nyangnyang had smiled at her, then replied, "I understand." What she handed over after saying this was a paper doll.
(Most certainly peculiar.)
If one believed in divination, then one would also believe in curses. And when Yakou later learned that Lady Risu had been attacked, she would have concluded that her curse had worked.
And then, if she were told that Jinshi himself had cast suspicion upon her — that she was thought to have been the one who tried to lay hands on her own half-sister, regardless of the fact she was a consort...
(What an idiot.)
Haku Nyangnyang had stopped showing her face, but it was said that if anything happened, messages could still be relayed. And sure enough, when Yakou — who had carefully informed Nyangnyang that suspicion had fallen upon her — returned home, a letter arrived.
It contained, in meticulous detail, instructions on how to escape.
It was said that she had written a promise to take care of the trouble after she left as the weeping woman.
Upon hearing the details of the matter, the one who was most shaken was Yakou's brother.
"...You hired those bandits yourself, didn't you?"
Having attacked Risa Consort, the brother had assumed that not only his sister but the entire family would be punished, so he cooperated as she instructed. It was he who arranged for the weeping woman.
As for Uryu, he remained silent throughout. If Yakou and her brother were to be believed, there were only two accomplices within the family. But whether the man who identified a completely different corpse as his daughter had simply made an error, or whether he had actually caught on to something — that remained unclear.
Maomao had retreated to a corner of the room again, trying to hide from Uryu and the others now that their injuries had been treated. Yakou kept glancing her way, but she paid it no mind.
Now then. If curses were to be treated as punishable offenses, Yakou would be guilty of a serious crime — but that was ultimately up to the judges. Unfortunately, neither the Emperor nor Jinshi put much stock in curses. They could read the malice behind it all, but treating it as something actually carried out would be difficult.
If there was a problem, it would be — .
"Digging into everything about the Consort?"
It would likely be a matter of confidentiality obligations — and the fact that she still had connections to Haku Nyangnyang.
Before Jinshi could raise that point, the one who opened his mouth was Uryu.
"How did you manage to maintain contact?"
The father questioned his daughter. His teeth had been broken, so his speech was slightly slurred.
"That was... I was told not to tell anyone."
"Well then, all of us would end up executed."
Hearing the word "executed," Yakou began to tremble.
"But the fairy said I absolutely must not tell anyone."
"Have you forgotten what happened to the Shishi clan?"
At that, Yakou shuddered violently. Her brother's face also turned pale.
Jinshi wore a bitter expression. Behind him at an angle stood an attendant different from Bashen, maintaining a blank expression. Bashen would no doubt receive a thorough scolding from Gaoshun afterward.
Now then. He had heard that Uryu was a man of considerable business acumen, and here that talent was on full display.
Uryu stroked his own misshapen cheek.
What did he intend to do, invoking the name of the Shishi clan?
"It seems there is still much we do not know about information regarding Haku Nyangnyang," he said.
Jinshi wore an unconcerned expression, as if to say, "And what of it?" — though inwardly, he would have liked to let out a wry smile.
"Yakou. You can talk, right?"
" B-But, Father…"
"You can talk, right."
Her father's assertive tone left Yakou with nothing to do but nod meekly.
Jinshi slipped a hand into his sleeve and cast a somewhat imperious gaze toward Uryou.
"I can't wipe everything clean without information from that girl."
In other words, he was proposing something akin to a plea bargain.
Uryou wore a smile of unfathomable depths on his crooked face. He had the look of a merchant more than an official.
"Yes, I understand. However, if I may confirm one thing—"
"What is it?"
"I heard that last year, Rifa's chief lady-in-waiting departed from the rear palace. What was the reason, if I may ask?"
He hit a sore spot. That matter had been handled discreetly, but sharp-eyed people would surely still speculate about what had happened. Thanks to Rifa's request, someone who should have faced serious punishment had ended up being merely dismissed.
If Risu were the type to demand punishment for her half-sister, that would be one thing — but considering her personality, it seemed unlikely she would have pushed for it.
Jinshi's eyes turned cold in an instant.
"And what does that have to do with anything?"
"No, I apologize. I overstepped."
Uryou quietly withdrew, and his son and daughter were chilled to the bone by Jinshi's cold expression.
Uryou was a man of considerable reputation within the court, but it seemed he also possessed the cunning that had earned him that reputation.
"Regarding the matter of the white woman, hold nothing back. If you attempt to conceal anything, you'll find yourself in serious trouble."
"Understood."
Uryou bowed. His children, trembling, followed their father's lead and exited the room.
"You lot, leave as well."
Jinshi addressed the remaining attendants, and they filed out with troubled expressions.
"Hey. Come out."
Once the room was finally empty, Maomao was called out at last. She crept out from a corner of the room.
"More of a rat than a cat."
"Neither a cat nor a rat."
Jinshi showed a weary face and flopped face-down onto the table. His legs were splayed out, looking utterly slovenly.
"If you keep up that posture, it won't look good, and I'll have to call for Gaoshun."
"If it's Gaoshun, he'll eventually come by to punch Maosen."
So saying, Jinshi pointed to the chair across the table and told Maomao to sit. Maomao sat as told. Unlike before, a relaxed air now drifted through the room. There should have been no one around, but they kept their voices low all the same.
"I feel terrible for Gaoshun, but didn't this work out for the best this time?"
When she said "worked out for the best," she meant the matter of the U clan. Maosen going on a rampage like that—seen in isolation, it could only be called foolish. But when it came to balancing the books on this whole affair, it seemed just the right catalyst.
One way or another, the judgment Jinshi would pass on the U clan was bound to be lenient.
"In the first place, His Majesty doesn't wish to punish them. And above all, my mother wouldn't allow it."
She felt this was the first time Jinshi had referred to "Mother." She assumed he meant the Empress Dowager, but somehow it gave her a strange feeling.
"With the Ki clan affair, she was deeply troubled. She was petitioning His Majesty for reduced punishment right to the very end."
No matter whose words they were—even the Empress Dowager's—that was an unreasonable request. Show too much mercy carelessly, and sparks of trouble would ignite somewhere else, expanding the damage.
Not that sparks of trouble were the kind of thing you could prevent even if you wanted to.
The U clan would likely receive no major punishment on the surface. However, since they had already held such a grand funeral, they couldn't exactly announce their daughter was alive after all.
(What will they do, I wonder?)
Unlike Risu, this daughter seemed to have been raised quite spoiled, but what she would do from here on was anyone's guess.
(Not that it isn't her own fault.)
Whether she spent the rest of her life hidden away in the estate or lived quietly in some distant land was none of Maomao's concern.
In the relaxed atmosphere, Maomao nearly yawned. It was beautifully sunny outside, and a nap in the garden sounded lovely. She wanted to leave the room quickly, but Jinshi was still face-down on the table, so she couldn't move.
(Could he be asleep?)
When she moved to poke him and check, his face suddenly came up.
"You were just about to poke me, weren't you?"
"What are you talking about? More to the point, may I return now?"
To Maomao's question, Jinshi replied with narrowed eyes.
"Won't you stay a little longer?"
"I don't have anything in particular to talk about."
(Why are you looking at me like that?)
Jinshi wore an expression like a fussy, petulant child.
"There must be something, right?"
"What exactly would you like me to talk about?"
If this was some impossible demand for an entertaining story, she wished he'd drop it. Maomao, whose brothel jokes always fell flat, found the bar far too high.
"Surely there's something. The weather, or what you've been up to lately."
"Today's weather is clear skies. The air is crisp and dry, making it ideal for laundry. As for what I've been doing lately, I've been procuring and compounding the medicine ingredients that ran short during my absence, and disciplining Zhao Yu. His pranks have gone too far, so I'd like to request an increase in my allowance. Preferably not through the Green Peacock House but paid directly to me. And if possible, I'd appreciate it in the form of imported medicines rather than money."
"That's a work report, not a conversation. As for the allowance, Gaoshun said you'd been demanding quite a lot."
(Is that so?)
In truth, before the money ever reached Maomao, the shrewd old woman siphoned it off, so she never knew the exact amount. She'd always figured it was roughly three times what she was given, but apparently it was even more. What a greedy hag.
"..."
Jinshi, still lying face-down, kept glancing at Maomao.
"How can you just act so normal around me?"
"What do you mean, how?"
Come to think of it, this was the first time she'd had a proper conversation with Jinshi in a while. Up until earlier, there had been all that commotion with the Mao clan, and she'd received an explanation about that matter.
It had been since before she headed west—their talk in the apothecary.
And what had happened then—
"I am not bothered by it at all, so please don't worry yourself, Lord Jinshi."
"...Not bothered."
Jinshi's eyes went vacant.
"No, come on, there must be more to it than that?"
"Not really. Oh. Thank you for the deer antler."
Maomao bowed in thanks as though she'd only just remembered to do so.
"I've been grinding it down and compounding remedies right away. As expected of something called a spiritual medicine, the effects are truly remarkable. I gave a small package to each of several top customers, and word spread from there — they've been selling quite well. I set the price fairly high, but there still seem to be plenty of gentlemen who want to restore their vigor, and some even said they'd pay whatever it takes. If possible, could you tell me the route by which you obtained the deer antler? Would that be feasible?"
"No — what are its effects, even? And wait, you're talking far more fluently than you were a moment ago!"
He hadn't even known the effects — he'd only ordered it because it was rare. In that case, she decided, the portion she'd set aside for Jinshi would go unused. She might as well sell it off.
"No, that's not what I'm trying to talk about!"
Jinshi looked up. His ears were faintly red.
"Don't you feel... embarrassed at all, being face-to-face with someone you've kissed?"
Jinshi said, slightly flustered.
"Even if you say that, if I got flustered over every little thing, I'd never get any work done."
She'd seen plenty of that sort of thing in the pleasure district.
If anything, it was a place where people did it more often than insects mated.
"Work...?"
"If I'd been all flustered around Rifa, I'd never have been able to do my job."
"What does Rifa have to do with this?"
Jinshi looked at her with an expression of genuine bewilderment.
"Rifa was so ill she could barely eat properly, wasn't she?"
On top of that, she wouldn't even attempt to feed herself. There had been no choice but to use forceful measures.
Jinshi, who could imagine what method she'd resorted to, slammed his hand on the table.
"W-wait! Rifa is—"
—a woman!
"—you realize?!"
"She's a consort. If it had been a gentleman, that would have been a problem."
"No, that's not—!"
She understood what he was trying to say, but back then Maomao had been desperate too. If Rifa had died, she knew her own head would soon be separated from her body as well. While the surrounding ladies-in-waiting screamed, she'd had to force-feed her — even kicking anyone who tried to interfere out of the room.
"Thanks to that, she pulled through. So it turned out all right."
"..."
Lady Rifa was holding yet another newborn prince in her arms. Could anyone have imagined that from the situation back then?
Maomao believed she had done nothing wrong.
Jinshi's face drooped once more. Without raising it, he beckoned her to come closer.
"Are we going to kiss or something?"
"I'm absolutely not in the mood for that!"
Even as he said that, Jinshi gently pulled Maomao's body toward him. He didn't do anything beyond that—simply held her in an embrace.
It was like the times when the little brat would cling to her for comfort. She would never recover her old memories, but it seemed she understood that something large had been taken away from her. Recently,
Maomao
—the fur ball—had taken to sleeping curled up in her arms, so that seemed to ease her mind somewhat. Apparently even that creature had its uses.
Was Jinshi, too, wanting to cling to something, much like the child of ten?
"Will this be over soon?"
"Just wait a little longer. One hundred more."
(That's quite a long time.)
His weight pressed down on her and the position was uncomfortable, but she would endure it.
"One, two, three…"
"Don't count."
(Ugh, what a pain.)
Maomao sat perfectly still, wondering whether she could somehow press the fur ball into Jinshi's arms instead.