Gaoshun's efficiency had been impressive as always.
Already the procuress had been bribed. As for the apothecary, the apprentice—
Zasen
—was minding the store while Maomao rented out an empty room at Rokuseikan to study. When she ran into something she didn't understand, she could simply go ask, since he was right nearby. It wasn't that he was glued to her side, but so far nothing had gone wrong.
Sometimes the little terror Zhao—
Zhao Yu
—would come to bother Maomao, but each time the procuress or one of the men would grab him by the scruff of the neck and drag him away.
Incense to heighten concentration burned in the room, and from the next room she could hear the gentle strains of the erhu and the koto. The courtesan skilled at music was playing for her.
They said you craved sweets when studying, but instead Maomao was provided with savory rice crackers and chilled fruit water.
They were really going all out.
(Just how much did they spend on all this?)
Such questions inevitably came to mind. At the same time, the procuress kept making rounds to check whether Maomao was slacking off and taking naps, which made it truly difficult to get anything done. Then again, the procuress—though it was long ago—had been a fairly high-class courtesan in her youth. As a result, she was more educated than most.
"You can't even write proper Chinese poetry?"
"I'm curious—why on earth does the medical officer's exam require Chinese poetry?"
Strictly speaking, it wasn't an exam for medical officers but an exam for court ladies who would serve medical officers. In this country, there were several qualifications for becoming a court lady, and this was a new one they had just created. If they were going to make one, they might as well have cut things like Chinese poetry altogether.
"Poetry has nothing to do with medicine. And there's history too—and what's with the scripture copying?"
"Whether you know history or not changes the depth of your character as a person. Clean handwriting is easier to read, and copying texts is excellent practice for that."
The procuress only spoke sense at times like these. She could have just stuck to her usual line—no need to bother learning things that won't make you money.
The characters she wrote as models flowed smoothly and were beautiful. Those hands, now wrinkled like dead branches, must once have been the slender, glossy-nailed fingers of a whitebait.
Women with beautiful handwriting are liked. Women with beautiful appearances are liked.
She had spent her life polishing women for men's sake, and yet she was still training courtesans in the pleasure quarter. If she had been that beautiful, why hadn't she chosen a different life? Or perhaps she couldn't?
"Having beautiful handwriting doesn't necessarily mean what's inside is beautiful."
Maomao flinched, expecting the procuress's fist to come crashing down—but nothing happened.
"Nobody can tell whether the inside is clean or dirty. So isn't it better to at least have beautiful handwriting?"
The procuress held up samples as if to say "Now write." Her even, unflawed handwriting looked like a model answer for the imperial examinations.
"Yes, yes."
If she slacked off, a whip would come flying. Maomao rolled up her sleeves and picked up her brush.
The court lady examinations were held quite frequently, apparently. Unlike the imperial examinations, only young women sat for them. Unlike men, their working years were short, and if new personnel weren't brought in regularly, there would immediately be a shortage of hands.
Then again, most of the women who aspired to become court ladies were daughters of officials—what amounted to a mix of bridal training and husband-hunting—so it didn't seem like much of a problem even if the numbers dipped a bit.
The examination venue was a school building on the north side of the capital. The imperial examinations were held in a provincial city north of the capital, but for tests held this often, it was better to hold them in the capital itself.
After finishing roughly half a month of cramming, Maomao arrived at the exam looking haggard. The examination venue had about a hundred examinees. Some were not applying for the medical officer apprentice position, so that seemed about right.
There was not much to say about the exam itself.
About an hour
later it was over, and she headed home briskly. The document screening had apparently already been completed. Being eliminated at the document review stage would certainly have been a blow to one's pride.
The only problem areas for Maomao were the subjects she had no interest in—classical poetry and sutra copying. She should have scored quite well on everything else. If anything, she would have liked someone to point out any mistakes she might have made.
After writing what needed to be written and finishing the exam, there was nothing left to do, so she was heading back to the pleasure district on foot.
If only she hadn't heard that idiotic voice.
"Whyyy—why won't they let me in?"
Something of a commotion was happening in front of the examination venue. It appeared to be between an official overseeing the exam and an examinee, but the examinee was clearly the odd one out. She was wearing a woman's kimono—it fit, but was rather large for a woman. Being large alone might have been fine, but the voice was low, and on top of that, it was disturbingly familiar.
(I feel like I've seen a scene like this before.)
She had a bad feeling and wanted to ignore it, but the spectacle was too bizarre to look away from.
"Why won't you let me in?"
The woman putting on airs had half her face hidden behind a cloth. At this point, suspicion had already turned to certainty. If you only looked at the face, it could pass for a woman. The features were well-formed and the lines were delicate. The makeup was also done quite prettily. But the voice could not be disguised even with a falsetto, and more than anything, those unnaturally contorted body movements were deeply unsettling.
"...What are you doing?"
She could have ignored it, but she felt sorry for the official being pestered and spoke up. He was a kind official. If it were Maomao, she would have handed the nuisance over to a guard in a heartbeat.
"
Keyong
"
It was a man she had met before at the dock. He had pockmark scars covering half his face and was hiding them with a cloth. He had been working as a doctor, but because of his face, he could never land proper employment—a pitiable man. Yet thanks to his foolhardy personality, he did not seem particularly unhappy about it.
"Oh, Maomao. Long time no see! Listen, listen — they won't let me take the exam!"
He blinked his uncovered eyes as if to say *humor me*. Stop it, that's creepy.
(As if I could humor that.)
"The exam's already over, you know."
"No waaay!"
He cupped both cheeks in his hands. Being spoken to in that falsetto voice was no less unsettling.
"See? The poor man is in a bind."
Maomao tugged Keyou's kimono and dragged him out of the exam hall.
The current of events was a fearsome thing — and so Maomao ended up eating a meal in the company of a cross-dressing pervert. It would have been fine if he had changed back, but unfortunately he apparently hadn't brought a change of clothes. For the record, he had borrowed his current outfit from the village chief's wife in the village where he lived.
"I really thought I'd finally nail down a job. The next exam is two months away, huh?"
"You wouldn't be eligible to take it in the first place."
He was a passably attractive woman — or at least not unconvincing as one — but with half his face hidden and that deep voice, he was about as suspicious as they came. Did this guy really think he could pass and work in the palace? It was a miracle he hadn't been reported.
"A job — what about the old man's place?"
She recalled he had been helping out at the office of a cantankerous old physician in a nearby village. They hadn't seemed to be on bad terms, either.
"The old man's been in low spirits lately. He says he'll be retiring soon, so I should look for a new position now while I still can."
"..."
Maomao's expression grew a little complicated. She had some memory of why the old physician's spirits were flagging.
"Heard there's a new qualification that lets you work as an assistant to the court physicians."
(At least confirm the gender first.)
More to the point, she wanted him to do something about the cross-dressing. The real problem was that he was actually quite pretty in it, so the men around them kept stealing glances. Even hiding half his face apparently came across as
ethereal.
If they heard his voice, they'd lose interest in an instant.
Maomao ate a light steamed bun while Keyou had boiled dumplings.
"The village has plenty of medicinal herbs, and the old man says he'll give me a place to live as long as I stay — so, y'know..."
"If you just inherit the old man's practice, wouldn't that solve the problem?"
"It wouldn't be that easy, you know. The old man was originally a court physician, right? That's exactly why people would come from far away to get treated by him — because of that title. If some random nobody took over, nobody would want to let someone that suspicious examine them."
That was certainly true. He may have earned a reasonable amount of trust within the village, but it would be tough making a living in that tiny hamlet. He'd be selling off medicinal herbs and doing odd jobs on the side just to scrape by.
With a snap, Maomao raised her index finger.
She'd been thinking about wanting extra hands at the apothecary before, but after what happened with Sazen, she'd concluded it was better not to pursue it. But given the current situation, maybe that wasn't the case anymore.
"Hey, could you make the trip from the village to the pleasure district a few times a month?"
"If you cover my travel expenses, sure. And I'd be happy if you threw in meals too."
"Rice isn't an issue — I have more than enough to sell."
She had rice left over from the dealings with the village of quack doctors, plus sweet potatoes.
"The work would involve teaching the apprentice pharmacist about medicinal herbs, continuing to supply the herbs you've been selling to us up until now, and also handling any drug formulations that are beyond the apprentice's ability. When that happens, the verification would be done by both the apprentice and the shrewd old woman who runs the apothecary."
Since his background was still unclear, she'd reserve the right to take that kind of precaution.
"Also, the shop duties would mostly be handled by the apprentice pharmacist, so you wouldn't have to deal with customers."
"Aw, come on — I'm actually pretty confident when it comes to customer service, you know."
He swayed his body back and forth. Unfortunately, coming from someone who couldn't find employment due to his appearance, she chose to ignore that remark.
"How about this for a salary?"
Maomao held up one finger. Combined with her village work, it would be enough to live on. As a pharmacist's wage, it was a bit lacking, but...
"Something like this, maybe?"
Kokuyou took Maomao's hand and made her raise two more fingers.
"Fufufufufufufu."
They exchanged grins, though Maomao glared at him.
For someone who acted like a fool, he certainly knew his way around prices and valuations.
Maomao ended up negotiating with him while munching on steamed buns — from figuring out how many fingers to hold up all the way down to the fine details of the calculation.