On her first day of work, she would apparently be drilled on the fundamentals of being a court lady serving the palace.
And so, fewer than a hundred new court ladies were led by their seniors to a large lecture hall and made to sit through a lengthy sermon. Maomao had once given a lecture in the rear palace's lecture hall herself, but listening to someone else's sermon was honestly incredibly sleepy.
There were more desks and chairs than needed, so the new court ladies were sparsely seated by department.
No one was sitting around Maomao. Up front, the court ladies she had bumped into earlier were seated together, chatting away like old friends.
Most women who became court ladies were daughters of officials, with the occasional daughter of a wealthy merchant family. Even within the rear palace, quarrels among women were far from rare, and it was no different here. Maomao knew this well — she had endured considerable harassment during her time working under Jinshi.
Within the rear palace, though, there was in a sense an atmosphere where anyone could claw their way up.
A hunger, A fighting spirit — but here, things were somewhat different.
Within what already existed, A pyramid, — what mattered was how to skillfully position yourself within it. Because the new court ladies had already formed groups of several people, and you could tell who the important figures were just by the atmosphere.
(Her parent's official rank directly determined the daughter's standing, no doubt.)
If someone of unknown origin like Maomao were among them, they would naturally exclude her, or at the very least put her in her place. Thinking about it that way, the behavior from earlier wasn't entirely incomprehensible.
Still, Maomao thought it was childish.
After about half an hour of explanation, they split up by department. Maomao and the others in the same department headed for the medical office. Though it was called a medical office, there were several within the palace grounds. The one Maomao had frequently visited was on the western side, where her father, Luomen, was stationed.
There was also one on the eastern side, and that was apparently where they were headed this time.
Maomao grimaced.
The western side of the palace housed many civil officials, while the eastern side housed military officials. Her father, Luomen, had been assigned to the west specifically so he would have minimal interaction with the military — but apparently that consideration had been meaningless.
As for why one would want to avoid military officials, Maomao felt the same way and for the same reason.
(I wonder how he already figured it out.)
Trying to appear as calm as possible, Maomao walked along the corridor led by an elderly court lady. As they walked, gruff-looking military officers glanced their way. Setting Maomao aside, the other court ladies were young with attractive features. It was only natural for men to steal a peek.
It was already the start of summer, that muggy season. Just walking made the oppressive scent of sweat drift over them. Seeing the men training with their upper bodies bared, the new court ladies averted their gazes.
Among all this, a conspicuously suspicious shadow was following close behind.
Maomao wanted to ignore it, but it kept creeping into the corner of her vision. Whoever was trying to tail her was doing such a terrible job of it that they were painfully obvious. And as for who it was...
A scruffy beard, fox-like eyes, a monocle that was there more out of an attempt to look dashing than for any practical reason — with that description alone, anyone should know who it was. That person whose name she didn't even want to say.
"Oh, that person."
The new court ladies whispered among themselves.
"He's the highest-ranking person here."
She assumed there were still superiors back at the military bureau, but those would have offices in the central quarters. The man wandered around looking idle, though his official title was supposedly quite impressive.
The moment the eccentric military strategist's presence was noticed, the military officers who had been glancing his way quickly averted their eyes and busied themselves with their training. There must have been an ironclad rule among them never to engage with him.
*How annoying.* Maomao wanted to just hurry along, but the older court lady walked at a slow pace, which was a problem. Though it was hidden by her train, the way her hips moved suggested she might be practicing foot-binding.
*Must make walking difficult.* The new court ladies and Maomao — five in total — walked with light steps. Being daughters of officials, you'd think at least one of them would have bound feet, but by sheer coincidence, all of them had healthy, unrestricted feet.
"That over there is the medical bureau."
The guide pointed to a sturdy, unadorned building near the training grounds. The medical bureau to the west was still more ornate by comparison.
Just as she was holding that thought, a cry rang out from behind them.
When everyone turned, they saw a man being carried on a stretcher. His body was limp, and bruises were visible across his skin.
"Get him to the medical bureau!"
The strong military officers ran toward the medical bureau with practiced ease.
"Let's go as well."
Maomao and the others followed along.
When they arrived at the medical bureau, they found a group of confused men.
"What happened?"
"Well, normally the medical officer should be here..."
The room was empty. There wasn't even a note left behind saying anyone would be out.
The collapsed man remained limp as he was placed on a cot. Maomao glanced at him. He was a young man covered in bruises, with facial hair that hadn't yet grown in fully — it was obvious he was being worked to the bone every day.
"How did he collapse?"
Maomao peered into the young man's face.
"Oh, excuse me!"
One of the new court ladies tried to stop Maomao, but an older court lady stopped her instead. She was saying with her eyes, "If you know what's going on, please take a look."
"He collapsed suddenly during training. There wasn't any particular spot that took a bad hit... or so I thought."
There was something evasive about his tone. It might be because the thrashing he'd been giving was plain for anyone to see. Or maybe it was because of the strange person peering in through the window with half his face showing.
His temperature was normal, and he was sweating. But his pulse seemed a little slow.
"It's not so much a blow to any particular spot."
Maomao grabbed several cloths from the medical office and dunked them in the water basin. She wrung them out and laid the wet cloths on the collapsed young man's body to cool him down.
"Would it be all right if I used things from the shelf?"
She asked the older court lady, but the response was ambiguous. Instead, the person outside the window gave a thumbs-up. Seeing that, the court lady answered, "Go ahead."
The eccentric strategist was an eyesore, but he'd proven useful after all.
On the shelf, besides medicine, there were what appeared to be condiments and the like, probably for midnight snacks.
She filled a container with water and added salt and sugar. If one had to describe it, it was the same thing she'd made before when Jinshi had nearly collapsed at the summer retreat. The young man had collapsed from dehydration due to the heat.
She gently raised his head and let him drink by wetting his lips from the container. His consciousness seemed to have returned considerably, and from there she let him drink on his own.
When the young man regained consciousness, the military officers who had been drilling him let out sighs of relief. Maomao, however, couldn't help shooting them a cold glare.
As she was rewetting the cooled cloths to continue lowering his body temperature, she heard clapping—clap, clap, clap.
When she looked to see what it was, men in white coats were approaching. The white coats were the mark of medical officers. There was one elderly man and two middle-aged ones.
"You pass."
"W-wait, what was that a test of?"
The one who asked was one of the new court ladies.
"What do you mean, 'what'? Your assistants are coming, and it wouldn't do to decide everything based on a written exam alone. I just took a quick look."
In other words, it seemed they had been hiding and watching to see what Maomao and the others would do this whole time.
What a nasty thing to do.
"If any of them had been useless, I could have had them cut right on the spot, you know."
The elderly medical officer, looking somewhat disappointed as he glanced at Maomao, took a drink from the water basin.
(He seems like he could be a quirky old man.)
Maomao made a point of keeping her honest opinion to herself.
Incidentally, the eccentric strategist was still peeking in from outside, but she decided it was best to simply ignore him.