Including Maomao, there were five court ladies assigned to the medical officers. For the time being, they would spend their first month learning the ropes at the medical office near the military training grounds. The reason it was the military was because that was where the most work was.
She had been recommended by Jinshi, but Maomao had been told she wouldn't receive any special treatment. Therefore, if she wanted to be able to come and go from the rear palace, she had to properly take on her first assignment.
Every day, injured warriors were carried in on stretchers. Scrapes and cuts were a given—there were even frequent injuries serious enough to require stitching with needle and thread.
It was the perfect place to get used to the work.
(So they're actually serious about this?)
Maomao had assumed this department was merely for show, and that the other new court ladies were only working here to find husbands.
(Two of them are surprisingly diligent.)
Of the other four, two handled their work briskly. One was the court lady who seemed to be the leader of the pack, and the other was a docile court lady.
The remaining two weren't just unmotivated—they had fainted at the sight of blood on their first day.
A few days had passed and they'd gotten somewhat used to it, but their faces still contorted in disgust.
They would do well to stop grimacing whenever they saw sweaty, mud-caked military men.
"En'en, could you fetch me some linen strips?"
"Right away, Lady Yao."
En'en appeared to be Lady Yao's attendant. They were nominally colleagues here, but judging by their current dynamic, the hierarchy was quite clear.
Yao's attitude toward Maomao remained as harsh as ever. She only engaged in the bare minimum of conversation, so Maomao hardly ever spoke to her.
Then again, since Yao never initiated conversation, Maomao didn't either—so it was probably a wash.
The medical officers put the court ladies to work hard, but Maomao was accustomed to that kind of labor, so there was no need to call anyone else for help.
As a result, Maomao finished her work without befriending anyone.
"Can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Is the work difficult for you?"
At the end of yet another workday, while Maomao was washing and hanging the linen strips used in treatments, one of the medical officers spoke to her. He seemed familiar—it was a medical officer she'd often seen when she visited the infirmary during her time working for Jinshi. He was still young and wore glasses.
"Not particularly."
"You seem to eat alone during meals as well."
"The food here is really good, isn't it?"
She was served lunch. Even Maomao, who had a small appetite, couldn't help going back for seconds. Unlike the rear palace, seconds were allowed.
"No, that's not what I mean. Doesn't it bother you, being so blatantly ignored?"
"Even if you say that, they'd have an easier time if they asked me for things, but the reverse almost never happens."
If anyone was troubled by the situation, it was them. Occasionally they would fail to relay an important message, but since there was one oddball who would glare through the window at any doctor who tried to scold Maomao, nobody said anything to her anymore. He would appear several times a day, only to be dragged away by his subordinates, and this continued unabated.
If anything, the ones having the hardest time were the doctors trying to train her.
"I may find it difficult to get along with them, but I do understand a little about how to handle that oddball."
"...Tell me."
For starters, she brought up Luomen's name. She felt bad for her old man, but having that creep clinging to her was unpleasant from her point of view.
"May I ask one thing?"
The doctor spoke while keeping an eye on the monocled old man who was still peering from behind the trees. He had apparently shown up again without anyone noticing. The old man's eyes were fixed on the doctor talking to Maomao like daggers.
"What is your relationship with the military strategist?"
"We're strangers."
"Well, then..."
"We're strangers."
Having stated this clearly, Maomao went back to her laundry.
Since starting work at the medical office, Maomao had been staying at the dormitory near the palace. The distance from the pleasure district wouldn't have been a problem for commuting, but given the nature of that neighborhood, she wanted to avoid rumors.
(I know it's a bit late to worry about that now.)
Even so, wanting to maintain appearances was only human.
Her father also lived in the same dormitory. That said, doctors often worked night shifts, so quite a few of them practically lived in the nap rooms near the medical office. Her father, one way or another, rarely seemed to return to the dormitory.
The room was neither large nor small—big enough for a bed, a chest of drawers, and a writing desk, which was all Maomao needed. A bookshelf had been provided as well. Books were precious and couldn't be purchased easily, but the medical office would lend them out with permission.
For Maomao, this life wasn't bad at all. The only inconvenience was having to prepare her own meals. There was an eatery nearby, but she more often borrowed a stove and cooked rice porridge.
Sitting on her bed, Maomao unfolded what appeared to be a letter that had arrived during the day. There were two letters. One was from the pleasure district—a report on the state of the medicine shop. The old madam was being cautious of Keyou, apparently, but so far he hadn't shown any suspicious behavior. He seemed to be getting along with Sazen as well.
The other letter was from Jinshi. It came under Gaoshun's name, but the handwriting was unmistakably Jinshi's. On the surface, it looked like a perfectly ordinary status update—the kind with nothing problematic even if someone saw it. In reality, it was about the new intermediate consort, a woman named Airin from Sa'ou, who was now in the rear palace.
But something about it was strange.
Jinshi was certainly a peculiar individual, but when he entered the rear palace, he went alone. Maomao finished reading the letter, wondering why he was so wary, and placed it back in the letter box. Airin's behavior didn't seem to have changed in any noticeable way.
She would not learn the reason until several days later. At this point, there was no way for Maomao to know.
By the time she had grown fairly accustomed to her work at the medical office, the eccentric strategist was once again peering through the window without fail, and Gaoshun came to collect him. Since Gaoshun had a bad leg, it seemed he felt sorry about having to make repeated trips back and forth, so lately he had taken to transporting the man on a cart. He looked thoroughly uncomfortable, but with one kneecap missing, there was nothing to be done.
"Hm?"
Luomen, who had just picked up the eccentric moments ago, had come back again. Maomao thought he might have forgotten something, but he simply walked straight into the medical office.
Maomao gathered the laundry that had been hanging out to dry and headed inside. The other court ladies assigned to her had already been lined up and assembled. Apparently, no one had bothered to pass along the message again. The grim-faced doctor told Maomao to get in line as well.
"I'm thinking of heading to the rear palace today, and I could use a few hands to help out."
So that was why Luomen had come.
There were quack doctors in the rear palace, but lately Luomen had also been going in and out of it. The other physicians still held onto their important positions, so only Luomen, a former eunuch, was permitted entry to the rear palace.
"Then I'll go."
The one who stepped forward boldly was Yao, the leader of the four-woman group of court ladies. Following her lead, En'en stepped forward as well. That left the other two with no choice but to come out too.
"Sorry about that, but we've already decided who we're bringing along."
When the doctor interjected, Yao narrowed her eyes.
"Would that be this person here?"
Without calling Maomao by name, she merely glanced her way.
It didn't really matter whether Yao remembered her name or not, but Maomao wished they would stop trying to prevent her from going to the rear palace. That was, after all, the reason she had become a court lady in the first place.
"All she does is laundry, though. She hardly seems to be doing any real work. Oh, and cleaning too, I suppose."
Riding on Yao's coattails, one of the court ladies whose name Maomao couldn't be bothered to remember chimed in.
"Rather than a court lady, wouldn't 'servant girl' be a more fitting title?"
They snickered together.
(Well, it's because you lot won't do the work.)
Being called a servant girl didn't bother Maomao in the least, since she had been a servant girl for the longest time. What she did find objectionable was having the work she was assigned denied and dismissed as no real work at all.
As Maomao wondered whether she should finally speak up in her own defense, the mustachioed doctor smiled warmly and placed his hands on the shoulders of the two court ladies whose names he did not even know. He was the same doctor who had tested Maomao and the others when they first arrived.
"You know what? You two can go home."
The sudden dismissal left the two court ladies wide-eyed with surprise.
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"Because I distinctly told you to do the laundry. And yet, you decided this wasn't part of your work and did nothing — and you expect me to keep you around? That's the kind of thing I hate most of all."
His tone was calm, but at the same time, there was an air about him that brooked no argument.
"You did pass the exam, technically. But you weren't suited for the medical bureau. I'll transfer you to another department, but the other places are absolutely swamped with cleaning and laundry, so you'd better brace yourself for that."
He stated this plainly, then instructed the young medical official to take the two away.
"Th-this way, Lady Yao!"
They looked to Yao as though pleading for help.
As for Yao and Yan Yan, all they did was stare back with expressions of utter exasperation.
"Now then, now that things have quieted down, let me add one more thing."
The medical official looked at the two remaining court ladies, then at Maomao, and then at her father.
"I absolutely despise nepotism as well."
Her father's eyebrows furrowed into a worried inverted V.
*(Could this be that...)*
Maomao had fully intended to take the exam properly, but from everyone else's perspective, that might not be how it looked.
More than anything, it couldn't be denied that since her arrival, the eccentric strategist's constant presence had been causing disruptions to their work.
"Well then, that's all from me. Now go — to the rear palace or wherever it is you need to be."
Her father, wearing a pained expression, gave a small bow.
In the end, Maomao and two others were taken away, making a group of three.