When she arrived at the medical office, laundry was piled up like a mountain.
"Hurry up and get through this."
Liu the physician said it as though it were nothing, but doing laundry in winter was cold. Her fingers would go numb.
"Understood."
The fact that laundry had piled up meant that the physicians had been working even while Maomao and the others were on break. She had no choice but to do it in silence.
Most of the laundry was shrouds that needed disinfecting. First, she sorted them into relatively clean ones and ones soiled with blood and bodily fluids.
Those with severe stains were discarded. Since they were shrouds, if only a small area was soiled, she could cut off the dirty portion and reuse the rest.
In principle, shrouds were disposable items to be thrown away when they got old. She didn't want to reuse ones with blood on them if she could help it—human blood could also cause infections.
"What's this..."
Yao held it up by the tips of her fingers to show Maomao. It looked like someone's white coat. There was blood on it—from treating a serious patient, perhaps. Had it been disinfected? There was a faint smell of alcohol on it.
"It's a problem if physician's coats end up in our pile. Whose could it be?"
Yanlan checked the lining of the coat. Since everyone wore the same uniform, their names should be embroidered on the inside.
"..."
Yanlan's brow furrowed. When Maomao leaned in to look, she saw the name Tianyou embroidered on the inside. He was a young apprentice physician, a frivolous man who had asked Yanlan out numerous times, only to be ignored each time.
(He threw it away.)
Yanlan went back to sorting the shrouds as if nothing had happened.
"Yanlan, since we're at it, shall I wash it for you?"
"Lady Yao. Even if the other party is a physician, I don't think we should pamper them. It's against the rules."
"But we were technically working during our vacation."
Yan's face was uncharacteristically scowling.
"How do you get bloodstains out?"
Yan was moving sluggishly, so Maomao had no choice but to step forward.
"Let me see it."
Maomao examined the blood-soaked area. It had discolored to a dark reddish-black. She wasn't sure if it would come out, but she filled a tub with water and soaked it.
"What are you going to do? Use ash or something?"
Ash was sometimes used to remove stains, but that wasn't what was needed here.
"I'll go grab some supplies."
Maomao returned to the medical office and began rummaging through the shelves.
"What are you looking for?"
Physician Liu, who happened to be there, asked.
"I was thinking of using daikon to get the stain out."
She was fairly sure they still had daikon in stock, since it was used as an ingredient for cough suppressant.
"A stain remover? Oh, to get the blood out."
Impressive that he caught on immediately just from hearing "daikon."
"Since you're at it, wash these too."
A pile of additional blood-stained physician's robes was thrust upon her. Not one or two—there had to be five or six.
"......"
"Something wrong?"
"No, it's nothing."
That was the sort of petty cruelty this tyrannical physician was known for. He had sharp, handsome features that must have made him popular in his youth, but with age he had become a crotchety old man.
"Was there some major surgery or something?"
"Something like that."
With a vague reply, Physician Liu went back to writing his log.
However, for a surgery to soil this many clothes, it must have involved multiple procedures or something particularly extensive.
(She had been wearing an apron, right?)
The amount of blood itself wasn't all that much, but the scattered stains were bothersome.
(Smells weird.)
Whether the laundry service was closed for winter, she didn't know, but she wished they hadn't just left them sitting.
Maomao tossed the physician's robes into the laundry basket, then went ahead and grated the daikon radish with a metal grater.
"If you're gonna use it, use a whole one. You can't just treat daikon like some disposable material."
"...Understood."
It was an order from above, so she obediently complied, though she regretted not just quietly taking the daikon and leaving without bringing back anything extra.
Seeing her return with more items in tow, Yao let out a wry smile.
Feeling apologetic, Maomao wet the white robe, placed a cloth underneath the stained area, then tapped it with a ball of grated daikon wrapped in cotton.
"Does this actually get stains out?"
Yao leaned in for a closer look.
"Yes. Daikon contains compounds that break down blood. It works on stains from sake spills and eggs as well."
"Oh. Is that so."
To show Yao, who was impressed, Maomao lifted up the cloth she had placed underneath. The blood on the white robe had dissolved and transferred onto the cloth below.
"If you understand the method, please help me. The freshly grated daikon is most effective, so I'd like to finish quickly."
"R-Right."
Yanyan joined as well, and the three of them tapped the white robe.
"We're done."
"Then let's rinse it with water immediately. There'd be no point if daikon residue ended up staining it again."
"...Got it."
Yao was the type who could do whatever was asked of her right away. As long as she was convinced by the other person's reasoning, she was basically straightforward about it, though she wouldn't move forward if she had any doubts.
After finishing the washing and hanging up the undergarment and white robe to dry, a physician with a pallid complexion happened to pass by. It was Tenyu, the apprentice physician.
"Excuse me. The white robes were mixed in together."
Maomao spoke up. En'en treated Tenyu like a nuisance, and if Yao were to approach him, it would only cause trouble. By process of elimination, Maomao had to be the one to speak.
"Ah, yeah. Sorry. Wash it for me, would you?"
If you could call it casual, it was casual, but he seemed less energetic than usual.
"Did you help with the surgery?"
"Ah, yeah, well, sort of."
His answer was vague.
Maomao found it nagging at her.
"You look tired, so I won't ask you to wash it again. It's hanging over there to dry, so come get it once it's done."
"Got it."
Tenyu gave a half-hearted reply and wandered off somewhere.
"Good grief, he's so hopeless."
Yao grumbled as she tidied up the basin they had been using. The white robes were hung to dry, but the undergarments still needed to be boiled for sterilization.
Ideally the white robes should be boiled as well for the sake of hygiene, but since they were not consumable items, the fabric would be damaged.
A heated flat iron.
She considered using one but didn't want to go that far.
Maybe she would roast some sweet potatoes while she had the stove going.
Raban's real father had brought over a large batch of sweet potatoes. This was partly to check whether they could be processed into starch, but roasting them whole simply tasted better.
Just the thought of eating sweet potatoes perked her up a little.
"Maomao, we're heading out."
"Coming."
Maomao slung the damp undergarments over her shoulder and followed after Yao and En'en.
By the time the undergarments had been boiled, sterilized, and hung to dry, the day's work was drawing to a close.
"I couldn't do anything today."
Part of it was because there was too much laundry, but it was frustrating that she couldn't get anything else done. What she was doing was no different from her days as a servant girl in the rear palace. For the record, Yao and En'en ended up eating the sweet potatoes too.
Xiaolan She recalled how they had been chattering away.
(I kinda want to make some medicine.)
That said, once it got dark, the court ladies would be sent home right away. And the bleaching cloths had to be moved indoors once they dried sufficiently—if frost settled on them, it would all be for nothing.
Maomao looked at the white coats hanging at the edge of the drying area. One was missing, so Ten'yu must have taken his own.
(Take them all while you're at it.)
Maomao checked the lining of the white coats. She'd thought about verifying whose was whose, but— "..."
Physician Liu's coat was there. That was to be expected, but the names on the other medical officials' coats made her want to scratch her head in confusion.
(He did say something about surgery, right?)
For a major surgery, there would be plenty of medical officials available. But the fact that among them, Physician Liu was the only skilled one—what did that mean?
As far as Maomao could recall, every name on the other white coats belonged to an apprentice physician.
She suddenly remembered the idle chat she'd had that morning with Xiaolan—about the difference between physicians and apprentice physicians.
(No, no, that can't be right.)
While thinking that, Maomao carried the white coat back to the medical office.
Ten'yu was the only one there. She looked to see what he was doing, and found him pressing a flat iron against the collected white coats.
(Doing it all yourself, huh.)
"I'll leave the white coat here."
"Aah, got it."
Ten'yu pressed the iron with a lethargic expression. He clearly didn't want to do it, but wrinkles in the clothes would earn him a tongue-lashing from Physician Liu, and preparing a flat iron at home was too much trouble, so he figured he'd get it over with now.
He was either too focused to notice Maomao, or—he simply had no interest in paying her any mind. Probably both.
Without giving it much thought, Maomao set the white coat down beside Physician Liu's desk. It was still a bit damp, but there was nothing to be done about that.
(Hm?)
On the physician's desk sat the journal she had written that morning. Maomao picked it up and flipped through the pages. There was nothing in it she minded anyone seeing, but— (Something's off.)
Maomao reviewed the records from the past few days.
Judging by the bloodstains, the court physician had performed surgery during Maomao's days off.
He must have.
But— (There are no records.)
A minor injury from daily work was one thing, but a major surgery involving several court physicians should have at least a brief note in the journal.
"No abnormalities."
That was all that had been written, just those few words.
Maomao looked at Tenyu.
"Tenyu. Was the surgery difficult?"
"...It was tough. That one was rough."
He answered a little late. Whether it was because he was busy working or because he was flustered, it was hard to tell which caused the delayed response.
"What kind of surgery was it?"
Maomao asked while folding her white coat.
"What kind of surgery — well, none of them are pleasant, are they."
His response was deliberately ambiguous, open to either interpretation.
(Has he been told to keep quiet?)
Judging from how he acted around Yenyen, Tenyu seemed like a shallow fool who couldn't read the room, but he was at least smart enough to pass the physician's examination. Moreover, compared to the other apprentice physicians, he was a good talker.
(Did I approach the wrong person?)
She regretted not having Yenyen do the talking instead, and lightly patted the folded white coat.
(Maybe I should try the other apprentice physicians.)
Maomao glanced outside as the darkness began to set in, then left the physician's office, thinking she needed to bring in the laundry.