"I don't need tea."
Maomao said to the plain-featured lady-in-waiting.
"Very well."
Hers wasn't a face one could call beautiful, but oddly enough it had a calming effect — though it might be rude to say so.
(There are too many beauties in this world.)
Suiren
must have been quite the beauty in her day, and even now plenty of that lingered in her features.
The other lady-in-waiting, also in her forties, had sharp features but was a beauty as well.
"Lady Suiren said she would go later, so would you mind seeing me first?"
The lady-in-waiting in her forties quietly held out her hand.
(Hm?)
Somehow, Maomao felt she had seen this person somewhere before.
If she were a bit younger…
"My, is there something on my face?"
It was a face that somehow brought a bird of prey to mind.
"Maomao,
Taomei
is
Basen
and his siblings' mother."
"Mother?"
If she was Basen's mother, then—
"My elder daughter,
Maamei,
have you ever met her?"
She had been wondering who this woman resembled, and the answer was Maamei. The woman who had brought her baked sweets before. If Maamei aged about twenty more years, she would be a spitting image of this lady-in-waiting Taomei.
"Erm…"
In this case, should she say something like "I am indebted to you"? No, Basen hadn't done anything for her. And Maamei hadn't either.
No, wait — there was one person to whom she was indebted.
"
Gaoshun
-sama is the one to whom I am much obliged."
That diligent man. And if she was Basen and his siblings' mother, that made her Gaoshun's wife.
(Ah, this is bad.)
She had once recommended a courtesan from the pleasure quarter to Gaoshun. At the time, he had also said he was henpecked.
She didn't think her deed would be found out, but somehow it made things awkward.
Anyway, she took the woman's arm and checked her pulse. The pulse was normal — in fact, Maomao's own heart was hammering faster. There seemed to be no particular health issues, but one thing caught her eye. The color of her left and right eyes was somehow different.
"……"
"Is something the matter?"
"No."
The movement of the eyes also seemed slightly out of sync. Maomao casually rotated her left hand in circles to test. When she next rotated her right hand, Taomei's gaze followed.
(So her right eye is blind.)
There were cases where the eyes were different colors from birth, and cases where the eye color changed later in life. In the latter case, blindness was often the cause.
"Ah, you noticed and tested me?"
Taomei seemed to have noticed Maomao's reaction. She pointed to her right eye. As Gaoshun's wife, she was quite sharp.
"My apologies. Does it cause any difficulty in your daily life?"
"Please don't worry about it. I've been used to it for quite a long time now."
"Yes. Then, are there any other abnormalities with your body?"
"None."
"I'll also examine your eyes and tongue."
She pulled down the lower eyelid and looked at the eye. Indeed, the right eye was blind. It was clouded white. Diseases that caused the eyes to cloud white were most often due to aging. However, if she had lost sight quite a while ago, it could conceivably have been caused by injury.
"The footing sways on a sea voyage, so please be careful."
"I know."
Maomao reflected for a moment, having stated something obvious. Of course she would know.
"More to the point, don't you think the Moon Prince's ladies-in-waiting are all rather lacking in charm?"
Taomei threw out a question that was hard to answer affirmatively.
"Truly, if my daughter Maamei had come, there would have been no need for an old hag like me to come out."
"Oh? If Taomei is an old hag, then what does that make me? Dried fish?"
Suiren cut in with a swift retort.
"With three grandchildren already, I can hardly act young, can I?"
Returning Suiren's jab head-on — there was a certain strength to her.
It seemed only a select few hardened women remained around Jinshi.
Wanting to wrap up the visit quickly, Maomao moved on to the next young lady-in-waiting.
"
Suzume
is my name."
She had a dumpling-shaped nose and small eyes. Her skin was dark too, and if she were called a
sparrow,
the name would suit her perfectly.
(Not a beauty, though.)
She had a face that inspired familiarity. She would have suited running a street stall better than serving the Imperial Younger Brother.
"Suzume is my son's wife."
"Your son's wife… Not Lord Basen, I assume?"
"Yes, my elder son's. I do wish that boy would hurry up and take a wife."
Taomei looked ready to click her tongue. Gaoshun's family was a colorful bunch all around.
"While we're at it, let me introduce my elder son as well."
Taomei strode forward and stood before a curtain in the corner of the room. When she lifted the curtain with a flick, there sat a man with a sickly pale face, working out a Go problem.
"W-what is it, Mother?"
"
Maliang,
can't you at least manage a greeting?"
"Ah, a greeting—"
The man called Maliang resembled Basen quite closely. Slightly smaller in build, with a face that looked as though it hadn't been in the sun for half a year.
"P-pleased to me— ugh."
Maliang collapsed to the floor without ever quite meeting Maomao's eyes. He was clutching his stomach. He looked like an invalid, so Maomao thought she might have work to do right away, but apparently not. Suzume swiftly came over and pushed Maliang back behind the folding screen.
"Mother-in-law. With people he's meeting for the first time, you really must let him start with letters, and only after he's grown accustomed, conversation through a bamboo blind. Meeting face-to-face right away — no amount of stomach medicine will be enough."
"You're right. You were always better at handling Maliang. Actually, he's grown considerably worse than before, hasn't he?"
A mother-in-law and daughter-in-law dynamic that Maomao didn't know how to react to.
"Perhaps I should have left Maliang behind and brought Maamei after all?"
"If Sister-in-law Maamei had come, who would look after my child?"
"True. You have no intention of raising a child, do you?"
There were many things Maomao wanted to comment on, but she had the feeling it would never end.
Let her summarize simply.
Gaoshun's wife: Taomei.
Gaoshun's son: Maliang.
Maliang's wife: Suzume.
Good, no problems there.
Just as she was thinking the medical check was no longer of any concern and that she might head back, Suiren was poking her gently.
"Yes?"
When she turned around, she met a sticky gaze.
From behind the folding screen, Jinshi was glaring at her fixedly.
"J-Jinshi-sama, is that all right to call you?"
"……Yes."
It seemed he had been waiting on the other side of the screen the whole time. He had apparently peeked in because things weren't ending, but she did rather wonder about a man watching a women's medical exam.
"Only here is it permitted to use that name."
Suiren gently guided Maomao to a chair.
"The ship sways, so it's more stable to be seated."
"Understood. But the examination isn't yet—"
Suiren smiled and began preparing tea utensils. Maomao had said she didn't need any, but the one who did was someone else.
So the medical check had been a pretext after all.
Jinshi came out from behind the screen.
The ladies-in-waiting remained nearby, but apparently they had no intention of joining the conversation.
From beyond the curtain, the sound of stones clicking could be heard — Maliang had apparently resumed his Go problems.
"Mm."
"Yes."
"Um…"
"Yes."
Well now, there were many things she wanted to say, but would it be rude to admit that at the same time, she had nothing to talk about?
"……"
Jinshi too didn't seem to know what to say.
Maomao tilted her head and opened her mouth.
"May I speak first?"
"Go ahead."
"About this journey to the Western Capital — how long will it take?"
She knew she wouldn't get a clear answer, but said it hoping it would serve as a conversation starter.
"Honestly, I don't know. You've at least heard it would be three months, haven't you?"
"Yes. Then one more thing. The advantage of bringing me along on this journey."
"……"
Jinshi looked away.
(Ah, I knew it.)
"Did you use me as bait for the eccentric strategist?"
"……I do feel sorry about it."
Maomao felt the urge to glare at him, but with the eyes of the ladies-in-waiting around, she held back. Instead, she moved her fingertips, glancing back and forth as if to suggest there ought to be something offered up first.
Jinshi was perceptive about such things. He drew something from inside his robes. When she pulled back the cloth, there was a whitish-gray stone-like object.
"This is—!"
"Yes. Would you like to confirm it?"
When Jinshi gave a signal, Suiren brought tea along with a wire.
"Here you go."
Heated charcoal was prepared alongside the wire.
Here, he had used the word "confirm."
Maomao took the stone from Jinshi. More than a stone, it was a pumice — quite light.
"Allow me to verify."
Heating the wire over the charcoal, she stuck it into the pumice. A distinctive smell wafted up.
"I don't think Jinshi-sama would prepare a fake, but yes, it's genuine. Ambergris."
She had managed to acquire a souvenir for the madam right away.
Normally, he would have been the type to dangle the carrot before the horse and drag things out, but his handing it over like this meant there was probably something awkward to come.
Well, the moment he tried to make her travel with the eccentric strategist, she couldn't help but think "this bastard."
"Raka— no, the strategist absolutely had to come along on this journey."
"……Was it a request from the Western Capital?"
"That too. At the same time, I wanted the strategist to take a look at the Western Capital."
(So that's how it is.)
The eccentric strategist was a strange man, an incompetent who couldn't manage even the bare minimum of human decency, but when it came to military strategy, he was in a class of his own.
"I heard there's a possibility war might break out."
Maomao looked around.
Since this was Jinshi's room, she wanted to believe it was built so that sound wouldn't leak to the surroundings.
"Winning a war isn't what is right. Preventing a war from happening is what is right. However, doing what is right is difficult."
In other words, he was apparently saying he had considered the possibility of war breaking out.
The reason for forcibly bringing along a medical officer also made sense.
"I don't think I'd be able to handle the eccentric strategist well even if I went along, though. My adoptive father would be a different matter."
Luomen
would probably manage somehow. If Luomen were younger and his leg weren't bad, he might have come on this journey too.
Unfortunately, things hadn't gone so smoothly, and the one who came along was the quack doctor.
(With the quack doctor, he won't be able to fill in for the old man— hm?)
Maomao suddenly recalled Jinshi's earlier attitude. The way he had so excessively praised the quack doctor — even to an outside observer, it had seemed suspicious—.
Jinshi had commented on the quack doctor's beard. After being praised that much, the quack doctor would probably start shaving his beard regularly for a while.
Also, Jinshi had not called the quack doctor by name, but referred to him as "the medical officer." On this ship, the quack doctor had hardly any acquaintances. If one knew that Maomao didn't call the quack by name, the quack would simply be a medical officer. Though his physical characteristics would make it clear he was a eunuch.
A senior medical officer summoned for an expedition, and a eunuch at that. And on top of that, someone Maomao always accompanied.
Maomao nearly slammed the table without thinking.
(No good, calm down for a moment.)
Tea was set before her, so she drained it without asking permission. Perhaps to settle Maomao's emotions, it had been brewed with a
medicinal herb
that had a calming effect.
She let out a breath and looked at Jinshi.
"Are you trying to use the medical officer as a stand-in for my adoptive father?"
"You're always so quick on the uptake — it saves me the trouble of explaining."
Jinshi's eyes were the same as the ones he had shown in his Rear Palace days.
The quack doctor and the old man were both eunuchs, but their appearance and ages differed. However, to those who only knew of them by rumor, eunuchs who were also medical officers could be counted on one hand. They wouldn't think someone would specifically take a Rear Palace medical officer on an expedition.
If anyone were to go, they would assume it would be Luomen, a former eunuch who had returned to the court as a medical officer.
This was the reason he hadn't told her until the very end about the selection of the medical officer.
"The Western Capital — no, Lord Gyokuou — has requested that Lord Luomen also be brought along. Do you understand what that means?"
"Lord Gyokuou… it's not as though there's a sick person, is there?"
Luomen's medical skills were exceptional. There were any number of sick people who would want his hand—.
"I suspect he may intend to win over the strategist. Of course, I didn't answer clearly, so whether they mistake the medical officer for Lord Luomen or not is their own concern."
From the first-person "I" he was using, she could tell that the Jinshi here was not his usual somewhat-disappointing self, but acting as the Imperial Younger Brother. Here was a shrewd man who treated people as pieces on a board.
"Win over, you say. Teaching a fox to give its paw would be more constructive. Above all, isn't he Empress
Gyokuyou's
elder brother?"
"There are many who think that what others cannot do, they themselves can. And there are cases where the means are not chosen. It cannot be that all of a saint's relatives are saints. Above all, it's not uncommon for a country to be brought to ruin by the empress's relatives."
"……Is this something I should be hearing?"
"I haven't declared anything. It's a discussion of possibilities."
(No, but you are suspecting him, aren't you?)
That said, being told nothing at all would leave her with its own kind of unease.
Jinshi held his teacup and raised only his index finger. The finger then turned and pointed at Maomao.
"If they don't choose their means, who would be targeted?"
"Me, as a weak point?"
"You are a weak point any way you look at it. With Lord Gyokuou is the strategist's former second-in-command."
(
Rikuson,
that is.)
"There's no way he wouldn't know about you."
(……And in his position, he'd have to share it if asked.)
She felt she somewhat understood Jinshi's outrageous expedition selections.
"Did you think I would be targeted if I stayed in the capital?"
"There's a possibility. Above all, how many enemies does the strategist have?"
"……"
"You are probably known to more people than you realize, and there aren't enough fools who would overlook it."
Maomao could only nod at Jinshi's words. She should have thought more carefully before becoming a medical officer's assistant.
Jinshi was the one who had set things up that way, but if the eccentric strategist hadn't behaved so extremely, she might have led a slightly more peaceful life. There was no use lamenting the past.
"
Rahan
can manage somehow, so I had him remain in the capital. Lord Luomen will be staying in the Rear Palace for a while, partly to keep him hidden. I feel bad for you, but I brought you along to the Western Capital. Above all, I thought it would be safer in a place under the strategist's watch. Though I can hardly call it peaceful."
(You really…)
"I see."
There was a swirl of emotions inside Maomao, but Jinshi's words were, at least, considered with her in mind. He must have judged that, taking into account human relationships and personnel placements, this was the most efficient and safest arrangement.
"For the medical officer's guard, I'll send an old acquaintance, the military officer
Lihaku
."
"Yes."
Maomao replied in a cold voice. She vacantly looked at the ambergris she had received.
(Something doesn't sit right.)
Without touching the tea sweets, Maomao stood up.
"Maomao, won't you take the sweets?"
Suiren wrapped up the baked treats. Maomao felt as though she had read something of her emotions.
(The quack will be happy.)
"Thank you."
Taking the wrapped sweets, Maomao bowed and left the room.
"Ah, um…"
Jinshi was reaching out his hand, trying to say something to Maomao, but honestly she felt she had talked enough for one day.
She pretended not to notice and left.
Outside the room, Basen had apparently been standing guard, but she gave a simple bow and decided to head back to the infirmary.