"Hey,
Maomao.
You said you were a pharmacist, right?"
The middle-aged woman in charge of the kitchen staff
called Maomao over.
Her expression was troubled.
"Could you come with me for a moment?"
"Sure."
She was led to the outskirts of the town. A young man lay sprawled carelessly on a bed of dried grass, barely clinging to life. His leg was bent at an unnatural angle, and half his face was swollen and bleeding from a beating—several of his teeth appeared to be broken. He had numerous other cuts as well.
He couldn't have been older than twenty. You might even call him a boy.
Maomao kept her hands busy as she assessed the situation.
"What exactly happened here?"
Maomao raised the broken leg above the level of his heart. She borrowed some nearby firewood and fashioned it into a splint to secure the break. Fortunately, it was a clean fracture—if the bone had been shattered inside, she would have needed to make an incision to remove the fragments.
"It's the One-Eyed Dragon's idea of kindness."
"Kindness?"
In other words, overzealous discipline. From the worried look on the middle-aged woman's face, the beaten boy must have been one of the residents.
"Once he gets tired of eating and sleeping, he beats up whoever's around under the pretense of sparring. This one actually got off easy."
The middle-aged woman quietly glanced behind her. A person's hand was sticking out from under a straw mat. They were dead.
"Killing people during training—that's going too far."
"Apparently, that one managed to land a hit on the One-Eyed Dragon. It wasn't even a serious wound, but he bit his lip in surprise, and that was enough to get beaten to death. This boy here was just collateral damage. And they're saying there's nowhere left to bury the bodies."
At least it was a cool season. If it had been summer, the smell of rotting corpses might have drifted all the way to the settlement.
Maomao pried open the boy's bloodied mouth. She checked for any remaining broken teeth, then placed a wadded strip of linen inside. She wanted to apply pressure to stop the bleeding, but was he still conscious?
"Can you bite down?"
"..."
The young man gave a light nod.
Next was the styptic, but she had been forced to use all of the precious
cattail pollen
she had.
She undressed him to examine his torso. Fortunately, there were no broken bones. If his internal organs had been injured, his very life would have been in danger.
"With what we have on hand, this is the limit. He'll need nutritious meals and rest from here on."
"...That's not going to happen."
The middle-aged woman spoke as though she had already given up.
"Useless ones get put in the same room as the heretics. The only food they get is broth and potato peels. Their nutrition is terrible, so they're always getting stomach problems."
Maomao judged that the potato peels and sprouts were probably the cause. When she herself used peels, she always removed the sprouts carefully, but even so, she believed the peels retained some toxicity.
(Should I say something?)
But even if she did, it would only result in one less thing for them to eat.
"Thanks for that. I'll have the men carry this one, so you can go."
"Understood."
"Oh, wait—before you go."
The middle-aged woman beckoned Maomao over. When she went, it turned out to be the clothes Maomao and Xiaohong had been wearing. She hadn't expected to get them back, so it came as a surprise.
"I fixed up the loose seams. If the others spot them, they'll get snatched up, so hide them quick."
"Thank you very much."
Maomao bowed her head and checked the clothes.
(Were there loose seams?)
She figured she must have caught them on something while running through the forest, and when she looked, she found stitch marks along the sleeve.
(?!)
The repairs weren't merely mending—the seams now featured an embroidered bird. On the underside of the sleeve, in a spot you would never notice unless you looked closely, there was a delicate embroidery of a sparrow.
The cooking women were done once they finished washing up after dinner. Since dishwashing didn't require many hands, they took turns on a rotating basis. Maomao and
Xiaohong
Since they were set up as mother and daughter, they were often assigned together.
Under the moonlight, the two silently washed dishes.
Maomao wasn't one to initiate conversation, and Xiaohong was the same—even standing side by side, they were always silent.
But today, Maomao spoke up.
"I have a favor to ask."
Even though no one else was around, she still kept her voice small.
"What is it?"
The clever girl seemed to grasp Maomao's intent.
The next day, Maomao was preparing potatoes.
"So what's the new menu going to be like?"
The bandits already complained about the scarce rations as it was.
So just as she was thinking of something that wouldn't draw complaints, Maomao raised her hand.
"I'll slice the steamed potatoes."
"With the skin on?"
"With the skin on."
She heated oil in a large wok and stir-fried the meat. Then she added the potatoes cut into quarters and seasoned them with sake and soy sauce. It was indulgent, but to add a glaze, she also put in honey.
"Ohhh!"
The aroma alone was impressive—this had to be the kind of dish that made the sake go down easy.
"This is sure to get them eating."
An older woman plucked up a piece of potato.
"Mm... it feels like a waste to feed this to those guys."
"No, no, madam. If they find out, we'll be beaten to death."
"I know, I know. Sigh... why do we have to keep feeding them the good stuff?"
Maomao wanted to eat it herself too, but the meat was strictly managed.
Apart from One-Eyed Dragon and the bandits' underlings, no one got decent portions of meat—scraps floating in soup was all they could hope for.
"Then I'll make plenty more of this."
"Please do. We need to steam extra potatoes too."
"Oh, in that case—"
Xiaolian brought over a basket. Inside were numerous small potatoes.
"Let's use lots of the small ones — they steam easier, and it saves the trouble of cutting them."
Maomao placed potatoes one by one into the steamer basket. She had to keep cooking nonstop or she'd never finish in time for supper.
"Um, um..."
As Maomao stir-fried additional meat, one of the older women came over and spoke to her.
"You lot are on tonight's supper — you'll be serving drinks too, right? Will that be alright?"
She looked at Maomao and Xiaolian. Serving drinks was distributed equally among the cooking detail — age didn't matter.
"That bear of a man is mostly content with the widows and the heathen women, but every now and then he goes after the ones who pour his drinks. You... your husband is still alive, isn't he?"
She was worried about what might happen if he laid hands on Maomao. Under their religious code, an act that amounted to adultery would surely be a grave transgression.
"I'll be careful."
Maomao accepted the woman's warning while continuing to stir-fry the meat. She doubted there were many men bold enough for that sort of thing, but there was no harm in being cautious.
Supper was brought inside the church. They ate breakfast whenever they pleased, but supper was apparently eaten together inside the church, serving double duty as a sort of roll call.
Maomao had estimated the bandits numbered around fifty. In reality, there were probably only about thirty. Surprisingly few.
Maomao and Xiaolian sat down beside One-Eyed Dragon.
The menu consisted of Maomao's potato and lamb stew, cheese and bread, and a lamb and vegetable soup. The soup was thickened with goat's milk. The drink was kumis, its distinctive aroma drifting through the air.
"Now, eat."
At One-Eyed Dragon's command, all his men dug in. The potato stew seemed to be a hit — they gobbled it up eagerly.
"You two eat as well."
One-Eyed Dragon slopped potatoes, bread, cheese, and soup onto a plate and shoved it over. It was like feeding livestock.
"Thank you for the food."
Maomao couldn't even use chopsticks, so she ate the potatoes with her hands. One-Eyed Dragon watched her intently. When she finished and seemed unbothered, he slammed down the drink next.
Maomao poured the kumis and was about to drink, but—
"Not you. Pour it for her."
One-Eyed Dragon held out the sake cup not to Maomao, but to Xiaohong.