Jinshi
Even after returning from his office,
Maomao's
head was full of talk about
Hua Tuo's
writings.
(Just what sort of contents are written in them?)
(What kind of illness did the prince who died young have?)
(Is His Majesty's condition poor?)
While working with such thoughts swirling in her head, she nearly dropped a jar full of medicine and panicked. She had to concentrate.
"Are you preoccupied with something?"
her junior,
Yo,
asked. The taller of the court ladies. She had come under Maomao to learn about preservation and compounding of medicinal herbs. She was a quick study, so Maomao found her enjoyable to teach.
"Pardon me. I'll concentrate."
Maomao slapped both her cheeks with her palms to pull herself together.
That said, it was not something easily shaken from her mind. Without thinking, her eyes drifted to Yo's long sleeves.
"May I ask something, even at the risk of being rude?"
"What is it?"
"Would you let me see your smallpox scars?"
Yo wore a puzzled expression for a moment, but she rolled up her sleeve. Small red marks like bean grains were scattered in overlapping patches.
"Is it unusual?"
"Not unusual, but I had never examined them closely before."
Among the customers at the apothecary, there had been some with smallpox scars too. But none of them had been willing to readily display their scars.
"Are the scars only on your hands?"
"A few on my shoulders and neck as well. But compared to other people, I'm far better off."
"Is that thanks to
Keyou's
treatment?"
"Yes."
Yo declared firmly.
Keyou — that strangely cheerful doctor with smallpox scars clearly etched into his face. He had once worked as a doctor in Yo's village. He was a slipshod fellow, but Yo placed deep trust in him.
"Specifically, what kind of treatment was performed?"
Maomao felt she had heard the explanation before, but she wanted to confirm it once more.
"He made a small cut in the skin and rubbed in powdered old scabs. There's apparently another method that involves inhaling powdered scabs through the nose, but it seems there wasn't enough scab material."
"I see, I see."
It really was worth asking in detail, Maomao nodded.
"What sort of symptoms appeared from that treatment?"
Yo folded her arms and closed her eyes.
"Well, I ran quite a high fever, but the blisters didn't spread over my whole body. The other children who received the same treatment as me had it about the same or even lighter — some had their fever go down in a few days and barely any blisters at all."
"So individual differences are significant?"
Maomao searched for a
notebook
to write it down. Yo said it wasn't even worth writing down, but Maomao wanted to remember it.
"Quite significant."
"What happened to those who didn't receive Keyou's treatment?"
"My father had contracted smallpox before, and he only had a mild fever. Villagers who still had the strength left the village as soon as smallpox started spreading. Those who remained were my family and a few children. Oh, and one adult survived, but everyone else died."
It seemed that having had smallpox once didn't guarantee one wouldn't catch it again.
"That was a terrible situation. What about the disposal of the bodies?"
"We burned them and buried the bones. We burned the houses too."
Since infection occurred through the scabs, merely burying the bodies would be dangerous. It could be taken as desecration of the dead, so it must have required considerable resolve.
"And then, did everyone come to the capital together?"
"No, the adults who survived aside from my family went elsewhere. And before entering the capital, we worked hard to boil our clothes, and the illness had completely passed."
She seemed to want to emphasize that they had not brought an epidemic with them.
Regarding the treatment of smallpox, Maomao should ask Keyou about it in more detail.
(I'll check with the old man too.)
There were many other excellent medical officers as well. Older medical officers might know about past smallpox epidemics.
While they were chatting in various ways, the work was finished.
"Well then, I'll be bringing the medicines I prepared, so please follow me."
"Yes."
Frequently used medicines were kept in the infirmary.
"There are a lot of rather rough-looking men around, but please don't get flustered no matter what they say."
Because the military officers' training ground was nearby, there were many rough-looking men. Even if Yo was still somewhat unpolished, Maomao couldn't bear it if some scoundrel laid hands on her adorable junior.
As young men passed by, they looked Maomao and her companion over as though sizing them up. Maomao walked as usual, while Yo walked a little stiffly.
"Now, now, it's nothing serious. Go on over there."
When they reached the infirmary, the old medical officer was driving out a military officer with a scrape. He looked like a kindly old man, but he was a seasoned medical officer accustomed to rough work.
"Wouldn't lightly applying some medicine put him at ease?"
Medical officer
Li,
famous for building muscle, said.
"I cleaned the wound properly. More importantly, that one is the type who broke a colleague's arm and laughed about it."
"I see, what a weakling of character."
Maomao felt that medical officer Li's muscles were gradually encroaching into his head.
"I'm restocking the medicine."
Maomao entered the infirmary and took out the medicine box.
"I'm restocking."
Yo imitated Maomao.
Both the old medical officer and medical officer Li were relatively courteous to women and children, so it was reassuring even with Yo present. Conversely speaking, Maomao keenly felt that this point had been taken into consideration when she was assigned here.
"When restocking, please check the dates on the remaining medicines. Place the older-dated ones on top, and discard ones that are too old."
Since they restocked every time, there wasn't much that needed to be discarded. Unlike the Rear Palace infirmary, this was a truly well-managed workplace.
(I wonder if Pops and the quack doctor are doing well.)
Since Pops was there, the Rear Palace infirmary was probably secure for now. If there was anything to worry about, it was the quack doctor's neck.
Since there happened to be no injured people around just then, Maomao promptly brought up the topic.
"Honorable medical officers, have you ever had smallpox?"
Yo looked a little surprised, but she continued restocking the medicine.
"Smallpox? Isn't that something everyone catches?"
"No, I think that's a different smallpox you're talking about."
What medical officer Li was probably referring to was not smallpox but chickenpox. With chickenpox, most people catch it in childhood. Maomao herself didn't really know the distinction, but the one closer to death was smallpox.
"I've had it."
The old medical officer rolled up his sleeve and showed it. Along with age spots on the skin, there were red patterns. Far more densely packed than Yo's.
The reason he could show them so boldly was probably that having had smallpox was a thing of the past, and only people who understood that the scars could no longer transmit infection were present.
"Aren't you frightened?"
"No. I know it's not contagious."
"That saves me the trouble of explaining."
The old medical officer was relieved by the new recruit Yo's attitude. Court ladies who would flinch at this would have already been driven out by
Yao
long ago.
"Judging by the scars, was it bad?"
"Yes. About half of my back. In my generation, it wasn't unusual. It was going around back then. But my first wife was not pleased about it."
"And your second wife?"
"A fine woman. She's at home looking after our great-grandchildren."
The old medical officer grinned and pulled his sleeve back down.
"At first I thought it was chickenpox, but the symptoms were severe. If I hadn't come from a family of doctors, I probably would have died."
"I don't really understand the difference between chickenpox and smallpox."
Maomao nodded along with medical officer Li's question.
"The mortality rates differ, but they look quite similar. However, I've heard a hypothesis that the toxins causing the illness are similar but not the same."
Medical officer Li took out tea snacks from his desk drawer for a break and ate them. He offered some to Maomao and the others too, asking if they wanted some, so they gratefully accepted.
"Toxins causing illness, huh."
"Maomao, don't even think about trying them."
"...I know."
Maomao averted her eyes from medical officer Li's glare.
By the flow of things, they had entered a break. Maomao left the rest of the restocking to Yo and prepared tea.
"All sorts of things are said about smallpox scars, but in terms of becoming a doctor, there are a few advantages. You understand the horror of the disease firsthand because you've experienced it, and you become resistant to that disease."
"Yes."
The one who answered was not Maomao but Yo. For Yo, the old medical officer's presence would in a sense be a salvation.
(It was good I brought up the topic in front of Yo.)
She had known at least that these were not people who would take smallpox lightly. Even Maomao would not bring up such a topic in front of someone who would mock the scars.
"That said, there are drawbacks when you rise in rank. Suppose there are two medical officers of equal ability. The one who treats a person of noble birth is the one with fewer scars."
"..."
Currently, the one who leads the medical officers is medical officer
Liu.
Medical officer Liu was a splendid medical officer, but considering his age, it wouldn't be strange for the old medical officer to stand above him.
Maomao and the others became a little uncomfortable.
"Well, Liu-chan is clever, and more capable than I am, so it's no problem. The thought of me being His Majesty's personal physician is too much for me anyway."
"His Majesty's personal physician. No matter how many stomachs you had, it wouldn't be enough."
(His Majesty's personal physician.)
Maomao recalled Jinshi's meaningful words.
(Is there anything I can draw out of him?)
That said, the other party was medical officer Liu. Wouldn't Maomao butting in actually become a hindrance? Maomao groaned and sipped the tea she had poured.