Half a month had passed since the emperor's surgery was successfully completed,
Maomao
had settled into her usual routine—half regular duties, half medication experiments. The emperor's post-operative care had been handed off to the senior medical officers. The scale of the experiments had been reduced, but perhaps she had decided to keep them going because they would prove useful down the road.
The season had turned chilly, and the medical garments had been swapped for thicker fabrics. The quilts for patients at the town clinic had been supplemented with slightly heavier ones as well.
"Wanwan, Senior. Are the pharmaceuticals on this list fine to procure?"
Maomao handed the
ledger
to Senior Chang, known as Wanwan.
"No problem, but I feel like you've been calling me by name a lot lately."
"Have I?"
"Also, your pronunciation feels a little off."
"You're imagining it."
Wanwan wrote: '
Wang Wang
.'
For Maomao, who struggled to remember other people's names and faces, this was an incredibly convenient name. It was only natural that she'd end up pronouncing it with a touch of fondness.
"Alright, go ahead and place the order for these supplies."
"Understood. Also, I'll be heading back to the palace this afternoon — is there anything you need done?"
"Hmm. Can't think of anything right now. Oh wait, isn't today the day to check the supply room?"
Senior Wanwan also kept track of the medicine inventory, so she knew who was on rotation.
"Yes."
"Then, if
Tenyū
happens to be around, rile him up for me."
"Understood."
Maomao straightened her back crisply as she replied.
When it came to the emperor's harrowing surgery, the one who had caused the most trouble was Tenyū. If it had been a blunder born of extreme nervousness, that might have been forgivable. But in Tenyū's case, the mischief was precisely the sort of thing that made Tenyū who he was, leaving no room for clemency. He had constantly let personal feelings interfere during work that involved the emperor's very life, and that was entirely his fault. One might even say it was an act of mercy that he wasn't simply beheaded.
His pay had been considerably reduced, and what little remained went toward food at his lodgings, so it was practically unpaid.
In other words, Tenyū's punishment was not only working without pay for the foreseeable future, but also enduring the prodding of every court physician he encountered, day after day.
But prodding Tenyū was like water off a duck's back — he was carefree by nature. Among the physicians, figuring out how to make Tenyū feel frustrated had become something of a trend.
(As for whether this counted as bullying)
Tenyū himself showed no signs of being fed up; if anything, he seemed to be enjoying it.
With things as they were, Maomao returned to the palace.
In the medicine room was her junior colleague,
Yu,
who was there. Whenever Maomao and the others were away, she handled restocking.
"Maomao, I just finished restocking, so could you double-check everything for me?"
"Sure."
The clever junior had properly learned all the basics. Moreover, without a hint of arrogance, she took care of washing gauze and bedding, sterilizing instruments, and other chores.
(How wonderful that she has the fundamentals down solid.)
No matter how clever someone was, a person who wouldn't listen was bad news. And a bad-news person had just arrived.
"Hey there,
Maomao
and Yu. Working hard, are we?"
It was Tenyū.
Maomao had been tempted to ignore him, but she remembered how dog-dog senior had treated her.
"Oh, Tenyū, you look rather haggard. Have you been eating properly?"
"Yeah.
Liu
"Because I've been eating at the physician's place."
Liu the physician felt he couldn't leave Tenyou to his own devices and took it upon himself to keep him fed, but even he couldn't tame the man.
Maomao knew all too well how difficult it was to coax Tenyou, so she had prepared a special tool.
"Is that so?"
What Maomao pulled out with a swift motion was a large cage. And what was inside the cage was—
"Th-that is!"
A large chicken. Its head had been chopped off, its feathers plucked, and it had been thoroughly bled. It wasn't a young chicken but a spent hen that had stopped laying eggs—yet that was precisely what gave it good flavor. Simmered down low and slow, then thickened with egg and starch into a rich broth, it made an incredibly delicious dish.
Maomao, who often went out into town for work, was sometimes asked to pick up late-night snacks. If she brought back a homemade soup from the medical office, the physicians were grateful and she saved on dinner expenses—a win-win.
But what Tenyou latched onto wasn't the soup.
"Ah, come on, please! Hey, Missy, let me butcher that chicken, won't you?"
He deliberately pressed both hands to his cheeks and made his usual flat, fish-like eyes sparkle with exaggerated pleading.
Liu the physician understood. A simple pay cut wasn't going to make Tenyou reflect on anything.
(To truly torment him,)
The answer was to deny him the dissection he loved so much.
He had caused enough trouble during surgical procedures that he'd been banned from assisting in surgeries for the time being. What's more, he wasn't even allowed to perform autopsies on corpses, let alone do any animal butchering.
Since he had no money, he couldn't buy meat at the market either.
On the rare occasions the withdrawal symptoms became unbearable, he was apparently grudgingly allowed to handle edible frogs—and nothing more.
"Ah, hey, please! I'll do a clean job, so just let me butcher it!"
"Sorry, but no."
Normally, she would have let him go with a casual remark about saving herself the trouble, but today she intended to string him along and string him along.
"Ah, come to think of it, I need water. I really should fill up this water jar, shouldn't I?"
"Let me do it for you. Please, I'm begging you."
After dragging things out mercilessly, she finally made him fetch water and do the laundry as well.
Since her own work finished early, she did some private handiwork in the medical office. Yao sat down beside Maomao as well, rolling up the freshly washed muslin cloth into neat rolls.
In the next room, Tenyou had finally gotten his hands on the chicken and was showing off his magnificent knife skills. The blade glided smoothly along the grain, separating each part with practiced precision.
"Cut the thigh meat into bite-sized pieces for the stir-fry. Put the bones in the pot with the green onions and...
boil
...them, please."
"Yes, ye-ah!"
Maomao would handle the seasoning. Her colleague
YanYan
was the better cook, but she wasn't here today, so there was nothing to be done.
"Are you sure? I heard Doctor Liu told you not to."
Yuyu whispered to Maomao.
"If I don't feed him once in a while like this, won't he end up dissecting the nearest person before long?"
"...No way."
(No, he would.)
That was just how dangerous a man Tenyou was. That was precisely why she needed to know how to handle the reins.
"Make sure you skim off the scum, okay?"
"I kno-ow!"
While they were going back and forth like that, the old doctor came by.
"Oh my, what's tonight's snack?"
"
egg drop soup
."
"Hmm, hmm, do you need
wood ear mushrooms
?"
"If you have any, I'd like some."
The old doctor pulled out a dried black ingredient from his medicine chest. This shrewd old doctor always stocked up on medicinal herbs that could serve as spices and ingredients. He made the excuse that keeping the doctors in good health was a perfectly respectable job too.
Maomao rehydrated the wood ear mushrooms in hot water while seasoning the soup with sake and salt.
For the stir-fried chicken, she made do with whatever vegetables were on hand.
"Doctor. Would it be all right if I set up a garden?"
Maomao asked the old doctor.
Maomao was thinking she'd like to grow fresh green onions and...
...chives...
...the freshest she could get. If the opportunity arose, she also wanted to plant plenty of medicinal herbs.
"No can do. There was that incident with the court lady I let tend the garden before."
"Oh, right."
As for which court lady that was...
Cuiling...
...was the one.
Jinshi...
...was accused of plotting an assassination, and was no longer permitted to exist.
The old doctor sniffled as he read through the letter.
"That girl over there — that was Yuuyu, wasn't it?"
"Yes."
"...Hmm, mind if I show you something?"
"What is it?"
He wasn't showing the journal to Maomao, but to Yuuyu. Curious, Maomao drew closer.
The letter was from a doctor working in another province.
"...This is..."
Yuuyu's complexion changed.
"Hmm, this might turn into something rather frightening."
The letter reported that the number of patients developing water blisters was on the rise.