Maomao
was at the eccentric strategist's residence.
Honestly, she didn't want to go, but she had no choice.
"So you were involved, hm?"
"Involved is one way to put it—more like I got dragged into it."
"Isn't it always like that?"
The one who came to greet Maomao
was Yao.
She wore an exasperated expression.
Today, both Yao and Enen had the day off, and Maomao had been given special leave as well. Having all three of the doctor's assistants take time off at the same time might raise some eyebrows, but there was no way around it. If anything, once it was framed as an order from the Imperial Brother,
Doctor Liu
made a face like he was about to spit "tch" but agreed to it all the same. The old doctor—
the Elder
Doctor—had gone to the front lines of the smallpox epidemic, so she had to submit all manner of requests through Doctor Liu.
As far as Maomao was concerned, she wished the Elder Doctor would come home soon.
"Anyway, please, come in. Basically,
Enen
and I have been the ones examining him. Apparently,
Luomen
will be coming to visit before long."
"Do you have any idea when he might arrive?"
Maomao didn't get many chances to see Luomen either. He was typically stationed in the Inner Palace. While eunuchs weren't subject to the same strict restrictions on movement as court ladies, the arrival of a new high-ranking consort and the quack doctor's general uselessness had probably kept him from going out much.
"Well, he mentioned something about within a few days."
Maomao scowled, her face twisting with displeasure. She wanted to see Luomen, but she absolutely did not want to see the eccentric strategist. She wrestled with her dilemma, unsure of what to do.
"Well then, for now—where is the patient?"
"In the cottage near our quarters.
Yanyan
is preparing a meal for her right now, but..."
"But what?"
"Is that girl really from a good family?"
A look of disbelief was directed her way.
"Um, there should be one girl in there, about fourteen, showing signs of malnutrition..."
"That's true enough."
Yao turned her gaze toward the cottage.
"You mustn't!"
Yanyan's voice could be heard. Maomao blinked—this was someone who never so much as raised her voice, yet here she was screaming.
Maomao and the others hurried toward the cottage where the patient was.
There they found Yanyan, wearing a panicked expression, holding up a large pot.
Shanzi
was clinging to Yanyan's body, trying to wrench the pot away. Porridge was smeared all around her mouth.
"Less of a sheltered young lady, more of a starving wild child."
"So it would seem."
Come to think of it,
she had heard that Shanzi had been so hungry she tried to eat frogs in the garden.
"She seemed like she'd be a more sensible sort, though."
"How so?"
When Maomao had last seen her, Shanzi had been badly weakened by malnutrition and poison. It seemed she simply hadn't had the energy to resist back then.
"Stop just standing there—do something!"
Yanyan said.
Maomao and the others hastily pulled Kiko away from Yanyan. The girl who had been so quiet was now letting out animal-like growls, as though it were all a lie.
"Food, food, give me food!"
Kiko's voice was childlike, yet desperate. Seeing her protruding ribs visible through her loosened nightgown and her limbs as thin as branches, you'd want to feed her until she was full.
Maomao, Yao, and Yanyan all wanted to do just that. And one more person, a true professional
when it came to distributing food,
was also watching from the shadows.
"Ain't you gonna feed her?"
Luoban
came over with a flustered look on his face. Inside the basket on his back were root vegetables.
"I want nothing more than to feed her, but we can't."
"Why not?"
"If you suddenly give nutrition to someone in a state of starvation, they'll die."
"They'll die?!?!"
Luoban had been about to pull a turnip from the basket, but quietly put it back.
"Yes. Apparently, there was once a castle that endured a siege—"
After a prolonged siege left them starving, when the survivors were finally freed, the famished people gorged themselves on porridge. And then, one after another, they dropped dead.
That was what the old man had told her. She had also given written instructions to Yao and Yanyan. Yanyan had faithfully carried out her role.
"Could it be that poison was slipped into the porridge?"
"No. Those who ate the porridge slowly apparently survived. I don't know the exact cause, but the shock to their stomachs—perhaps it was at the most extreme level?"
"Now that's a rough way to go—dying from a stomach shock."
Luoban quietly moved the basket of turnips somewhere out of sight. Kiko's feverish eyes were scanning the surroundings, searching for any food.
"So the point is, if she gorges herself in her current state, she'll die. I'm going to increase the amount little by little, so please bear with it."
But even as Maomao and Yao held her down, Kiko reached out toward the pot of porridge.
"If I don't eat now, I don't know when I'll get to eat again!"
"You will be able to eat!
Two o'clock.
"I'll bring lunch later!"
Chishi couldn't believe En'en's words. She was like a stray dog that hadn't yet been tamed. That was how many years of terrible treatment she'd endured.
(I can't abandon her.)
Maomao thought she'd gone soft. There were plenty of starving, skeletal children in this world. If she tried to save every one of them, she'd be the one dying on the streets. That was why she'd always cut ties and pretended not to see.
The reason she wasn't turning away now was that, at the very least, Chishi was one person she could actually help.
Maomao pulled dried meat from her sleeve.
"Chew on this and hold on."
"Ah!"
Chishi took the dried meat from Maomao and
like a dog
began gnawing on it the way one would gnaw a bone.
"Phew."
En'en took the rest of the porridge away.
Lahan must have realized he'd spoken out of turn and slipped away quickly. He'd probably come to offer vegetables as tribute since En'en was around, but now wasn't the time for that.
"Well then, get some rest. I'll wake you when it's time to eat."
It was unclear whether Chishi was listening or not, but she kept diligently licking the dried meat. Maomao wanted to take her medical history, but it would be better to wait until she'd calmed down a bit more.
A chair and table were set outside the patient's room. Naturally, Maomao and Yao sat down in the chairs.
"Are you keeping watch?"
"Yes. Given how she is, you know. Last night I caught her heading for the kitchen."
(A hopeless troublemaker.)
Maomao felt bad, but Yao didn't look entirely displeased.
"Yao."
Maomao confirmed that En'en wasn't around. Being the meticulous person she was, En'en would surely take the time to properly clean the pot before coming back.
"I think we've been in this residence for quite some time now. Do you have any thoughts about that?"
"You certainly have a roundabout way of saying things."
Yao stretched widely.
"I don't really get it either. I mean, I do get it, but I can't bring myself to pull away. And now I'm trying to figure out how to get out of this... but somehow it just frustrates me and I can't do it."
Maomao stretched as well. Normally, it would be the other way around.
Suzume
would be the one asking Maomao questions.
(I wish Suzume would do this for me.)
Maomao thought, but Suzume wouldn't do it. She had only spoken up because it was Maomao — she probably wouldn't have anything to say to Yao. She was a people-pleaser who got along with everyone, but she was even more pragmatic than Maomao when it came to navigating relationships.
Besides, Yao didn't even know Suzume. There was no guarantee she would listen to her words.
Maomao felt a chill wondering whether her own words would even reach Yao. But Yao had grown in her own way compared to before.
"I'm sure you've already noticed, since you're Maomao, but I'll be honest. Part of me is actually glad that Kuchinashi came. She's a huge hassle and it's tough, but having her here makes me feel like it's okay for me to stay. I'm hopelessly childish and petty, aren't I? I complain about the trouble, yet the worse off Kuchinashi is, the happier it makes me."
Yao's voice was small — just loud enough that Kuchinashi in the back room wouldn't hear.
Yao seemed bold on the surface but lacked real confidence. That was probably why she sought someone to depend on, so she could feel sure of herself. But as long as she was aware of it, Maomao figured it wasn't a problem.
Where did Yao's lack of confidence come from? Maomao had a good idea.
(Was it because of
the Saō
priestess incident?)
Yao had once served as a food taster for the Saō priestesses. As a result of their schemes, her internal organs had been damaged, and she still couldn't eat anything with strong flavors.
Yao had been used. It wasn't her fault. But due to political calculations, she was made to bear the stigma.
The surviving Saō priestesses were officially declared dead.
In Ritsu,
they would remain, never to appear on the public stage again.
In the end, it was made to look as though Yao had failed in her food-tasting duties and a foreign dignitary had died. Since Yao's condition had once been life-threatening, no one openly blamed her. But the person who felt the most responsible of all was Yao herself.
(I can't say anything.)
Maomao would never speak the truth. It would be nice if she could, but it was something that absolutely must not be done.
"I think I understand what Maomao is trying to say. Once Shoko's condition improves, I plan to leave this estate as well."
"Is that so?"
"But please don't tell Yanyan yet. She might end up rushing Shoko, who should be taking her time to recover."
Yao had a level-headed view of Yanyan. It wasn't as though Yao herself had stayed the same either.
"I believe Yao has been doing just fine."
That was all Maomao could convey.
She was only seventeen. There must have been countless paths open to her, yet she had ended up as a physician's assistant out of defiance against her uncle.
Honestly, it was dirty, it stank, and it was grueling. She was walking the exact opposite path from the other court ladies who worked in the palace as part of their bridal training. Yet she hadn't thrown in the towel—she was still at it, presumably still training to be taught surgical techniques.
"Yao, you should go to more places. Meet all kinds of people, gain all kinds of experiences. As a physician's assistant, I'd imagine you've already had more experiences than most women in the world."
In her current position, Yao probably didn't even realize how capable she was. Honestly, if she transferred to another department, she'd be valued in an instant.
"I'm not going to go flitting about like you, Maomao."
(So that's how she took it.)
It seemed Yao had no intention of straying from the path of medicine.
"Well, I suppose I'm something of a jack-of-all-trades."
Maomao would have liked to settle down a bit more, but she just kept getting pulled around everywhere. This time, because it was smallpox-related, she hadn't been summoned, but there was no telling what might happen next.
She had hesitated over whether to press Yao on a more personal level, but decided to leave it at this for now. Prying too deeply and failing—that was something Maomao had done plenty of times.
"Right now, Yuyu, who's gone off flying somewhere—
Yuyu—
is she going to be alright?"
"She was at the smallpox site, wasn't she? I heard Yuyu wouldn't catch it, though."
"...Yes. It seems she's had it once before."
"So that's why she was always wearing long sleeves—because she'd had smallpox before."
Yao let out a long breath.
"If I caught it once too, would they take me along?"
"I wouldn't recommend it. There's no safe way to catch smallpox."
(For now)
Maomao thought of the man with a grin who hid half his face.
Keiyou
He should have also headed to the same place as Yuhi and the others.
If only she could catch smallpox using the method Keiyou's master had employed — that would be ideal.
If that were possible, she wouldn't be struggling this much.
(Maybe she should try sending a letter to Keiyou)
She wasn't sure if she'd get a reply, but Maomao thought she wanted to hear things from a different perspective than the regular reports from the court physicians.