The next morning,
Maomao
and the others were woken up by a villager.
"Hey! You're the doctors, right? Come quickly!"
It was the hunter who had guided them to the vacant house the day before.
Wondering what had happened, Maomao rubbed her sleepy eyes and sat up.
"What's the matter?"
The youngest,
Changsha,
was the one who stepped forward.
Yao
was staring blankly at the ceiling.
Maomao quickly changed into her clothes.
"There's a sick person. Please come take a look."
"..."
Changsha turned to look at Maomao, as if seeking her guidance.
"...What are the patient's symptoms? Age and sex?"
Maomao threw on a thick coat and swapped places with Changsha.
"He's my son. He's only five. He's had a headache and vomiting since last night."
"Please show us the way."
Since Maomao would go ahead, the other two were to get dressed and follow after.
"Wouldn't it be better to ask one of the other court physicians rather than us?"
"I did, but they turned me down. They told me to come to you folks."
"Oh?"
Senior Wannwan would probably have taken the job, but he was likely still asleep. She gathered that one of the other physicians, the prideful sort, had answered on his own.
"This is the house."
Inside, a small child lay on a crude cot. A woman who appeared to be the mother was clutching a wooden bucket. Her face was drawn and gaunt, completely drained of vitality.
(Malnutrition?)
She looked strangely emaciated.
"Let me take a look."
Maomao peered into the wooden bucket. It reeked of sour vomit, but there was hardly any solid matter in it.
"What did you eat last night?"
"Rice porridge and soup."
"Did the two of you eat the same thing?"
"We did."
"Let me check the pot."
Maomao headed to the hearth. Floating in the crude pot were what looked like pieces of root vegetables and fragments of meat.
(Bear meat?)
It was neither chicken nor pork. It resembled beef, but given that this was a hunter's village, bear was the more likely answer.
They must have wasted no time butchering yesterday's bear.
Maomao scooped up the cold broth with a ladle and took a sip.
(Oh—!?)
She swallowed with a gulp, then looked at the villager, the woman, and the ailing child.
So that was why the woman looked so strangely emaciated. Her skin had no elasticity, and her hair was not merely dull—it was thinning.
The child looked even worse. In contrast, the villager didn't appear nearly as bad.
"Maomao, do you need anything?"
Yao and Changsha arrived a bit later. Maomao slowly shook her head and instead held out the soup from earlier to the two of them.
"What is this?"
"Some soup. Try guessing what ingredients are in it."
Yao had been hesitant to put his mouth directly on the ladle, but seeing Chousha do it, he imitated her and drank the soup.
"...Hmm, the taste is richer than it looks?"
"There's no saltiness, but that's what gives it its depth."
"Could it be that liver has been mashed into this? There's a gaminess and graininess to it."
"Correct."
And then, Maomao remembered what it was she had been planning to take back from the hunter. Maomao and the others turned toward the hunter.
"Yesterday, you brought back not only the bear's hide and meat but also some of its organs, didn't you? And while saying things like 'My cousin did it, I don't know anything about it,' why is it in this pot? The bear's liver—"
The hunter looked away uncomfortably.
"...Sorry about that. I'm a poor hunter, so I always get a small share of the meat. You can tell by looking at the soup—it's nothing but scraps and sinew."
"And you put the liver in."
"Yeah. It spoils quickly and has a strong smell, but it's better than not eating anything."
"You can't catch any game?"
"I'm no good at hunting, unlike my cousin."
The hunter spoke in a halting manner. The village's income was sustained by hunting. Because they were related by blood, they often hunted in groups. The higher one's contribution, the better cuts and larger quantities of meat one received.
(The organs spoil easily and have low value.)
"Have you been eating animal livers regularly?"
"Yeah. My son won't touch other parts, but if I dissolve the liver into soup, he'll drink it."
Maomao nodded with understanding. Yao and Chousha looked at Maomao with puzzled expressions.
"I've figured out the cause of the illness. It's the bear's liver."
Maomao pointed at the pot on the stove.
"Wait a moment. That's something we've always eaten. Why would it make us sick now?"
Yao and Chousha also wore expressions that said they wanted an explanation.
"Bear liver contains a great deal of nutrition. But did you know that even nutrients can be harmful when consumed in excess?"
"That's a common saying."
Chousha answered.
"In small amounts they're nutritious, but too much becomes toxic. Bear liver is the same. Normally, eating it once or twice wouldn't cause anything resembling illness. But what happens if you keep consuming excessive amounts day after day for a long period? Doesn't it build up in your body?"
Maomao looked at the gaunt hunter's wife. Her hair was thin, her skin rough, and she looked strangely old for her age.
"The example I know of is overeating eel. Eel is highly nutritious and good for building strength, but I've heard it can be harmful if you eat too much."
"Oh, in that case—"
Yao raised her hand.
"A long time ago,"
Enen
"told me about it. Someone in the far northern lands ate bear organs as a delicacy and ended up with poisoning. I always assumed the food had simply gone bad, but maybe that wasn't the case."
Maomao listened with interest. When they got back, she wanted to hear the full story from Enen.
"Then I've been eating the same thing every day. How come I'm fine?"
"Could it simply be a matter of body size?"
Maomao answered his question.
"From now on, you should reduce the amount of animal liver you eat. Please try to make your hunts successful."
It was harsh, but there was nothing else Maomao could say.
"Also—"
Maomao looked around the cooking area.
"Was there a gallbladder attached to the liver?"
"If that's what you're talking about..."
The hunter quietly pointed to the trash basket.
"Threw it out."
"What a waste!"
Setting aside the fact that he was a poor hunter, he didn't even understand the value of what he had.
Maomao hurriedly opened the lid of the trash basket and began rummaging through it.
"That's filthy!"
Yao was furious, but Maomao ignored her and searched for the gallbladder.
"Hehehe, bear gallbladder."
With vegetable scraps still stuck on her head, Maomao held up the bear gallbladder she'd fished out.
"Cub, cub,
little cub,
drink your fill of milk, eat acorns,
when you grow big, go far away.
Cub, cub,
little cub."
When she returned to the palace medical office, she heard singing.
Tenyuu
was singing.
"Oh, welcome back~"
"I'm back."
Processing the gallbladder she had received was more important to Maomao than Tenyuu's singing. But Tenyuu called out to her.
"That third song you were talking about before."
"Yes, I just heard it."
Maomao searched for a place to hang the gallbladder she had wiped clean.
"You said the lyrics were about running away from bears, but it turns out it's different depending on the region. There's another"
version
"of the song, so I tried singing it."
"Uh-huh, uh-huh."
Maomao replied without pausing her work.
"Cub, cub,
little cub,
drink your fill of milk, eat acorns,
When you grow big, let's go far away
Cubby cubby
little cub"
"Cubby" —
"Bear
cub," right?
"What do you think it means, 'give milk, give acorns'?"
"Well, I'd say it's talking about the contemptible act of feeding wild animals."
"No, no. They're raising a bear cub."
"They're raising it?"
"Raising, not hunting."
Maomao hung the gallbladder in just the right spot and looked at Tenyu.
"You hunt and kill the mother bear, and the cub is left behind. The cub that's left is still too small to be made into meat. So you raise it."
In place of the mother bear, you give it milk and food.
"And then, before it becomes a full-grown bear, you eat it."
"Huh."
"Bears are fine when they're small, but once they grow up, they're scary."
"Is there a catch?"
Maomao gently touched the gallbladder she had hung up.
"No catch. I was just reminded that bears — well, they can eat people, but they can also be eaten."
"I see. Next time, I'd appreciate a more interesting story."
"If it was dull, what a shame."
Tenyu spread both his hands and walked away.
"Eat or be eaten."
Tenyu probably meant that as a dig. That was just the sort of person he was.
"(I'd like to pick the one doing the eating, but)"
If it ever came down to it, Maomao would be the one getting eaten.
They keep exclaiming about bear gallbladder this and bear gallbladder that, but it's still something hunters risk their lives to obtain.
That clumsy hunter must be risking his life too. Yet he can't even secure proper meat, and can't feed his family adequately.
"(He didn't even know how to prepare bear gallbladder.)"
If he had, his life might have been somewhat better. That said, even if she taught him the processing method, he'd just be taken advantage of when dealing with the medical office.
While she thought it was callous of her not to teach him, she couldn't very well lend a hand to everyone.
Maomao simply wasn't kind enough to be generous to all and sundry. At most, she could reach out to about as many people as she had fingers on both hands.