That day, with a grave expression,
Liu—
the physician came to see Maomao.
"I need to speak with you after work."
He had approached with such a solemn look,
right at Maomao,
that she couldn't help but brace herself.
"Wh-what did I do?"
"If Physician Liu himself is asking, it must be something serious."
Li—
the physician and Senior Wanwan both chimed in.
"N-no, I haven't done anything!"
She certainly hadn't, Maomao thought, reviewing her recent actions. She had properly processed the bear gallbladder she retrieved from the hunter in the medical office.
Her pouch—
no, no, she hadn't been stealing anything.
"I don't know what she did, but I can testify that the medical office inventory is all accounted for. I know she hasn't done anything there."
Senior Wanwan was, in his own way, trying to shield Maomao. At the very least, he wanted to make clear she hadn't been embezzling. Besides, since he and Maomao were both responsible for managing the medicine inventory, any misconduct discovered there would mean shared liability.
Tenyu—
if he had been here, it would have been a headache, but fortunately he was absent today. He would surely have worn a triumphant look, snickering as he spread the word to everyone.
After work, Maomao headed to where Physician Liu was.
"Pardon the intrusion."
When Maomao timidly opened the door, she found Physician Liu,
grave-faced,
staring down the calendar.
"So you came."
"What business do you have with me?"
Maomao asked, rubbing both hands together lightly.
"I have a question."
"Yes."
"You know Ryokuseikan quite well, don't you?"
"I do. Naturally."
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a second home.
"Well then—"
"Kinsikaku—"
"are you familiar with it?"
"Ah..."
Maomao finally understood why Jinshi had summoned her.
As the year drew to a close, the officials held their own banquets as a reward for their hard work. It wasn't uncommon for these to take place at high-end pleasure houses. Those of higher rank, in particular, were judged by which establishment they chose—a reflection of their personal tastes.
Kinsikaku was another long-established pleasure house of the same caliber as Ryokuseikan. In plain terms, it was a business rival.
"So you still haven't decided on the venue for the year-end drinking party?"
"The venue is already set. The drinks and food are decided too. But choosing which establishment's girls to invite this year—that's fallen to our department. It's dreadfully tedious."
The way he said "our department" suggested this was a joint banquet involving other departments as well.
"Can't you just leave that to your subordinates?"
Maomao thought that someone of Jinshi's standing really shouldn't be bothering himself with the duties of an event organizer.
"The last time I delegated it, I was taken to one of those popular shops—cheap, loud, and supposedly delicious. The place was crawling with kitchen girls."
"How out of place."
"Completely out of place. And then a critical incident happened, so after that the chief took personal responsibility for organizing everything."
(Oh boy...)
Maomao pictured it in her mind. The fact that Jinshi was personally fretting over this meant the banquet would include officials of at least equal rank—and possibly higher.
"Um, was everything alright?"
"How could it possibly be alright? But thanks to a certain someone, I managed to avoid having to lop off my subordinates' heads."
"Sounds like quite the character was in attendance."
"No, you've got it wrong. You could say that person was the root cause of the whole mess. From the start, they didn't touch a drop of wine and just went around smashing everything up, practically destroying half the place. If it had been a high-end establishment, I don't even want to think about what would've happened—but somehow I got off without any blame."
"..."
Maomao didn't even need to wonder who had done it. The shadow of a figure wearing a fox-eye monocle surfaced in her mind.
"Incidentally, that person was subsequently left off the invitation list. It was decided that a position overseeing the event wouldn't require their presence, so there was no issue leaving them out."
Normally, it would be a problem for a low-ranking underling to fail to invite a high official—but in this case, the opposite was the issue.
"So, that's the situation."
"So go ahead and answer me honestly—which establishment do you prefer?"
"W-Well, as you can imagine, given my position, I'm bound to put in a good word for Rokuseikan. There are plenty of restaurants outside the pleasure quarter, of course. But more importantly, I'm not even sure the date you want will be available since there are already reservations. With Rokuseikan, well, if you throw enough money at them, they can make anything work."
The terrifying face of that shrewd madam flickered in her imagination. She could practically hear the woman brandishing her pipe and declaring, "Bring me every wealthy customer you can find!"
Maomao thought it over.
(What a pain. I should just hand this off to the madam—and collect a nice intermediary fee while I'm at it.)
She could hear a cackling, goblin-like voice: "Heh heh heh."
(For the sake of your future, act in good faith.)
She could hear a gentle, admonishing voice, like that of a celestial maiden.
"If you bring me the scale and an estimate, I'll take you along on the next medicinal herb purchasing trip."
"Consider it done!"
Maomao straightened her expression and drew herself up to her full height.
After parting ways with Medical Officer Liu, Maomao headed straight for the pleasure quarter.
"Right then—participating officials, the venue, and the scale of the event..."
These were matters that should probably have been kept even more secret, but he seemed to trust Maomao to a reasonable degree.
(Oh, this place—)
Maomao recognized it.
Before, when Maomao had left the Rear Palace,
she had been working a short-term job,
and this was where she'd headed. She remembered finding a sulking
Jinshi
there.
(We've really become stuck with each other, haven't we?)
Since she'd been there once before, it was easy to picture.
The size of the rooms, the layout, how many courtesans they'd need, and so on.
"Hey, Maomao."
Ukyou
called out to her.
"Today
Saizen
isn't around. He went out to buy medicines."
"I don't need Saizen. Is Granny in?"
"Granny? She just headed out to a meeting."
"A meeting."
Convenient, if you could call it that.
Inconvenient, if you could call it that.
The pleasure quarter didn't run on any single establishment. The shop owners had to gather regularly to discuss and decide how to manage things—cleaning the main streets, rotating the gate guards, tidying up the outer moat, and more. They also had to keep a leash on any shops that tried to draw customers with outrageously unreasonable prices.
Rokushoukan was one of the three largest establishments in the pleasure quarter.
And Kinshikaku was another of the three.
You could say it was the perfect chance to negotiate with both at once.
(Ideally, she'd like to get separate estimates from each.)
But Maomao had to work tomorrow too. She wanted to wrap this up quickly.
Is It Okay?
Maomao, feeling uneasy, headed to the gathering place.