The Apothecary Diaries - Volume 13 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: True Records of an Elder Brother

Lingering cold, clear skies

I did some crop treading. I got the local women and children to help me; we did about ten tan. Not bad work for a season when there isn’t much farming to be done, but I wonder if there’s anything else I could be doing.

Plum blossoms, snowy skies

Looking after the sweet potatoes in the storehouse. The trick is that you have to be careful of the humidity or they’ll rot. Seeking some way to process them besides drying them.

Got a letter from Lahan. What could he want?

Spring chill, rainy skies

Lahan visited. Claims there’s a job only I can do. If I succeed at this, advancement to court service won’t be just a dream.

A man like me was made for more than farming villages!

Early spring, cloudy skies

In preparation for leaving my house for a while, I’m leaving oversight of the fields in the hands of a farmer I can trust.

Searching among the young folk of the farming village for a few people to come with me. Lahan tells me this worksite will demand people who are hale, hearty, and adaptable. Many families are loath to give up helping hands, though. I’ll focus my search on people with few or no relatives.

Lingering spring, clear skies

Lahan led me to a harbor. I’m to go by ship?

The sweet potatoes and white potatoes with which I’ve been entrusted are packed in rice husks to keep them from rotting. Maybe Lahan plans to use them for trade.

Wait! Hey! What’s Uncle Lakan doing here?!

Wha? No one said anything about teaching farming in the western capital!

Mid-spring, clear skies

Ocean, ocean, ocean.

The sight of my relentlessly vomiting uncle makes me glad that I cope well with moving vehicles. My uncle didn’t remotely recognize me as his nephew. And after I told him my name so many times! I mean, not that I care.

There’s not much to do on the ship, so I help with cooking in the galley or dangle a fishing line pointlessly into the sea. Call it obvious, but there’s no soil to till in the ocean.

Spring in the air, cloudy skies

We make a brief stop at the country of Anan.

As a southern land, it has a wide variety of produce. Lots of fruit, but not many dry crops, presumably because the salt wind would damage them.

Bought some fruit seeds in the market—wonder if they’ll grow in Li.

Spring warmth, clear skies

Arrived in I-sei Province. Grass and plains as far as the eye can see. Nothing here at all. Lots of land that could make for good fields if cultivated, but water is scarce. We’ll have to find a source of water and see if we can set up an irrigation system.

Additionally, landfall has substantially improved Uncle Lakan’s mood.

Vibrant spring, clear skies

We’re going to stay in a sprawling mansion in the western capital.

Tried to organize my belongings, only to discover the seed potatoes I brought were missing. Apparently they got put in with the physicians’ cargo and wound up in the medical office.

There was a vaguely familiar face there. I think her name is Maomao—she’s Lahan’s adopted younger sister. For some reason, she calls me “Lahan’s Brother.” Come to think of it, I never did introduce myself to her. When I try, she pays no attention. This is why nobody likes the La clan. Its folk never listen!

Cherry blossoms, clear skies

I’m to go out to a farming village and teach them how to grow potatoes. Why should I come all the way out to I-sei Province just to do agriculture?

Everyone else seems perfectly relaxed—they all get to do work they already know. This is a pure swindle, is what this is. Why’s Lahan have to be so crooked?

Geez, actually, this farming village is in rough shape. Don’t they care about raising wheat? They’re sowing at the wrong time, and they hardly even till the ground, let alone tread the crops. And this soil—it’s so meager! Scatter something on it! Anything! Even ash from the ovens would be better than nothing.

Spring breeze, clear skies

I-sei Province sure doesn’t get much rain. It’s great that I came out to this village with Maomao and her friends and all, but now I’m supposed to spend a while teaching these farmers to grow potatoes. I have a feeling that white potatoes are better suited to the climate here than sweet potatoes.

Come to think of it, weren’t people talking about a swarm of insects or something? I do feel like there are a lot of grasshoppers around. No matter how many of them you kill, more just pop up in their place. Pain in the neck. I’ll dilute the farming chemicals Maomao gave me and scatter them around.

Fresh green, clear skies

The midday sun in I-sei Province is bright and hot, but the nights are freezing cold. These huge temperature swings have me worried for the health of our potatoes.

I finished my work at the farming village and went back to the mansion in the western capital. I found a goat there—I guess it belongs to some lady-in-waiting named Chue. Don’t go leaving goats around! They eat grass, roots and all. Nothing will ever grow. They can eat weeds, sure, but if any of those animals started in on the crops, we’d really be in trouble. As if a goat wasn’t enough, there was a duck too. I thought that building was supposed to be where the VIPs were staying. Should they really be cramming it full of farm animals?

As I was cleaning up my farm implements, a plump older man invited me to tea. He says he’s a doctor, but he really reminds me of my great-uncle Luomen somehow. Although admittedly, he doesn’t seem terribly concerned about his alleged vocation.

Since he’d invited me, I figured a cup of tea couldn’t hurt, but then who should show up but...well. I’d heard the rumors. Hair black as lacquered thread, skin like porcelain, nose set high, and two eyes as dark as twin obsidians. A man of unearthly beauty, like a celestial nymph. The only disappointment was the scar running along his right cheek—but then, without that, I don’t know what I might have done. His beauty was enough to drive a person to madness.

It was all I could do to swallow hard and answer his questions in the most stumbling fashion. Whatever he said to me hardly registered.

Which is why, to my chagrin, I answered in the affirmative. I couldn’t possibly refuse.

And that’s how I ended up on a trek across I-sei Province, a cross-country journey to spread the good word of potatoes.

Summer starting, clear skies

Creaking and shaking along in a wagon with my potatoes, I journey from village to village.

People frequently turn suspicious eyes on me, a stranger in these parts. That’s fine; I’m used to it.

I remember when Uncle Lakan and Lahan chased my grandfather out; I got some truly cold looks from people then! My mother and grandfather kicked and screamed, whereas my father took to farming immediately. I had to ask myself what I was going to do. As a boy of ten, my only choice was to closely observe the adults around me and somehow find the right response to the environment in which I found myself. Truly, I did a fine job. Way to go, me.

When I think about that, scurrying from village to village teaching farming methods actually seems rather simple.

Ahh! When this journey is over, I’m going to find me a wife—a lovely wife who’s not scary and is eccentricity-free.

Fragrant breeze, clear skies

I stay for only a short time in any given village. I must teach them what they need to know in the space of just a few days. I tried using some of my precious supply of paper to give written instructions, but it’s proven difficult. Literacy is low in the villages, so no one can read what I write.

I suppose I need to boil it down and teach them in the simplest possible terms, but without missing anything crucial. That’s what I’ve been trying to do.

Maybe I’m becoming a better teacher, because if nothing else people have stopped looking at me like an intruder and started treating me like a welcome guest. One time one of the village girls brought me tea. She was cute, but I’m sure a girl like that already has a husband, or at least a man to whom she’s pledged her future—I know these things. I can’t go getting the wrong idea. Nobody likes men who think every slight show of decency means a woman is in love with them.

It’s been interesting getting to know the foodways of this distant land. They seem to use bean sprouts to make up for what they lack in nutrients. I got some of the beans they use for this purpose, and I’ll try doing the same thing myself when I get back to the western capital.

Fresh leaves, clear skies

I used a pigeon to get in touch with the Moon Prince. Very convenient—but also very inconvenient, considering they can only go one way. I need a pigeon resupply from the western capital before I run out of birds.

I’ve come quite a ways from the western capital now. Just a little farther, and it will be time to double back. I found a most interesting kind of wheat in this village. I noticed that one field in particular had yielded a remarkably large amount, and when I looked into it, I saw that the stalks were lower than most, so that fewer of them were knocked over. That seems to be why they yielded more than average. Maybe it’s sheer coincidence that lower-growing wheat happened to proliferate here. I took seeds and some ears as an intriguing sample.

Deep green, cloudy skies

All right, I’m finally halfway there. When this is over, I’m going to get a wife, believe me.

There’s something strange about the weather, though. It seems very gloomy, even though it’s not the rainy season. When I look up at the sky, I can see a dark cloud on the horizon, and hear a strange sound. The cloud seems to be coming closer. When I really squint, I see that the cloud is a huge swarm of insects. Oh no! They’re here!

Plum rains, bug-filled skies

The locusts’ assault continues no matter how many of them we kill. I released the last of my pigeons and told the young farmers who had come with me to head back to the western capital in a hurry.

Dammit! All I needed was another two weeks. The fields have been ravaged; there’s no wheat now, just crushed insects. All our efforts are a drop in the ocean; we are so few against so many. The swarm of insects is enough to blot out the sky, and we can do almost nothing to stop it.

We’ll all starve at this rate. We have to gather up every last scrap of wheat we can still find. We have to strip bark off the trees, pull grass out of the ground. Something, anything!

Plum rains, clear skies

I passed out the last of my white potatoes as provisions, and have chosen to dry my sweet potatoes.

With nothing to eat, the thieving has begun. Adult, child, doesn’t matter. I have nothing left to distribute as food; the most I could do was to share a dried potato with a child who looked on the brink of starvation. My small act of decency.

Some heat, clear skies

Eeeeyaarrrrghhh!

I’m gonna be killed by bandits!

Ugh!

They stole all my cargo!

High summer, clear skies

I can finally see the western capital.

The closer I get, the more officials I find stationed at the nearby villages. The swarm has caused a stream of refugees from the west, and I’m treated as just another one of them.

Ugh, I feel disgusting. Can’t bathe, can’t even get a decent meal. When I catch my reflection in water, I see a dirty man, with an unkempt beard and covered in dust. My small change and my dried potatoes are all gone, but I’ve managed to hold on to my seeds and my mung beans—I’ve guarded them with my life.

After being attacked by bandits and nearly taken for all my potatoes, can you blame me if I don’t have much trust in people anymore? Then again, there are those who have done me a good turn.

I need to hurry back to the western capital so I can tell them what’s going on.

Higher summer, clear skies

I finally made it to the western capital. I told them my name, but it didn’t seem to mean anything to them. What’s with that?

I’m sure it’s not that my name isn’t actually written down anywhere, right?

What should I do at a moment like this? Lahan isn’t here, and it wouldn’t be quite right to drop Maomao’s name. My orders technically come from the Moon Prince. All right, it feels a little childish, but this is an emergency—I’ll have them summon him for me. I need to yell at the top of my lungs or I won’t get a reaction.

I tried yelling, and they threw me in some kind of jail cell.

Okay it is really hot now, clear skies

Thankfully, Maomao and the others came to get me, so I’m back in the mansion in the western capital.

The food problem is really serious. Things are going to turn ugly if people don’t get enough to eat.

All I’ve been able to do for now is to cultivate some modest sustenance.

Early autumn, clear skies

Relief supplies arrived from the royal capital. I checked to see if they included any crops that looked like they might grow quickly, but there was nothing there. Most of it was cereals and medicine, but not nearly enough of either. We’re getting more and more refugees.

Is there no way we can fill everyone’s stomachs? I ponder the question as I feed locusts to the goats and duck, along with whatever meager grass is available.

Lingering heat, clear skies

I hear we’re starting to see cases of malnutrition from lack of food. Maomao says people aren’t getting enough vegetables.

Should I show her the bean sprouts I’ve quietly been growing?

She also asks me whether there’s any way to grow medicinal herbs, but I think that’s going to be a tall order in the western capital.

I wonder what it is about the medical profession that seems to attract so many weirdos. Not just the likes of Maomao or my great-uncle Luomen; there’s also the little old man who’s always inviting me to tea. He says he used to be a physician at the rear palace. He seems like a decent guy, though, so what’s the harm?

Autumn heat, clear skies

Laaaaaahaaaaaannnn!

I’ll kill that bastard!

What’s he doing living with two eligible young ladies?!

Early autumn, clear skies

Lahan might have tricked me into coming to the western capital, but if nothing else, I have a front row seat to just how obnoxious politics can be. From what I can tell, the Moon Prince doesn’t make a big deal of going about his work, but he really gets things done. He’s trying to nip problems in the bud—but in terms of worldly fame, it’s much easier for people to celebrate those who solve problems after they start instead of before. Some guys really know how to deal with things, huh?

Speaking of dealing with things, why am I in charge of these goats and this duck? Then again, if I don’t protect them, Miss Chue is going to try to eat them. People are starving everywhere...

Fresh cool, clear skies

It really doesn’t rain in the western capital. Trying to water things has been a huge headache. The rich folk around here have ponds as a sign of their ridiculous wealth, but they’re probably made using underground water. At least that makes it easier to grow bean sprouts.

We’ve started fields near the western capital, but irrigation is proving to be the biggest challenge. Bringing up water from underground isn’t realistic. It would be great if we could get water from a river, but the scale of the project would be untenable. Maybe you just can’t have farm fields if there isn’t a body of water nearby.

As one learns if one is going in and out of the estate, the mood in town is getting worse and worse. Stomachs are empty and tempers are high, while all-out struggles for food are hardly unusual.

Some people are claiming the insects were some kind of curse from another country. It’s just a natural disaster! How ridiculous can you be?

I really don’t like the way things are looking out there.

Cool breeze, clear skies

It was bound to happen eventually, and it finally has.

A mob has closed in on the mansion where the Moon Prince is staying. What’s going to happen here? I don’t know.

I really don’t know. 

Autumn cool, clear skies

Now things make even less sense to me.

Gyoku-ou, the leader of the western capital, is dead.

What the heck is going on?

Autumn colors, clear skies

I’m just going to stop thinking about politics. It doesn’t make any sense to me. I always thought of myself as reasonably smart, but I’m not made for this. I think I would die of an upset stomach. If Lahan were here, I’m sure he’d just roll with it and keep cranking out work. I’ll never beat him in that regard.

With Gyoku-ou dead, things seem to have turned very serious. The mansion’s servants can hardly bring themselves to do their jobs. But none of that has any bearing on field work. I’ve got to get out there again today and keep breaking ground.

Autumn clear, clear skies

The Moon Prince is relocating from the annex. It sounds like Maomao and the friendly old doctor are going with him, but I’d like to stay here for a while. This garden is finally hitting its stride. The groundskeeper may have it out for me, but we’re closer to a water source here, and that makes growing easier.

Autumn beauty, clear skies

There’s a beautiful greenhouse at the main house, where we’re moving. I hear they used to grow cucumbers there, but they’ve already been cruelly uprooted.

Maomao could barely contain herself as she planted seeds for medicinal herbs, but the glare that the greenhouse’s minder was giving her—well! If looks could kill.

I’m out of the loop on whatever happened, but even I could figure it out at a glance.

Colorful leaves, clear skies

I’ve turned the annex’s entire garden into fields.

Next I’m starting on the ones at the main house. I’m not going about things like Maomao, though. I made sure to get permission from Miss Chue. Someone from the Gyoku clan, a guy named Hulan, gave his approval, too, so I should be in the clear.

The friendly old physician helps me out with farmwork when he has time to kill, but someone hurt his leg. Some firecracker of the Gyoku family gave it a whack—I think his name was Gyokujun. He sure liked to boss the servants around. Someone better set him straight while he can still change his ways, or who knows what will become of him?

The thought occurs to me: I could have been like him, if my mother and grandfather had had more influence on me. If Uncle Lakan hadn’t snatched the family headship, I might have grown up as a selfish whelp of the La family.

Now instead of the physician, his bodyguard Lihaku is helping me. If we can hurry to get this field ready and lay down some shell ash, we might be able to plant some wheat, so we’re working as hard as we can.

A gardener keeps giving me dirty looks, but I got permission. I’m not doing anything wrong.

Autumn chill, clear skies

I got a letter from my father asking if I’ve planted potatoes yet. Shut up! Yes, I’ve planted them. Lahan doesn’t know what Dad is really like. I wonder if he’s dealing with being in charge all right.

I hope Mom and Grandpa are doing well. They like to lord it over people, but they can be surprisingly fragile. I guess it goes to show what comes of having too much pride. I wonder if Grandpa might have been a bit more upstanding if he hadn’t been in the shade of a younger brother as thoroughly exceptional as my great-uncle Luomen.

As I was writing my reply, I saw Gyokujun bullying his cousin, a younger girl named Xiaohong. I went over to them and he scurried off someplace. Hmph! If he can’t stand his ground, he should have left her alone to begin with.

Hey, goat! That’s precious paper! Expensive stuff that the physician gave me. Don’t eat it!

Late autumn, clear skies

Today I was working on the fields at the main house. I tried planting different seed stock in each area, all kinds of wheat. I’m curious how different the yields will be between the short wheat and the regular stuff given the same environment. But it’s going to take six months or so to find out... Wait, how long do I plan to be here?! When do I get to go home?

With Lihaku and Hulan helping me, work went quickly. Hulan doesn’t behave like the pampered son of a good household. He’s more like an apprentice, trying out all kinds of different jobs. Well, it’s certainly helpful for me. Any big brother with a younger sibling like him would be very happy.

I went to the medical office to grab a quick break, since I knew the friendly old physician would serve me tea. Recently, Uncle Lakan has been at a lot of our little tea parties. I assume he’s there to see Maomao, but she can sense his presence and makes herself scarce. The old doctor seems a lot like Luomen somehow—he really seems to know how to handle my uncle. It really brings home how everyone has some special skill or redeeming quality.

Uncle Lakan wasn’t there today, but there was some kid. A boy, probably twelve or thirteen years old—not even old enough to have had his coming-of-age ceremony. He’s a quick thinker, so they value him for doing small chores. I’ve seen him around a few times, but I’ve never caught his name. He said he wanted to introduce himself to me. Ah, he really is a quick one, isn’t he? But...hey, your name is Kan Junjie too, huh? Yes, a very common name; I hear it all the time, myself. Wow, so you’re your family’s oldest son? And your nickname is Haku’un? Makes sense; that’s just the sort of thing you would call an eldest son. You know, I happen to be the oldest son of my own family.

What? You’ll use a different name if there’s someone else with the same name around? What? Who does that? I mean, no, you don’t have to do that! Please don’t look at me all resolved like that! I won’t give you any grief just because of a shared name. Hey, wait! Heyyy...

I decided to tell him my name was Lahan’s Brother.

Falling leaves, clear skies

There was some kind of commotion at the main house, but I’m busy. Harvesting my soybeans takes priority.

Autumn frost, clear skies

Uncle Lakan is here all the time trying to see Maomao, and it’s obnoxious. I’m amazed the old doctor can stand entertaining him.

Miss Chue said Maomao had gone to the port town to do some shopping. That would make sense for a few days, but now it’s been ten days since we saw her. For that matter, I don’t see Miss Chue either. Plus, the mood at the main house seems pretty grim.

I’m sure something must have happened—but what good would it do for me to say anything? Maybe if I had the power or capacity, but I’ve never had much talent for those sorts of things, and sticking my nose in only seems likely to get me in trouble.

I think I’d gain more from thinking about what to do with the soy beans I’ve harvested. Should I just eat them? Process them somehow? Grow them into bean sprouts? There are so many things I could do.

Early winter, cloudy skies

Something’s wrong with Uncle Lakan. I mean, something’s always been wrong with him, but he’s been acting especially strange lately. I finally found the Moon Prince, but for some reason my uncle was there too, berating Hulan. Hey... Uncle?! Why are you burning those papers?!

He’s scary. In a totally different way from my dad or grandfather.

Heck, Hulan, it’s just as scary how your expression never changes. Wait...what?! Why are you sitting down on the burning papers and bowing your head? Geez! Burns—you’re gonna burn yourself!

Water! We need some water over here!

Twelfth month, clear skies

I gather that the reason Uncle Lakan was so angry at Hulan was because he did something to entrap Maomao. I can see why he would be upset. And to think, he’s just an old guy who’s normally no more than a bit of a nuisance as long as you don’t antagonize him. Oh, and also, he’s kind of a loser.

And Hulan—something’s up with him too. Whatever motivates his behavior, it’s beyond what I can comprehend. I guess he decided his own older brother was in the way of making the Moon Prince the leader of the western capital, so Hulan decided to eliminate him? I can’t believe he plotted all that with that grin on his face. And here I thought he was just a nice guy helping with some chores. Well, I take it all back. I don’t need a little brother like that. I’d even take Lahan over him!

Chill cold, clear skies

Maomao and the others are finally back, but Miss Chue is in bad shape.

What the hell happened? She can’t even use her right arm anymore. It’s a real tragedy.

Year-end, clear skies

Miss Chue has set up camp in the medical office on the grounds that she’s a convalescent. I grant that her injuries are serious, but she’s really just using that as cover to lounge around and do nothing. I feel bad for the friendly old doctor, who seems to spend all his time taking care of her.

I guess they’re finally going to decide who gets to run the western capital. It won’t be the Moon Prince, but apparently a man named Shikyou—Master Gyoku-ou’s oldest son. He’s also, incidentally, Hulan’s older brother and the father of that obnoxious brat Gyokujun.

Are we really gonna be okay with this guy?

New spring, clear skies

I saw Xiaohong today. I thought Gyokujun was bullying her again, but on closer inspection, I saw Xiaohong do something very unexpected. She slapped Gyokujun, taunted him—practically spat on him—and then went off somewhere. There was nothing the boy could do; he just burst into tears. That was when I realized his and Xiaohong’s positions had been reversed completely.

There was one other person besides me who saw the scene: Maomao.

I just know she had something to do with this!

Early spring, clear skies

I headed off to the farming villages with one thought in mind: This year, I’m going to get them to grow some decent wheat! I’ll see to it that they tread the crop and till the soil. It’s not going to be a repeat of last year—there won’t be any lackadaisical growing practices on my watch!

Things seem pretty busy at the main house too. Probably something to do with the new year. There’s no end of work for politicians. But that’s no concern of mine. I’ve got farming to do.

Cold afoot, cloudy skies

When I got back to the mansion in the western capital, there was nobody there.

Just a second—what’s going on here?! Somebody? Anybody?!

Moon Prince! Maomao! Miss Chue! Friendly old doctor! Lihaku! Uncle Lakan!

What in the world is this?!

Don’t leave me heeeeeere!

○●○

The thick stack of papers turned out to be somebody’s diary. One of the people from the central region must have forgotten it when he went back home. It was discovered at the inn town, at the inn where its author had supposedly waited for his ship.

A great many names appeared in the diary—but of the name of its author there was no sign. Nobody knew whom to return it to. However, from the extensive notes on farming methods and cultivation, the writer was obviously a professional farmer.

Further, if the contents of the book were to be believed, this person was also quite important within the court hierarchy—important enough that he could directly summon a member of the royal family.

However, when the owner of the inn sent the diary to the capital, he was informed that there were no farming specialists among the ranks of the most important bureaucrats. There had been such a person at one point, but he had long ago returned to the royal capital, and there was no way he would have forgotten his diary at the inn town.

At a loss for what else to do, the innkeeper left the book with the gardeners, men who trod the wheat of their gardens with dead looks in their eyes. Strangely, the gardens of the western leader, once regarded as the finest in I-sei Province, had been turned into wheat fields for some reason.

Later, the diary would be edited into a manual of farming techniques, but its author remained unknown.

The gardeners passed the book among themselves and laughed, their small measure of revenge against the interlopers from the central region at whose hands their gardens had suffered so much; but eventually the eye of some scholar lighted upon the diary, and this is the result.