The Apothecary Diaries - Volume 14 - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Kada’s Descendants

They would, it seemed, spend some four hours on the hunt.

They might as well spend forever, Maomao thought. She was supremely bored.

“Ah, so that’s where you’re going,” Suiren said. There was the rap of a Go stone being placed on a board.

“Are you sure about that move?” Taomei fingered her black stone.

I don’t care about Go!

She watched the two women play, but her eyes were empty.

The tent was certainly impressive for something that had been put up in such a hurry, but there was nothing to do there. No cleaning was needed, and no books lay around to pass the time. They’d brought board games, yes, but Maomao didn’t have any interest in them and could only watch.

What are the chances the hunt will wrap up early?

Just as the thought was crossing her mind, a guard poked his head into the tent.

“Yes?” she asked.

“There’s someone here who wants to see you, Lady Maomao.”

“Who is it?”

“He says his name is Tianyu.”

Maomao looked at Suiren and Taomei.

“It’s all right, since we’re here,” Suiren said. “He may come in.”

“Is that all right?” Maomao asked.

“Why, yes.”

“Are you sure it’s all right?”

“Aren’t you full of questions?”

Maomao had no recourse but to admit Tianyu to the tent. If only the women had objected, she would have been spared entertaining her troublesome colleague.

For that matter, should he even be here?

If it was calculation and not coincidence that had brought them to Tianyu’s home area, wasn’t it dangerous for him to be wandering around?

“Thanks,” Tianyu said as he entered the tent. The moment he did, his eyes flitted every which way, taking everything in.

He’s practically a tourist!

“Did you need something?” Maomao asked.

“Nah, they just haven’t come back with the game yet, so I had some time to kill.”

“Then I think maybe it’s about time for you to leave.”

No doubt he’d ducked Dr. Li’s gaze to come here. He must have known there was a knuckle in his future, but he’d done it anyway.

“Oh, and it looks like there’s some kind of fire out in the direction of my place,” Tianyu said lightly, and pointed.

“You could lead with that!” Maomao exclaimed. She ran out of the tent and looked around; there was smoke rising somewhere beyond the trees.

“You think it’s a cook fire?” Tianyu mused.

“That wouldn’t really be better!”

Maomao asked herself what she should do. She wanted to make for Tianyu’s house and see if it was still in one piece, but she could hardly go alone.

“What’s wrong?” someone asked. She turned and found Basen.

“I thought you were with the Moon Prince,” she said.

“We’re working in shifts today. And I was instructed to update my mother on our progress.” Basen didn’t look very happy about it. He wanted to guard Jinshi at all times.

“Basen,” said Taomei, emerging from the tent. She’d heard everything Jinshi and Maomao had said, and then a person named Tianyu had appeared. Taomei was smart enough to guess what Maomao wanted. “I want you to escort Maomao as her guard. The report can wait.”

“Um, what in the world—”

“Don’t ask questions, just do it!”

The confusion remained on Basen’s face, but he said nothing more.

“Could we head toward where those flames are?” Maomao asked.

“I can guide you if you want,” Tianyu said, coming forward. He knew these woods; it would certainly be the fastest way.

“Would you?”

“Sure!”

Neither Taomei nor Suiren said anything. Suiren, however, came over and helped Maomao tie up her sleeves with some string. “Anything to make it a little easier to move, right?” she said.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Maomao said.

“Would you like me to go instead, Maomao?” Taomei offered.

“No, thank you, Lady Taomei. I have a better grasp of the situation.”

Taomei was blind in one eye, which would make it hard for her to navigate all the potential hazards in the forest.

“Now you listen to me, Basen,” his mother said to him. “Make sure you protect Maomao.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He didn’t know what was going on, but he could sense the tension in the air.

“Okay, we’re off!” said Tianyu, who seemed the least concerned of all of them considering it might be his home on fire.

Guess that’s a hunter for you.

Once in the woods, it was hard to see where the sun was. Maomao was afraid they would get lost if they let their attention slip. The ground was soft, thick with leaves. She picked her way along, trying not to lose her footing.

Tianyu tromped ahead, getting ever farther away from her.

“You’re too slow,” Basen said, and clasped Maomao around the middle.

“Whoa!” she cried.

What was going on here?

Oh, for...

He was carrying her like a sack of wheat or rice. It was by no means a dignified mode of conveyance; nonetheless, they moved considerably faster than with Maomao walking. At least they managed not to lose sight of Tianyu.

“How can you find your way without the sun?” Basen asked, the same question Maomao had.

“There’s some real big trees in this forest, hundreds of years old,” Tianyu said. “Hunters use them as markers. I had to learn which tree was where.”

It was true; they did occasionally see huge trees.

“We’re almost there,” Tianyu said and came to a halt. The smoke they had seen was indeed coming from a house.

A disquieting scene lay before them. Jinshi had been right that the young folk had wanted to get violent.

Basen was furious. “What in the world is this?”

It was impossible to ignore what they saw: A middle-aged man, a hunter to judge by his attire, was being confronted by several younger men in fashionable outfits. One of them grinned and leveled his sword at the man.

“Oh, it’s my dad,” Tianyu said. He was about to trot right out when Maomao stopped him.

“Wait a second!” she said.

“Why?”

“If you go out there, you’ll only make things worse. Let’s let Master Basen handle this.”

Not that it’s a lot more reassuring to send him in, she thought—but it was better than Tianyu.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Basen demanded, approaching with a series of long strides. Maomao watched from the safety of the trees.

The young man with his sword pointed at the hunter turned. “Well, well, if it isn’t Master Basen,” he said. “Isn’t it obvious? We’re clearing out the bandits.”

“Bandit? Is that what he is?” Basen still didn’t know the situation.

“No! He’s a local hunter,” Maomao called.

“You heard her. So why are you burning his house and threatening him?”

“You’ll sing a different tune when you see this.” The young man grinned even more broadly and tossed something on the ground.

“That’s...”

It was half of a broken jade tablet. Almost identical to Joka’s, but the damage to it was different.

I knew it...

Joka’s father had been a member of Tianyu’s family. For some reason, he’d broken the jade in half and given it to her mother.

“This jade tablet once belonged to someone who laid hands on an Imperial prince in violation of taboo, and it proves this man is a criminal. Supposedly, the prince was poisoned and then carved into pieces. But that fiend’s descendants are alive and well. Something wrong with that, wouldn’t you say?”

I don’t think that’s quite how the story goes.

Maomao had heard that the emperor’s favorite son had died of illness, and that Kada had been punished for doing an autopsy on the corpse.

Was the tale twisted in the telling over generations?

People loved to embellish stories. The version that came down from the physicians was the truth, and it accorded with the version Jinshi knew.

The house was on fire—could the blaze be seen from the woods? Knowing Jinshi, he would come running if he sensed anything amiss.

The young man went on: “He used zhen poison to do the deed. There was a feast, and he dipped one of the bird’s feathers in the prince’s drink when no one was looking. Worse, he tried to become the prince by skinning his corpse and wearing the skin to an audience with the emperor. It’s only too obvious that the offspring of such a creature would be monsters themselves.”

Wait... When they said there would be zhen birds...

Was this what they meant? Maomao couldn’t keep the scowl off her face.

They must think they’re very clever, but I’m not laughing!

She kicked the ground like a wild boar about to charge.

Basen, in contrast, froze. He had no idea what they were talking about. Maomao felt bad about it, but neither she nor Jinshi had shared this information with him. He looked at her as if to ask what was going on.

“Oh! I can explain that,” Tianyu said, about to step forward again.

Maomao kicked him in the shin and stepped up instead. “That’s wrong,” she said. She had to. It killed her that they’d used the metaphor of the mythical zhen.

“Who the hell are you?” the young man spat.

Maomao didn’t remember people’s faces, no matter what family they were from. Instead, remembering that Jinshi had said this hunt involved named clans, she decided to ask a leading question.

“It would seem you don’t remember me. Weren’t we introduced at the meeting of the named?” She gave an exaggeratedly polite bow.

“Oh!”

One of the youngsters seemed to have figured it out. Now that she got a better look, she recognized him as a soldier she sometimes saw. He’d even been to the medical office. Wait...it was Mister Love Letters from the Shin clan!

Him again?!

Was he ever not up to no good? Maomao really felt for the mistress of the Shin clan. If Mister Love Letters seemed a bit meek today, it was probably because the human bear—i.e., Basen—was standing there.

“The prince didn’t die from poison, but of illness,” Maomao said. “And he wasn’t carved up and skinned; his corpse was autopsied.” She struggled to maintain her composure. Frankly, she would have liked nothing better than to fling horse dung at these kids, but she refrained.

“Autopsied? That’s an awful thing to do to someone,” said Basen, clearly shaken. His simplicity was at once a blessing and a curse.

“So that’s how they got away with surviving so long,” the first young man said. “They took up carving up animals for a living!”

Tianyu’s father caught his breath. He looked every inch the hunter, from his simple, sturdy clothing (easy to move in) to his bearlike beard and tanned skin. He looked nothing like Tianyu.

“As if you lot don’t eat meat!” Maomao snapped, finally unable to restrain herself.

“Hey, careful,” Basen said, frowning at her.

“Listen to you talk, Niangniang!” Tianyu chirped. For some reason, he was smiling. Maybe it didn’t bother him to see his father all but crawling on the ground at swordpoint?

Speaking of Tianyu’s father, he appeared to have noticed Tianyu, but was keeping up a careful facade so the young folks wouldn’t realize it. He’d also sensed something else at work, and kept his head carefully lowered, as if to involve himself as little as possible.

“You say something, girl?” the young man growled.

“No. Nothing at all,” Maomao replied, trying to play dumb; she went over and picked up the jade tablet.

It’s the same.

The same as Joka’s. The passage of time had worn the edges down, but she suspected it would fit the break in Joka’s tablet perfectly.

“He may have been a criminal, but he was a man of quite high station to begin with, wasn’t he?” Maomao asked.

“Maybe so, but a criminal is a criminal. His depravity ran deep, and his horrifying personality must have been passed on to his children and grandchildren.”

Maomao looked hard at the tablet. The young folks didn’t seem to know that its owner had originally been a member of the Imperial family.

“Only to his children and grandchildren?” she asked.

“Ha ha! Their ancestors probably had something wrong with them too.”

We all heard you. You can’t back out now.

Maomao held the jade tablet high. “You heard him. What do you think?”

“Good question,” said a voice as beautiful as flowing water. It was a bit of an affectation by the owner—she’d heard it many times in the rear palace. “I guess I might be a problem as well.”

The voice spoke with deliberate slowness, implying a gentle question. Then the owner appeared from the far side of the grove.

“M-Moon Prince?!” the young men exclaimed and bowed their heads.

Jinshi wore almost the same unctuous smile he’d used during his time as a “eunuch.” The difference was that he was no longer as perfect as a heavenly nymph. On his right cheek there was a scar, and his smile took on an edge of contempt as he looked at the ne’er-do-wells.

“You said that tablet proves him to be a criminal,” Jinshi said.

“Y-Yes, sir,” one of the young men answered.

“The legendary poisonous birds you spoke of—were you referring to that criminal’s offspring?”

“Yes, sir. They come from the loins of one who victimized an august Imperial prince. If they’re allowed to continue to possess this tablet, who knows when they might decide to try to bend the country to their will? It’s our suggestion that they be dealt with promptly. You, Moon Prince, the second-most revered person in this land, are the perfect one to do it.”

Second-most revered person in the land, huh?

They would never have said such a thing at the palace. Jinshi was the Imperial younger brother, and the second-most revered person in the land was the Emperor’s son, the current heir apparent.

Jinshi smiled, but only with his lips. “My land does not permit private vendettas.”

“Yes, but surely it’s important to nip bad buds before they grow? Besides, at this moment, it would be simple to separate this man’s head from his shoulders at a word from you. We called you to this hunt so that we could deliver this scoundrel into your hands!”

Tianyu’s father was simply bearing all of this.

Hang in there just a little longer, Maomao thought. She herself had been chased by bandits and nearly murdered, so she understood very well the terror, the feeling that one’s heart might shatter or a hole open in one’s stomach from the tension.

“Ha ha ha. I see—so it’s not only the children and grandchildren, but all the prior generations who are criminals.” Jinshi walked over to them, reaching into his robes as he did so. Behind him came the smiling Hulan and his usual bodyguard, as well as a few other young people who looked distinctly uncomfortable—Maomao took them to be other members of the named clans.

Jinshi walked past Tianyu’s father, walked past the muttering crowd of young people, and stopped in front of Maomao. Then, from his robes, he took out a jade tablet identical to the one she was holding.

“Wh-What’s that?!” exclaimed the young men, their faces going tight.

Jinshi took the half of the tablet that Maomao held and put it together with the half he was holding—as she had expected, they fit perfectly.

“As you can see, I was already aware of this criminal’s existence. Do you know why I did not see fit to punish him?” His gaze pierced the impetuous young men who had taken it upon themselves to do this thing. “His ancestor was already punished. Surely there is no need for the punishment to go down to the children and the grandchildren.”

Still holding the two halves of the tablet together, Jinshi showed it to the young men. “If you still insist on tracing his guilt back up the family tree, then know that I, too, am guilty.” He put his hand to his chest theatrically. “This criminal of yours was once a member of the Imperial family. He shares the same ancestor as me!” There was disdain in his eyes as he made this declaration.

The young men had wanted the death penalty; they might even have believed that this would make Jinshi happy.

It only showed how little they knew of Jinshi as a man.

I suppose few people do.

Jinshi’s personality was not as beautiful as his appearance might suggest—indeed, he could be quite melancholy. He was serious-minded and a hard worker, and precisely because he was so attractive himself, he did not judge others by their appearances.

He placed a hand on the shoulder of Tianyu’s father, who had remained with head bowed throughout the entire conversation. “My subordinates overstepped themselves. You have my humblest apologies.”

“You owe me no apology, sir,” the other man said. “I ask for nothing and wish for nothing. If my family is a hindrance to you, I am the last of my line. Please, be rid of me so that I might not stand in the way of your plans.” Tianyu’s father still did not raise his head. Jinshi was of such vaunted status that he didn’t dare.

“Now, now, we can’t have that,” Tianyu finally broke in. “Come on, Dad. It hurts to hear you say that stuff. Don’t talk like that. Come on.”

Tianyu’s father shot him a look that said Keep your mouth shut, idiot.

“Moon Prince, are you going to punish me?” Tianyu asked.

“Have I a reason to?” Jinshi replied.

“No. I mean, I don’t think so.” Tianyu stood boldly. “So can I ask you to guarantee you’ll safeguard my and my father’s lives?”

“You need not even ask.”

“Also, would it be possible to do something about our burning house? The entire forest will catch at this rate.”

Jinshi glanced an instruction at Hulan, who grinned and turned to the young men. “All right, let’s get that fire put out. You started this blaze, you can extinguish it.”

What’s he blathering about?

Maomao snorted and went over to Tianyu’s father. Tianyu might be a doctor, but he had no interest in anything other than surgery. If anyone was going to check the man over, it would have to be her.

Tianyu’s father was obviously relieved, but he still wasn’t exactly relaxed. “Shall we move to the tent?” Maomao asked.

“Yes, let’s,” Jinshi replied. With his approval, she got ready to go. But before that...

“Ugh! It turns out there were no poison birds after all!” Maomao felt like a guttering candle.

“Oh, hey, Niangniang?”

“What?” she snapped. She didn’t have the energy to pretend to play nice with Tianyu right now.

“I don’t know about any poison birds, but we’ve got this book at home. It’s supposed to be by this guy named Kada?”

“What?!”

Maomao looked at the house—which was on fire.

“You’re into that kind of thing, right, Niangniang?”

Maomao grabbed a bucket from one of the young men hauling water. “H-Hey, what are you doing?!” he cried.

“Give me that!” Maomao emptied the bucket over her head and made a beeline for the burning house.

Jinshi grabbed her. “What’s wrong with you?!”

“Let me go, please. There’s a treasure in there—a priceless treasure!”

“Give it up! It must be ash by now.”

Maomao, sopping wet and dripping snot, reached vainly toward the burning house.

“Isn’t that Grand Commandant Kan’s daughter?” she heard someone ask.

“Blood will out, I guess,” someone else said.

She didn’t even have the heart to deny it.