The Apothecary Diaries - Volume 14 - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: The Road Home

And so, a packed day ended.

“Why am I here, again?” Dr. Li asked. He’d tended to Tianyu’s father and then spent the rest of the time waiting around. At least he’d gotten to do something. As for the young men who had deemed it a good deed to murder an innocent huntsman, they would have some self-reflection to do. Given that they had bumped heads with the Imperial younger brother himself, it would probably be a while before they could hope to rise through the ranks. Mister Love Letters (or whoever he was) might finally find himself properly disinherited.

The hunt ended with all the other participants still somewhat mystified as to what had happened. They might have felt all dressed up with nowhere to go, but Maomao was supremely satisfied.

I wonder what could be in that book!

Her heart was pounding so hard that she wasn’t thinking clearly. So when Suiren said, “Maomao, you’re in this carriage on the way home,” Maomao simply replied, “Yes, ma’am,” and got in.

Silence immediately reigned.

A gorgeous nobleman sat in the vehicle—and no one else. It appeared to be just the two of them. They both went quiet without quite meaning to.

That old lady set us up!

In the past, Maomao might have felt the more awkward of the two of them, but right now Jinshi looked considerably more ill at ease than she did. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Lady Suiren instructed me to board this carriage,” Maomao said, sitting down. This was a conveyance for an Imperial family member, meaning the comfort level was night and day compared to the vehicle she’d been in on the way here.

“Feel free to help yourself, Maomao,” Suiren said, handing in a drink: It was fruit juice with pieces of ice floating in it. “There’s more if you want it,” she advised, and then left the carriage.

She’s thought of everything. Maomao let her shoulders slump a bit in a rather unladylike manner.

“You’re certainly making yourself at home,” Jinshi remarked.

“Pardon me, sir,” Maomao said, straightening up.

“No, it’s fine. You can relax.”

Jinshi gave the glass of fruit juice a shake, rattling the ice inside, then set it on the built-in table. The table even had a depression for the glasses, so that they wouldn’t spill while the carriage was moving. Maybe this whole thing had been custom-made.

“You were right, Master Jinshi. Those ‘hunters’ were up to no good.”

“Mm. I can’t imagine why they thought I would be pleased with such a thing.” He heaved a sigh.

“I think they just don’t have any idea what would please you.” Maomao sipped her juice. “You spent years and years pretending to be a eunuch, never showing yourself in public, right? And even once you stopped pretending, you were immediately buried under a mountain of work, largely scorned banquets and feasts—and if someone did succeed in engaging you in conversation, you just gave them that slimy smile to put them off, so they never got a chance to actually know you.”

“Slimy?” Jinshi pursed his lips.

“Then you spent an entire year in the western capital. It’s no surprise if they don’t know who you are. I’m sure they heard of your suppression of the Shi clan and decided you must be vicious like a hawk.”

The young men they had met today didn’t know this Jinshi, the one who could pout like a child.

Although I do wonder who gave them the idea that Jinshi would appreciate an extrajudicial murder.

She was definitely curious about where that story had come from.

“On that subject, Master Jinshi, there’s something I’m wondering about.”

“Yes? What?”

“Are these little skirmishes within the military really what you could call factional strife?”

“I’ve had the same question.”

Those young men earlier hadn’t been thinking very deeply; they had been following their emotions. This hadn’t been about ideals or convictions.

“I think we need to investigate where those guys heard about Kada’s descendants.”

“I think you’re right. I’ll have my most capable subordinate attend to it.”

Jinshi lapped at his juice. It wasn’t the most refined way to behave, but Maomao wasn’t exactly going out of her way to be ladylike either. She could at least kick back and do what she wanted when that old biddy wasn’t around.

“I see you went racing ahead again,” Jinshi said. “You couldn’t wait until I got back?”

He was referring to when she had made a beeline for Tianyu’s father’s burning house.

“You think that was too far ahead, sir? Under the circumstances, I assumed we should try to get there as fast as possible. Lady Suiren said it was okay, and with Master Basen to guard me, I’d have been more worried about the other guys.”

Basen was a member of a named clan, and he was tremendously strong. Even other named clanspeople wouldn’t be able to make any false moves with him around. Most importantly, he intimidated Mister Love Letters.

“Yes, I’m aware of that, but you need to watch out for yourself, Maomao. This past year has somewhat diminished the menace of the freak strategist.”

Yeah? So what?

“I’ve got no intention of hiding behind that old fart’s ‘menace,’” Maomao replied, with a look of profound distaste. Still, these days she was willing to make use of him when it proved convenient, so perhaps she had softened in her own way. “Knowing that freak, he’ll have them all whipped into shape again soon enough. Besides, if what happened today becomes public knowledge, I should think it would put an end to the overenthusiastic squabbling of these little soldiers.”

These young men might prove the perfect example, in her opinion.

“Don’t you think you should make yourself a little more visible to the people around you, Master Jinshi?” she asked.

“If it’s going to get me involved with every hotheaded troublemaker at court, I’d rather not.”

Maomao observed that Jinshi’s cup was empty, and poured him more juice.

“There aren’t that many people to whom I need to...be visible,” he said.

“Hmmm.”

Jinshi gazed at Maomao, then gently reached toward her. He looked like he was going to take her hand, but he stopped just short.

“You’re not going to touch me, sir?” Maomao asked, and he looked awkward.

“I want to. More than that. I want to hold you close, as tight as I can.”

“And yet you don’t,” she said teasingly. This from the man who had never hesitated to put his hands on her no matter how many times she told him not to.

Then again, lately, he’d almost seemed to avoid her, if anything. Even when he’d been hauling her around like a sack of rice earlier that day.

“I’m holding back. Otherwise I fear I won’t be able to control myself.”

“You won’t, sir?”

“No. It won’t stop at holding you close—I’d bite you, I’d lick you.”

“A chill just went down my spine...” Maomao gave him a mild glower. She had goosebumps.

That was the pronouncement of a straight-up freak—even if he could probably get away with it on account of being so handsome. If Lahan were to say something like that, she wouldn’t stop at crushing his toes—she’d stab them through with a spear.

“Now, that is rude,” Jinshi said, but he didn’t look angry, just a bit resentful.

“Then, since I’m already being rude,” Maomao said, suddenly finding she wanted to tweak him a bit. She drank down her juice, but then she ran a finger along the condensation on the glass. She took her damp finger and placed it on Jinshi’s wrist.

He choked and froze. She felt his wrist twitch. She let her finger trace a path from his wrist down the back of his hand until it slid along his middle finger, leaving a gleaming trail like a snail had passed by. Finally she pressed lightly on the nail of his middle finger and pulled away.

“You...” he grumbled.

“Yes, sir?” she asked innocently.

“You may think apothecary is your vocation, but I think you’d make a better courtesan than one might suspect.”

Maomao pursed her lips. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

Jinshi, meanwhile, was anxiously looking anywhere but at her.

Maybe it was a little too soon for that sort of tease, she thought.

The carriage had only just set off, and they would have to endure the awkward atmosphere all the way back to the capital.