The Apothecary Diaries - Volume 14 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue: Those Who Sow Malice

“Hm hm hmmm!” Chue hummed as she trotted through the palace.

It wasn’t that she had no job to do. It was simply that, as she no longer had the steady work of being the Moon Prince’s lady-in-waiting, her days somehow felt as full of free time as they did full of business.

Chue’s current job was to pinpoint the source of the dark rumors going around court.

There was some kind of plot afoot.

Although people probably assumed that it was some grand scheme, the biggest blazes could start from the smallest sparks. In this world, a great business could be sunk because of some silly story spread by children. The more nervous people became, the more easily they could be misled by such wild tales. She’d seen it happen many times in the western capital.

Chue liked to see people cornered. No, liked wasn’t quite the right word. The more frenzied people around her became, the more she could watch them with cool detachment. It was a boon, she thought, to be impervious to such chaos. It really helped with getting by.

Now cool, impervious Chue was heading for the soldiers’ training ground. She almost skipped along, letting her right hand dangle at her side, as she looked for one person in particular.

She saw the soldiers resting.

“Here, have some water.”

“Mm.”

The person who held out a bamboo canteen to them was awfully slim for a military man. He looked weak; a hanger-on if she’d ever seen one. He was attending to the other soldiers.

Weak creatures had their own way of surviving, as Chue knew very well. She herself was the weakest of the weak.

But even the weak could survive.

Sometimes, they survived because they were weak.

The proverb held that the strong inevitably ate the weak—but that only meant that carnivores needed the pliant herbivores to live. The herbivores, on the other hand, could go on perfectly well without the carnivores.

When the sycophant had finished giving out water and provisions, he moved off to somewhere else.

She’d heard from the soldiers that the water the man prepared was cold and delicious, and the snacks were perfect for a break between intense bouts of training. Sure, sometimes there was someone who didn’t like the food and gave the man a whack, but nobody beat him too severely. Without their weak little creature, training would only be harder—not just for the one who attacked him, but for everyone, so there was strong social pressure to leave him alone.

Chue followed the weak thing.

He went to a well some distance from the training area. It was fed not by a river, but by underground water, and it was colder and clearer than other wells. It was just far enough away that few other soldiers bothered to use it.

“May I have a moment, my dear Ujun?” Chue drawled.

“How can I help you? Oh, and you can call me Jun. May I work while we talk?”

“Oh yes, that’s just fine.”

As his name implied, Ujun was a member of the U clan, but the clan leader had forbidden him from using the character U. Everyone simply called him Jun.

His father had been the clan’s leader, but had fallen from grace. His younger sister had been brought up in luxury as a princess of the U clan, but she’d messed with the lady of the main family line, and now she was effectively under house arrest.

That left just Ujun, and he’d been spared only in order to serve as an example to others. He was a member of one of the named clans, but a failure. He was a failure, but a member of one of the named clans. He was like the bat—proverbially said to be neither bird nor beast.

Ujun had been appointed a bureaucrat by his father’s influence, and now that his father had no influence, Ujun had been made a soldier. It was almost unthinkable, under normal circumstances, but one could tell how his superiors felt from the way he’d been treated. They seemed to hope he would simply cry uncle and give up.

But Ujun did not give up.

He was simply too weak to become anyone’s real enemy. The fact that he wasn’t a threat put would-be aggressors at ease. They might ridicule him, but it was a kind of trust.

So no one thought—no one would imagine—that in the lightly salted jerky and chilled water was poison.

Which, of course, there wasn’t.

His poison was of a different kind.

“Jun, are you familiar with a man named Wang Fang?” Chue asked.

“Yes, I know him. A soldier who liked his jerky. He was handsome—I remember how often I saw him chatting with ladies-in-waiting.”

“Are you aware that he’s dead?” Still Chue kept her words drawled.

“Yes—the story’s very well-known. I gather he was hanged in Grand Commandant Kan’s office. I must say I was shocked.” Ujun continued to fill the canteen with well water as he spoke.

“What kind of chats did you have with Wang Fang?”

“Inconsequential ones. I simply told him that I ended up where I am because of what my father and my younger sister did.”

“So you talked to him about U family business.”

“Yes. I’m not a man with any hobbies to speak of. I don’t have many topics of conversation besides my family and my work.” A great big grin spread across Ujun’s face. Chue grinned right back at him.

She was sure now: She and he were the same kind of creature.

“In that case, have you ever seen the dragon statue that was at the U family’s house?”

“Dragon statue? You know, I have a vague memory of something like that. I think I caught glimpses of the clan leader looking at it from time to time.”

“And did you happen to share those recollections with Wang Fang?”

“That’s also very vague.”

Ujun was a weak creature. Stronger ones would sometimes put creatures like him to the test by demanding an amusing story. One always had to be ready with a supply of intriguing rumors.

Weak, a flatterer, always keeping his ears open. He was like a rabbit, this man.

“Oddly enough, all the young soldiers who have been causing such a commotion lately are people you spend a lot of time looking after.”

“You know how it is. Young blood runs so hot,” he said—as if he weren’t young himself.

“It does, it does. Young people’s passions are always looking for an outlet. Sometimes it’s an appetite for food, sometimes for women... Sometimes for power.”

“I can’t say it makes any sense to me.”

Ujun remained resolute in acting as if it had nothing to do with him.

“Well, the other day it finally got out of hand. Someone invited that unreachable figure: handsome but impregnable, impossible to tell what he’s thinking—they invited the Imperial younger brother on a hunt.”

“I heard. And—I could hardly believe it—I heard they attacked an innocent huntsman and tried to execute him as a criminal. They thought it was what the Moon Prince wanted.”

“I just don’t understand what they were thinking. Why put a hunter to death?” Chue mused.

Ujun continued drawing water.

“It seems this hunter was a descendant of someone who had harmed the Imperial family, and they thought the Moon Prince would be pleased if they punished him,” Chue went on. “My goodness, can you imagine trying to punish someone for a crime committed generations ago? Of course the Moon Prince never wanted that. So I wonder, who could have put such an idea in their heads?”

“Too many people just charge ahead once they get a notion in their minds.”

“Too true, too true.” Chue cocked her head and watched Ujun draw the water. “It was you who incited them, wasn’t it?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Ujun put a lid on the bamboo canteen.

“Oh, just a rumor. A rumor that says there’s a family out there that once lured a member of the Imperial family to their death. It goes on to say that they’re filthy huntsmen now, and that the Moon Prince can’t forgive what they did. May I assume you were the source of that rumor, my dear Ujun?”

“That’s a very broad interpretation of what I said,” Ujun replied, though he didn’t deny that the story had come from him. “I simply overheard some pale-faced physicians talking about some taboo. Don’t you think it’s possible a rumor that was already circulating got mixed in with what I said?”

“In that case, do you know who told them exactly where to find this hunter?”

“I said nothing about a location. But a clan of criminals has every reason to fear the Imperial family. I may have suggested that if a hunter rebuffed a request from the court to use his hunting grounds, it would be somewhat suspicious.”

Chue had to admire Ujun’s commitment to pretending not to be involved.

She was sure that he had spread other rumors in other places as well. Just the words of a weakling. Thus this bat-like man, neither bird nor beast, had lit the smallest sparks within the military.

Who would ever believe that this weakest of all creatures was the source of the factional strife that had engulfed the army?

“Why did you spread those rumors?” Chue asked him.

“Oh, no real reason. But anyone who knew their own weakness ought to have understood—there are things that are appropriate to do, and things that are not.”

It was said with the slightest touch of malice.

Ujun didn’t specifically resent those in power or their politics. What he couldn’t stand were people puffed up with pride because they believed they were strong.

“Anyway, there are plenty of people who will do anything to get close to the Moon Prince, whether I whisper in their ear or not. For he’s so strong and beautiful and diligent.”

“You think he’s diligent?”

“Indeed. He would never have spent a whole year in the western capital just for the fun of it.”

This man, Chue thought, had a good pair of eyes.

“Besides His Majesty himself, there’s only one member of the Imperial family who is healthy, and of age, and highly competent—the Moon Prince. And yet, if anything were to happen to the Emperor at this moment, it’s the heir apparent who would assume the throne—though he’s far too young for it. Which, I suppose, would make his maternal relatives very happy.”

“Hence the rumors, eh?”

Spread mistrust and inflame ambition to control the actions of others. The soldiers had been dancing in this weakling’s palm, and they never even knew it.

“Did you say anything about the U clan as well?” Chue asked.

“Nothing specific. Only that the boy adopted by the main house was still so young and innocent.”

Chue felt a shiver run down her spine. The boy wasn’t a secret by any means; he’d even been introduced at the meeting of the named. Yet the leader of the U clan was old and sickly. If anything should happen to him, his position would be occupied by a child not even ten years old.

That was the point Ujun wanted to leave in people’s minds.

It was more than enough to explain why the “new faction” had gone after the U clan of late.

“You really do hate the U clan, don’t you?”

“I don’t hate them. I just think they were soft on my father, my sister, and me. How much must the family’s power be undercut before our leader chases us out?”

Ujun was twisted. Warped to the roots. There would be no going back for him.

“What if I told you that you might be punished even though you never laid a hand on that hunter? Rumors are as rumors do, but if they decide you incited the violence, you could still be considered a criminal.”

“Then at least I could finally stop being a soldier.”

“If you want to stop, can’t you just quit?”

“I don’t have the nerve to quit outright. Not me.”

Such cowardice was truly unbelievable.

“If they do punish me, do you think it would extend it to my father and sister?” Ujun asked.

“Eager not to put them to too much trouble?” Chue replied.

“No. I just thought that if I’m going to be kicked out of my family, it might be nice to have them come with me. All of us leaving the mansion together without a coin to our names.” Ujun grinned broadly as he spoke.

“Mmm... Miss Chue can see you’re like her, dear Ujun.”

They faced the same direction, as it were. Not like Hulan.

That made this easy.

“I happen to hate my family too, you know,” Chue said, smiling.

She hated the mother who had abandoned her.

She balked at the father who had been so busy chasing her mother that he hadn’t seen her.

She hated the half-brother who had failed because of his misplaced sense of justice.

She couldn’t have cared less about the half-brother and sister who knew nothing.

As for the younger half-brother her mother so doted on, she supposed she would see that he had an accident one of these days.

“Don’t misunderstand, please. I hate my father and my little sister. My mother and my half-sister, I rather like,” said Ujun.

“Well, well. So you like your half-sister.”

“I do. Lady Lishu...she’s rather like a rabbit. She knows her own weakness.” Ujun gave an innocent smile. “My father refused to acknowledge his weakness. That weakness was what caused him to fail in his business endeavors, which was why he ultimately had to be adopted by the main house even though he already had my mother. It was only the power of the U clan that enabled him to succeed in business. Then he got greedy. His stint as an official? He was simply playing at strength. Hence my mother managed the business, and when his wife at the main house passed away, he was able to make my mother his official wife. My mother was not a strong person, yet somehow she managed to oversee the business on her own. And then my father thought to add the burden of being a wife to her load.”

“Word on the street was that Uryuu was an inspired businessman, but that was all his wife’s doing, was it?”

“That’s right. And because my younger sister came to the main house when she was so small, she grew up without ever knowing that she was weak. Our father stacked the ranks of the servants with his own people, and shortly thereafter, our mother died. My sister was never more than the spare, yet she tormented the daughter of the main house. Truly, she knew neither herself nor her place.”

“Not that you did anything to stop it.”

“No—because I’m even weaker than my father.”

Just how self-abasing was this guy? It was getting to the point where it was almost inspiring.

“I’m like rootless grass, frail and feeble. It’s only fitting for me to dry up somewhere and wither away.”

“Hmmm.”

Chue considered.

“Something the matter?” Ujun asked.

“Not really. I just thought, what a waste it would be.”

“What would?”

“You, Ujun.”

He looked as if he couldn’t comprehend what she was saying.

“I wish you were about ten years younger, but that natural weakness is a priceless strength. It gives you a stubborn survivability that no one who goes around puffed up with their own power could have.”

“What exactly are you saying?”

“Would you like to be my successor?”

Ujun’s eyes widened at that.

Chue’s dominant arm was useless now. It would be faster to find Chue in the Mi clan’s ranks if you started from the bottom. If she wanted to raise her status, then producing usable arms and legs in a hurry would be the quickest way.

She had really wished she could have brought the little girl Xiaohong back from the western capital with her, but it had proven impossible. So how about a monster, instead? In the sense that he was very specialized in one particular skill.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Ujun said.

“Oh, it’s very simple,” she drawled. “You only need to keep spreading rumors, just like you’ve been doing. It’s just, now some of them will be things that the higher-ups want people to hear.”

“The higher-ups? You know I’m not precisely full of patriotism, don’t you?”

Ujun was a very direct man—but Chue could be just as blunt. “You don’t need to be patriotic or loyal as long as you get something you can’t get any other way. Chasing the family you despise from their home, penniless? I can do that before breakfast.”

“I must say, it’s an attractive offer.” Ujun was clearly intrigued, but Chue still had to strike the decisive blow.

“Is there something else you want?” she asked.

“Well... I wouldn’t want you to think I’m trying to wipe away my guilt. But what if I said I’d like to give Lady Lishu back the happiness that I’ve stolen from her? Would that be feasible?”

“But of course.” Chue laughed. “I’ll be giving you a lot of lessons from here on out. What a lucky guy, to be instructed by a married woman.”

“Actually, I prefer not to get involved with married women. Far too much baggage.”

So began a relationship of two scoundrels, teacher and student.