The Apothecary Diaries - Volume 15 - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Anxiety

Maomao and Jinshi left the room in confusion.

"What in the world happened?" Basen asked them the instant they were out.

"I'm not quite sure, but he chased us out," said Jinshi, looking shellshocked. Nothing had been resolved yet. He didn't know exactly what the Emperor wanted to do, or what he would leave in his written will.

It looked to him as if His Majesty had recognized something, had come to a sort of conclusion on his own. Jinshi didn't know the exact truth of it, so he could only stare vacantly, oppressed by anxiety.

"His Majesty said he'll do the surgery," Maomao offered in Jinshi's stead.

"You mean it?" Gaoshun asked, looking deeply relieved.

"Yes, sir. It seems he still has something to discuss with Lady Ah- Duo; she's still in there."

"I see." Gaoshun gazed at the door. He, too, was the Emperor's milk sibling. Perhaps he felt left out.

"That being the case, may I leave?" Maomao asked. She was eager to have her dinner, get to bed, and get ready for the next day. Missing out on food and sleep would be a surefire way to undermine the quality of her work.

"Good idea. Let's go ahead and get out of here."

With Jinshi's agreement, Maomao and the others left, seen off by Gaoshun and Ba-something-or-other, who stayed behind to continue to guard the Emperor and Ah-Duo.

"Right, right! Miss Chue will see you safely home! Perhaps you'd like to stop for dinner somewhere on the way?" Chue chirped.

"I like that idea," Maomao said.

They were both getting into it, but they were interrupted by Jinshi, who said, "Oh!"

"Is something the matter, sir?" asked Maomao.

"Oh, ahem, no. Er, I just ... " He hardly seemed to know what to say.

"Hey!" Basen exclaimed, his vigor directed at Maomao and Chue.

"Yes?"

"It's already late. A couple of women shouldn't be out dining by themselves!"

"If that's how you feel, dear little-brother-in-law, come with us!" Chue drawled. "Drop off the Moon Prince first, and then there'll be no problem, right?"

"Hrm. Well, when you put it that way ... " Basen started. It was clear from Jinshi's expression that that was not the issue he had been concerned about, but he couldn't say anything. "If you're going to drag me out to eat ... I think we should get noodles."

"Noodles? Good idea! I know a great toshomen place!" said Chue.

"Ooh, toshomen!" Basen was unexpectedly eager. At least it sounded like he had actually eaten out before at some point in his life.

But he still can't read a room. Does he really expect to wed Lady Lishu like this? Maomao thought irreverently.

Jinshi, meanwhile, looked anguished. A member of the Imperial family could hardly go out for noodles in the middle of the night-so he couldn't exactly tell them he wanted to come along.

I'm sure the noodles he gets with his meals are way classier, Maomao thought. She was sure that when he got back to his pavilion the old lady, Suiren, would have a hot dinner waiting for him. The ingredients and the chefs were both top class, and it would have to taste better than some random noodle joint in town.

But that's that and this is this.

Going out for noodles was special, so Maomao could understand Jinshi's envy. She remembered how delicious the meat skewers seemed to have tasted to him when he'd been out on the town in disguise. Maybe a certain "commoner" flavor was to his liking.

She was starting to feel genuinely bad for him; she decided she had better throw him a lifeline. "Umm, you know, I'm pretty tired. Maybe I'll pass on eating out," she said.

"Aww, really?" Chue asked theatrically. Unlike Basen, she knew perfectly well what was going on. "What do you want to eat, then?"

Maomao paused. This is where I'd like to bring up En'en's sweet and sour pork, she thought, but she said, "I think I'm in the mood for the abalone congee that Lady Suiren made for us once."

"O-Oh, yes!" Jinshi said, his spirits suddenly revived. "I'm sure Suiren would be more than willing to make you congee any time!"

'Yes, I'm sure."

"Shall we eat at my pavilion before you go, then?"

"No, sir. It's already so late. If I could simply get some to take back with me ... "

Maomao was angling for take-out.

"I see ... No noodles ... " It didn't look like Basen was eager to go out to eat with Chue by himself.

"Dear Little Brother. I have a riddle for you: If you hurried along now and told Lady Suiren to get the congee ready, what would happen?"

"It would save time?"

Maomao wouldn't have to wait as long for her food.

"That's right! So kindly skedaddle."

"Er ... but who will guard the Moon Prince?"

"You're not his only bodyguard, right? It'll be fine. Get going!"

Basen shuffled off. Once he was out of sight, Chue turned to Jinshi and Maomao with a smile. "I'm terribly sorry, Moon Prince, but Miss Chue simply must go powder her nose. May I go ahead of you? Ah, yes! I don't think there's anything especially dangerous in this palace, so as long as you're in here, you should be okay without a guard."

"Y-Yes, I suppose so. Go ahead and use the bathroom."

"Oh, no, sir," Chue drawled. "It's not the bathroom. It's powdering my nose." She winked broadly and then ran off. It was all too obvious that this was a pretext to leave Jinshi and Maomao alone.

Jinshi's steps had slowed to the pace of a turtle, so Maomao matched him.

"Master Jinshi," she said.

"Yes?"

"Are you anxious?" She peered at him.

"What else could I possibly be?"

"What will you do if it turns out His Majesty's will names you as his successor?"

"What else? I suppose ... I can't exactly shrug it off, can I?"

"Indeed, sir. It might cause considerable discord in the nation, but I think everyone believes you'd be able to handle it somehow."

With Jinshi in charge of national affairs, so long as the world situation didn't get worse, the country seemed likely to enjoy an era of peace. It would be bought, however, with the life of a young man- neither god nor immortal-who would devote himself diligently and without rest to maintaining it.

"Would you be all right without me by your side at that time?"

After a second Jinshi said, "Don't put it that way. You make me want to give you an order."

In other words, Jinshi had no intention of putting Maomao in the difficult position of being a consort. This was the man who had once said he would make her his wife-but his consort, it seemed, he would not make her.

"Please don't burn your flank again. I want to see if I can do a skin graft before you do that."

"Skin graft?"

"You write it with the characters 'to plant skin.' There's a record of a time when a master who was burned had his slave's skin 'pasted' on to him."

Jinshi looked dismayed. "Does that work?"

"The record says it failed."

"It sounds like it would!"

"Yes, sir. But I wonder if the graft might adhere if it was the person's own skin. I would cut some flesh from the rump and-"

Jinshi reflexively put his hands on his behind.

"Sir! I would never take it by force."

"Please don't ever do that to me."

"Yes, sir."

Jinshi took his hands off his buttocks, although he still looked suspicious.

You'd think I was on the hunt for his ass!

Other parts would work just as well. She'd just figured the rear was wide enough that it would be easy to harvest from.

"Turnabout is fair play," Jinshi said. "Are you nervous, Maomao?"

"I should say so, sir."

"You don't look it."

True, she was probably less worried than Jinshi.

"My current goal is the success of the surgery. My greatest concern was that His Majesty wouldn't agree to the procedure, but now that he's confirmed that he will, everything is all right."

"What comes after that doesn't bother you?"

"I have a special talent for forgetting troublesome things when I need to."

"Yes, I had an inkling ... " In any case, Jinshi seemed to accept the situation. "I take it from your attitude that you have faith the surgery is going to succeed. You did say it had a ninety percent chance of working, but aren't you afraid of the other ten percent?"

"The surgery itself will succeed. I know it will, because Dr. Liu will be holding the scalpel, and my father Luomen will be assisting him. They've also cultivated a number of other physicians who are very skilled with a knife."

She didn't love that Tianyu was one of them, but there was nothing she could do about that.

As for the anesthetic that would be administered before the procedure, they would use a combination of needles and a drug with minimal toxicity.

Maomao's job would be to track His Majesty's progress after the surgery was over, so that worrisome ten percent would depend on what she and her colleagues did. But dissenting voices had been silenced, the patient's consent had been obtained, and as far as she was concerned, everything was as good as done.

"You're quite the optimist," Jinshi said.

"It's not optimism. I've mixed up enough poison for all the physicians involved to take some should anything happen."

Jinshi didn't say anything.

"We'll all be able to shuffle off this mortal coil with no pain and no sufferowowowow!"

Jinshi had taken a firm grip on Maomao's cheek.

"You are not to use that concoction under any circumstances."

There are no absolutes here, I'm afraid.

Maomao decided, however, to refrain from saying anything that would further upset Jinshi. He was already tired from his encounter with the Emperor.

Even at a turtle's pace, they eventually reached the exit. Jinshi looked disappointed to be there. But both he and Maomao had tomorrow to deal with. If they were to make it to what came after that, everything would have to be prepared and ready.

"Shall we go?" Maomao asked.

"Yes," Jinshi replied, and they pushed open the heavy door of the palace.