There was a crash. The porridge of boiled potatoes and grains went flying, along with the tea and the crushed fruits. Maomao, her clothes soaked in porridge, looked up at the person in front of her.
"You would dare serve this tripe to Lady Lihua? Make it again, and do it right this time!" A heavily made-up young woman was glaring at Maomao. One of Consort Lihua's ladies-in-waiting.
Ugh, what a pain. Maomao sighed and started gathering the dishes and cleaning up the spilled food.
She was in the Crystal Pavilion, Lady Lihua's residence. Unfriendly gazes surrounded her. Mocking looks, scornful eyes, and downright hostile expressions. For a servant of Consort Gyokuyou like Maomao, this was truly enemy territory, a bed of nails.
His Majesty had come to Gyokuyou's chambers the night before. Maomao had tasted the food for poison, as she always did, and had been about to leave the room when the Emperor himself had spoken to her: "I have a request for the apothecary of whom I've heard so much."
Wonder what exactly he's heard.
The Emperor was a robust man and handsome, only in his mid-thirties. And he was the absolute ruler of this nation—no wonder he dazzled the women of the rear palace. Maomao was one of the few exceptions. Approximately the only thing she thought of the Emperor was: "That's a really long beard. I wonder what it feels like to touch."
Now she asked, "What might that be, Your Majesty?" with a deferential bow of the head. She knew that she was insignificant before the Emperor, that a breath from His Majesty could blow away her life, and she wanted to get out of the room before she accidentally breached etiquette somehow.
"Consort Lihua is feeling unwell. Perhaps you could look after her for a while."
Well, there it was. And as Maomao wanted her head and her shoulders to maintain close relations for a long time to come, the only possible answer was, "Of course, sire."
By look after her, Maomao understood His Majesty to mean make her better. The Emperor no longer favored Consort Lihua with his visits, but perhaps some vestige of his affection remained—or perhaps he simply knew he couldn't neglect the daughter of a powerful man. It made no difference. If Maomao didn't help her, she couldn't expect to hold onto her head for very long. In a manner of speaking, she and Lihua would share the same fate.
The fact that the Emperor had asked this of a young girl like Maomao meant either that he knew perfectly well that the doctor of the rear palace could not be relied upon, or that he didn't care if either or both of them died. In either case, it was a reckless request to make. The more time Maomao spent with these people who ruled in the Imperial Palace—who lived "above the clouds," as the traditional expression went—the more she found herself thinking how much trouble their every command and desire caused.
Still, did he really have to ask me right in front of his other consort?
She almost marveled at a man who could make a request like that of her, then eat a luxurious meal and be intimate with Consort Gyokuyou immediately afterwards. Maybe that was just an emperor for you.
When Maomao began to "look after" Consort Lihua, the first thing she turned her eye to was improving the woman's diet. The poisonous face powder had been banished from use in the rear palace on Jinshi's command, and thorough punishment appointed for the merchants who had brought it in in the first place. It would not be possible to get more of the stuff from here on out.
In which case, the priority had to be expunging the remaining toxins from Lihua's body. Her current meals were based on bland congee, but it was frequently topped with things like deep-fried fish, broiled pork, red-and-white bean buns, and other rich foods like shark fin or crab. Nutritious, true enough, but too heavy for the stomach of a convalescent.
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The Apothecary Diaries
Historical FictionMaomao, a young girl who works as an apothecary in the red-light district, is kidnapped and sold to the Imperial Palace as a servant. However, she still retains her curious and eccentric personality and plans to work there until her years of servitu...