The Apothecary Diaries Book 3

Scary Stories

The long-promised new palace women finally arrived. Three of them came to the Jade Pavilion; everyone but Maomao seemed to know them already. Maomao observed the three newcomers and immediately thought: Hmm. Their names don't match their looks.

Maomao only really remembered things that interested her, so it was hard for her to start conversations with the new girls for a while. Well, she'd never been that much of a talker to begin with, so a simple "Hey, you!" would work. There was a bigger problem to address.

"Maomao, it's time for you to go back to your room," Yinghua said, her hands on her hips.

"I was told this was my room!" Maomao replied, all but clinging to the small storage shed that she'd been given in the Jade Pavilion garden. She'd stocked it full of tools and dried herbs—why, she'd finally finished moving them all from her former quarters.

"That was just a joke, obviously! Why would you take it so seriously?"

What kind of example would this set for the new girls? Yinghua wanted to know.

"It's no problem. Just let me stay here."

"You can't! Come on, the girls are looking at us!" They made quite a sight, Maomao clinging to a post in the shed and Yinghua trying to detach her from it. Chief lady-in-waiting Hongniang would never stand for two of her subordinates making such a display: Maomao and Yinghua both took a good smack.

Maomao moved back to her old room, in the end. When she saw the scads of equipment and ingredients in the storage shed, though, Hongniang seemed at last to accept the reality; she reported the matter to Consort Gyokuyou, and the consort, ever partial to interesting things, laughed and said Maomao could do as she wished with the shed. She had to sleep in her quarters, but otherwise she could do what she liked.

Maomao marveled at what a fine boss she had, but Yinghua, predictably, looked put out. Now she watched as Maomao gleefully began working in the little building. The tea party was over, and they had no more obligations until dinner. With the three new girls, the amount of work any one of them had to do had plummeted.

Sigh. This won't do.

That remark Yinghua had made—Maomao didn't really think it was any of her business, but she'd said it out of concern for Maomao, probably in hopes that she would start getting along with the newcomers sooner rather than later. At snack time today, she'd likewise tried hard to get Maomao and the new trio all involved in the conversation. Yinghua was thoughtful that way.

Maomao set down the polyporaceae mushroom she was holding and looked out of the storage shed at Yinghua. After a moment she said, "I'm sorry. I know I've been a bit self-absorbed."

"It's all the same to me," Yinghua said, her lips still pursed. Maomao watched her, not quite daring to come out from behind the wall. "I mean, you can do what you want. But..." Yinghua turned so the wall was between her and Maomao, and then she said, "I'm going to borrow you this evening, all right?" Then she grabbed Maomao's hand and grinned a rather intimidating grin.

Yipes.

"We're the only ones who are free tonight, Maomao! It's perfect timing!" She shook Maomao's hand vigorously, obviously really enthused.

She got me, Maomao thought, heaving a sigh and staring at the shrewd lady-in-waiting.

Maomao found herself brought to a dilapidated building in the rear palace's northern quarter. She'd worried that Hongniang wouldn't give them permission to go out so late at night, but she'd been surprisingly willing. "A person ought to be a part of that sort of thing from time to time," she'd said.