The Apothecary Diaries Book 7

Covert Ops

The damp, stagnant air was disgusting, the humidity making his hair cling to his neck. Jinshi sat in his office and regarded the pile of paperwork with a mounting desire to flee.

There was little more depressing than doing administrative busywork during the hot, rainy season. Jinshi brushed the hair off the back of his neck, sat up in his chair, and flipped some pages. The characters were running a little; maybe someone had handled the paper with sweaty hands. He heaved a sigh and picked up the cup of tea, served cold, sitting on the corner of his desk.

He let the tea ripple in the cup. When had it appeared there? He had the sense it had been left when he'd gone to the bathroom a few minutes ago.

"Who put this tea here?" he asked the official in the office with him. Gaoshun had gone back to the Emperor and was no longer there. Basen would return when he had fully recovered. In the meantime, Jinshi was making use of a bureaucrat with a particular gift for paperwork.

"A court lady brought it while you were away from your seat, sir."

Jinshi was only human; nature sometimes called even on him. But for someone, a lady of the outer court no less, to wait for that exact moment to bring him tea, that was strange. A guard was posted at the door to his office at all times—except when Jinshi left the office, such as to use the toilet. Then the guard accompanied him. Perhaps the woman had known.

Jinshi's office was typically off-limits to court ladies. Back when he had been pretending to be a eunuch, there had been actual fights among the women about who got to bring him his tea. Even after he had left the rear palace, women would sometimes sneak bits of their hair or nails into his snacks as a love charm, or simply charge in when he was alone and tear off their clothes. Nothing but trouble. The bureaucrat who had been assigned to him might have been good at paperwork, but it seemed he wasn't acquainted with the specifics of Jinshi's situation.

Jinshi opened a drawer of his desk and took out an item wrapped in cloth. With measured movements, he unwrapped it to reveal a silver spoon, which he held with the cloth and used to stir the tea.

The shining silver promptly turned cloudy. Jinshi was at least grateful his assailant had used a nice, obvious poison.

The blood drained from the official's face as he watched. In fact, Jinshi wanted him to see this, in order to judge his reaction. At least the man understood what the besmirched silver signified. It seemed he really hadn't known about the poison.

Jinshi handed the spoon to the guard at the door, who didn't so much as blink as he rewrapped the utensil and placed it in the folds of his robes. His relief would come soon. He would probably hand the spoon on after that.

"Can you describe the woman who brought this?" Jinshi asked the bureaucrat.

"W-Well," the man began. He was all out of sorts and failed to give much useful information. She was "young." Not very tall. At least it proved one thing: that the man was dedicated to his job. He'd been so focused on his paperwork that he hadn't taken special note of the woman who had walked in. Jinshi observed, incidentally, that there was a cup of tea on the bureaucrat's desk as well—half empty.

Sigh. Very well. Jinshi took out another spoon and stirred the official's tea, but this spoon showed no reaction. "You're safe," he said. An unmistakable look of relief passed over the man's face before he shrank back, obviously chagrined.

Jinshi wasn't in any mood to reprimand him. He just wanted someone to take care of the paperwork. This man seemed good enough at his task, and on top of that, he never looked at Jinshi like he had any funny business in mind. All Jinshi needed was for the guy to do a decent job until Basen got back.