The Apothecary Diaries Book 7

The Truth Behind the Truth

For several days, there was no word from Jinshi. Maomao didn't believe her speculations were beyond questioning, but neither did she think it had been a mistake to contradict her old man. The case of the attempted poisoning of the shrine maiden carried on, however, and Aylin remained the prime suspect.

When questioned, Aylin confessed. Her motive (she claimed) was that she hadn't wanted to come to Li, but had been driven to it, and she bore a grudge against the shrine maiden, who was one of those responsible for her flight. After all, Aylin might have become shrine maiden herself—she had been raised for it—if the current occupant of the office hadn't remained for so many years.

To confess openly to an antipathy toward not only the shrine maiden but Li itself, she must have been truly desperate. All she'd have to do is add the Emperor's name to that list to make herself the most hated woman in Li. As it was, the story seemed to be that a shiftless foreigner had attacked the shrine maiden out of personal animus. That was simple enough. And convenient.

"Bullshit..." The word was out of her mouth before she could stop herself. Lahan was giving her the lowdown. This wasn't something that could be handled by messenger, so he'd summoned her on the pretext that he needed some kind of medicine.

"You're telling me," he replied as he downed some stomach medication. Maomao was somewhat surprised to realize, belatedly, that even he could have an upset stomach sometimes. "I think this is as fishy as you do. The consort told me herself how much she respects the shrine maiden. And now she hates her enough to try to kill her?" He shook his head and sighed deeply. "Speaking of which, how's that young woman? Yao or whatever it is?" As the one at least partly responsible for the entire affair, Lahan felt guilty about what had happened to her.

"She escaped with her life, but I think there may be aftereffects."

Yao had gotten much better under Luomen and En'en's ministrations. She wasn't completely recovered, though, not to mention she was distraught to learn she had ingested poison without realizing it. Maomao didn't blame her, as poisonous mushrooms could be surprisingly delicious, and she had been about to say so when her father had gently stopped her. He seemed to think it might not be as reassuring as she imagined.

Maomao visited the shrine maiden daily to see how she was doing, but to be quite blunt, she wasn't sure whether the woman was acting or not. If she was only pretending to be ill, then there was no need for Maomao to pelt her with questions about her condition—indeed, doing so could make her an accomplice in the framing of Aylin. So she'd had ample opportunity to talk to the shrine maiden, but no right to ask the questions she really wanted to.

The biggest issue was that everything Maomao had said was ultimately speculation, with no specific evidence to back it up. If it was true that the shrine maiden had come all this way simply to make Aylin take a fall, then what was the weakness Aylin was so intent on leveraging? Wasn't this entire endeavor too risky?

"I wonder what she has on the shrine maiden," Maomao mused.

"I was so sure they were good friends. Notwithstanding the consort's attempts to exploit that vulnerability. She never seemed like she had a grudge against the shrine maiden. She seemed to genuinely respect her."

Lahan leaned his elbows on the table and took a drink of water. "You need to take it with food or it'll upset your stomach," Maomao said, remembering. With some annoyance, Lahan fetched a snack from the shelf. A bun filled with potato paste. When Maomao asked if they didn't have any meat buns around, she was curtly informed that they did not. Boo.

"Anyway, if they were such good friends, I don't think we would be in this situation right now," Maomao said.

"I'm still convinced that Consort Aylin has deep respect for the shrine maiden. If the charges were spurious, why would she offer the testimony that she did?"