The Apothecary Diaries Book 10

The Past and the Possible

The beautiful room was suffused with the rich aroma of tea. The tea, which was served (ploop-ploop-ploop) out of a foreign-style teapot, was red as a rose. This was dark tea in the most literal sense, Maomao observed as she savored the smell. People sometimes took this kind of tea with sugar or cow's milk, but Maomao declined them—she couldn't abide sweetened tea.

"So, what's your take on the matter?" asked Jinshi, who managed to look elegant just stirring some milk into his drink with a spoon. That was the right way to do it to avoid making himself sick to his stomach. Suiren had heated the milk to make it easier on his digestive system.

Maomao sat across the table from him and sipped her own tea. Are we sure about this? Is this the right setting for this conversation?

Taomei had led Maomao directly to Jinshi's chambers, but no matter how you sliced it, she found herself at a tea party. Suiren didn't appear to object, meaning they had her tacit approval, but Maomao couldn't help wondering.

"Here, for you," the old lady had said with a smile as she pushed tea toward Maomao. She'd felt she couldn't refuse, so decided to enjoy just a sip while she spoke with Jinshi.

"I must warn you, sir, my opinion—"

"—is merely speculation, and might not fully accord with the true facts. Yes, yes. I assure you, I'll take an objective view of things and not accept all you say uncritically. Does that make you feel better?"

"Yes, sir," Maomao said. It was all she could say. Jinshi glanced at Taomei. Was his diligently official tone in deference to her presence? "Where would you like me to start?"

"With the Windreader tribe. Put it all together for me, even the things I've heard before."

"Very well, sir." That at least made things easier—she would be spared the effort of trying not to repeat herself. "We first heard about the Windreaders from Nianzhen, the former serf at the farming village we visited. He said the tribe had been destroyed in an attack meant to gain his people wives and slaves. The Windreader tribe was responsible for a ritual of some kind and, according to Nianzhen, was under the protection of the Yi clan."

This much she had already told Jinshi, so he continued to sip his tea and munch on a snack as he listened. The snack, incidentally, was a foreign-style cookie well matched to the exotic tea.

"We can speculate that whatever the ritual was, it somehow helped stop plagues of insects before they happened. It might have been a practice called fall plowing, which involves turning over the earth to not only improve soil quality, but destroy the eggs of pest insects. I think Lahan's older brother would know the specifics."

"You mean Lahan's Brother. The La clan is full of highly accomplished individuals, isn't it? To think, they have two virtually professional farmers."

So it had come to this: even Jinshi called him Lahan's Brother.

I get the impression Lahan's Brother learned farming under duress, though.

With his distinctive diligent streak, she knew he must have dedicated himself to learning the ways of the soil. If he'd been born into an ordinary family, he might have become a more ordinary overachiever.

"Where is Lahan's Brother?" Jinshi asked.

"We received a message that he should be returning to the western capital tomorrow. He's mostly finished teaching the villagers how to farm," Basen reported.

Oh, yeah. We left him there, didn't we? Maomao thought. She wondered if he'd been successful in teaching them how to cultivate potatoes.

"When he gets back, tell him to come talk to me."