The Apothecary Diaries Book 11

Small Lin

Maomao surveyed the map, which was now covered in writing. "I think we filled in most of the places we're sure about." They'd divined the significance of about half of the pieces, and what they saw conveyed how much the town had changed.

"The Moon Prince has a visitor and can't join us. He's with Vice Minister Lu from the Board of Rites," Onsou informed them when he returned. His tardiness in getting back seemed to be explained by the thick book clutched under his arm—he must have gone to get it. Presumably it belonged to the freak strategist.

"Vice Minister?" Maomao wasn't especially well-versed in formal titles. She vaguely remembered this one having appeared on the court ladies' service exam, but she'd forgotten what exactly the position entailed. The name, she thought she recognized as one that Dr. You had mentioned.

"He's basically the second-most-important person on the Board of Rites," Chue whispered in Maomao's ear. "Any ceremonial functions the Moon Prince might perform here will need somebody important like that."

"I see." She didn't know what business might have brought Vice Minister Lu to visit Jinshi, but she figured they could manage this without him.

"Man, what's keeping that guy?" Lihaku asked, looking out past the mosquito netting at the setting sun. "It's been more than half an hour already. I knew I should've gone with him."

"You're not wrong. Small Lin is just a visitor. With the way he looks, I'll bet one of the guards stopped him," Chue said. She and Lihaku were known around the mansion, and nobody gave them any problems. But if Small Lin had left the premises...

"Maybe I should have gone instead," Maomao said—but she soon realized she was wrong.

"Fwaaah," yawned the monocled old fart, finally waking from his alcohol-induced slumber. "G'morning... Oh, I must still be dreaming. I can see Maomao." Onsou offered his torpid master a wake-up drink. His beloved juice, presumably. "Hrm?! That is Maomao!"

"Ugh. Here we go."

Oops. Had she said that out loud?

She wished she could just ignore the strategist, but then they would never learn what they needed to know, so instead she made a row of snack trays between the two of them. "You are not allowed to go beyond this line," she said.

"Wow-ee! That's like something my big sister Maamei would come up with!" She must have done something similar to Chue's father-in-law, Gaoshun.

Maomao had the Shogi board placed in front of the freak. "I have no idea whether to expect an answer from you, but I'm going to ask. Specifically, my question concerns the western capital seventeen years ago. If this is the Yi clan mansion, and this building diagonally down from it is Master Gyokuen's residence, do you know what the other pieces would signify? Ah, I thought not. Thanks anyway."

"Um, the old fart hasn't answered yet," Lihaku said, not hesitating to use the name "old fart" right in front of the old fart.

The old fart, however, seemed unperturbed. Indeed, the fox-like gleam in his eyes grew even sharper, and he reached toward the board with hands that bore the distinctive calluses of a Shogi player.

"This Pawn here, this would be the Shogi dojo. The one underneath it—there was this store that sold Shogi and Go supplies."

"Master Lakan has a steel-trap memory for things that happen to interest him," Onsou explained helpfully.

"Huh. Is that so?" Maomao replied, as uninterested as could be.

"This dragon is a restaurant. If you could beat the owner at a game of Shogi, your meal was free. But after three free meals, they cut me off."