Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ The Apothecary's Other Diary ❯ Ins And Outs ( Chapter 5 )

Near the end of the day, Jinshi pulled me into his office and announced I was going to take the Palace Lady exam.

“I haven’t studied for that,” I pointed out. He grinned and presented me a stack of study books.

“The exam is in ten days. Be sure to study so you pass.” I raised an eyebrow at this demand and he shuddered in happiness. Apparently I’m glaring at him like a bug. Gaoshun made a sigh, even though he can’t see my face, he’s probably guessing based on Jinshi’s happiness. I’m marrying this guy. I’m going to let him put babies in me. I shuddered. It is a bit much, all at once.

Thanks to my prior life as an HR rep, and then a devoted rule follower and bureaucrat as Tanya, I was able to overcome the flippant girl I’d been as Komachi and was able to study this dense set of rules, obligations, requirements, and more rules. Rules that referred to rules in other rulebooks. And there were volumes of these. I doubt the consorts know all of this, but if one were Empress she would probably have to learn it. I wonder if Ah-Duo knows all this? She probably does.

Ten days came and I took the exam.

“I can’t believe you didn’t pass.”

“How close was I?” I questioned.

“Very close. A few questions more wrong than allowed. You could retake it next year,” Jinshi sighed.

“Considering I have had no formal schooling and lived in a brothel, you should be impressed I did this well, Jinshi-sama,” I countered. He looked at me, sighed, and rested his face in his hands.

“I forget about your lack of education. Maybe with tutors you can catch up. I can get you special permission to leave and enter the inner palace and outer palace. This will also allow you to visit your mother and uncle. I’ve had to lay off over eighty girls who worked for Fengming’s family, since any number of them could be potential assassins or poisoners. Did you know the men who kidnapped you sold you to one of her holdings? I would have had to fire you as well if not for that other matter. You do want to stay, correct?” Jinshi confirmed.

“Yes. The work is often interesting, and there’s always something to do,” I answered. I feel like I might have given the right answer here, though I can’t understand just why I feel that way. Like the wrong answer could have taken me down a strange direction.

“Well, in that respect I’ll want you to stay in my quarters, as my personal assistant. I generally sleep in the outer court and conduct most of my business there. You’ll be staying there with me most of the time. If I receive a request from one of the concubines I can assign you to them for a specific task, like poison tasting or special care.”

Translation: as his future wife or consort, I am to be available to him. This is not so different from taking clients in the brothel, though I will be exclusively his. I suppose the old lady would approve. I wonder if the concubines will resent me when they figure things out? Or were they assuming already?

Avoiding speculation is something great uncle taught me. A scientist should discern the facts and test a hypothesis. Don’t confuse cause and effect and coincidence. I found myself cleaning the windowsill outside Jinshi’s office when a crowd of angry women approached and berated me for infringing on their territory. One slapped me for cheek so I showed them my arm scars and asked if they thought Jinshi was the kind of man who has “special tastes”? They apologized nervously and flocked off again.

“Special tastes, eh? What kinds of things are you accusing me of?” Jinshi asked, slipping out from a doorway, having heard the whole exchange. I left rather than answer.

The old lady who worked with Jinshi, as his housekeeper, was his grandmother. I greeted her properly, as daughter of Lakan and Fengxian, one of whom did she know. This raised one eyebrow.

She had me doing housework and cleaning and plate polishing most of the time. I did laundry, again, and various chores needed to keep his household. I suppose this is much like any wife would be expected to do.

“How is Ah-Duo doing?” I asked her one afternoon when we were working together. She shot me a look, then remembered I was there that night.

“She seems to be adjusting to life in the Southern Palace. She takes guests and meets with family.”

“Was she surprised about her moon time returning?” I asked her. She looked even more sharply at me about that.

“Yes. How did you know?” she asked.

“My father, I mean my great uncle who raised me, was her doctor on that terrible day. He was dragged away by the guards rather than help her. I think he’s felt a lot of guilt over that day. And I was present the night the sage visited and healed her.”

Several days later I was able to request leave through Jinshi and left the palace to see my uncle and brought him some food. We cooked and ate together and talked about medicine. He was pleased to hear that I found many of the plants he’d placed within the walls were still growing years later.

He was less amused to learn I was semi-engaged to the Moon prince, who was incognito. He sighed, with greater emotion than I’d seen from him in many years.

“My nephew has visited. I encouraged him to pay his respects to the Verdigris House,” Uncle Luomen, my adoptive father, said. “I feel like a younger man these days, and find my eyes linger on maidens longer than is seemly. What can you tell me about this Great Sage. Every time I see you looking sad or thoughtful I feel a strong need to hug you, Maomao.” And then he did so. Great Uncle was a good father, even crippled. I do wish he hadn’t burned his western medicine books when he found me reading them. I should ask Jinshi to get me more of them.

“Reincarnation is one of the pillars of Buddhism,” I said slowly. “In a prior life, I had a brother. We were close, because our parents were too busy working to raise us. My brother did that instead, despite being only two years older than me. He is the Great Sage, somehow. I suppose in healing you, you gained some of his affection for me.”

“This Sage is going to disrupt everything I knew about Science and Medicine. What is your brother’s name?” Uncle asked me, still holding me to him.

“Hachiman. His name is Hachiman.”

I went to the Verdigris House and found that there was a celebration underway. Many red lantern were being raised around the house, and food was coming in. Sister Meimei was ecstatic. I worked my way through the flurry of work to reach one of the rooms and found a game of Go was in progress. Mother was playing against the man with the monocle, the man I’d feared for so long. My father, Lakan.

There were plates of food here and there, and the madam was lurking over a stack of gold ingots, rubbing her hands in greed. They weren’t the only ones. There were chests with locks behind her desk, three of them, probably also filled with gold. Not very big, but gold is very heavy. As much as the cost of caring for a woman sick for seventeen years. I watched the two of them, with eyes for each other alone, and decided I would not interrupt their particular form of flirting over the Go board.

Was this cowardly of me? Or wise beyond my years?

On return to the inner palace I went for a bath with Xiaolan, relaxing in the hot waters after I’d done my tasting duty for dinner. The baths were large and filled by eunuchs daily. The waters were cooling nicely, but still warm enough to be comfortable. As I soaked I felt strangely comfortable on my constantly sore left arm, lifting it out of the water to examine the scars from all my testing. They were fading.

“Tricky. Hold still so I can finish,” ordered Xiaolan in Japanese. I stared at her, one hand raised over my arm. Her eyes were slitted, a look I’d never seen on her face before. My bad finger straightened and the scars vanished entirely.

“You had poison sacks in there, and various infections under the skin. Your immune system couldn’t reach them, so it couldn’t heal them. The various toxins from your salves and potions were doing more harm than good, imouto,” said a higher pitched version of my brother’s voice from my friend’s female body. She leaned over and hugged my side. “I miss spending time with you. Every time I chop vegetables, I keep turning to speak to you, but you aren’t there. And then I cry, because I feel like I took you for granted.”

“Are you going to just vanish again?” I asked him.

“Not yet. I’ve worked out that I’m here as long as my magic lasts. The faster I use magic, the sooner I’m forced to leave and wake up back in Chiba.”

“How is Taishi?” I asked him.

“He had to be sedated. He saw you die in front of him. He’s… not doing very well. He’s become obsessed with protecting Keika, and Saki spends a lot of time worried about him. Mom and Dad aren’t doing great. They buried themselves in work, more than ever.”

“Is no one helping you?” I asked my brother.

“Who could possibly help me?” he said in all the bleak misery I am sure he means without exaggeration.

“Something is letting you come here, even if only for brief periods. And you never healed anybody when we were kids together. I would have noticed,” I replied. He smiled at this, just half a smile, which looked really odd on Xiaolan’s face.

“This girl is your friend?” he asked me.

“Yes. We used to wash clothes together. I make a point to meet up with her and give her treats. They try to overfeed me in the Jade Palace,” I explained.

“You could use more food. You look like you’re starving,” he said, gesturing to my undeveloped body. “How old are you here anyway?”

“Eighteen.” He tutted at this statement.

“Then you’re starving. Eat more. At least one thing more, every meal. Punishing yourself like this is making me unhappy. Are you unhappy here? Is there something I can do?” he asked.

“Talking to me is nice. And you healed my scars. Thank you for that. And my finger,” I admitted. “I’ll see about eating a little bit more.”

“I miss chatting with you over dinner together. And riding with you to school. You kept forgetting your school bag and lunch. Strange how the police never stopped us, wasn’t it?” he said in Xiaolan’s voice.

“I’m probably going to marry the crown prince,” I said suddenly.

“I know. I found the history books on this time period. And your name in it all. Things will get complicated soon. Keep your wits about you. You can’t afford to let things go,” he said. And then I felt the something comfortable I associated with my brother’s presence vanish, and Xiaolan yawned.

“I’m starting to feel a little cold. Think I’ll get out and head back to my dorm. See you tomorrow, Maomao,” my friend said, rising up and heading for her basket of clothing and a towel. She yawned again. “So sleepy.”

I stared, pondering what niisan had warned me. As ominous and vague warnings went, that was in my top five.