The Apothecary Diaries Book 3

The Cat

Princess Lingli, a year and a half on from her birth, was proving quite precocious, a very healthy child indeed. Maomao wasn't a big fan of children, but even she had to admit that the princess was endearing. It was certainly more pleasant taking care of her than looking after one of the girls who had been sold into the brothel. There's no creature in the world so insufferable as a preteen girl.

The princess had graduated from holding on to things in order to get around to walking on her own, and recently to jogging short distances. Consort Gyokuyou watched her pound around with a touch of concern. "I wonder if this residence is starting to get a little small for her," she said. The Jade Pavilion was hardly cramped, but it wasn't healthy for a child to play inside all the time. There was a central garden as well, but soon it wouldn't be enough to hold the princess's interest.

"Perhaps it might be all right to take her for a little walk." Gyokuyou was uncommonly open-minded. Most nobles felt that young ladies of prominent heritage should spend their days safely indoors, swaddled in the finest silks. Evidently, Consort Gyokuyou didn't agree. "What do you think, Maomao?"

Maomao looked up and grunted softly, somewhat surprised to have the consort suddenly ask for her opinion. "In terms of her health, I think it would be wonderful if she had more chances to go outside."

Maomao looked at Gyokuyou's feet. They were well-built and perfectly large enough; they hadn't been bound when she was young. In the arid western regions where she had been born and raised, Gyokuyou seemed to have received a somewhat more permissive upbringing than many of the other consorts.

Generally speaking, it was regarded as best to let a child's mother set the tone for their rearing, but this particular child happened to be the daughter of the most important man in the nation and the apple of his eye. They couldn't expect him to simply nod along and let Gyokuyou do whatever she wanted.

The consort, of course, understood this very well. "I'll ask about it, then," she said, running her fingers through Lingli's hair where the child had fallen asleep on the couch.

Several days later, permission had been granted for the princess to go outside, accompanied by two eunuchs as guards. Maomao and Hongniang were to go with her. It was just a little walk, but the Emperor could be pretty protective. Then again, all of his children had died young so far, so maybe he had reason to be.

"I know you know a lot about flowers and animals, Maomao. Maybe you could teach her?" Gyokuyou said, patting the princess's head. Her belly was already heavy, so she had to stay behind at the Jade Pavilion, just to be safe.

"Don't give her ideas, Lady Gyokuyou. She'll teach the princess the most positively awful things," Hongniang insisted, but the consort acted surprised.

"Goodness, I should think her instruction might be helpful." The hint of an elegant smile appeared on her face. "After all, one never knows where one might go in marriage in the future."

I knew she was a shrewd one, Maomao thought. The princess might still be young, but given her place in life, in another ten years or so there was every chance she would be married into another family somewhere. If she was granted to some loyal subject, well and good, but it was distinctly possible she would go to live in some other country—somewhere she might not be entirely welcome. In such a situation, a working knowledge of drugs and poisons couldn't go amiss.

Hongniang acceded with a sigh. Though obviously not thrilled, she understood the logic just as well as Maomao.

Gyokuyou waved to Princess Lingli as she left on her walk, and the princess waved back. Then she squealed, seeing the outside of the Jade Pavilion for the first time. She could only taste so much of the outside world from the pavilion courtyard. She still knew only a few words, and most of them didn't make very much sense, but nonetheless she was clearly excited to see so many palace women, far more than there were in her house. Maomao had worried the child might be afraid and start crying, but far from it. She had her mother's daring.