The Apothecary Diaries Book 5

Proficiencies

"I'll excuse myself, then."

Maomao didn't say a word as the man who'd delivered the letter to the apothecary shop exited, his job finished. She read the letter, remaining expressionless the entire time, then put it in a letter box.

It was from Jinshi, but it wasn't quite the usual business. Maomao crossed her arms and cocked her head, thinking. What to do, what to do? Business from Jinshi always meant trouble, but this one seemed more trouble than most. She could hardly refuse, however, which meant the question was how best to prepare. How am I going to explain this one to Grams?

Her ruminations were interrupted by the jabbering of a couple of noisy kids—Chou-u and Zulin, who were carrying baskets full of fresh herbs.

Oh yeah... They said something about wanting to eat kusa-mochi. She watched them idly for a moment, but when she saw them heading for the kitchen, she hurried to grab them by the collar.

"What're you doing?!" Chou-u demanded.

"Let me see those," she said, rifling through his basket and inspecting the plants within. How could he get this so wrong? Maomao glowered at the assembled herbs. "How could you screw up enough to find wolfsbane around here?" She stared at Chou-u, who sat down sullenly. Beside him, Zulin—the younger of the two poor girls who had recently joined them—looked on with worry. She seemed to have embraced her role as Chou-u's henchman.

"I mean, they look really similar."

"Make your mochi with this, and you'll die."

They must have gone out looking for fresh mugwort for their snack, but they'd managed to find a similar-looking but poisonous plant.

Except I didn't think there was any wolfsbane around here.

How had the kids found it when even Maomao didn't know about it? The question wouldn't leave her alone.

"Boo. So we can't make kusa-mochi?" Chou-u and Zulin looked at each other, dejected.

"That's right. Give it up."

"I know you picked some mugwort the other day, Freckles. You should share with us."

"That was for moxibustion."

Chou-u pouted indignantly at her, and Zulin followed suit. Maomao mercilessly jabbed a finger in each of their mouths and pulled at their lips.

"Yow! That hurt! You suck."

Zulin, though silent, likewise resisted.

"How do I suck? What was your plan, to give the entire Verdigris House food poisoning? I thought I told you not to go wandering around outside by yourself, anyway."

"We weren't by ourselves. Sazen was with us."

That made Maomao frown even harder—and that was exactly when Sazen showed up, ambling in with a cloth bag in hand.

"Don't go running off without me, kids! I'm not a young man anymore," he said—a most inauspicious thing to utter at this particular moment. He knew about Chou-u's past, and even though Maomao kept trying to get him to stop acting like it, he insisted on treating the boy like a young princeling.

"Sazen! It's your fault Freckles got angry at me. Try to keep up!"

Without a word, Maomao brought her knuckle crashing down on Chou-u's head. Zulin looked a little panicked, and Sazen's mouth opened like he wanted to say something, but Maomao only glared at them both. Then she went and got the mugwort she'd picked for the shop the day before. It was a little dry by now, but it was still recognizable. She held it in one hand and Chou-u's wolfsbane in the other, and stuck them under Sazen's nose. It wouldn't do any good trying to tell the kids about this, but she could at least teach the closest thing to an adult in the room how to tell the difference.