The Apothecary Diaries Book 5

Hemp and Folk Religion

"I wonder if Yue"—the moon—"is heading safely to the west," the Emperor mused to Gaoshun as they gazed up at the bright disk floating in the sky. His Majesty was not, of course, asking whether the actual moon would safely make its rounds. Rather, it was a familiar nickname for a certain important personage—albeit a nickname that no one in the nation other than His Majesty used.

"They were planning to stop and inspect the papermakers' village on the way, so I would guess they're only about halfway there."

With the eunuch Jinshi gone, Gaoshun had returned to the personal service of the Emperor. For generations, the Ma family had been the protectors of the "flower of the nation," and Gaoshun had been the Emperor's companion since they were young men together, much as his son Basen now was for another. He'd often played hide-and-seek with His Majesty and another milk sibling—but the end of youth had put a stop to such games.

Now it was Basen who guarded the one known as Yue. Gaoshun always wondered if perhaps he should have chosen his other son for the role, but he had given it to the younger boy. Basen was inexperienced, yes, but everyone had at least one redeeming quality. Gaoshun's concerns had only intensified after Basen had failed Yue on their last expedition, but they did have the young apothecary with them; that was reassuring. She was nothing if not bold.

Gaoshun's argument to his son had been that they should take the young woman because it would be disastrous if there were to be any incidents of poisoning on this trip. Eventually he had talked the boy around. As for the Moon Prince, he had agreed without a second thought.

He'd known the apothecary herself would eventually acquiesce (even if it involved a lot of grumbling), and the doctor from the rear palace would be with them on at least half the trip. The young woman acted like she didn't think much of the doctor with his slight mustache, but Gaoshun happened to know that in fact they got along quite well.

The real concern was what they were going to do in the western capital, after they parted ways with the physician.

"I don't suppose it will be easy for him," the Emperor remarked. "I wonder what flowers will gather to him."

"Gathering flowers, sire? An interesting choice of metaphor."

"Well, they'd probably get angry if I compared them to insects. A glance at my garden should explain."

He was just kidding—a joke he could make, perhaps, because they were in not the rear palace nor the palace proper occupied by the Empress Dowager or the current Empress, but rather a villa beyond the Imperial court that was currently the residence of Ah-Duo, formerly one of the Emperor's four ladies—as well as his milk sibling and a friend to him and Gaoshun when all of them were young.

If the Emperor looked a little lonely, perhaps it was because Ah-Duo was not here—for she, too, had gone to the west, and in the company of one particular person.

The Moon Prince, meanwhile, was not as flowery as his appearance might suggest. Gaoshun, who had been with him from his youth, who had spent more time with him than either his mother or his father, knew better than anyone. The "prince" was a remarkably direct person, uninterested in ostentation. Even now that his tenure at the rear palace was over, however, they would continue to require his help and effort, for now he must serve as the Emperor's younger brother, doing all those things the sovereign, who couldn't leave the capital, could not do himself.

"So. A plague of insects." A natural disaster which could, potentially, bring an entire country to ruin. Perhaps the note of sadness in the Emperor's voice came from the sense that this was a reflection on his impotence as ruler—if only in the eyes of his more superstitious subjects. It had been he who had chosen to destroy the Shi clan, and had then taken Consort Gyokuyou, one of the four ladies, as his empress. Insect plagues often began with grasshoppers who came in on the wind from the west, from hundreds or even thousands of li away. The bugs would flourish in their new home, and what started as a bit of a nuisance, if left unchecked, would grow into positive destruction in the years to come.