The Apothecary Diaries Book 5

The Western Capital-Day One

This swell of problems remained unresolved, but the good news was that they reached their destination without further complications. Jinshi—perhaps mindful of the presence of Ah-Duo and Consort Lishu—didn't even needle Maomao, who for her part got to spend plenty of time with Suirei. They were both apothecaries, but having learned under different masters, they both had their own ways of mixing medicine, and it was fun to discover new approaches.

Gradually the green around them faded, replaced by an expansive vista of pebbles and sand. It was the first time Maomao had ever seen sand stretch out so far that it looked like water, and she couldn't suppress a sound of amazement. She wrapped a cloth around her head so the sand wouldn't get in her eyes, and although the sunlight reflected off the ground could be blinding, when they made camp for the night it was astonishingly cold. This was far beyond anything Maomao had imagined for this trip. She was grateful that whoever had packed clothing for her had anticipated the situation—but she felt a little more conflicted that they had even gone so far as to pack underwear for her.

They'd been warned to be careful at night, when scorpions and poisonous snakes were most active: Suirei, with her phobia of such creatures, set up a veritable wall of bug- and snake-repelling incense, so they hardly saw anything of the sort. Much to Maomao's disappointment.

If there was one person who had it even worse than Maomao, it was Consort Lishu. Being a consort, she rarely showed her face among the rest of the company, and with her ladies-in-waiting always sticking close, the retiring young woman didn't have many chances for proper conversation. The nearest thing to a respite was that Ah-Duo was thoughtful enough to chat with her from time to time.

Ah-Duo... How would she respond if it turned out that Lishu really was secretly the Emperor's child? His Majesty hadn't had any other consorts besides her when he had been heir apparent. Would Ah-Duo feel conflicted about that or take it in stride? One thing was for sure: it would put a new spin on everything she'd appeared to be doing out of the goodness of her heart. In fact, it would raise the possibility that she'd known all along.

Argh. I don't want to think about it.

Of course His Majesty wouldn't lay and hadn't laid a hand on such a girlish young woman—well, not just girlish, but literally still a girl. But what then did that mean for Jinshi as a prospect? It wasn't so unusual for the powerful to marry near relations. Nieces and aunts, even half-sisters, had been admitted to the rear palace in the past. The issue was that if a bloodline got too thick, it could make all of its members vulnerable to a single disease, for example, that might kill them all off. Maomao found herself wondering if the mistakes of the former emperor's reign were to be repeated.

In any case, she breathed a sigh of relief when they arrived at the western capital. The city had grown up around an oasis—such a precious resource in the desert—and the sandy wind blew through streets that bustled with a life quite different from what one found on the Emperor's doorstep. If the royal city was laid out with the straight, clean lines and intersections of a Go board, the western capital appeared a far more chaotic affair.

"I've heard about this. You can see how easy it would be to get lost here," Jinshi said, the first time Maomao had heard his voice in quite a while. Ah-Duo seemed to have guessed who he was, but the others still appeared ignorant. Except perhaps Suirei—but if she had figured it out, she kept quiet about it.

One can only imagine how Lishu would react if she discovered that the "beautiful prince" had been her traveling companion this entire time. Would she see him as a potential marriage prospect—or perhaps as a half-brother, or rather an uncle?

Jinshi had finally washed the burn off his cheek for good, although wearing the makeup for close to a month had left a stain on his cheek, and he rubbed at it self-consciously.