The Apothecary Diaries Book 5

Epilogue

It really does get cold, Maomao thought. She had a light wrap around her shoulders but she was still shivering. She was definitely regretting not having another cup of wine.

It would have been warmer inside the building, but quite frankly, there was too much trouble in there. She worried about what would happen to the lion now that its nose was broken, but she wasn't feeling compassionate enough to help the big cat at the risk of being eaten herself. Yes, the lion was just a poor animal who'd been caged and put on display, but it had still attacked someone. Lahan had nonetheless thought it would be a waste not to try to fix the creature—and he'd attempted to get Maomao to do the job. Evidently he saw the tousle-haired beast as another beautiful collection of numbers, and he wouldn't shut up about how the shattered nose disrupted that beauty. That was when she'd escaped out here.

The sky seemed so vast. There was no moon, making the stars appear to shine all the brighter. Three of them shone brightest of all, forming a triangle in the heavens. Perhaps those stars were the two lovers, and the river that separated them.

I wish they'd hurry and wrap things up in there. Maomao was just contemplating whether there might be a way for her to sneak back to Gyokuen's mansion when she heard footsteps behind her.

"Your honored cousin is looking for you."

"It's perfectly all right to just ignore him." So Maomao wasn't the only one who'd fled the hubbub. "Don't you have more work to do?" she asked. All right, so Basen had stolen the spotlight when the lion attacked, but surely this man could still be of some help.

"Are you hoping I'll drop dead from sheer overwork?"

"Perish the thought," she said.

Jinshi—who had indeed ducked away from his responsibilities—didn't seem to think her answer was entirely sincere. The wooden bench creaked softly as he sat down beside her. Then he set something between them. It appeared to be a piece of metal.

"Basen was right," Jinshi said. "It was weak. Quality iron would have held together better." There were a number of ways of casting iron, and if you got it wrong, the inside could turn out hollow, weakening the structure. "It's almost like someone wanted it to break."

"An unsettling idea."

There was something Maomao had been wondering about as well: the way the lion had gone straight for Consort Lishu, as if specifically targeting her. It had seemed to ignore Maomao in favor of the consort.

Just because it was starving? she thought. That was a possibility. Maybe because she'd been holding meat. Another possibility. But Maomao couldn't stop thinking about the perfume the consort had been doused in. Something so pungent would certainly have been detectable to a wild animal. What if that was what had attracted the lion's attention? Maomao sat and thought silently.

"Hey, don't just go quiet," Jinshi said after a moment.

He should have known very well by now that Maomao rarely initiated a conversation. Why had he decided to sit by her, anyway? He should stop slacking and get back to work already.

"I suppose you're wishing I would just go back to work," said Jinshi.

"Me, sir? Never."

He did know what she was thinking occasionally; that was the trouble with him. Maomao had to work very hard to pretend that her face didn't want to convulse into a major scowl.

"If I went back, one of two things would happen. Either I would have to work, or I would be mobbed by women."

"The less popular men in the world might call for your head to hear you complain about such things."