The Apothecary Diaries Book 9

The Quack Vanishes

Sunlight pried at Maomao's eyelids, and she heard birds twittering outside.

"Hm... Mmm..."

She slowly opened her eyes and gave a great stretch. The bed was soft and smelled lovely, and since they were on land, it didn't even rock. She felt like she'd had her first deep sleep in a long time.

This is Anan, right? she thought, trying to recall where they were through the haze of a freshly awakened brain.

When she got out of bed, she found breakfast, consisting of congee and a medley of relatively sumptuous dishes on the table. She also saw that Chue was already eating.

"You're prompt," she remarked.

"Yep. Miss Chue is an early riser—otherwise her mother-in-law gets mad. Come on, let's have breakfast!" She continued stuffing food into her face. The richness of the dishes suggested they were leftovers from last night's banquet—except Maomao didn't recognize any of them. Apparently, guests were guests, and were not to be served leftovers.

"I don't need much," Maomao said, putting some vinegar on the porridge and starting to eat. On the surface, it looked like a fairly ordinary Li-style breakfast, but the unmistakable tang of fish sauce in the vinegar reminded her that she was in another country.

Notwithstanding the impossibility of keeping up with the necessary quips, Maomao didn't have to be on any kind of special behavior around Chue, so she didn't worry about eating daintily. When she had finished breakfast and was brushing her teeth, the door flew open with a bang.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"Young lady!" said Maomao's bodyguard, Lihaku. He looked mildly distressed. "I was informed a few minutes ago that that friendly old doctor isn't on the ship."

"What?"

Why would the quack doctor be missing?

Did someone kidnap him?

The whole reason the quack had been brought along was to be a body double for Luomen. Lihaku was supposed to be the quack's bodyguard as well, but at the moment he was with Maomao. There were other soldiers stationed on the ship, though, and abducting the quack shouldn't have been an easy task.

"I don't understand what you mean. I mean... Why?"

Maomao held her head in her hands; Chue looked very intrigued.

"Your guess is as good as mine," said Lihaku. "I'm going to go back to the ship and see what's happening. What about you, miss?"

"What about me?" Maomao said. She couldn't just walk around on her own out here. Someone would need to know where she was going...

"All right, I've heard the story," said, of all people, Chue. "This smells like a mystery! Don't you worry—I already went ahead and got permission." She winked at them, her teeth sparkling.

"How could you already go ahead and do that? We just found out about this," said Maomao, sadly picking the most ordinary and least interesting response. She knew this might be a good time for an amusing comeback, but she had the feeling that if she started dealing them out, they'd never stop, so she let the opportunity pass.

"Simple. They told me that if you went outside, Mister Lihaku and I could go with you. And since I figured you'd have nothing but time to kill today, I went ahead and got permission for you to go out. If you just stayed here all day, Miss Chue would have to stay with you, and then we would miss the chance to see Anan, and I would have to sit here fretting about whether my mother-in-law might drop in for a visit."