Kusuriya no Hitorigoto

Chapter 34

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"What shall we do?"

The taciturn attendant pa.s.sed the doc.u.ments over to his master.
It was a mind-bogglingly troubling subject.

"These are the register of names of everyone, including her family, related to the Fonmin incident from the other day."

Fonmin was due for execution. Although family extermination will not be performed, her relatives will have all their a.s.sets dispossessed. There is a difference in severity, but all will be sentenced with physical punishment.
It was a blessing that Consort Ah Duo, her master, didn"t get any sentence.

Clients of her family"s trade were also included among the parties concerned. It was a.s.sumed that they were mere beekeeping farmers, but it seemed they operated on a considerably extensive scale.

"Eighty of those girls are in the Inner Palace."

"What, eighty among two thousand people? That"s quite a hit ratio."

"I suppose."

Gaoshun asked his master who wrinkled his brows and came close.

"Shall we do a cover up?"

"Can you do it?"

"If you so desire."

If you so desire.

Gaoshun will abide as Jis.h.i.+n says.
It didn"t matter whether it was correct. As Jis.h.i.+n says it.

He sighed deeply.

A name that he was familiar with was reported among the parties concerned.
The party who was kidnapped and sold seemed to be a person related to the said incident.

"Well then, what must I do?”

It would be good if he could just simply decide.
Because of the action he chose, he was very scared of what kind of face that girl will make.

"A ma.s.sive dismissal?"

"Dat"s right."

Shaoran was eating dried persimmons as she said that. The dried persimmons were something Maomao made from stealing from the orchard and secretly hanging them under the roof.

"It"s kiiinda like a family execution or something. That the girls from merchants who had dealings hafta quit or something."

(I have a somewhat bad feeling about this.)

Maomao"s intuition is often right.
Her family on the official papers is a merchant that deals with trade. [T/N: i.e. the kidnappers who sold her.]

(It would be quite worrisome if I get dismissed now.)

She was pleased with her current lifestyle as it is.
Obviously, she would be happy if she could return to the prost.i.tution quarter, but it would be downer to be caught by the madam who managed the money even if she returned.

After Rihaku, she has yet to send in honoured guests.
That is a problem.

(I"ll certainly be sold.)

After Maomao parted from Shaoran, she decided to look for the person who she wouldn"t think to normally go to meet.

"How rare. Your breathing is wild."

The lovely eunuch told her casually at the main gate of the inner palace.
This was after Maomao went through to all the residence of the four consorts, not just the the Jade Palace.

"…–"

"Calm down. Your face is red."

Jis.h.i.+n looked at her somewhat impatiently with his celestial maiden face.

"I, I have, s, something to ask you."

Maomao spun her words in pieces.

Jis.h.i.+n narrowed his eyes. For some reason, his face was suffused with gloominess.

"I get it. Let"s talk inside."

She was shown into the Palace Official Chief’s room. She felt bad for the Chief who was stuck with waiting in vain outside as usual. She bowed once and went inside.

"In any case, you must want to hear about the current ma.s.sive dismissal."

"Yes. What will happen to me?"

Instead of replying, Jis.h.i.+n got her to look at the doc.u.ments. Maomao"s name was also among what was written on the high-quality paper.

"This means you will be dismissed."

(What should I do?)

She wasn"t in the position to say, "please stop calling it a dismissal". She repeatedly acknowledged she was a court lady at most.
She resisted looking at him with flatteringly, keeping her face expressionless. As a result, it became the usual face where she eyed him like she was looking at a pest.

"What"s wrong?"

The usual sweetness wasn"t in the inquiring voice. Instead, on the contrary he sounded slightly young, coaxing. Unlike his tone, only his face was firm with seriousness.

"I am just a court lady. As you say, if you command me to be a maidservant, a cook, even a food taster, I will do it."

She intended to say, "employ me with the best of your ability".
The young man"s expression remained firm. He suddenly averted his eyes and made a small sigh.

"I get it. Let"s give a bonus to your severance payment*."

The young man"s voice was cold. His downcast expression couldn"t be read.

Negotiations have failed.

How many consecutive days has it been till today has he seen his master irritated?
There was no problem about the current job. But he was so done with him sitting in the corner of the room, bringing about a gloomy air when he returned to his office.
Even spores that don"t fly have more energy*.

The young man with a lovely celestial maiden"s smile and a honey voice wasn"t there.

Maomao left the following week with the dismissal notice. She wasn"t social, but apparently, she politely went door to door thanking people for their help.
Consort Gyokuyou was hesitant, but when she heard it was what Jis.h.i.+n decided, she withdrew. "What"s done is done," she courteously left as a sharp parting remark.

"We should have held her back."

"Don"t say anything."

Gaoshun folded his arms, the wrinkles on his brows deepening.

What was it like when he lost his favourite toy?
Even though he was given an even more new and unusual toy. How much has he troubled over it?

It was probably no good for him to be with the toy.
Jis.h.i.+n didn"t want to treat the girl as a tool and let her go. Even if he was a.s.signed a new girl with a different disposition accordingly, what would become of it?

This was, as a matter of fact, a bother.

"If a subst.i.tute is no good, then we"ll have to prepare the real thing, don"t we."

Jis.h.i.+n muttered inaudibly, and suddenly recalled a certain person.

It was the military officer that the girl"s family knew very well.

"It will take some work."

Gaoshun, the worldly-wise person, scratched the back of his head.

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