(I wonder what will happen to the doctor’s visits.)
The court physicians have been split into three locations: the government office, Gyoku’en’s main residence and the villa.
Maomao’s group was at the villa. She thought Jinshi would be at the government office or main residence, being who he is, but…
“I’ll leave it to you today as well, Court Physician-dono.”
Jinshi received them with a brilliant smile. He was in the most opulent room in the villa. The lavishly soft and fluffy woollen rugs were woven with delicate patterns she had never seen before. The curtains, probably made from silk, shimmered as they billowed.
There were large grapes covered in condensation, a clear sign that they had been chilled. It would probably fill your mouth with sweet juice when you bite into the crisp fruit.
(Will he let me taste for poison?)
Unfortunately, it wasn’t Maomao’s job to be the food taster today. That role was left to Taomei, Jinshi’s personal attendant. It didn’t seem like the boisterous Chue was around today. In addition, Baryou was nowhere to be seen; he might not be used to the place yet, so he won’t be showing up for a while. Unusually, Basen was in the room.
“Yesh!”
The quack doctor, stuttering as per usual, wobbled about as he did his usual token gesture of medical care.
Tenyuu wasn’t around.
There were no other court physicians around either; it would be troubling if there were. The quack doctor’s quackness would be even more pronounced.
There was no way that the oddly perceptive Tenyuu wouldn’t have noticed, but he hadn’t said anything yet. She had no idea if he was keeping quiet out of understanding something he perceived, or that Jinshi had prepared some kind of excuse the other man could agree on.
(Well, I don’t care either way.)
Maomao had things to do. She can set aside the question about why Jinshi was at the villa today. She was celebrating just for the fact that it wasn’t the same residence the weirdo tactician was in.
“Well then, Lass, I’ll be heading back first.”
“Understood.”
The quack doctor returned with no question. Rihaku the bodyguard returned with him.
Jinshi dropped his bright atmosphere by a bit. “Prepare us some tea.”
“Understood.” Taomei went to prepare.
“Now, please sit.” Suiren, out of consideration, brought over a chair for Maomao to sit, so she sat meekly. Maomao wasn’t so bold as to put her hands on the grapes, so she sent her thoughts to Suiren to have them gifted to her as souvenirs.
“Settled into your new job yet?” Jinshi asked.
“The people haven’t changed, so I’m just getting used to my surroundings,” Maomao answered honestly. She wanted to see what kinds of medicine are available at the western capital after this. The quack doctor, Tenyuu, Rihaku, and while they were at it, Rahan’s older brother had been inquiring about the medicine they were in short supply of. As they were travelling by sea, they had prepared a lot of motion sickness medicine, but surprisingly, it was their stock of fever medicine that depleted.
Since they took the southern sea route, it had been as hot as it was during midsummer. While onboard the ship, there had been an increase in lightheaded patients from poor ventilation. It would have been better to treat them through rehydration, instead of medicine for heatstroke. Maomao figured that the reason behind the low stock was the quack doctor, who had diagnosed those patients with the flu and prescribed them fever medicine while she was away.
Moreover, the fever medicine the quack doctor had prepared was unpalatable, so bad that it had to be taken with a large amount of water, which consequently had a noticeable effect.
(Such great luck as usual.)
In regards to the medicine, she heard that Court Physician You had asked them to buy whatever they needed to replenish.
(I really wanted to come along, though.)
Maomao had other things to do.
“A potato farmer came, as Rahan’s intermediary,” she said.
If potato cultivation were to succeed in Isei Province, they would have to devise a means to export to Sha’ou as well. It would be better to reduce transportation expenses.
“The potato farmer…. I heard he’s Maomao’s cousin,” Jinshi said.
“He’s a stranger,” Maomao emphasised.
“He’s certainly did come. I was so certain that he would be someone more peculiar, but he’s…”
“Normal, right?”
“Normal, yeah.”
Jinshi’s evaluation of Rahan’s older brother was the same as her, it seems.
However, if Rahan’s older brother’s existence is established, they could go straight to the point.
“I want to go to the farming villages as well. Can you give me permission?” Maomao asked.
“The farming villages, huh. It would be helpful if you could go for me, but what about work as a court physician assistant?”
“With a switch in posting, someone called Tenyuu came, so I think it’ll be okay. Probably.”
She could trust Tenyuu’s work. The problem was his personality.
“Then, that would be helpful… there are a number of problems with that area.”
“Problems?” Maomao tilted her head.
Jinshi looked at Basen. Basen spread out a map of Isei Province on the desk. There were various places circled in ink.
“What is this?” Maomao asked.
“The location of the farming villages,” Jinshi replied.
“…the scale of the western capital is relatively small, as I thought.”
There was a lot of arid land due to the climate. She also saw that there were hardly any fields.
“And…”
Basen passed a brush to Jinshi. Jinshi drew a large circle.
“These would be pastures.”
“…pastures.”
Pastures. In short, grazing land for livestock. Being the western capital, it wouldn’t be cattle, but goats or sheep, right?
“The pastoral folk are nomads. They don’t live in a settlement.”
“I see.”
It sounded he was speaking to organise his thoughts, rather than explaining for Maomao’s understanding.
“Do you remember that, before, there was an official notice about locust extermination?” Jinshi asked.
“Yes. It was on prohibiting the extermination of pest birds, promoting the consumption of insects, and propagating the insect-killing medicine recipe to the rural district.”
Maomao, too, had racked her brains in regards to the insecticide. She also produced several types using as many local ingredients as possible.
“Yeah. That was in the country of Rii. Of course, it was done at Isei Province as well… but…” Jinshi trailed off.
Maomao felt like she somehow understood Jinshi’s miscalculation. “Farmers, even if they are killing insects with insecticide, would only do it to their own fields, right?”
“That’s right.”
And so, in comparison to the tiny farmlands in Isei Province, there was an expanse of grasslands. There was no way the farmers would exterminate insects all the way to the grasslands. In addition, there was a high probability that the pastoral folk didn’t receive the message.
(Even if they did receive it.)
They had no reason to spray agricultural chemicals on the grass their livestock might eat. They probably won’t exterminate every single locust.
““…””
The locusts they had failed to exterminate, would multiply exponentially at the next wave.
However, Maomao tilted her head. “Excuse me. Last year, there was a small scale locust plague in the western region of Rii. Does it also include the area around the western capital?”
“I didn’t get information on that.” Jinshi looked doubtful as well. “It’s true the area around the western capital is the centre of trade and has little agricultural produce, so crop damage won’t affect it greatly.”
“Even if there was damage, it wouldn’t be odd.”
She recalled the autumn of last year. As if Jinshi was harassing her, he had sent locusts to her, in which she had measured hundreds of them. At the time, Rahan had suggested the locusts had ridden the seasonal winds from Hoku’aren.
And the land closest to Hoku’aren, is Isei Province.
(Did locusts not come, fortuitously?)
Or…
(Did they hide it?)
Maomao studied Jinshi’s face. His face was calm, with no trace of panic whatsoever. It was as if he was reaffirming information he had already known.
Maomao groaned inwardly.
(Is it Empress Gyokuyou’s older brother?)
The man who is governing on his father’s behalf. It seemed like there was some connection to Empress Gyokuyou, but no relation to a mere pharmacist.
Was Rikuson’s muddy clothes from going to the farming villages related to that?
Maomao ended up feeling impatient. When she used her brain, her thinking got muddled, but it felt bad to not solve it.
“It’s short notice, but can I head to the farming villages tomorrow?” she asked.
“That would be helpful, but what will your excuse be?” Jinshi said.
“Can’t I say that I will be going to buy ingredients for medicine and harvest herbs?”
“Let’s go with that. Also, where in the rural district will you be going?”
Looking at the map, judging from the distance, she wondered if it was fine to start visiting from the nearest village, but she had an idea. “Rikuson-sama was here, right? I want to go to the location he visited.”
“…gotcha. I’ll make the preparations.”
“Thank you very much.”
Maomao lowered her head. She won’t be able to take it easy for the time being.
