Work Text:
I
One of the busiest afternoons in Bubu Pharmacy involved six people arguing with Herbalist Gui over their limited supply of violetgrass oil. The sweltering sun outside made the air inside the pharmacy even heavier while two attendants of different employers from Yujing Terrace were starting to openly argue with rising voices. Herbalist Gui tried to defuse the situation, but he mistakenly mentioned that the merchandise in question would be restocked again in a month, which did not calm the arguing parties.
On the far corner of the pharmacy, Qiqi ignored the angry people and continued her monotonous task of shelving the herbs she gathered earlier that morning. Sitting innocently on the floor with a small table that Dr. Baizhu gave her (because she was too small to be able to sit on a normal-sized chair and desk), Qiqi consulted her meticulously written notes and separated each herb based on the ones that needed to be dried, bottled, pressed, etc. It was a task she did not like doing because it would require her to stretch longer later tonight. Not moving for hours on end encouraged her rigor mortis to set in even faster. Yet, looking at Herbalist Gui’s heated situation, Qiqi was quite content to finish her much peaceful task. Dr. Baizhu was supposed to join the two of them tending the storefront, but the weather had gotten into his head and he was currently lying prone in his room with a bag of ice on his forehead. Hence the inevitable chaos that happened in the boss’ absence due to a mix-up with the orders.
In the middle of scribbling down the amount of Qixing flowers they needed to dry later today, she heard faint chirping of her favourite birds outside the pharmacy door. She spent the next minute watching them pecking on seeds on the top of the pharmacy’s steps. They had found the birdseeds Qiqi had thrown outside an hour ago even though she had completely forgotten about them. She got up and waddled carefully to the front door to look closer. Sadly, two people who just arrived at the pharmacy caused the birds to fly away in a hurry. Qiqi hung her head in brief melancholy. No matter, they would probably come again—only if she would remember to buy a bag of birdseed tomorrow. She would command herself to remember by writing it in her notebook. Qiqi nodded to herself and scrambled to get her notebook before she forgot.
The little zombie peered at her little notebook with unmatched concentration. Her little eyebrows almost met in the middle of her forehead as she scribbled on the paper. Words came neatly out of her small blunt pencil. Not many people other than Qiqi could ever read her writings because she was using a lot of long-forgotten phrases and sayings used by Liyue people of the past millennia. The new command was simple, but it had to come in the middle of the tight schedule she had arranged for herself. After much deliberation, Qiqi decided to buy the birdseed the next day instead because tomorrow she had to ride a ferry to the stone forest to gather some herbs. She nodded to herself as she finished adjusting her schedule. Qiqi hoped the finches would not mind waiting for a day. Now, what was she doing again? There were fresh herbs and empty bottles on the table…
“Good afternoon, Miss Qiqi.” A woman’s husky voice called out to her.
The two people who just arrived were a woman and a man, both very tall. If the woman did not kneel to speak to her, Qiqi would have to tilt her head all the way back to see her face. The woman had long white hair like newly spun thread falling down her shoulder. She was wearing white and gold and her smile looked nice. Qiqi liked her because she looked nice. It was hard to be nice to Qiqi because she was scary for normal people.
“Do you…have a prescription?” The herbalist zombie tilted her head.
“Ah, no…but Dr. Baizhu allowed me to buy herbs without prescription. Surely he told you?”
“I’m sorry…Who are you?”
The woman’s smile widened. “We have met before. I brought you ice lollies and you told me you will command yourself to remember me.”
“Qiqi…command herself…” Qiqi reached for her pocket notebook (not her herbs notebook or her schedule notebook, but the one in her pocket that she carried everywhere all the time). Flipping through some pages about other people she had to remember, she arrived at an entry that consisted of a sentence: kind rich lady in white and gold brought ice lollies, Dr. Baizhu give special permission for medicine with no prescription.
“Are you…rich?” She asked innocently.
The woman laughed. Her laugh was surprisingly high-pitched. It sounded like a bell. Qiqi liked bells.
“You can say that. Did Dr. Baizhu told you I’m rich?”
“Yes. Do you bring ice lollies for Qiqi? It is…hot.”
The corners of the woman’s lips turned down. “I’m sorry, Qiqi, I don’t. Perhaps next time?”
“Okay. I will remember.” Qiqi scribbled down more words about the rich lady: will bring ice lollies again.
The rich lady patiently waited until Qiqi finished writing. “Now, can you help me find the medicine I need?”
“I can…help. What do the rich lady need?”
“I need dandelion roots and thunder god vine essence.”
Qiqi took her herbs notebook and flipped through it to find the part where she noted all the pharmacy’s supplies and their common application. She saw the two ingredients written right after the other and why the rich lady wanted to buy them both. Confused, Qiqi looked at the rich lady’s flat stomach and back to her nice face again. “Do you not want babies?”
A faint cough of distress was heard from the brown-haired man who stood behind the rich lady. He looked surprised. Now Qiqi was even more confused.
Turning to the man who came with the rich lady, Qiqi asked. “Mister, do you not want babies?”
The man cleared his throat and clasped his hands behind his back. “That is entirely the lady’s decision, Little Miss Qiqi. I will support her no matter what she decides.”
The rich lady grinned at the man and Qiqi had a feeling she was going to buy him 10 ice lollies later.
“Okay…but I will have to remind…about the medicine and how you mix them.”
Delight was apparent in the rich lady’s crimson eyes. “Oh, of course, yes please. It’s been quite a while since I mixed it.” Meanwhile, the man behind her looked like he wanted to run away, but he forced himself to stay. Maybe because he wanted ice lollies from the rich lady.
During the next ten minutes, Qiqi had retrieved the appropriate amount of dandelion roots and thunder god vine essence for a month’s worth of contraceptive medicine. She then recited the passage about mixing the medicine from her notebook, occasionally checking the instructions with the lady. It was important, and she was afraid the lady would miss one or two words, so she read the notes slowly and loudly.
“Please…grind two strips of dandelion roots into powder, dissolve in warm water and mix in a dollop of thunder god vine essence. Do not add more because they can be poisonous if taken in larger doses. Do not forget to…drink less than 24 hours…after in-ter-course…but…if you are having in-ter-course regularly…the effect would be stronger…if you consume the medicine…every day. I advise you to…drink milk regularly…so that you can avoid…the side effects. Sadly, it has to be...goat milk...not coconut milk. Coconut milk is tastier, but it cannot help you avoid the side effects... Also, you need to do…stretches…like Qiqi…every night.” Qiqi looked up to the rich lady. “Do you need Qiqi…to teach you how to stretch?”
“My dear Qiqi, you are too kind. It’s okay, we already know how to do stretches.” The rich lady glanced at the man behind her with a smirk.
Qiqi wrapped the ingredients in parchment papers and gave them to the lady. She paid her a hefty sum of Mora that overflowed from her little hands.
“I will be waiting for the ice lollies, please and thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Little Qiqi. I will come back next month with the dessert for you, and a new contract for Dr. Baizhu.” The rich lady stood back up and walked out the pharmacy, grasping the man’s arm.
Somehow, during Qiqi’s conversation with the lady, the pharmacy had gone deadly quiet. Six people who were arguing with Herbalist Gui stood with gaping mouths and stunned expressions. After the lady and the man disappeared down the steps, they erupted in whispers of amazement.
“Was that…Lady Ningguang?”
“The man was Mister Zhongli from Wangsheng Funeral Parlor!”
“Hu Tao’s lackey? With Lady Ningguang?”
“She has chosen a suitor?”
Satisfied with the Mora she had earned from the sale, Qiqi sat back down on her small desk. What was she doing again? Something about birdseeds…