Chapter Text
A darkened sky with rippled clouds in the distance catches Maomao's attention. She was on her way to bring in the clinic's bandages that were hanging to dry. She had spent most of her morning and afternoon in bright spirits because of the weather, even though her day was mostly fulfilling duties of cleaning the physician's equipment in the office and sterilizing extra bandages. So much for the weather being nice today.
She sighed and quickly went to the floating pieces of fabric, snatching a couple at a time and dropping them into the basket next to her. Her arms and hands worked fast as she gently nudged the basket with her leg each time she finished a section of hung laundry. Once finished, she lifted the now full basket and turned to head back inside the clinic. She looked back at the sky in low annoyance, the gray clouds moving more swiftly than she realized.
As Maomao approached the clinic's doorway, she spotted physician, Dr. Liu, at the entrance inside, seemingly waiting for her.
"Dr. Liu. Is there something the matter?'
Maomao steps inside, lugs the basket of cloth down to the floor, and stands to meet the elderly man's eye. He didn't look troubled, but there was a pause in his answer that made dread start to seep into her stomach.
"No. Nothing at all. But there is something that I would like to ask of you. Quite frankly, it's a favor."
Maomao instantly felt the dread become heavier. A favor in that tone did not seem to have room for resistance. She would know.
"Yes, sir?"
"I would like for you to pay a visit to someone tomorrow for me. I normally would make a visit like this on my own, or with Dr. Lao. However, he and I have a planned visit with His Majesty that will surely take some time in its formalities and reports."
Maomao's back stiffened at the idea of visiting someone whose name was not directly said at the request of a favor. However, her ears perked at the mention of meeting the Emperor. She could guess this was an important meeting, considering both Dr. Liu and Dr. Lao were making an appearance in the presence of His Majesty for a formal report. She wondered if it had something to do with the recovery of his surgery or perhaps something more worrisome. Although she was obviously not obligated to know, her curiosity took hold of her tongue,
"Sir, may I be bold to ask what the meeting is about?"
"No, you may not. This is strictly for upper physicians to discuss, Maomao. I know you might be thinking about His Majesty's condition. This, however, is not something I can openly talk to you about. I will say that His Majesty is now healthy enough to continue to hold these long and taxing meetings."
Maomao simply nodded. She understood his meaning of the words "healthy enough". His Majesty was likely properly healed by now, although he may have grown bored with continued strictly dieted meals and ever weary of jumping back into the duties of being Heaven of a nation.
"Then, Dr. Liu? Who is this person you ask I visit? If it happens to be someone or something that lurks in the shadows of this office like a decrepit instead of working, I respectfully decline and pass the favor to someone else."
Dr. Liu does not respond, but a slight grim look passes on his face as he glances to the far window of the room. The mentioned eyesore of the clinic's repertoire is actually in the shadows of a post outside, clad in monocles, stupidly unaware of the storm looking to roll in any minute. Unfortunately, with the change of weather, it seems that a summons to a hunched rear palace physician was not plausible. It would be entirely too cruel and inconvenient to receive someone whilst rain poured down onto everyone and everything. Dr. Liu decidedly chose to ignore the figure and continued.
"No, it is not who you are speaking of. I'm asking you to pay a visit to Kokuyou. He's recently been granted a short trip home, I'm guessing to where he was staying before. The apothecary shop Dr. Loumen and you are letting another man and Kokuyou run, if I'm not mistaken?"
Maomao instantly felt the heavy dread shift into something a little more uneasy. She hadn't spoken to Kokuyou since her last conversation with him that left her feeling more stressed and heavy in the heart than she could remember. Heavy enough to pay a direct visit to Jinshi. A memory of her recharge and their shared meal brought a small heat to her ears. She mentally shook her head to clear that image. Her shoulders stayed stiff, and her face threatened to convey her distress, but she stayed composed. Abruptly polite, she replied,
"Sir. What is the issue that I am visiting Kokuyou for?"
"I need you to deliver him some requests that need prompt looking over. I'm sorry to ask such an errand of you. But you know exactly where the place he is staying at is, and the timing with our meeting His Majesty makes it hard for any other upper physician to take the time to do this task. I would prefer not to send a royal messenger in case it raises suspicion. The requests do have high relevance to the clinic and palace medical staff. So I ask you to take this favor seriously."
Considering Dr. Liu's serious words and the look in his eyes, Maomao's compliance is unwavering. She knows she must complete this errand. Albeit apprehensively.
"Yes, sir. Am I to just deliver the requests?"
She was hoping that she'd just chuck those scrolls through the door of the apothecary shop and turn on her heel to head back to her dorm, hoping to enjoy the day off she would be granted. She's hoping to interact with Kokuyou as little as possible.
"Yes, actually, I will need you to have Kokuyou look over those requests and send his reply back with you. You will know how to answer any questions he may have. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you directly what those papers will say. But Kokuyou can share them with you after he reads them himself."
Maomao did not like how this had already started. Now she was very dismayed at the thought of being alone with Kokuyou, since it looked like what they would discuss could not be in the ears of Sazen or anyone else at the Verdigris house. She received her condign punishment as an errand girl and simply said,
"Yes, sir. I will be sure to leave first thing in the morning."
"Yes. Thank you, Maomao. Be sure to finish your work to make up for tomorrow. With the storm coming, I'm sure the clinic will be busy after the meeting tomorrow and when you come back. I already have a companion set to go with you tomorrow, so no need to worry about arrangements."
"Who is to come with me?"
At that moment, a quick rhythmed knock came at the door behind the two. A woman stood upright with an arm high above her head, presumably the one knocking, and the other limply at her side. She was standing straight, but her head was tilted comically to one side. Her eyes had a funny look of determination mixed with feigned seriousness.
"Miss Chue?"
"Miss Mao, Miss Maomao! As requested, Miss Chue is here to bravely escort you to your destination! Your humble home! Your journey to fulfill your very important whatever it is doctor business!"
As unexpected as her entrance, Miss Chue produced a bun of some sort from the folds of of her robes and made her way deep into the room, casually seating herself and began to munch away. It seemed that was the end of her introduction to this conversation until something caught her interest other than her snack.
Both Dr. Liu and Maomao just watched silently and turned back to each other, as to who'd be accompanying Maomao was answered. Maomao wondered why Miss Chue, of all people, was chosen to go with her. Surely, a simple guard would do. She had a feeling there was some nosy meddling to do with it.
"Well, Maomao. Miss Chue will indeed be escorting you tomorrow. I know it's sudden, but please take care to help Kokuyou. I'll allow you to finish up what work you have left and leave early. Enen and Yao will be back soon to finish anything. You and I will have to rest for our meetings in the morning. Your trip shouldn't take too long."
"Yes, sir."
As Dr. Liu stepped out to leave, Maomao picked up the basket of bandages and sat across from Miss Chue, who was still snacking on another bun. She tasked herself with rolling them. At the moment, there was no one else in the office except for the two.
"Miss Maomao, Miss Maomao! I know you're probably wondering why Miss Chue's tagging along, right? Well! Let's just say a certain personage caught wind of Dr. Liu's attempt to send away a fair maiden to meet a man to talk alone and sent Miss Chue to the rescue in case any man decides to whisk you away," she drawled dramatically, "That would make Miss Chue's job very hard indeed."
"Miss Chue. Am I to understand that you're the reason this certain someone received awareness in the first place to make such a hasty request to send you back to me?"
"Oh phew! You're always too quick on the uptake, Miss Maomao!"
Any retort halted as the door flew open. The sound of frenzied footsteps echoed through the door as two pretty young women hurried in. Their clothing and hair were beyond wet. It seemed the first roll of rain finally splayed onto its victims.
Grumbling, Yao spoke, "Ugh! Why'd the rain have come so soon? Enen and I were almost here when it started to pour!"
Although she hummed agreeingly, Enen seemed more worried about her mistress's distressed state of sogginess.
"Lady Yao! Please allow me to dry you off. Have a seat while I grab a towel and start some hot tea."
Eyeing the growing puddle under both women, Maomao said,
"Enen, please. There's more water on you both than you can handle. Dry yourselves off first, and I will start tea."
Enen sent a flashing look to Maomao as if to say, Do you want my mistress to suffer being wet and cold? But she digressed and just continued fretting over a soaked Yao. Maomao got up to boil some water and set some cups for tea that was good to warm the body.
After a few long minutes of enduring Enen's attention on Yao, all four finally sat down to enjoy their tea and converse before they had to finish their work. Enen spoke first,
"So Maomao, I heard from Dr. Liu that you will not be in the clinic tomorrow?"
At the directness suddenly pointed at her, Maomao dubiously replied,
"Yes. How'd you hear so soon? I was only made known a bit ago by Dr. Liu himself before he left."
"Oh. He mentioned this morning that you'll be gone tomorrow when Lady Yao and I first arrived. He said he had a feeling the weather change coming could result in the clinic becoming busy, so he wanted to warn us in case it did get busy while you were still out. Although I wanted to ask myself what the details were."
Yao jumped in, "Yes! Where will you be going, Maomao? Dr. Liu made it seem very important."
Her face glimmered with girlish curiosity, with a subtle glare of jealousy. It always looked like Maomao was the one to be sent off to do "important" and "secretive" errands and tasks among the three.
"That makes sense. And yes. Dr. Liu is sending me to visit someone outside the rear palace about medical staff matters. But please don't press about what specifically, for I do not understand myself entirely. I am to show up as merely a witness."
Yao looked crestfallen. Enen saw her face and sent another look to Maomao that showed how coarse that answer was to her mistress. Maomao felt a little bad about shutting down any questioning since they were both just naturally curious about their friend. She just didn't want to cause any misunderstandings about who she was seeing and raise any suspicion from them, as Dr. Liu briefly mentioned. Instead, she added,
"All I will mention is that it will only be a small trip. It shouldn't even take half the day. I should be back in time for dinner."
Yao pouted and slunk into her seat. Enen glared at Maomao. That was to be expected, though.
"I'll try to bring back a souvenir."
Both women brightened at the chance of receiving a gift. Although Maomao hoped they weren't expecting anything grand or costly. Then Miss Chue licked her fingers from the remnants of her snack and downed her tea rather ill-manneredly. She chimed in,
" Ladies! I shall make sure Miss Maomao brings back a delicious treat to spoil you both. I will even make sure it is tasty and free of poisons! Sorry, Miss Maomao. I know you would rather do that part."
Maomao nearly rolled her eyes at the faux attempt at being considerate, but let a smile creep through her mouth. She knew all too well that it was impossible to keep any food out of reach from the quirky woman.
The four women continued to chat until all were finished with their tea. Maomao chased Miss Chue out of the clinic, letting it be known that the other three still had work to do. Enen seemed to watch Maomao intently as they worked on finishing rolling the bandages. She asked,
"Maomao. Is this truly a simple trip? Is it not too bothersome? Miss Chue is even going with you."
Keeping her hands moving, Maomao answered,
"Yes. Dr. Liu even said himself that it should only take a little bit of my day tomorrow."
Yao and Enen both looked at each other, and a silent exchange happened between them. Maomao was no happier about doing this type of work for the upper physicians, but she was mildly annoyed at her friends' disconcerted reaction to it. She hoped they would drop their interest in the matter. Finally, Yao said,
"It can't be helped, right? Just be safe, Maomao."
Enen beamed at her mistress as if to say, Look how cute and mature my mistress is!
Maomao was relieved they didn't hold a grudge over this. All three of them continued working around the clinic with very few patients visiting for the next hour. Maomao excused herself from the girls, giving the explanation Dr. Liu gave to her that she should rest for tomorrow.
At a rapid pace, she walked back to her dorm with her arms over her head, which did little to prevent the droplets from blurring her vision. In the safety of her room, she swiftly changed out her soaked outerwear and sat on her bed.
Sighing deeply, she splayed onto her back and looked at the ceiling. The room was quite dark from the gloom and gray outside. She truly did not want to have to see Kokuyou so soon. She knew to act normally, but she was a little worried he would notice her nervousness if she showed an ounce of apprehension in her behavior towards him. Their last conversation was tense, charged with goosebumps on her skin.
Do I have to answer this question? I really liked being friends with you, Maomao.
That was not a response she welcomed from Kokuyou. In fact, that last remark had echoed in her thoughts since that day. From her perspective, Kokuyou was an obnoxiously cheerful man who was smart in the practice of a doctor. Neither could be called young or anywhere near old, and could've been good-looking if not for the forlorn scars on half of his face. He never truly gave Maomao any trouble, but actually helped her more than the average person. In hindsight, that was simply because she had been affable (not that she was exactly chummy to begin with) and what she offered had benefitted him.
She remembered what he had answered about his past. His brother, his mentor, the village he had occupied until he was chased out. The said village's leader. All of the information she had kept a burden on her shoulders, from Jinshi. All the while lingering in the back of her mind. How Kokuyou truly was as a person. So simple in his actions that the consequences were even more complex and twisted than one could ever guess. What was she to do if a line was crossed down the road? What would she do if Kokuyou acted out and she was dragged into an impasse?
With troubling thoughts plaguing her mind, Maomao got up to get ready for bed and laid out a new set of outerwear for the morning. Her soaked garments from the rain earlier were not going to dry in time. The robes she set out were not special by any means, but were a little nicer in material and color than her usual garb. They may be a touch too ornate for this errand, but she did not care enough to dwell on that.
She finished brushing her teeth and wiping herself from the day's grime. Then she settled into bed, closing her eyes.
Maomao could not predict that her outfit would stir a little drama in the day that followed. Who could have?