The Apothecary Diaries

Chapter 23: Wheat Stalks

Oh yeah...

The crowing of the rooster woke Maomao up, and she shuffled outside her dilapidated house. There was a small chicken coop in the back and a shed for farm implements, along with a wooden crate. From the fact that the hoe was missing, she gathered her father was in the field. He kept one in a grove just outside the red-light district.

He knows that's not good for his legs. Her father was getting on in years, and she wished he would stop with the difficult physical labor, but he showed no sign of doing so. He liked to make his medicines from herbs he had grown himself. Hence, a motley collection of strange plants sprouted around their house.

Maomao plucked a leaf here and there, checking how the plants were doing. She glanced at the discreet wooden crate. It bore a sign with characters in brushwork reading: HANDS OFF. Maomao swallowed at that. She nudged the lid back and peeked in, although it did her heart rate no favors. If she remembered correctly, the crate contained various ingredients left to stew in wine. She seemed to recall the ingredients being very lively and difficult to catch.

After a moment, Maomao put the lid back just the way it had been. It seemed people were heeding the sign. Ever the careful thinker, her father had wisely put just one thing inside the box. That was a wise choice. Several together might eat each other and become toxic.

All right, anyway... Her thoughts were interrupted by a noisy pounding at the door. Scratching her head lazily, Maomao went around the front of the house. "You're gonna break it," she said to the panicked-looking girl who had been slamming her fist against the unsteady door. She wasn't from the Verdigris House. She was a servant-apprentice at another of the nearby brothels who occasionally came to Maomao's pharmacy.

"What's up? If you're looking for my dad, he's out." Maomao was in the middle of a yawn when the girl grabbed her hand and veritably dragged her away.

The apprentice brought Maomao to a middling brothel not far from the Verdigris House. It wasn't a big place, but it boasted decent quality.

Maomao recalled there were several courtesans here, with some excellent patrons. But what did the servant girl want, bringing her here?

Maomao tried to straighten her frazzled hair and brush the wrinkles out of her clothes. She hadn't changed into her sleepwear the night before, which was starting to seem like it might be a good thing. But here she'd been planning to get hot water from the Verdigris House...

"Sis, I brought the apothecary!" the girl called as they went through the back door of the brothel and headed for one of the rooms. There, Maomao discovered a cluster of women, wearing no makeup and looking fatigued, gathered around something she couldn't see. When she got closer, she found a man and a woman lying on a bed, sharing a pillow, spittle dribbling out of their mouths. There appeared to be traces of vomit on the bedding.

A pipe lay on the floor nearby, and tobacco leaves were scattered around. She saw some pieces of straw on the ground as well, and a shattered glass vessel nearby. The contents had spilled, staining the pillow. The air was filled with a very distinctive aroma. Two wine bottles were likewise part of the chaos, also tipped over and spilled. The two differently colored stains on the pillow looked almost like some strange kind of art.

Confronted with this scene, Maomao's eyes snapped open and sleep left her. She pried open the man's and woman's eyes, looking into them; she checked their pulses and stuck a finger in their mouths. She wasn't the first, it seemed, as the fingers of one of the courtesans were filthy with sick.

The man wasn't breathing; Maomao pressed on his solar plexus in an effort to disgorge the contents of his stomach. There was a hrrk, and spit came pouring out of his mouth. She grabbed at the sheets to wipe the inside of his mouth. Finally she slid him around and breathed into his mouth.