I don’t think that’s the only danger.
“I think they might try to set you up with a pretty member of their family,” Maomao said.
Jinshi glared at her and said nothing.
“Don’t worry, sir. There’s no one in this world more beautiful than the moon.”
“Oh, please.” he gave her a wry smile. In the past, he might have gotten angry at her for saying such a thing, or at least annoyed, but today, it seemed, was different. And now the time had come for Maomao to ask Jinshi about the real matter at hand.
“When does the hunt begin?”
“In an hour. They won’t be serving lunch, so you can just wait here in the tent and relax.”
“May I not be part of the proceedings?”
“What? This is a hunt we’re talking about. Can you even shoot a bow?”
“Of course not. But what if somebody gets poisoned? Think of the risk!” Maomao’s eyes were shining.
Jinshi gave her a doubtful look. “Don’t tell me...you believed that story about the poisonous birds.”
“Everyone needs some dreams and romance to get them through life.” This was Maomao’s roundabout way of saying that yes, she had.
“Dreams and romance? Not words I usually hear from you.”
Slightly bemused, Jinshi took a bite of fruit. It appeared to be sugared peach with crushed ice. Unlike the last time they had gone out to beat the heat, this time Jinshi was accompanied by two highly capable ladies, Suiren and Taomei, so he wouldn’t want for decent food.
I guess no women are going to be creeping in here in the middle of the night with these two around.
Plus, Hulan seemed likely to be a dab hand at dealing with sneaks like that.
“The legendary birds are just that—rumors, stories. Don’t be too upset if we don’t find any.”
“I’ll search for even a single feather, sir!” She was ready to crawl with her nose to the ground if she had to.
“My, but you are persistent, Maomao!” Suiren put some stewed peaches in front of her. Jinshi gave her the signal to eat, so she gratefully picked up her spoon. The soft fruit was sweet and delicious.
“I’ve learned something about the thing you asked me to investigate. It was such an old matter that it took some time.”
“What did you find out?” Maomao asked, setting the spoon down.
Jinshi glanced around. Taking his meaning, Suiren ushered Hulan out the room, and Taomei did the same with Basen.
“What? I can’t stay?” Hulan looked studiously innocent. Maomao was perfectly eager to get him out of there. His cute-kid act only made her angrier.
“Me, neither?” Basen asked.
“You need to keep Hulan in check,” Taomei said.
“Yes, ma’am.” Basen didn’t look very happy about it, but he wasn’t about to disobey his mother’s orders.
Once they were both gone, Jinshi finally began to speak.
“The owner’s real name isn’t left to us,” Jinshi began. “But I can surmise that it seems to have belonged to an Imperial family member known as Kada.”
“Kada...”
There was a name Maomao knew.
“I see you recognize it. I hear he’s quite famous among the physicians.”
“He was a legendary doctor himself,” Maomao said.
“Correct. However, among the Imperial family he’s known for something else entirely. The story goes that he’s a former Imperial family member who was punished for breaking a taboo. I believe you know that too.”
Maomao saw what Jinshi was getting at. Yes, she’d heard this story before.
“Yes, sir.”
“Tell me what kind of person he was,” Jinshi said.
Maomao took a deep breath. “As well as being a member of the Imperial family, he was also an accomplished physician, so gifted that he was called by the name of a legendary doctor. He was always seeking new techniques. But he did an autopsy on the corpse of, of all people, the prince whom the emperor at that time loved most of all.”
Jinshi nodded.
“That couldn’t be allowed even if he was part of the Imperial family, so he was punished, and his name stricken from the records. I’m told that’s the reason that doctors are forbidden from performing autopsies even now.”
“That’s right.”
“The jade tablet belonged to this Kada, yes?”
“That’s right.”
Maomao squeezed her eyes shut. That would certainly be reason enough to deface the tablet. The physicians performed autopsies only on criminals, and then only in secret, because it was believed that if a corpse was disfigured, its former owner could not be reborn.
Even though once you die, your body is just a lump of meat.
She doubted the emperor at that time was capable of being so magnanimous in his view.
“The fact that we have this jade now means that Kada must have given it to someone during his lifetime,” Jinshi said.
“So it would seem, sir.”
“And the only person he would have been likely to give it to would be...”
“The woman carrying his child.” Maomao scratched her head.
“Maomao.”
“Yes?”
“Kada lived generations ago. I don’t believe His Majesty would punish his descendants now.”
“That’s what I’m trusting, sir.”
“However, if someone is trying to get their hands on this tablet, that’s a problem.”
Joka had consulted with Maomao for her own safety, specifically because she thought someone was trying to steal the jade tablet.
“Its former owner threw it away,” Maomao said as firmly as she could. She felt she had to say it out loud.
“That owner was a woman, yes?” Jinshi asked.
Maomao hadn’t said a word about that. Jinshi really had looked into the owner’s identity, even though Maomao had never given him a name. That would explain the increased guard presence at the Verdigris House.
“But what would someone do with a broken jade tablet bearing the name of someone who was stricken from the records?” she asked.
“Establish a pretext.”
“That sounds like something from a stage play.”
“Countries sometimes rise—and sometimes fall—for reasons as ridiculous as those in any play.” Jinshi was deadly serious.
They could never let Hulan or Basen hear them talking like this. There was no telling what Hulan might take it upon himself to do, while Basen totally lacked any ability to prudently conceal the truth.
“There have been times in history when an empress dowager’s lover has tried to help the country flourish, or eunuchs have attempted to set up their own state,” Jinshi said.
“Tried. Attempted. In other words, they ended in civil war.”
“Once in a blue moon, it works.”
“I knew I never liked history.”
Jinshi had a distant look in his eyes. There must be many history books full of such absurd tales.
“Moon Prince?” Maomao said.
“Yes?”
Maomao knew she couldn’t call him Jinshi in front of Taomei, but he didn’t appear to like it very much.
“About this descendant of Kada’s.” Maomao pondered what exactly to do.
I know about another of his descendants.
It was Tianyu. She didn’t specifically care what happened to him, but she didn’t want to get Dr. Liu or Dr. You in trouble because of anything she said.
But still...
Under the circumstances, she had to tell Jinshi.
“Do you remember a physician named Tianyu?”
“I do. A young man with a...quirky streak, yes?”
So Jinshi did remember him. He took some peach on his spoon and put it into his mouth.