The pounding sun was growing the slightest bit less intense; in this season, they could at least bear to work without rolling up their sleeves.
“Work’s been getting a little easier lately, huh?” Maomao said.
“Yes, so it has,” replied Dr. Li.
They were cleaning the break room together. It was normally not the kind of job someone of Dr. Li’s status would have bothered with, but in his newly muscled state, he would do anything for some exercise. He even went out of his way to move the beds and clean under them. He probably didn’t even care about cleaning—he was just here to work his muscles.
Work was “getting easier” because there were fewer fights among the soldiers. Maybe they had once again begun to recognize that the freak strategist was their common foe, or maybe their superiors had given them the evil eye.
Or maybe something that was causing the problem has been cleared up? Maomao thought. Whatever it was, she was grateful. Was Jinshi or someone like him responsible for taking care of it?
Boy, but the break room sure did get dirty fast. In addition to sometimes having injured or sick people rest there, the physicians used it to take naps. That was all well and good, but not so much the sticks left over from late-night snacks of meat skewers, or—she couldn’t believe she was finding this—a naughty book that had clearly been passed around.
I remember using these as textbooks in the rear palace, she thought, thumbing through the pages and then leaving it on the table. If the book had an owner, he would presumably take it home with him; and if it didn’t, well, someone might still take it home; and if no one claimed it, they would dispose of it.
“Whatcha got there? A little personal reading, Niangniang?”
Maomao involuntarily backed away from the voice. There was only one person who called her Niangniang.
“Yes, Dr. Tianyu? Can I help you?” she said.
“I never took you for the kind to read stuff like that, Niangniang.” He was thrilled to have found something to tease her about, but unfortunately for him, he didn’t realize that Dr. Li was standing right behind him.
“One of the physicians forgot it here,” Dr. Li said.
“Eeyikes!”
“‘Eeyikes,’ indeed! What kind of greeting is that?”
Tianyu’s face tensed when he saw Dr. Li, who was already preparing to bring down his knuckle.
“What’re you doing here, anyway? What happened to doing your work?” the doctor said.
“I did my work! Really, I swear I have a good reason to be here, so maybe we could skip the knuckle for today?” Tianyu clasped his head and tried to make himself as small as possible. He took most things in stride (The wind is no enemy of the willow tree, as the proverb went), but Maomao was tickled to find out that even he had a natural predator.
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