They stayed in the book repair room for a while. Tianyu was humming loudly, which got on Maomao’s nerves, but since she was probably doing the same thing, maybe she should take a long hard look at herself first.
Jinshi had disappeared at some point; maybe he still had work to do. That was frustrating to Maomao: She was left with the nuisance that was Tianyu, but without the crucial key that was Jinshi.
“All righty, everyone, what say we wrap it up?” Chue drawled. “Miss Chue hasn’t had her dinner yet!” Evidently she was done eating her candy, although she was still licking her lips. “The Moon Prince said he’ll call you again when there are more pages to see,” she assured them.
“Man, I’m hungry too,” Tianyu said as he and Maomao left the room.
“I’ll get a carriage ready,” said Chue.
“It’s all good. I’ve been sleeping in the medical office lately anyway.”
“At least get a fresh set of clothes,” Maomao urged him. If a physician didn’t maintain hygiene, what was the point?
“I know, I know,” Tianyu said. They watched him go, then Maomao headed back toward Jinshi’s office.
“What’s up?” Chue chirped.
“There’s something I’d like to check.”
“Yeppers, sounds good!” Chue went dutifully ahead of Maomao and said a few words to the guard outside the office door. Then she turned back. “Okie dokie, right this way!”
Maomao walked into Jinshi’s office for the second time that evening.
“What’s the matter?” asked Jinshi. He was, as she had suspected, still working. Basen and Hulan were already gone, although she didn’t know whether Baryou was still behind his curtain. There was a soldier to serve as guard, but it wasn’t Basen—Maomao didn’t know his name, but he was clearly someone Jinshi trusted.
Chue stood behind her.
“Nothing,” Maomao said, taking a close look at Jinshi’s expression. There was something that had been bugging her ever since she found out about the drug trials. “Master Jinshi. May I ask a question?”
“What is it?”
Jinshi noticed that Maomao was concerned about the people around them; he swept the room with a quick glance himself to see if there was anyone he needed to get out of there.
“Would you happen to be sick these days, Master Jinshi?”
“Do I look it?”
Maomao looked at him intently. “Your shortage of sleep is less acute than it used to be, but you continue to overwork yourself. You’re borrowing against your future health. Also, you still like to hurt yourself.”
“Was that last part really necessary?”
“It’s true, sir.”
She was sure the red flower brand must still be on his flank. It was her way of indicating that she was about to talk about something very secret—and Jinshi was clever enough to understand.
He raised a hand, and his guard withdrew, although he didn’t look very sure about it. Maomao suspected this meant that Baryou had already gone home as well.
“What about me?” Chue piped up.
“You too.”
“Goodness gracious! Well, enjoy yourselves!” She shuffled out of the room, looking dejected. The thought of the report she seemed likely to bring Suiren was frightening.
“All right, go ahead. And don’t beat around the bush.”
“Is someone in the Imperial family sick with some disease of the internal organs?”
“What makes you ask that?”
“The physicians, chiefly the palace’s own doctors, are actually conducting drug trials. They’re also getting the new physicians lots of surgical experience. Considering the scale of the endeavor, I have to think there’s some serious illness afoot.”
Jinshi set down the brush he had been holding. “Who else has noticed?”
“Didn’t you deliberately gather people who would keep their mouths shut even if they did?” Maomao thought back on the people who had been assembled for the selection exam. They were all folks who were exceptional even among the ranks of the physicians.
Well... Maybe not all of them.
Dr. Liu was probably keeping a very close eye on Tianyu.
Jinshi was quiet, considering his words. At that moment, there was a knock at the door.
“I thought I told everyone to clear out,” Jinshi said, somewhat mystified.
“I’ll go see who it is,” said Maomao. When she opened the door, she found the familiar, overworked face of Gaoshun, Chue peeking out from behind him.
“Miss Chue’s animal instincts told her that you just might want her father-in-law around,” she said, standing up ramrod straight in a most unusual pose. Even if she’d hurried to get Gaoshun, she’d brought him awfully quickly.
“I’m very sorry,” Gaoshun said. “She said Xiaomao was here with you, Moon Prince.”
“It’s all right. You’ve come at just the right moment—I have a question. Chue, you may withdraw.”
“What?”
Evidently she’d had every intention of sticking around, but Jinshi wasn’t going to let her. Gaoshun handed his daughter-in-law several snacks and sent her out the door.
Gaoshun and Baryou both handle Chue the same way.
An odd place to find similarity between father and son.
“Now, Gaoshun. Why did you come here?”
“I suspected that a clever person might deduce from the physicians’ recent activities that something was going on. And I thought this might be about the time Xiaomao would ask you about it.”
Maomao shivered to realize how thoroughly he had seen through her.
“Thinking that I might be more knowledgeable in the matter about which our little cat wishes to learn, I took the liberty of coming here myself.”
Specifically to explain things to me? Maomao tilted her head quizzically: That was awfully proactive for Gaoshun.
“At the Emperor’s orders?” Jinshi asked.
“No, sir. My own personal judgment.”
Jinshi grunted. “Very well.”
“In that case, let me begin with a question for Xiaomao. What were you about to ask the Moon Prince?”
“I was just asking Master Jinshi whether someone in the Imperial family is ill.”
Gaoshun referred to Jinshi as the Moon Prince: He had long ago ceased to be Jinshi’s direct servant and now served the Emperor personally.
“Might it be the Emperor who’s sick?” Maomao asked.
“Yes,” Gaoshun replied without hesitation.
I sort of suspected, but...
To actually hear it acknowledged weighed heavily on her.
“What is His Majesty’s current condition?”
“What do you suspect, Xiaomao?” Gaoshun asked, answering her question with a question.
“This is just my speculation...” she began.
“Your favorite expression,” Jinshi remarked. Maomao didn’t assume her opinion was an actual answer, however, so what else was she supposed to say? This was just her guess based on what she knew of the illness among the patients in the drug trial.
“My guess is that His Majesty has typhlitis. My reasoning is that at present, the court physicians are validating the effects of various drugs for the condition. And if it is typhlitis, I suspect it’s chronic.”
“What makes you say that?” asked not Gaoshun this time, but Jinshi.
“It takes time to verify the effects of a drug. If the condition were acute, it would be too late to be doing drug trials now. Or, the typhlitis appeared earlier in life and was cured, but there’s a risk of relapse—then it would be worth investigating.”
Gaoshun nodded. “It’s the latter. His Majesty had typhlitis once, but it was cured with drugs at the time.”
“So you’re saying that the same symptoms have been observed again?”
“Yes. I should know—I was his aide at the time.”
There was a weight to Gaoshun’s words.
If he was serving the Emperor, this must have been before Jinshi was appointed to oversee the rear palace.
Which was to say, before the throne had changed hands.
“When specifically did this happen?” Maomao asked.
“More than ten years ago. Even before that, His Majesty had chronic stomachaches, and at the time he also had nausea and occasional fevers. His attending physician diagnosed typhlitis due to stress and was able to calm the condition using boiled herbs and a change of diet.”
Typhlitis could be caused by a wide variety of factors, so it was hard to be certain that stress had been the reason. But if that was what the physician at the time had diagnosed, His Majesty must have been under enough stress that it had been impossible to miss.
“Do we know the source of the stress?” Maomao asked.
“It’s hard to be completely certain, but in his capacity as crown prince, His Majesty often argued with the mother of the former emperor—much more than with his father. I suspect that might have been the cause.”