Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace

It was the day after the discussion at the crown prince’s palace.

Yui Mei visited the clinic after she finished her work for today.

“Hello!”

“Oh, if it isn’t Yui Mei.”

When Yui Mei opened the door after calling out, Doctor Ziliang was inside mashing some kind of grass. He turned his head towards her.

“Did you come to get a poultice again?”

He then said that.

As a matter of fact, Yui Mei frequently came to the clinic to get poultice at the request of the other court ladies.

‘Seems like everyone doesn’t like going to the medical office.’

A lot of court ladies seemed to dislike physicians.

Perhaps it was due to the bitterness of the prescribed medicines.

However, today’s errand was not poultice.

“Nope. I came to play and I bought some snacks.”

After saying so, Yui Mei showed him the ma hua Mei Na made.

“Hey, you brought something good, shall we have some tea?”

Ziliang seemed pleased as he put away his tools, and he excitedly went to boil some water for brewing tea. In the meantime, Yui Mei cleaned up the messy table, and she placed the ma hua on a suitable plate.

In this way, it had become snack time for both of them.

“This ma hua is so delish.”

“Right? Mei Na’s ma hua is a masterpiece.”

“By the way, is it true that you were chased out of the lodging room?”

Unexpectedly, Yui Mei became a celebrity since rumors about her even reached the clinic.

“Yes, I moved out of the lodging room into a private room.”

Yui Mei casually said that, so Ziliang was puzzled.

“Private room? Wasn’t it a storeroom?”

“Well, you see…”

With this, Yui Mei had recounted the details of her change in residence for innumerable times already.

“You are – how should I say this, well, from their point of view, bullying you is useless.”

“I am not obligated to fulfill their wishes, after all.”

Ziliang stared at her in amazement, and Yui Mei retorted as she tossed ma hua in her mouth.

Normally, it would take her a long time before she could obtain her own room, so she treated this event as godsent.

Afterwards, they engaged in small talk until all the ma hua she brought were gone.

“So? Do you have any troublesome matters?”

Ziliang asked her.

“What’s up with saying that so suddenly?”

“After all, you don’t come to the clinic unless you need something.”

Although she had feigned ignorance once, Yui Mei easily smiled ingratiatingly after she was exposed.

Ziliang was a very sharp man.

“Actually…”

Yui Mei then began to talk to Ziliang about Imperial Prince Youren.

“Hmm, hypersensitivity, huh. How excellent.”

Ziliang expressed his impression after hearing the gist of it.

‘Eh, should that be the first thing to be concerned about?’

To be impressed with the name of the disease – Yui Mei thought of a possibility, so she asked.

“Perhaps, these symptoms are not well known?”

Ziliang stroked his chin as he agreed to Yui Mei’s doubts with a ‘hmm”.

“I occasionally heard about some cases who developed rashes after consuming wheat, but as for the number of patients…”

Rather than saying they didn’t know the current situation, it seemed that the statistics for patients with this disease was vague.

Mei Na knew the symptoms of wheat allergy when Yui Mei asked her earlier at breakfast.

She knew that ‘people with weak bodies will break out in hives if they eat wheat’, but apparently, she also heard that they shouldn’t give wheat to those people.

“A lot of patients considered it as a curse rather than an illness, so they would go to the Taoists priests.”

Apparently, it was because patients did not depend on the physicians.

The Taoists priests were also interfering in this aspect.

“Aside from that, there are more devotees from the capital compared to the rural areas. Too many people did not know about it because of this.”

The capital had a large population and they could not conduct surveys as they pleased, so elucidation of information was also delayed.

However, Yui Mei had an uneasy feeling about this conversation.

“I think those in the rural areas will believe those stuff more readily, though.”

It was strange that although people from the countryside were more religious, even worshipping a mountain god, more people in the capital city were devotees of the Taoists priests.

However, now that she thought about it, she rarely saw Taoisits in remote villages.

Even if she did see them, they were travelling Taoists just passing by on their way to the capital from foreign countries.

‘I wonder why?’

This mystery was explained by Ziliang.

“Those guys are doing business, after all, you know? Since barter is the norm in the countryside, it won’t make them money.”

Understanding dawned on Yui Mei.

On the other hand, Ziliang was pondering about the ingredients that Yui Mei said were the cause.

“Even so, eggs and milk, huh. I won’t pry on where and how you got that information of yours. Even if the symptoms are investigated, the people to be examined for these foods are too few.”

“Basically, they are foods that can only be consumed by the wealthy, right.”

Except for those who raised chickens and cows, these ingredients were beyond the reach of people in the countryside.

Moreover, wealthy people lived in the capital.

If the capital-based citizens became ardent devotees of Taoist, it was expected that physicians would have difficulty knowing about it.

And because of that, Imperial Prince Youren was forced to bear the outrageous notoriety of ‘being cursed’.

A child shouldn’t have to endure such misfortune just because of an allergy.

Yui Mei stared straightforwardly at Ziliang.

“I want to prove that Imperial Prince Youren is not cursed, and that he had a constitution that is hypersensitive to food. Doctor, please help me.”

Ziliang remained silent for a short while, before scratching his head.

“…Well, I do owe you one. Well, it’s fine.”

As Ziliang said so with a sigh, Yui Mei’s countenance brightened up.

“That’s the spirit!”

With this, her allies in entering the enemy territory increased.

——————

T/N:  Early chap again, guys. My schedule for this month posts is out of order, thanks for bearing with me ?

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