Ying Yang began by asking her mother and her Ayi whether the toothbrushes and tooth powders were any good.
The two beauties obligingly declared that they were excellent. How could something favored by both Mu Taihou and Dawang possibly be bad?
Her mother went on to admonish her. She would let the matter pass this time, but in future Ying Yang ought to spend less time on such artisans’ work.
Ying Yang lowered her eyes obediently and counted to three hundred in her head. Then she muttered that she was hungry and fled like a wisp of smoke.
Once outside, she wandered toward the medicine room.
It had not originally been called that. Formerly, it was simply a storeroom for fragrant herbs, incense braziers, and other everyday odds and ends. Since Ying Yang had commandeered it, however, the attendants had taken to calling it the Gongzhu’s little medicine room. They had even set aside a corner and built a stove there for firing bamboo salt.
By the time Ying Yang arrived, everyone inside was bustling with work.
She had promised to send toothbrushes and tooth powders to her assorted brothers and sisters. Originally, she had planned to make a perfunctory effort: sort the powders from her first batch, package them up, and send each sibling a jar or two. That would be enough to preserve appearances.
Her mother had forbidden it. She could not be so stingy; she must make the gifts properly, prepare several varieties, and include something expensive.
“Huh?”
Ying Yang swept her gaze around the room. Everyone had a different task, and production was proceeding in perfect order.
“The beginnings of an assembly line? Who organized this?”
A thin, slender eunuch answered shyly, “This servant’s family once served as government artisans. I happened to tell A-Liao A-Jie how craftsmen divided their work in the workshops. A-Liao A-Jie then assigned everyone to a station according to how well they had performed their previous tasks. Each person is responsible only for their own work and need not concern themselves with the rest. If anyone discovers a mistake, they report it to me or to A-Liao A-Jie.”
Ying Yang had almost forgotten: Duan Lun had actually seen the assembly-line system used by Qin artisans.
But—
“A-Liao A-Jie?” She raised her eyebrows. “I remember you’re older than A-Liao.”
Duan Lun smiled apologetically. “A-Liao A-Jie oversees all of us. It would be improper for this humble servant to address her directly by name.”
“Mm. Little things like that are for you to settle among yourselves.” Ying Yang waved a hand. “A-Liao, take some tooth powder to the elderly attendants serving A-Mu and Ayi.”
A-Liao bowed. “Wei.”
“And we can’t give things only to other people. You’re the ones closest to me; you ought to have a share of the new things as well. A-Liao, take six jars of bamboo-salt tooth powder. Those who don’t receive any can use tender willow twigs to clean their teeth.”
Duan Lun barely managed to hold his smile in place.
Don’t be impatient. Don’t be impatient. One day, sooner or later, the Gongzhu will recognize my worth!
Ying Yang stood still for a moment, considering whether she had forgotten any instructions.
There was indeed one more thing.
“A-Fu rewarded me with a hundred thousand coins. All of you contributed to earning that money, so I’ll reward you with twenty thousand of them!”
“Many thanks, Gongzhu!”
“The Gongzhu is benevolent!”
“The Gongzhu is so good to us!”
In an instant, delight seemed to overflow from the medicine room into the surrounding corridors.
A windfall from Heaven!
True, once twenty thousand coins were divided among everyone, each person’s share was not particularly large. But unexpected money was always a joyous surprise.
For the low-ranking maids and eunuchs, even one or two hundred coins could buy grain, salt, or meat to improve their meals; hemp cloth, clothing, or shoes to make themselves presentable; or something to save for gifts or send to relatives outside the palace.
[Ding! Popularity points received…]
Ying Yang departed amid a great surge of popularity points.
She left so quickly that she missed the favorable reviews.
…
“A-Mu, money for you!”
With magnificent generosity, Ying Yang slapped a willow-wood tally inscribed FORTY THOUSAND onto the lacquered table. Then she produced another, bearing the words THIRTY THOUSAND, and pushed it toward Xia Changjun.
“Ayi, you get some too.”
The characters on the smooth, square pieces of willow wood were crooked and uneven. Looking at them, Xia Xianshi felt an urge to laugh—and, inexplicably, a rush of emotion. The warmth seemed to soften her entire body, and her heart along with it.
“You child…” she scolded gently.
She paused, swallowed the catch in her throat, and continued, “Why have you given your Ayi only thirty thousand?”
Xia Changjun hurriedly nudged her younger cousin.
“A-Shi, there you go again. The child is showing filial devotion. Instead of praising her, why are you finding fault? You’re her own mother. If she didn’t give you more, that would mean she couldn’t distinguish between those close to her and those further away! I’m receiving a share only because of you.”
Of course Xia Xianshi understood perfectly well.
She had merely been smoothing over the situation.
Ah, the world of adults~
Xia Xianshi gave a little snort.
“A-Jie, go on spoiling her, then! She’s so young, yet she already knows how to hide away private money!”
Although the hundred thousand coins had been bestowed upon Ying Yang by the Qin king, she was not yet grown. She had little property under her own control. Even if she did possess assets, they were held by her guardian—her birth mother—and she needed her mother’s permission to spend them.
Naturally, Xia Xianshi already knew that Ying Yang had awarded twenty thousand coins to the attendants.
“Consider the ten thousand you’ve hidden away a gift from your Ayi,” Xia Xianshi said. “And I’ll give you another ten thousand myself.”
An unexpected delight!
“Thank you, A-Mu! Thank you, Ayi!”
Ying Yang clasped her hands and bowed enthusiastically in every direction.
Watching her eyes narrow with delight and her face light up over a mere twenty thousand coins, the two noblewomen of the Xia family laughed until they rocked back and forth.
“Just like a little monkey!”
Ying Yang chuckled.
The three of them—mother, daughter, and Ayi—joked together for a while. Then Xia Changjun yawned.
Xia Xianshi immediately grew concerned.
“A-Jie, have you exhausted yourself preparing for the sacrifices? Shall we summon a Taiyi to examine you?”
Ying Yang said, “Ayi should find a trustworthy physician to check how the pregnancy is progressing.”
Xia Changjun gave a weary smile.
“I’ve written to my family, asking them to find a woman physician of excellent skill and good character. They’ve already selected someone. In a few days, I’ll summon her to the palace…”
A maid quietly announced that she had something to report.
After entering, she whispered for a moment to Xia Changjun’s Fumu, Shui Shi. Shui Shi then bent to speak into Xia Changjun’s ear.
At first, surprise crossed Xia Changjun’s face. Then she frowned.
“She’s in such a hurry to enter the palace?”
Shui Shi murmured several words in reply.
Ying Yang caught only fragments—“Shaoyang Jun,” “coercion,” and a few other scattered words. Her curiosity was thoroughly aroused, and she leaned farther and farther forward.
“Sit up straight!” Xia Xianshi said, setting her daughter upright.
Xia Changjun, who had been reclining against an armrest, sat erect and said coolly, “Summon her.”
After a moment’s thought, fearing that someone might interfere, she instructed Fumu Shui Shi to go and escort the visitor in person.
Once Shui Shi had withdrawn, Xia Changjun announced that she would be receiving a guest shortly and needed to change her clothes.
Ying Yang assumed this was a polite way of dismissing her. Disappointed, she nevertheless prepared to take her leave.
But Xia Changjun asked whether she would like to meet the guest as well.
Now Ying Yang hesitated.
“Me? Ayi, aren’t you going to interview the woman physician? I don’t understand medicine…”
Xia Xianshi supported her daughter.
“Exactly, A-Jie. What would a little child know?”
Xia Changjun was silent for a moment.
“Dawang does not regard Yangzi as an ordinary child. Neither do I.”
She said only that, offering no further explanation.
There were too many eyes and ears around them. Some things could not be spoken too plainly; they had to remain within the heart.
Xia Changjun had been granted the rank of Furen despite having borne no children. Her beauty and her descent from the Xia family were part of the reason, but the more important cause was an instinctive acuity in judging people.
Within a short time of meeting someone, she could discern the broad outlines of their character, what they liked and disliked. More remarkably still, she could vaguely sense the fields in which a person possessed particular ability.
Wu Niang was very young and ought to have been ignorant. Yet in reality, Wu Niang knew a great many things. Her little head contained knowledge that even adults could not comprehend.
Strange things. Novel things. Useful things.
In her heart, Xia Changjun believed Wu Niang possessed something divine—or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that she *wanted* to believe it.
Without drawing attention to the gesture, she gently stroked her belly.
“Yangzi need only sit to one side, eat, drink, and amuse herself,” she said with a smile. “If you have something to say, you may say it directly. Or you may quietly remember it and tell me in private afterward.”
Ying Yang immediately made an *OK* sign with her fingers.
Seeing the bewilderment in her Ayi’s eyes, she hastily changed it to a verbal, “All right, all right!”
One shichen later, the woman physician Gongcheng Zhu requested an audience.
Author’s Note
Chunyu Yi, the father of Tiying, was a famous master physician. One of his teachers was named Gongcheng Yangqing.
At this point in the timeline, Chunyu Yi would be far too young—around ten years old—so I chose *Gongcheng* as the surname of a supporting character.
Before Chunyu Yi, medical knowledge and practice were generally passed down within families, sometimes to a single successor. Chunyu Yi broke with that convention by accepting many disciples.
*Ahem.* But he still had the limitations of a man of his age. He was always bitterly regretful that he had no sons, saying that daughters were useless. _(:з」∠)_
Later, when he committed an offense and faced corporal punishment, his daughter Tiying accompanied him all the way from Linzi to Xi’an. She sought connections and submitted a petition to Han Wendi, pleading for mercy. In the end, she moved Wendy’s heart~
Mm. I wonder whether Chunyu Yi ever changed his mind.
Translator’s Notes
– Gongcheng Zhu / Gongcheng Yangqing: Gongcheng is used as a personal surname here. It can also occur as an ancient rank, but in these names it is not a title.
– Fumu: A senior female caretaker or nurse.
– Wei (唯): A respectful affirmative response.
– Shichen: A unit of time during of this era, approximately two modern hours.
– Tiying and Chunyu Yi: Figures from early Han historical tradition. The author’s “Wendy” is a playful nickname for Han Wendi.