It had always used to eat at him, but he had come to accept it. Yet outwardly, if in no other way, he was utterly exceptional. No matter how he strived, his aptitudes were hardly more than ordinary. What a great irony, then, that the one thing he truly wanted, he could not get. It might not sound very humble, but Jinshi was confident in his own looks if nothing else. Unwilling to rise to His Majesty’s bait, Jinshi held back a wry smile, instead offering one like that of a heavenly nymph-an expression that could have melted any heart he chose.
So, what are you going to do now, O groundskeeper of our garden of lovely blossoms? Jinshi couldn’t beat him in the facial hair department. Would it be rude of Jinshi to suggest he didn’t like it? But the beard looked very good on His Majesty. The Emperor stroked his beard and grinned. Although he was sitting with the most august personage in the nation, Jinshi had also been quite at his ease. The ruler leaned on his ivory-bedecked couch and poured grape wine into a glass vessel. Small, but with excellent visibility a mouse couldn’t have crawled in without them seeing it. They were in a particular pavilion in the outer court. A middle-aged ruler with a prodigious beard, who now nodded slowly. Across from him, a man reclined on a couch. He sees through Maomao’s façade and makes her a lady-in-waiting to none other than the Emperor’s favorite consort… so she can taste the lady’s food for poison! At her lady’s side, Maomao starts to learn about everything that goes on in the rear palace-not all of it seemly.Are you quite serious? Jinshi asked. That’s her secret, until she encounters a resident of the palace at least as perceptive as she is: the head eunuch, Jinshi. Though she looks ordinary, Maomao has a quick wit, a sharp mind, and an extensive knowledge of medicine. Maomao, an unassuming girl raised in an unassuming town by her apothecary father, never imagined the rear palace would have anything to do with her-until she was kidnapped and sold into service there.
In the East is a land ruled by an emperor, whose consorts and serving women live in a sprawling complex known as the hougong, the rear palace. Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (薬屋のひとりごと The Pharmacist's Monologue) is a Japanese light novel series written by Natsu Hyūga and illustrated by Touko Shino.
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