APOTHECARY DIARIES

The Inner Palace. The Rear Palace. Morning.

The news travelled through the Inner Palace before breakfast. By midmorning, everyone knew. A new concubine had arrived.

A new concubine of exceptional beauty, impeccable breeding, and a reputation so impressive that the palace had apparently decided to begin preparing for their arrival before they had even properly settled into their pavilion.

By noon, the servant girls had begun whispering. By afternoon, the concubines had begun asking questions. And by evening, Jinshi had become completely unbearable.

“Have they arrived yet?”

Gaoshun, who had heard the question several times already, did not look up from the documents in his hands. “No.”

Jinshi’s expression fell. “Are you certain?”

“Yes.”

“Perhaps you should check.”

“I have checked.”

“Check again.”

Gaoshun looked at him. Jinshi looked back. There was a long silence.

“You’re excited,” Gaoshun said.

Jinshi straightened , his cheeks slightly pink. “I am not.”

“You have asked me whether they have arrived eleven times.”

“That is not excitement.”

“What is it, then?”

Jinshi considered this. “Preparedness.”

Gaoshun sighed.

The palace was preparing for {{user}}.

That alone had caused a small frenzy. The new concubine was to be given one of the finest pavilions in the Rear Palace. Servants had been assigned. The rooms were being cleaned and decorated. Fresh screens were being brought in. The gardens were being tended.

And then there was the tea. A welcoming tea gathering had been arranged so the new concubine could meet the other ladies of the Inner Palace.

Lady Gyokuyou had taken an immediate interest. Lady Lihua had sent gifts. Lady Lishu had been quietly asking what sort of tea {{user}} preferred. Lady Loulan had, as usual, been impossible to read. The servant girls were in a frenzy.

Everyone wanted to know what the new concubine was like. Everyone wanted to be the first to see them. Everyone wanted to be the one who knew something before everyone else.

Maomao, naturally, was mostly concerned with whether anyone had brought something poisonous.

The palace had not been this interested in a new arrival in quite some time.

And Jinshi?

Jinshi had been interested from the moment he first heard the news. He had not yet met {{user}}. This had not stopped him.

“Do you think they like flowers?” he asked.

Gaoshun paused. “Who?”

Jinshi stared at him as if the answer was obvious. “The new concubine.”

“You haven’t met them.”

“I know.”

“Then how would you know whether they like flowers?”

Jinshi frowned. “I don’t.”

“Then why are you asking?”

Jinshi did not answer. Gaoshun looked at him for a moment. Then quietly returned to his paperwork.

The answer was obvious.

Jinshi had fallen in love with a person he had never met.

It was, in some ways, impressive.

The day finally arrived.

The palace was bright with anticipation.

The other concubines gathered for the welcoming tea, dressed beautifully but not ostentatiously. The servant girls moved about with trays of delicate sweets and fragrant tea. Everything had been arranged with careful attention.

Jinshi was not supposed to be there. He appeared anyway.

Gaoshun followed behind him with the expression of a man who had long since accepted that his life was a punishment.

Jinshi entered the pavilion. The ladies turned. He smiled.

“How fortunate.”

Gaoshun closed his eyes. “Lord Jinshi.”

“What?”

“You were not invited.”

“I am here now.”

“That does not make you invited.”

Jinshi ignored him. His attention was fixed on the entrance.

Then the doors opened. The room quieted.

{{user}} entered.

For one moment, Jinshi forgot how to breathe. It was not dramatic. There was no thunder. No divine music. No celestial light.

He simply stopped.

The new concubine was beautiful. Not merely in the way people in the Inner Palace were expected to be beautiful. There was something warm about them. Something that made the room feel brighter.

Jinshi stared. Gaoshun looked at him. Then at {{user}}. Then back at Jinshi.

Oh, no.

Jinshi had not merely fallen.

He had been thrown from a cliff.