The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 6 (Light Novel)

you hate me so much?” he asked, his face now less like a wild dog and more like a puppy. Love, hate—some people wanted the world to be so black and white. Why wouldn’t he give her the choice of a gray area?

“I suppose I don’t hate you as such,” she said. She might even think of him favorably. Certainly, she regarded this noble more positively than she had back when they’d first met.

Jinshi pursed his lips, not very pleased with this evasive answer. Maybe he was hoping she would come right out and say she loved him, but quite frankly, Maomao wasn’t at a point where she could bring those words to her lips. The best she could manage was that she wasn’t without a certain affection for him.

Jinshi first heard this story when he was more than ten years old, after Gaoshun had seen him teasing Basen for trying to keep his distance from the ladies-in-waiting.

“Women are such fragile creatures,” Basen said. “I think it’s too soon for me.”

What could Jinshi say to that? There was nothing. Instead, he held out his cup, silently asking for more juice.

I’m not certain I can control my strength—but may I hit you?”

He didn’t want to relinquish the sensation that still lingered on his lips.

“Huh? What’s this about, mister? What’s going on?” Chou-u asked.
“Oh, I’d just like you to run a little errand for me. Take your time about it.”
Maomao’s eyes became dots.
“Wow! You’re the best, mister!”
“Yes...take all the time you like.”
“Chou-u!” Maomao exclaimed, but the little brat walked out of the shop as if to say his work here was done. She jumped up to follow him, but she felt a tingling along her spine.
“M-Master Jinshi...”
“Well, I’ll be! It really works.” He was smiling triumphantly. “And I’m not done paying you back.”
No young man had ever looked more mischievous than he did at that moment

Maomao smiled with a touch of bitterness: this young man and woman had fallen for each other at first sight, yet they discovered true love never did run as smooth as it did in the stories. But still, this wasn’t a bad outcome at all.

Lishu, it was declared, would spend one year in the nunnery, whereupon she would return to her home and family, stripped of her title of consort. However, her family would not be punished.
As for Basen, he would be granted anything (it was emphasized) he might wish. Be it an object or a person, so long as it was within the Emperor’s power to grant, he would have it. Nor need he decide hastily, the Emperor advised. Basen could wait to say what he wanted—up to a year.

And then there was Lishu whom Maomao had always taken to be shy and retiring around men, yet who had buried her face in Basen’s chest and cried. Maomao wasn’t so uncultivated as to not understand what that meant. Jinshi had quickly cleared everyone away and kindly waited until Lishu was done weeping. That had delayed Maomao in treating Basen, but the young man probably hadn’t been entirely unhappy about the situation.

“I’m afraid that’s not a question I can answer, sir—but perhaps you might consider that the man who broke both his legs, tore out all the fingernails on one hand, and dislocated his shoulder to save her merits a reward.”

“If there were to be a man suitable for Lishu, what kind of man would he be?”