Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace

The border between the two countries was Enzhou, and it was located northeast of Youzhou, the place where the capital was.

According to Du, the two provinces were separated by a steep mountain range, and it was difficult for people to pass through. Direct routes were impossible, so they had to go through detours covering long distances.

“The farther it is, the more difficult it is to get information. It’s easy to hide crimes, so evildoers abound there”, Du said.

“I see. Is it the same as when I never knew about the trends in the capital when I was still in the borderland?”

Yui Mei agreed and gave an example, to which Du nodded.

“I think so. The results might be the same, but the reason behind should be different. The terrain of the borderlands are quite rough, making it difficult for people to pass through. But for the national borders, it’s not only the terrain that’s rough, there’s the danger of enemy soldiers hiding there, and they can get in the way of  information exchange.”

“That’s scary!”

Yui Mei couldn’t help but rub her arms when she heard what Du said. Yui Mei was born just right after the war, so she grew up in peaceful Japan. Even when she was living in the borderlands, she never felt any threat to her life.

‘Uwah, I’m so glad I grew up in the province, and not in the national borders!’

Yui Mei was grateful from the bottom of her heart. Having a threat to one’s own life was scary enough, but she also disliked danger to other people’s lives.

Apparently, Dong got involved in somebody else’s crisis and ended up losing his memories — that was Du’s theory.

“I want to know what is going on in the national borders. I’m thinking that perhaps that Dong guy might react if we let him listen to Xu’s lute.”

“I see, indeed, that’s possible.”

Yui Mei finally grasped Du’s intention, and she nodded in understanding.

It seemed that this situation would not end as a simple matter of helping Xu’s lovelife.

“But you see, I can’t bear to raise Xu’s hopes up if that Dong guy turns out to be somebody else who is unrelated to her. I don’t even know how to bring this up to her.”

Du expressed his worry.

“Yes, that’s true. Hmmm.”

Yui Mei hummed in thought.

They didn’t know if Dong was truly Xu’s lover, so they had to gloss over this when they talked about it with Xu.

Her feelings were currently twisted and cynical, so the possibility of her agreeing if they were to simply request her to play the lute was extremely low.

Yui Mei learned a lot of things today. Du confirmed that the prognosis of Xu’s rheumatism was good, so he went home.

It seemed that he would try to come up with a plan to encourage Xu.

Two days later —

“Hm~ work is going smoothly now that it isn’t stinky anymore.”

Yui Mei was in a great mood since she could finally proceed with cleaning the Jiaofang.

The building was breathtakingly beautiful, from its very shape down to its engravings.

Perhaps it had been built with the purpose of stirring the imagination of the actors and musicians so that they could produce masterpieces.

Faint music and songs were gently carried by the breeze, further lightening Yui Mei’s mood while she cleaned.

Soon enough, she was moving her rug to the rhythm of music while wiping the floor.

‘This is it! A life with music really is the best!’

If she could only do as she wished, she would sit right in front of them and listen with all her might from the front row.

That was the side of Yui Mei, this refined lady.

On the other hand, there had been an increase in the incidents of Jiaofang’s courtesans going on a rampage to the point that they couldn’t be handled anymore and had to be taken away.

It seemed the withdrawal symptoms of addiction to poppy juice had finally manifested.

Moreover, there were also people who secretly smoked the poppy juice that they had stashed away. They were also taken into custody by the personnel of the Ministry of Justice.

It was because of these that the number of courtesans had been largely reduced.

The numbers had already dwindled because of the winter influenza. If the number of courtesans was reduced further, wouldn’t that mean they would no longer be enough to liven the banquets?

‘Will there be replacements for the courtesans soon?’

Yui Mei mulled over this while cleaning earnestly.

“So you were here.”

Somebody called out from behind her, and when she turned around, Libin was standing there.

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