29話 医局にて
太子宮で話をした翌日。
この日の仕事を終えた雨妹が訪れたのは、医局だった。
「こんにちはー」
「おう雨妹じゃねぇか」
雨妹が外から声をかけてから戸を開けると、中でなにかの草をすり潰していた医官の
「また湿布でも貰いに来たか?」
そしてそんなことを言ってくる。
実のところ雨妹は、他の宮女に頼まれて湿布を貰いにちょくちょく来ていたりする。
――なんか皆、医局って行きたがらないんだよね。
宮女は医者嫌いが多いらしい。
処方される薬が苦いせいもあるかもしれないが。
けれど今日の用事は湿布ではない。
を見せる。
「いいもん持って来たじゃねぇか、茶にするか」
子良は嬉しそうな顔で道具を置くと、いそいそとお茶を淹れる湯を沸かしに行く。
こうして二人でおやつタイムとなった。
「うめぇな、この麻花」
「そういやお前、大部屋追い出されたって本当か?」
医局にまで自分の噂が流れているとは、雨妹もとんだ有名人だ。
「はい、大部屋から個室へ移動しました」
「個室? 物置じゃなかったか?」
雨妹はこれで何度目かの引っ越しの顛末を話す。
「お前はなんつーか、相手からすると苛め甲斐がないだろうなぁ」
「相手の望む反応をしてやる義理はありませんから」
それを聞いて呆れ顔をする子良に、雨妹は麻花を口に放り込みながら返す。
普通にしていれば個室を貰える機会などずっと先だったはずなので、これぞまさしく棚ぼたであろう。
この後も世間話をしながら、持って来た麻花を食べ終えたところで。
「で? なんか厄介事か?」
子良にそう尋ねられる。
「なんです? いきなり」
「だってよお前、用事もなく医局に来ないだろう」
一度はしらばっくれてみせるも、ズバリと言われた雨妹は、軽く愛想笑いを浮かべた。
なかなか鋭い男である。
皇子について切り出す。
「はぁん、過敏症とはうまいこと言うな」
そして事のあらましを聞いた子良は、そんな感想を述べた。
――え、まず気にするのってそこなの?
病名に感心されるとは、もしやと思って雨妹は尋ねる。
「もしかしてこういった症状は、実態がそんなに知られていないんですか?」
この疑問に、子良は顎を撫でて「うーん」と唸る。
「小麦にかぶれるという事例はたまに聞くが、患者数となるとなぁ」
なんでも実状があまりよくわからないというより、病気の患者数の統計自体があやふやなものなのだそうだ。
に話を聞いたところ、小麦のアレルギー症状について知っていた。
「身体が弱い人は小麦にかぶれる」というくらいの認識だったが、そういう人には小麦を食べさせてはいけないと聞いているらしい。
「病気ではなく呪いと考えて、道士の所へ行く患者が結構いるからな」
どうやら患者が医者にかからないからのようだ。
ここでも道士が邪魔をしているらしい。
「そんでな、道士に傾倒する奴は田舎より都の方が多い。
人口が多い都での調査がままならないため、症状の解明も遅れているということか。
「田舎の方が、その手のことって信じやすい気がするんですけど」
山の神を崇めていたりと信心深い田舎の人より、都の人のほうが道士を信じるとは奇妙に思う。
だが確かに考えてみれば、辺境の村で道士をあまり見なかった。
たまに見ても、旅の道士が異国から帰って来て都へ向かうのに通り過ぎるくらい。
この謎の答えを、子良が教えてくれた。
「あいつらは所詮商売をしているんだぞ?
一方の子良は、雨妹が告げた原因食材について考えていた。
「それにしても卵と牛乳なぁ。
「基本的にお金持ちの限られた人しか、食べませんものね」
田舎で鶏や牛を飼っているならともかく、それ以外の人には高嶺の花な食材だ。
都住まいは道士に傾倒しがちとなれば、医者の耳に入りにくいのも道理である。
そしてそのせいで今、友仁皇子は理不尽な「呪い憑き」なんていう悪評を押し付けられている。
まだ幼い子供が、アレルギーというだけでそんな目に遭うようなことがあっていいはずがない。
「友仁皇子が呪いなんかじゃなくて、食物過敏症という体質なんだと証明してあげたいんです。
ため息交じりの子良の言葉に、雨妹はパアっと表情を明るくする。
「そうこなくっちゃ!」
こうして、敵地に乗り込むための仲間が増えた。
Chapter 29
It was the day after the discussion at the crown prince's palace.
Yui Mei visited the clinic after she finished her work for today.
"Hello!"
"Oh, if it isn't Yui Mei."
When Yui Mei opened the door after calling out, Doctor Ziliang was inside mashing some kind of grass. He turned his head towards her.
"Did you come to get a poultice again?"
He then said that.
As a matter of fact, Yui Mei frequently came to the clinic to get poultice at the request of the other court ladies.
'Seems like everyone doesn't like going to the medical office.'
A lot of court ladies seemed to dislike physicians.
Perhaps it was due to the bitterness of the prescribed medicines.
However, today's errand was not poultice.
After saying so, Yui Mei showed him the ma hua Mei Na made.
"Hey, you brought something good, shall we have some tea?"
Ziliang seemed pleased as he put away his tools, and he excitedly went to boil some water for brewing tea. In the meantime, Yui Mei cleaned up the messy table, and she placed the ma hua on a suitable plate.
In this way, it had become snack time for both of them.
"This ma hua is so delish."
"By the way, is it true that you were chased out of the lodging room?"
Unexpectedly, Yui Mei became a celebrity since rumors about her even reached the clinic.
"Yes, I moved out of the lodging room into a private room."
"Private room? Wasn't it a storeroom?"
With this, Yui Mei had recounted the details of her change in residence for innumerable times already.
"You are - how should I say this, well, from their point of view, bullying you is useless."
"I am not obligated to fulfill their wishes, after all."
Ziliang stared at her in amazement, and Yui Mei retorted as she tossed ma hua in her mouth.
Normally, it would take her a long time before she could obtain her own room, so she treated this event as godsent.
Afterwards, they engaged in small talk until all the ma hua she brought were gone.
"So? Do you have any troublesome matters?"
Ziliang asked her.
"What's up with saying that so suddenly?"
"After all, you don't come to the clinic unless you need something."
Although she had feigned ignorance once, Yui Mei easily smiled ingratiatingly after she was exposed.
Ziliang was a very sharp man.
Yui Mei then began to talk to Ziliang about Imperial Prince Youren.
"Hmm, hypersensitivity, huh. How excellent."
Ziliang expressed his impression after hearing the gist of it.
'Eh, should that be the first thing to be concerned about?'
To be impressed with the name of the disease - Yui Mei thought of a possibility, so she asked.
"Perhaps, these symptoms are not well known?"
Ziliang stroked his chin as he agreed to Yui Mei's doubts with a 'hmm".
"I occasionally heard about some cases who developed rashes after consuming wheat, but as for the number of patients..."
Rather than saying they didn't know the current situation, it seemed that the statistics for patients with this disease was vague.
Mei Na knew the symptoms of wheat allergy when Yui Mei asked her earlier at breakfast.
She knew that 'people with weak bodies will break out in hives if they eat wheat', but apparently, she also heard that they shouldn't give wheat to those people.
"A lot of patients considered it as a curse rather than an illness, so they would go to the Taoists priests."
Apparently, it was because patients did not depend on the physicians.
The Taoists priests were also interfering in this aspect.
"Aside from that, there are more devotees from the capital compared to the rural areas. Too many people did not know about it because of this."
The capital had a large population and they could not conduct surveys as they pleased, so elucidation of information was also delayed.
"I think those in the rural areas will believe those stuff more readily, though."
It was strange that although people from the countryside were more religious, even worshipping a mountain god, more people in the capital city were devotees of the Taoists priests.
However, now that she thought about it, she rarely saw Taoisits in remote villages.
Even if she did see them, they were travelling Taoists just passing by on their way to the capital from foreign countries.
This mystery was explained by Ziliang.
"Those guys are doing business, after all, you know? Since barter is the norm in the countryside, it won't make them money."
On the other hand, Ziliang was pondering about the ingredients that Yui Mei said were the cause.
"Even so, eggs and milk, huh. I won't pry on where and how you got that information of yours. Even if the symptoms are investigated, the people to be examined for these foods are too few."
"Basically, they are foods that can only be consumed by the wealthy, right."
Except for those who raised chickens and cows, these ingredients were beyond the reach of people in the countryside.
If the capital-based citizens became ardent devotees of Taoist, it was expected that physicians would have difficulty knowing about it.
And because of that, Imperial Prince Youren was forced to bear the outrageous notoriety of 'being cursed'.
A child shouldn't have to endure such misfortune just because of an allergy.
"I want to prove that Imperial Prince Youren is not cursed, and that he had a constitution that is hypersensitive to food. Doctor, please help me."
As Ziliang said so with a sigh, Yui Mei's countenance brightened up.
"That's the spirit!"
With this, her allies in entering the enemy territory increased.
Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace
百花宮のお掃除係～転生した新米宮女、後宮のお悩み解決します。
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/housekeeper-of-the-hundred-blossom-palace/
Fantasy Romance Shoujo Slice of Life
Adapted to Manga Ancient China Complex Family Relationships Different Social Status Female Protagonist Imperial Harem Love Interest Falls in Love First Reincarnated in Another World Royalty
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n4104ev/
黒辺あゆみ