Chapter 6 – Missing Medicinal Materials
Lady Im understood the importance of the matter and changed the subject, speaking about the upcoming birthday banquet for the Dowager Grand Lady Huang.
The Dowager Grand Lady Huang’s second son, Huang Xiqing, served as the Minister of the Imperial Ancestral Temple—an official of the third rank responsible for state rituals and ceremonies.
Huang Xiqing also held a special connection to the Deng family. In earlier days, when Deng Wol had been merely a minor military officer at a border garrison, it was Huang Xiqing who twice recommended him for promotion. Thanks to those recommendations, Deng Wol had been dispatched to the front, earned successive merits, and eventually risen to his present position. All of it owed something to that patronage.
Because the Dowager Grand Lady Huang was a native of Jin Prefecture and Huang Xiqing had once acted as a benefactor—someone with the eye of a true talent scout—Deng Wol always addressed him respectfully as “teacher” whenever they met.
Huang Xiqing now served in the capital and could not return home for his mother’s birthday, but that did not mean the Deng household could absent itself from the banquet. Lady Im had already selected several gifts for the Dowager Grand Lady and instructed Deng Wol to choose one and send it in time for the celebration.
Lady Im asked Deng Wol,
“Will you accompany us as well?”
The banquet was only a few days away. Had Deng Wol still been away, it would have been understandable—but since he had returned home, how could he neglect to show his face?
He replied readily,
“Then I will have Madam Dam accompany you.”
On such an important occasion, the presence of more representatives signified greater respect for the host. Mother and son discussed a few further details, and time passed swiftly.
Originally, Dam Yeon ought to have arrived by now. Deng Wol glanced outside a couple of times, but there was no sign of her.
“Has the lady not arrived yet?” he asked.
Maid Wei stepped forward.
“Perhaps she is still on her way. I will send someone to fetch her immediately.”
With that, she left to give instructions.
Deng Wol defended his wife to Lady Im.
“She must have been delayed by something on the way.”
Lady Im regarded it as nothing of consequence.
After leaving the room, Maid Wei called a young servant girl over. The girl assumed she would be told to fetch the lady, but to her surprise, Maid Wei said instead:
“Lady Im will soon be served tea. The tea leaves in the room are nearly gone—go to the storehouse and bring some more.”
The young servant blinked in confusion. Why send her for tea leaves instead of summoning the lady? When she looked up, she met Maid Wei’s stern and piercing gaze.
How could the child dare question the order? She quickly agreed and hurried away.
A tea’s worth of time passed, yet Dam Yeon still did not appear. Instead, the young servant returned—the one Maid Wei had dispatched.
Maid Wei stepped outside and questioned the girl briefly, then came back inside with news.
“Lady Dam remains at Youming Pavilion and has not stepped beyond the door. She says she has been feeling unwell since this morning and cannot come.”
Upon hearing this, Deng Wol’s brows lifted.
It was one thing if they could not dine together—but why had she not sent word in advance? Only after they dispatched someone to inquire had she replied.
Deng Wol found no words. Seeing that Lady Im seemed unconcerned, he ordered the meal to be served.
“Then there is no need to wait any longer.”
Youming Pavilion lay in the northwestern part of the Deng estate. Though smaller than the main residence, it had an adjoining side chamber.
This side chamber—hidden from view by walls and vegetation—was connected to the neglected rear chamber through a secret passage accessible by a concealed door.
Dam Yeon had turned this chamber into a pharmaceutical workshop called Jade Nurturing Hall, a name she had reserved for the day she might open her own apothecary.
She wished to preserve the tradition of medicine during her stay with the Deng family. Lady Im had granted permission to use the space as a private workshop.
There was, however, one condition: no outsider—including Deng Wol—was to know of it. What respectable wife would openly work with herbs as though supporting her household?
After Nurse Su confirmed that all was quiet outside, Dam Yeon entered the workshop to prepare medicine. But fearing discovery and the lingering scent of herbs, she never stayed long.
When she could not work, she took solace in reading—yet even that was difficult. Upon her marriage, Maid Wei had openly remarked before others that Dam Yeon was a “country girl who scarcely knew letters,” so she was forced to read in secret.
Nurse Su suggested a walk. The morning clouds had dispersed, and sunlight streamed through the sky. The oppressive heat of summer had faded, leaving only a gentle warmth—ideal weather for strolling.
After a moment’s thought, Dam Yeon agreed and walked a few steps through the garden with Nurse Su. There they unexpectedly encountered the place where servants were drying medicinal materials.
Lady Im possessed a dedicated storehouse for herbs, but it was seldom opened; today, however, its contents had been brought out to dry.
Servants busied themselves sorting the materials—some laid in the sun, others placed in the shade to air out.
The head of the herb storehouse was a maid named Bai Sun. Dam Yeon had heard of her—people said she was the most upright servant in the household.
As Bai Sun inspected the newly removed herbs, the other maids merely bowed perfunctorily when they saw Dam Yeon. But Bai Sun set aside her work and approached to pay proper respects.
“Madam, have you been well?”
Dam Yeon hurried to support her.
“I only intended to look around.”
Since the herb storehouse existed for the family’s benefit, there was no reason the lady of the house could not observe it.
Sensing her interest, Bai Sun led her a few steps forward.
“Lady Im prefers to keep fine herbs on hand. Last month she even asked Madam Yang to purchase a box of premium Dendrobium officinale from the Jiangzhe region.”
She gestured toward a wooden table. Dam Yeon turned and saw a box of dried Dendrobium—rolled into tight spiral bundles known as Feng Dou. The herbs were a deep bronze color, covered in fine downy fibers.
Dam Yeon recognized at a glance that they were no ordinary materials. In her family’s prosperous days, the apothecary had occasionally stocked herbs of such quality.
She could not help staring for a long moment.
Bai Sun spoke only a few more words before being summoned away by another servant.
Dam Yeon and Nurse Su continued to look around. The storehouse contained many rare materials beyond the Dendrobium, some of which Dam Yeon had never seen.
Yet however precious they were, they belonged to the Deng household. After a brief inspection, she was satisfied and returned to Youming Pavilion before evening fell.
Deng Wol still had not returned.
By dusk, darkness spread and clouds gathered. A strong wind swept through the courtyard, scattering dust and stones.
The autumn chill rose with the breeze, hurling sand against the window lattice.
Dam Yeon had just picked up a book when she hurried to close the window. Nurse Su soon entered with a pale expression.
“I heard the servants talking—someone says medicinal materials are missing from the storehouse. Maid Wei has sent people searching for them… Madam, surely this has nothing to do with us?”
Dam Yeon paused, then returned to her book.
“Of course it has nothing to do with us. It’s not as if the herbs sprouted legs and rolled into my embroidered shoes.”
Nurse Su actually bent down to look inside her shoe.
Dam Yeon laughed.
“Nurse Su, did you find something? If you did, return it to its owner at once.”
But there was nothing in the shoe. Nurse Su sat down in frustration.
“Madam, this is no time for jokes. Maid Wei is not someone to be trifled with. If we become entangled in this matter, what will you do?”
Dam Yeon laughed again. She closed the book and gazed outside.
Outside, sand and stones whipped through the air, and heavy raindrops began to fall.
She told Nurse Su to secure the door.
“Nothing was in the shoe. Even if they try to implicate us—where would the evidence come from?”
She reassured Nurse Su and handed her the book.
“Hide this for me. The general might return soon.”
Fortune, if it were fortune, was not calamity—and calamity, if it came, could not always be avoided.
Deng Wol was walking back from the outer courtyard. The main residence was still under repair, and his marriage had been hastily arranged, so he had been staying in Youming Pavilion.
Halfway along the path, rain began to pour. His bodyguard Tang Zuo opened an umbrella, but the wind was so strong that it nearly snapped the canopy.
Deng Wol raised a hand to signal he was fine and strode through the downpour.
Then, from a distance, he heard Maid Wei’s voice scolding a servant.
The voice was not quiet, so he asked a nearby child servant,
“What is happening?”
The child replied quickly,
“Something has gone missing in the estate. Maid Wei is searching for the thief.”
Even as the rain began, Maid Wei continued to reprimand the servants—suggesting it was no trivial item that had disappeared. But Deng Wol never interfered in domestic matters. He merely nodded and said, “I understand.”
