It was delightful to listen to, though there were no words. Every click of her tongue meant something, every angry exhale or satisfied sniff conveyed information. And it was all the more revealing because she had no idea she was making noise.
They were in the library where he had set up a table for her use. He’d given Blue to the stable hands and carried her to the stool set there for her use. She’d smelled of the herbs they’d bought, and he set her down quickly rather than give in to the desire to inhale such alluring perfume.
The first thing she did as she settled was explain the tea she made for his mother. It was difficult for her to express what she wanted in English, but he could see her passion for the topic. He also realized there was a great deal more to understand than the simple humors every boy learned in school, though there did seem to be some similarities. If only he’d been more interested in medicine than in King Arthur and his knights.
Given his lack of medical education, he couldn’t follow what she said, especially when she started labeling body channels inChinese. But he loved watching her work. There was a joy in her skills, the way a master musician enjoyed his instruments.
And when she was ready, she called for his mother to drink the tea.
It was ridiculous really, all three of them staring in anxious anticipation. Was there an effect? Did his mother suddenly change into a serene lady of relaxed countenance?
Of course not. But she did enjoy the attention. Mother always enjoyed attention.
“Please, Your Grace,” Yihui said, “write down your feelings every day this week. What made you angry. What made you happy. Everything.”
“Goodness, that’s a lot of writing. Whatever for?”
“So we may see! If you take the tea, are you happier? Sadder? Better or worse?”
“But I can feel it, if it happens.”
“Better to write it down. Keep paper always at hand. We will read it together.”
“Together? You and me?”
“To see patterns.”
His mother nodded, her expression half confused, half thrilled. “I will get some paper right away.” And so she left with an excited purpose to her step.
“That cannot be real,” he said. “She just wants attention.”
“And she will get it while the tea settles her chi. It takes time for the herbs to take effect. Now she will give it that time.”
He could see how that would be effective. “But what happens when you stop giving the tea?”
“Why stop?” She dropped her hands on her hips. “Either she learns to moderate her moods or not. Either way, she becomes a wonderful customer.”
“Only if you listen to her.”
She nodded with a smile. “Yes.”
“But you can’t spend all your day listening to—”
“Silly old women?”
He didn’t want to say that, but then again, that was what he was thinking.
“As a girl, I was assigned to listen. My father was too important to hear the complaints of old women, but my grandmother told me there were women things to learn. So I sat, and I heard. Such things I learned!”
He leaned back to perch on his desk as he watched her. “Like what?”
She winked at him. “I learned how to sell things to old ladies. And young ladies. And all the ones in between.”
Well, that was very clever, but it had nothing to do with medicine and everything to do with commerce. His parents would decry such knowledge as baseborn, but he found it interesting. All of his time with Prinny, the work of the Benedict in the Foreign Office, and even his future as a duke had him dealing with the plans of men and the movement of nations. He’d been too busy to bother with the life of women.
Until Yihui. Now he had all sorts of questions. What exactly could one learn from the fairer sex that was hidden from men like him? Meanwhile, she was grinding leaves with a pestle as she spoke, her words taking on the rhythm of a storyteller.
“Every man has people who listen to him. Women, if no one else. But who listens to the women? Who knows what the women know?”
