The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 11 [Parts 1 to 13] by Natsu Hyuuga

Author:Natsu Hyuuga
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter 10: The Golden Ratio

“What to do?” Lahan’s Brother was fretting, a large map spread before him on the table in the medical office.

“Yes, whatever to do?” The quack doctor was also fretting. Maomao needed him to do some work, so she placed a mortar and some herbs beside him.

“What are you doing here, Lahan’s Brother?” she asked him. This was the medical office; it wasn’t a place where non-medical personnel should just settle in and start fretting. Then again, she could understand—of everywhere in the mansion, this was perhaps the least on edge.

“The old guy said I could,” Lahan’s Brother protested.

“Lahans is so tired, young lady. He needs somewhere to rest!” The quack seemed to be under the impression that Lahan’s Brother’s name was Lahans, but it seemed like too much trouble to correct him. Even Lahan’s Brother himself didn’t say anything. Had day after day of grueling fatigue drained him of all desire to argue? Or hadn’t he noticed? Or had he even come to accept this state of affairs?

He’s definitely worked harder than any of us.

His actions might have saved tens of thousands of lives from the insect plague, and he hardly seemed to realize it. Maybe when this was all over, she could ask Jinshi about giving him a reward of some kind.

“What are you looking at, anyway?” Maomao asked, peering at the map. Now that she got a good look at it, she realized it was covered in annotations, describing things like the climate and soil type of each region in considerable detail.

“I kept notes on this map when I went on my grasshopper slaying journey. I wanted to write down any unique qualities of the fields, since I had the chance, but in the end I barely got to half of them.”

Oh, man! This guy is useful!

Unfortunately for him, his job in this case was to be used and used again, only to see others steal his best moments. Maomao vowed afresh that she would see him recognized for his contributions this time if never again.

“From the map, I take it that you’re trying to decide where to grow crops? Didn’t you do that already?”

“This time it’s more concrete. The powers that be want to know what crops can be grown where. We can’t just go on sending food from the central region forever, can we? I’m trying to figure out what we can grow quickly, with an eye toward crops that can be stockpiled.”

“What about your potatoes?”

“I can’t give them anything that I don’t know for certain will grow. The next several years will be an experiment.”

Apparently he didn’t intend to imitate his father.

“What about, you know, ordinary wheat? We could clear out the fields that didn’t get harvested and replant right away.”

“Oh, we’re going to grow wheat. Only in the fields where it was initially planned, though. Planting wheat in the same field year after year reduces the harvest.”

“Oops.” Right. Maomao nodded.

“What’s all this about fields and harvests?” the quack said. He was failing to follow the conversation, as usual, but anyway, he was there.

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