Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace

Chapter 146: Troublesome Scent

Still, this sure is stinky

They use a smoking pipe to enjoy tobacco in this world. Xu also smoked tobacco previously, but she didnt stink like this.

In that case, this odor must not be something characteristic of tobacco.

Maybe they mixed something into tobacco to make it this smelly?

Nevertheless, Yui Mei felt inexplicable when she thought about the trouble of suffering from the stench while smoking tobacco.

Wait, what?

Something about the words tobacco and pungent odor seemed to resonate in the corner of her mind.

There should be some kind of warning regarding these two.

It involved doing something dangerous, so people must be warned against it.

tobacco and a strange smell eh, wait a minute, is this the odor of ammonia? Yeah, thats it, its stinking of ammonia!!

Yui Mei finally realized the true nature of the scent that had bothered her.

She wondered whether the residue of the ammonia-smelling tobacco was, in fact, opium?

Opium is a substance made from the fluid extracted from poppy, and it is widely known to be addictive.

It can be refined to create morphine and heroin. Morphine is medically used as painkiller and sedative, while heroin is a narcotic drug.

Opium had a long history even in her previous  life, but its addictive properties shouldnt be widely known during the ancient times.

Smoking tobacco was one of the ways people enjoyed opium back then.

It might seem difficult to distinguish opium from normal tobacco at first glance, but opium has some characteristics that are more obvious compared to tobacco.

Opium has a characteristic odor, and that was the scent of ammonia.

The hospital where Yui Mei had been working in her previous life cooperated with the police and they were working on a product that could promptly detect drug damage. During one of the meetings as part of that effort, and Yui Mei was specially shown the actual product at that time.

Back then, she thought that people must be crazy for wanting to smell it everyday.

In other words, thats how stinky opium was.

And for this scent to be here at this time, that would mean.

Opium must be popular here, then?

Yui Mei groaned at the sudden discovery of such an important matter.

The court ladies must have avoided this place because of they hated the stench of opium that had spread inside the Jiaofang.

This smell was more than enough to make them sick.

In her previous life, Yui Mei heard that the children who were tasked to collect poppy juice for opium got sick from smelling it directly because they were the same height as the flowers on the plant.

What should I do now?

This was certainly something that was beyond Yui Meis control.

She tried to organize her thoughts. She knew that opium was called the poppy juice in the pharmacy, and it was used as a painkiller and a sedative, but it was extremely pricey.

It was not something that courtesans would easily get their hands on.

On top of its usage being highly limited, she wasnt sure whether the toxic properties of opium were widely known among the physicians.

Opium does not have such a strong narcotic effect when as an oral medicine, after all.

So, how much did Chen know about this?

Ugh, who on earth came up with this opium tobacco, huh!?

Goodness, no matter which world it was, there were people who were using their brains for such unnecessary things.

Besides, it would be even more dangerous if they knew that opium was addictive and still spread it around.

Courtesans were people who had access to the emperors inner circle, after all.

Consult I need to consult someone!!!

There was only one person whom she could consult about this kind of thing.

Alright, I have to rush to Libin!!

Two heads were better than one when dealing with such troublesome matters.

Yui Mei decided her course of action, so for evidence, she gathered the ashes that were buried on the ground and wrapped it inside the cloth that she brought with her.

However, she couldnt carry this stinky bundle with her for long.

It was probably a mixture of burnt stuff and stuff that was too damp to catch fire.

It would be infinitely stinkier if that wasnt the case.

Sorry, Ill continue cleaning next time, okay?

The scent was gone after she cleaned the place, so she stood up while inwardly apologizing to no one in particular.

What are you doing there?

Somebody called out behind her, and Yui Mei jumped.

Erm, what?

She hesitantly and slowly turned around, and Xu, the palace courtesan she saw back at the dumping site, was standing there.

T/N: Im not sure how this is connected with Dongs matter, but its the first time that Yui Mei is dealing with two cases at the same time XD