Clockwork Samurai by Jeannie Lin Read Free Book Online Page A

considered. I drew an imperial salary now, and I sent my earnings to my family. My brother Tian was promptly enrolled into one of the imperial academies after Chang-wei personally presented him to the headmaster. How could the academy refuse when Tian was sponsored by a prominent member of the Ministry of Science? For the first time in years, all things seemed possible.
    My duties in the Court of Physicians had taken on a comfortable routine. I knew the eunuchs looked upon me as an outsider, but the work kept me busy. I had hundreds of herbs and ingredients to study and memorize. The imperial records were also fascinating. I pored through historical records of elixirs given to emperors. Elixirs of crushed pearl and mercury, meant to increase virility. Even grant immortality.
    It was easy in the shelter of the palace to believe there weren’t foreign devils living among us. That the empire wasn’t being torn apart from inside by rebellion. But I couldn’t forget. At night when I closed my eyes, I could see the ports of Canton and Shanghai clogged with foreign ships. I could hear the explosions that shook the walls of Changsha.
    I wouldn’t let myself forget.
    As I approached the gate of my mother’s home, a man with his cap pulled low nearly collided with me. He only glanced at me before departing without apology.
    The door of the front room was open, so I entered without needing to knock. Mother was seated over a satchel of papers. She straightened abruptly when she saw me.
    â€œSoling, I had forgotten you were coming today.” Her hands fidgeted, touching the portfolio and retreating. There was a lacquered box beside it.
    â€œWhere’s Nan?” I asked, glancing at the slim case warily. Our maidservant was always about, but I couldn’t hear her in any part of the house.
    â€œI sent Nan to the market for a few things. She should be back soon. How are you, Daughter?” Mother spoke in a rush, all her words strung into a single sentence.
    â€œI’m well. And you?”
    Without even thinking, I searched for the signs. The shades were drawn, and Mother was certainly nervous. The pupils were the easiest way to tell if she had taken a pipe, but she was avoiding my gaze.
    Immediately I felt guilty. It had been over a year since Mother had touched opium, yet every time I came to see her, I was in fear that she’d weakened and returned to it.
    Mother glanced furtively at the lacquered box before redirecting her gaze to me. “I needed something to keep me busy. Especially when your brother is away at the academy.”
    Once more, she grasped the edges of the portfolio, straightening it in front of her. What had my mother so agitated?
    â€œWhat’s in the box?” I asked, bracing myself for the worst.
    â€œIt’s not what you think, Daughter.” With a sigh, she opened the case to reveal a series of brass dials inside. “It’s a calculating machine,” she explained when I continued to stare at it without comprehending. “It’s been years since I used one of these.”
    Her hands caressed the dials almost lovingly. I had only recently learned that my mother had once been a candidate for the imperial science exams. An oddity, since the exam was only open to men.
    â€œThe Ministry requires some calculations for their building projects.”
    I sat down beside her as she opened the portfolio and rifled through the papers. Each one was covered with mechanical drawings and symbols. After a few pages, my eyes swam.
    â€œDo you understand all of this?”
    â€œUnderstand it? In many ways this is clearer to me than language.”
    Her expression was dreamlike. Disturbingly, it was not entirely unlike an opium trance, though her eyes were focused.
    â€œEngineer Kuo brought this to me.” She straightened the papers and carefully placed them back inside the portfolio.
    I was taken aback. “Kuo Lishen? Why would the chief engineer come to