Chapter 5 — Hearing the Voices of Animals, I Became the Director of the Tyrant's Zoo

Indeed. I stood up and turned around, facing Trieu Ky.

“Your Majesty, Thuy Tuyet is not suffering from water and soil incompatibility, nor is it due to low heat and condensation.”

“His illness is simple——not having suitable shoes to wear.”

The whole garden immediately became quiet as if someone had strangled it. The round fan in Vuong Tu Yen's hand made a "pop" sound and fell to the ground. She widened her eyes:

“What do you say? Shoes?!”

The royal doctor became even more angry to the point that his whiskers stood up:

"It's a myth! It's truly a myth! This old man has been a doctor for forty years and has never heard that elephants should wear shoes! Khuc is always there, even if you can't think of any reason, you shouldn't talk nonsense like that!"

“An elephant's feet look thick and strong, but they are actually extremely sensitive.”

I looked into his eyes and said every word:

"The Western Region has a lot of sandy soil, Thuy Tuyet grew up on soft sand from a young age. In our palace, there are all green stones and pebbles, both hard and rough. Every day she stands and walks on such hard ground, the skin on the soles of her feet is torn, her wounds become ulcerated, and pain radiates from her entire body from the soles of her feet."

I turned to Trieu Ky:

"It's just like a person wearing shoes that don't fit their feet, the longer they walk, the more uncomfortable they become. It's so painful that it can't eat or sleep, and of course it's getting weaker and weaker. Those heat-clearing and rheumatism-clearing drugs are not only useless, on the contrary, they're even more harmful to its stomach and intestines."

Medicine Tu's face turned pale:

"What a nonsense! Thuy Tuyet's feet are perfect and undamaged, where did they get the ulcers?"

“You lift up its leg and see.”

The doctor was stunned. Let's take it one step closer:

"Haven't you been practicing medicine for forty years? So you squat down, lift up that half-ton elephant's leg, and see if the flesh pad in the middle of its sole is rotten!"

The royal physician was stiff in place, his old face turning purple and black. Of course he couldn't lift it. He also never thought about having to lift it. Vuong Tu Yen gritted his teeth and forced out his voice:

“Your Majesty, this servant is talking nonsense, obviously dragging out——”

“Lift its feet.”

Trieu Ky opened his mouth. The voice was not heavy, but like an ice spear piercing everyone's ears. The four guards immediately stepped forward and used all their strength to suckle the white elephant's right front leg. The whole Ngu Beast Garden was as quiet as a tomb. In the middle of Thuy Tuyet's soles, on the flesh pad as large as the mouth of a bowl, it was filled with small cracks and pustules. Some spots have crusted over, some spots are still oozing yellow liquid. Doctor Tu's face immediately turned pale. The doctors behind him simultaneously inhaled a cold breath. Vuong Tu Yen's round fan completely fell to the ground, she took half a step back, her lips moved for half a day without being able to say a word. The white elephant suddenly let out a low cry, its long trunk swaying slightly in the air. It says in my head:

“Little girl, you... you really understand me.”

I turned around to face Trieu Ky and took a deep breath:

"Your Majesty, give me three days. I will make him a pair of soft leather boots to fit his feet, then use ointment to cover his feet. Three days later, make sure he is alive and healthy."

Trieu Ky looked at me for a long time. It's been so long that my knees get sore and my back sweats. Finally, he curled the corners of his mouth:

“Correct.”

“But——”

He stood up and looked down at me from above.

“If it's not cured after three days, you know the consequences fruit."

I bowed my head:

“I know.”

When I stood up, the corner of my eye glanced at Vuong Tu Yen. Her face, covered in thick makeup, was twisted like a piece of paper burned by fire. Her two pupils stared at me, wanting to jump out of their sockets. I smiled at her. She was so angry that her fingernails dug into the carved patterns on the handrail. As I turned around to go out, the white elephant said behind me:

“Little girl, thank you.”

The tiger brother, far away, cried out:

“Skinny girl, you can do it! Even that big guy can handle it! Tiger said you have the ability!”

The corners of my mouth curl up, my steps are light. The stomach that had been hungry for two days now "gurgled" and let out a loud, thunderous sound. Alright, old emperor, this time it's your turn to take care of the food. Linh Am Cac is much bigger than we thought. A separate courtyard, three main rooms and two ear rooms, in the yard there is also an ancient apple tree. Two young ladies knelt at the door and bowed their heads, one named Xuan Hanh, the other named Thu Dao, both looked to be about fourteen or fifteen years old. Before I could sit still, I opened my mouth first:

“Is there any food?”

Xuan Hanh was stunned for a moment, then quickly nodded:

“Yes yes yes, slave go get it now!”

Not long after, she brought home a bowl of white porridge, two small plates of vegetables and half a piece of sesame cake. I ate like a hungry tiger, my stomach felt warm, I almost cried. The first day I arrived, I was so hungry that I fainted in the royal garden, and as a result, I was treated like a dead person and carried into the cold palace. If it weren't for the tiger brother suddenly getting sick that day and the royal doctors passing by the cold palace door hearing that I was still breathing, I would now be buried in the cemetery behind the mountain. Having eaten and drank enough, I wiped my mouth:

“Xuan Hanh, go find me some soft deer skins. The softer the better, it must be thick.”

"Thu Dao, go to the Thai hospital and ask for a jar of badger oil, a handful of wormwood, and some clean cotton cloth."

The two little girls responded and ran out. We must quickly make shoes for Thuy Tuyet. The next three days, I hardly slept much. During the day, she ran to Ngu Beast Garden to measure the size of Thuy Tuyet's feet, and at night she did tailoring under the lights. The deer skin is not soft enough, so we use a wooden hammer to hit it again and again, until the skin fibers loosen and become as soft as cloth. The sole of the shoe has three layers of cotton padding, and the mouth of the shoe is sewn with a ring of rabbit fur to avoid rubbing the wound. While making shoes, I cooked a pot of ointment. Badger oil, add wormwood, add a little honey, mix well, apply on bandage, replace Thuy Tuyet once a day.