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Maomao let the door of Master Jinshi’s office close behind her. As Master Gaoshun had said, Master Jinshi was clearly too sick to be working—yet here he was, anyway.
“All right,” she announced, setting her tray down on his desk on his desk. “I brought medicine.”
Master Jinshi was sprawled inelegantly across his desk, his hair a silky cascade across his shoulders and down his back. When he didn’t reply, Maomao heaved out an impatient sigh and reached for his shoulder. “Master Jinshi?” She lightened her voice to a teasing lilt, one that usually had him demanding she turn over any poison she might have tucked away. “Come on. Time to wake up.”
He mumbled something and turned to face her, eyes still closed and face lax in sleep. He really didn’t look his age in moments like this. If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought he was only a year or two older than her, not well into his twenties.
“It really is a shame, you know,” she muttered, brushing his bangs aside to rest the back of her fingers against his temple. She didn’t dare speak it out loud—he might be faking, after all, and then she’d have to explain herself. But really, with his looks, it was a shame he was a eunuch. He could have made an advantageous match and advanced his career rather than remaining relatively unseen as the manager of the emperor’s concubines.
Then again…maybe that was the emperor’s design. Maybe he didn’t want to share Master Jinshi with anyone and shut him away like this to keep him all for himself.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Master Jinshi mumbled something again and peeled one eye open to look at her. Her fingers were still resting against his brow, where his temple burned with fever.
“You’re sick,” she said flatly when his eyes met hers.
“I’m aware,” he croaked. He pushed himself up and pressed the heel of one hand against his eye. “Why are you here?”
“Not happy to see me?” Maomao frowned. He should have been teasing her by now. The normal Master Jinshi would have sparkled at her and gotten all creepy…this Master Jinshi just brushed her aside and reached for his pen. “Master Gaoshun sent me with some medicine.”
Master Jinshi paused at that. “Oh?”
She circled the desk back to her tray and lifted the cover off a steaming kettle. “Cinnamon, ginger, and honey,” she explained. There was more in it, but she didn’t feel the need to explain that to him. Lotus root and wormwood and licorice—and a few other secret ingredients. “To clear your head and make you sweat.”
“I don’t want to sweat,” he whined.
“You have a fever,” she explained. “You need to sweat it out.”
He pouted at her, and for a moment he looked even younger than before. The flush of the fever darkened his cheeks, and illness and fatigue shadowed his eyes. Maomao rolled her eyes and poured a little of the tea into one of the cups she’d brought with her. Holding Master Jinshi’s gaze, she tipped the cup back and swallowed the brew down—it was sweeter than she’d usually make it, but Master Gaoshun had said Master Jinshi was a difficult patient.
“See?” she said, setting the cup down and filling another. “Not even poisoned.”
“Coming from you, that doesn’t mean anything,” Master Jinshi replied. He took the cup and raised it to his lips but didn’t take a sip. Just held the cup, eyes glassy, staring into the empty space on the other side of his desk.
“Master Jinshi?”
He swallowed dryly with obvious difficulty. “My throat hurts.”
Ah. “The tea will help.” When he still didn’t drink and turned his wearied gaze toward her, Maomao tried to give an encouraging smile. “I promise.”
Master Jinshi shuddered. “Don’t smile like that again,” he pleaded. But he drank the tea, coughing a little after it went down. “What did you just give me?”
“Cinnamon, ginger, and honey,” Maomao repeated, filling his cup again. “And a few other things,” she added once he’d brought it to his lips.
He coughed, spraying tea across his desk, and lurched forward with a hand on his throat. Maomao hid her smile behind her sleeve as she dabbed at the spilled tea with her towel. “It’s just medicine, Master Jinshi. Nothing sinister.”
“Everything is sinister with you,” he retorted, once he’d gotten control of himself.
“That’s not true.” She sniffed, tilting her chin up like a wounded lady of the courts. “My heart is as pure and unburdened as a lily.”
Master Jinshi rolled his eyes, but accepted the new cup of tea she offered him. “Let me guess. Lilies are poisonous.”
“Only to some animals,” she replied sweetly. The return to their usual banter had clearly bolstered Master Jinshi’s spirits. The tea would warm his body and settle the ache in his bones, releasing his fever through his pores as he sweated it out. Master Gaoshun or Lady Suiren could take it from here.
“I’ll be going then,” Maomao announced, tucking her hands in her sleeves to bow. “Excuse me.”
“Wait.” He caught her sleeve. His eyes were clearer, though still bright with fever. He looked almost frighteningly vulnerable in that moment.
“Master Jinshi?” Master Gaoshun gently pushed open the door to the office, startling Master Jinshi out of whatever he’d been about to say. “And—ah, Xiaomao. I see you’ve brought the promised medicine.”
She bowed to the older man. “As you requested, Master Gaoshun. May I leave the patient in your care?”
“Of course. I’ll handle him from here.” Master Gaoshun rested a hand on her shoulder as he passed, bestowing a fatherly smile on her. “Thank you, Xiaomao.”
Maomao bowed to him again, then to Master Jinshi—who was pouting at her from behind the desk, though it seemed he’d reclaimed his usual self-discipline. She gathered up the kettle and cups and hurried out the door, just as Master Gaoshun was trying to convince Master Jinshi that resting in his chambers would be more conducive to his recovery than trying to force his way through today’s paperwork.
She practically skipped back to the kitchen; mind already abuzz with everything else she had planned for today.
After all, she hadn’t just fetched ingredients for a cold remedy. She had a few other interesting packets tucked up her sleeves…and with Master Jinshi ill, she had the rest of the day to experiment with them.