Chapter Text
Maomao finished hanging the last of the laundry, pinning the sheet in place as she lowered herself off her toes and back down onto her feet. The sun was just warm enough to have her sweating, a trickle of it sliding down the back of her neck to trail her spine as she unrolled her sleeves. There were only a few more chores to be completed before Maomao was free to do as she wanted for the evening, a privilege afforded to her for working in Jinshi’s manor.
Picking up the basket she turned to head back to the laundry room as purple robes caught her attention. Peering around the corner she spotted Jinshi and Gaoshun returning from one of their many meetings that day.
Everytime Maomao interacted with Jinshi his demeanor was always childish or playful, as if his intent was always to annoy her into a reaction that he wanted. Seeing the serious side of Jinshi was fairly rare, only when the situation seemed particularly difficult did he let her see him stressed and worried. But in moments like this, when she was watching him from somewhere unnoticed, she could see his mask as he presented it to others. He marched across the walkway with a regal determination, his posture straight and his face carefully blank. It was as if she was watching the shell of him walk around while he was lost somewhere in thought.
“It doesn’t suit him.” She mumbled to herself, unnerved by the sight. As much as it didn’t suit him, she was in no position to do anything without stepping over the boundary of her position.
And yet.
“Suiren?” Maomao called as she entered the laundry room, placing her empty basket beside the others. The older woman hummed a response, not bothering to look as she continued to fold the clothes she had pulled from the other line. “I’ve hung the sheets, what else needs to be done?”
“Master Jinshi’s dinner should have arrived by now.” Maomao nodded to herself, tasting wasn’t required of her but she had insisted on it. Another perk of working there.
Maomao lingered at the door, her hand tapping against her leg as she considered. If Suiren noticed her hesitation she didn’t seem to mind it, continuing to fold laundry as she waited patiently for Maomao to gather her words.
“Do we have any of that tea I brought back the last time I visited my father?”
Suiren nodded, a small knowing smile on her face as she turned to look at her. Maomao avoided her eyes, staring at the wall as if she was unaware that the woman was looking at her.
“I believe we do. Shall I make some for Master Jinshi tonight?”
Maomao had asked her father for the tea leaves with the guise that they were for Suiren, and had presented it to the woman under the same guise. The tea was known for relaxing the mind and body, an effective medicine for those under constant stress. Suiren had listened to Maomao’s lie with a growing smile, before she put it away with a comment about how much Jinshi was sure to appreciate her concern.
“Do what you want.” Maomao mumbled, “but he did look particularly stressed today.” She quickly ducked out of the laundry room, avoiding further comment from Suiren as she slowly made her way towards the kitchen instead.
Despite herself she found herself peeking around the corner to the walkway again, but Jinshi was long gone. Not that she minded, it was nice to have a break from the man and his constant prodding at her nerves, but this time the break had seemed much longer. His workload had increased, and clearly something important was being discussed in the meetings that he was being dragged into. Important and concerning, if the troubled look she often caught on his face was anything to go by.
Not that it was Maomao’s place to know, nor was it her nature to worry about others without being prompted. At least that’s what she told herself in the moments that she found herself wondering if he was doing okay.
The food was still warm when she entered the kitchen, though the attendant that had brought it seemed to have been long gone. In any other part of the inner palace it would have been concerning that an attendant was not waiting with the food, but in Jinshi’s pavilion it was hardly a concern or uncommon considering how few people came through his quarters. Maomao uncovered the dishes, mindlessly taking small bites of each dish as she thought about what else she could do for Jinshi.
She never openly expressed her concern about his wellbeing, but Suiren and Gaoshun would usually let her know when something was wrong and ask for her assistance. It was only lately that she did so without prompting from either of them. While she did her best to pass it off as her job, she couldn’t in good faith say that she was wholly unconcerned about the man though if asked she would say it was for Gaoshun and Suiren’s benefit.
A sleeping draft would be a good start, Maomao mused as she ate, perhaps something to keep him awake during those meetings? I could also-
A sharp but familiar aftertaste hit her mouth, quickly coating her tongue until it was all she could taste. Her heart seemed to freeze with the rest of her, her mind spiraling as she tried to understand her body’s instinctual reaction. She stood there, spoon still against her lips as her mind caught up.
She had tasted this before, years ago back in Luomen’s home. It clung to her memories just as it clung to the back of her throat now. But it wasn’t just the poison that came to her mind, though she could already feel a tingling in her throat from it.
It was the face behind the poison.
The spoon clattered against the floor as Maomao quickly shoved her fingers in her throat to force herself to vomit up the poison, falling to the floor as the wretching shook her. Her mind whirled through her past efforts to cure herself of it, trying to remember what concoctions had done the best - delayed the symptoms the longest. How long had she been able to go the last time? When had even been the last time she had tasted this poison?
When was the last time the Reaper paid a call to her?
“Xiaomao?” Suiren’s concerned voice reached her, the sound of something hitting the ground before the woman’s hands were on her. “What’s wrong? What’s happening?”
Maomao cursed internally, her mind was still spinning too much for her to focus on other people’s reactions to her and any distraction at the moment could lead to an unfortunate outcome for her.
“Don’t let anyone touch that food.” Maomao choked out, forcing herself to stand and run out of the room before Suiren could call anyone else for help. She made for her rooms; at the very least she had charcoal and some other general antidotes that she always had made for worst case scenarios. They would at least be able to mitigate some of the immediate symptoms so she wouldn’t look so haggard when she made it to the medical pavilion to get something stronger.
She scrambled, her finger uncooperative as she tried and failed a few times to open the pouch she kept in her drawer. She quickly swallowed the charcoal, already searching for the next pouch as she downed the entire contents.
The poison was called “Reaper’s Kiss” as far as she knew, though she was certain that wasn’t its real name. It was a poison that came from another region, a plant as far as she could tell and probably one that wasn’t well known. Everything she knew about it came from her experiments or word of mouth, she had never been able to find it in text.
It was almost always lethal, though low doses of it could apparently take weeks to kill an adult depending on their tolerance for it. Maomao had done her best over the course of years to try and build up a tolerance but without consistent access to the poison or the antidote she hadn’t done a very good job.
There was only one person that she had ever known to use the poison, the same person that supplied her with it and the antidote but never told her how to make either. He was a psychopath as far as Maomao was concerned, but she had often agreed to meet with him because he was well versed in poisons and often carried several on him. While his knowledge of obscure poisons far exceeded he own, she was more versed in their cures and thus they had formed a business agreement back home. He would bring her poisons and teach her about them, in return she would poison herself with them and create an antidote.
The only exception was the Reaper’s Kiss.
He had never shared the poison’s origin, and since he already had the antidote there was nothing Maomao could use to convince him. The rare times he would leave some of the poison with her he would come back the next day to a very sickly Maomao and feed her the antidote with a self satisfied smirk before leaving town for months.
He liked to call himself the Reaper, though Maomao knew him as Shuai.
Maomao felt her heart slowing down, the tremors leaving her body with just a dull sheen of sweat on her skin where the fever had started to take her. The taste still lingered in her mouth as she let herself sit on the floor and take deep breaths as she thought.
There were three options, though none of them were ideal.
Option one: Shuai had given or sold some of the poison to someone and they in turn had brought it to the inner court to poison Master Jinshi. The most ideal outcome if she could be sure that Shuai had also given them the antidote.
Option two: The Reaper’s kiss had made its way into underground markets without Shuai’s influence, which would be even less ideal if it was being circulated without the antidote. Though she imagined if it was being widely spread she would have heard about it by now.
Option three: Shuai himself had come to the inner court and wanted Master Jinshi dead.
As much as Maomao hated to admit it, the third option was her best bet at survival. Not that she thought Shuai would save her out of fondness, but she was confident she could strike some sort of deal with him. Even someone like him valued his life, and with Maomao the only person who currently knew about the poisoning she could offer him an alternative telling of events that could save his life.
The idea didn’t sit well with her, her mind instantly shunned the thought of saving the man that had just attempted to poison Master Jinshi, but she needed to get her hands on the antidote and logically she needed to consider all her options.
“Maomao?!” Jinshi appeared in her doorway, his breathing heavy as his hands reached down to grab her wrist. He dragged her harshly to her feet before she could protest, hands uncharacteristically touching her forehead, cheeks, and neck as his eyes roamed her face. “Suiren told me what happened, why wouldn’t you immediately go to the medical pavilion?” His voice was angry, but it shook in a way that Maomao blamed on the exhaustion she saw in his face.
The bags under his eyes were impossible to ignore, he looked like he hadn’t slept in days which she was almost fairly positive was the most likely case . She opened her mouth to warn him about the poison then shut it again harshly. She knew the right thing was the tell him, tell him so that they could be on guard for other attempts. Tell him so that they could find who did it and get the antidote faster.
But if it was Shuai, if she was to bargain with him effectively, she couldn’t give him up right away. She needed something in her back pocket in case he refused to help her. Telling Jinshi now would stir obvious panic and it was more likely that Shuai would slip away as soon as he spotted trouble, ensuring her death and leaving Jinshi open to a future attempt with her not there to catch it.
With guilt heavy in her chest, she pulled herself from Jinshi’s grasp.
“I’m fine, Master Jinshi. It was an aphrodisiac, nothing more.” The lie came easily; it would not be the first time someone had attempted to seduce her Master in this way, though it would be the most underhanded. Still, she couldn’t meet his eyes as she used her sleeves to wipe at her face. “It was just stronger than I was used to, thus I came to fetch the medicine I keep in my room for these situations.”
“I thought you were immune to these things?” She could feel him staring at her, but she couldn’t bring herself to meet his stare. A bitter taste that had nothing to do with the poison filled her mouth.
“Even I am not immune to everything, Master Jinshi.” She bowed to him, hoping to end their conversation quickly so she could fetch the medicine she needed. “I am sorry to delay your dinner, but I advised Suiren not to allow anyone to eat the meal. You should request another meal be made for you.”
Silence hung between them until eventually Jinshi sighed, the tension immediately dispersing. Maomao peeked over her hands to see him leaning against the wall, his shoulders slumped and a hand covering his face. Something in her chest twinged uncomfortable before she forced it back down.
“Next time please try to explain to Suiren more clearly before you go running off, would you?”
“My apologies, Master Jinshi.” He waved off her apology, pinching the bridge of his nose as he stood up and turned to leave.
“I suppose I’ll need to launch an investigation into who felt the need to do this.”
“Allow me, Master Jinshi. You have enough on your plate right now.” Surprised, Jinshi turned to Maomao with his eyebrows raised.
“It’s unlike you to offer your time without getting anything in return.” Maomao bit her tongue on her retort, admitting that she would have done any of the other investigations without a reward regardless seemed like a bad investment for her future free time and far too close to the truth for her comfort.
“It was a powerful aphrodisiac, I’m curious to know how it was made.” She said as an explanation.
Something passed over Jinshi’s face for a moment before he shook his head slightly, his face said he wanted to argue with her but was too tired to bother.
“Do as you will, just make sure you let Gaoshun know if you need anything. I would say come to me but…”
“Would you like me to pick up a sleeping draft at the medical pavilion?” Maomao offered, unable to stop herself in the face of his sheer exhaustion. Jinshi blew out a long breath, she watched the last of his mask slip as he gave Maomao the childish pout she was so used to seeing on his face. It settled her a little.
“There’s just so many meetings, I wish they would leave me out of these things.” Maomao met his pout with a glare which only made Jinshi pout a little more. “Can you give me something that will make me seem sick for a few days so I can have a break?”
“I’m not poisoning you, Master Jinshi.”
“Maoamao~” He whined. She almost smiled at his tone, but the knowledge that she had fatal poison in her, poison that had been meant for him, sobered her quickly.
“I’ll go to the medical pavilion now for your sleeping draft, I’ll have Suiren deliver it later.” She bowed again, moving past him and heading towards her destination “Please try and rest Master Jinshi.” She called over her shoulder before she turned the corner. Only when she was out of his quarters did she let herself pick up the pace, her eyes sizing up everyone she passed.
She would have to find Shuai quickly, before he was caught by someone else or left the inner palace.
Before the poison killed her.