Chapter Text
A certain young noble was walking leisurely through the inner palace and showing everyone who crossed his path his usual honeyed smile. This time, he was alone, without his aide Gaoshun, since the latter had some other tasks to do.
The dazzlingly beautiful young man brought entire groups of court women to the verge of fainting by simply walking past them and also melted several dozen hearts, but his thoughts were elsewhere, revolving around a certain apothecary whom he was intending to pay a little visit in the Jade Pavilion.
Maybe that was the reason why he was sparkling even more than usual.
Dark clouds were gathering in the sky, hence Jinshi accelerated his steps a bit to avoid being surprised by a possible rainfall, since he didn't have an umbrella with him.
Yet eventually he came to a halt out of the blue, hearing a rustling sound coming from between some bushes. Normally, something like that wouldn't have caught his attention at all, but this time, his gut was telling him that it would be wise to take a quick look and check.
Said and done.
He cautiously approached those bushes and pulled them apart to reveal the source of the rustle. And in the next moment, his smile already turned brighter than the sun.
"Oh, what a coincidence! There you are!"
Kneeling in the bushes, he found a slightly disheveled Maomao, who was having some small leaves and tiny twigs in her hair, looking like a stray cat on the hunt. Her eyes widened a bit when she heard his voice, but then she fully relaxed once more and gave him a wide smile.
"Greetings, Master Jinshi!"
Jinshi opened his mouth and stared at her in disbelief, turning as red as a ripe apple and rubbing his eyes to make sure they weren't deceiving him. He swallowed heavily, suppressing the intense desire to go bang his head against the nearest tree, and bent down toward the apothecary with his heart pounding like crazy, attracted by that beautiful smile like by a magnet…
...until his reason finally chased away the pink clouds befogging his mind, and he narrowed his eyes to take a better look at her.
Wait a minute, hadn't he seen that smile a few times before on her face? And wasn't she chewing on something?
In an instant, the entire magic that had been created by his deep feelings had vanished, and his heart started to pound once more. However, this time with fear.
Jinshi desperately grabbed her shoulders.
"Hey! What's there in your mouth?! According to your expression, it must be something poisonous! Spit it out right now! Maomao! Spit it out, I said!"
Maomao's blissful smile disappeared, and she looked at him as if she wanted to hiss angrily at him, but still obeyed when he started to slightly shake her.
The leaves she had been chewing on landed in the grass.
"Was that all? Did you really spit everything out? Not swallowed anything at all?"
Jinshi patted her back and then seized her chin to look inside her mouth and check it with his own eyes. Having made sure that it was indeed empty, he sighed with relief and finally let go of her in order to put both hands on his hips and giving her a strict gaze.
"Unbelievable! One really cannot let you out of their sight for even a moment! Tsk!" He clicked his tongue in disapproval. "I was right, wasn't I? That was a poisonous plant, correct?"
Maomao tucked her hands into her sleeves and averted her gaze, frowning. She looked like someone whose day had been entirely and utterly ruined.
"Yes, Master Jinshi, but I put merely a handful of its leaves into my mouth. Such a small dose only leads to mild symptoms and is not dangerous at all. At least not for me." She almost spat that last sentence at him and looked up with reproach in her eyes.
That made Jinshi even angrier. He just failed to understand how she could play with her health and her life like that. And mild symptoms were still symptoms!
"Oh, you don't say! You'll come with me, understood?" He took the apothecary's hand, pulled her out of the bushes, and started walking with quick steps. Maomao didn't have any choice but to stumble after him.
"Where are you taking me?"
"What a question! To the medical office, of course! The one in the outer palace! The physician of the inner one won't be able to do anything for you, I know that already!"
"But Master Jinshi, wait! I'm fine, really! I didn't even manage to swallow those leaves before you found me!" Her voice started to sound a bit confused.
He turned his head towards her and glared at her.
"And it was pure luck that I did! Silence, I don't want to hear any more buts! You had them in your mouth, and that's already enough for me. I'm not intending to allow anything bad to happen to you."
His intense worry was clearly visible in his eyes as he gritted his teeth and turned his head back, still dragging her behind him.
"Just like during the garden party..." he heard her irritated mumbling.
"Not my fault that you don't seem to have learned anything since that day."
Maomao let out an annoyed grumble and started to rummage in the folds of her clothes with her free hand until she pulled out a small sachet.
"Look, sir! I have a remedy right here! It's an emetic! I didn't swallow anything from that plant, as I've already told you before, but I can still take it, if it calms you down."
Jinshi stopped at her words and looked at her once more, this time with raised eyebrows. The apothecary used the moment to unpack the emetic and swallowed it, making sure that she did it right before his eyes. Then she presented the empty sachet to him.
"There, I took it, as you have seen. That should be enough to let your worry disappear, right? And now please excuse me." She started to look around in a hurry and already wanted to run to a small group of trees where she would wait for the remedy to show its, uhm, effect. It shouldn't take long, according to her experience.
But Jinshi didn't let go of her hand. He did look considerably calmer than before, but still wore an expression of slight doubt. He shook his head.
"No, Maomao, I still want you to be examined by a doctor. Come." His tone was gentler now, but still firm. He wouldn't listen to her, that much was sure.
"Master Jinshi!" she objected in disbelief and tried to free herself from his grip. Yet in vain. Jinshi was way stronger than her, and if he didn't want to let go, he wouldn't.
"Maomao, please!" Jinshi heaved a frustrated sigh, grabbed Maomao by the waist and picked her up into his arms without another word so that her head was resting on his shoulder. Then he continued walking at a swift pace.
The apothecary struggled with all her might. She waved her arms, kicked her legs, slapped his arms and his chest and begged him desperately to put her back down again. Good that there was no one else nearby to witness that scene.
The young lord, who had never seen her act like that before, furrowed his brows with confusion, holding her even tighter to his body so that she wouldn't fall down. He couldn't figure out for the life of him what the matter was.
“Calm down! What's wrong with you? Why are you making such a scene out of a sudden? Did the court physician do something to you, so that you don't want to see him under any circumstances? Suiren told me you liked the outer palace's medical office."
"T-That's... not it..." Maomao managed to get out between clenched teeth. She was sweating now and clinging to his clothes with both hands.
"No? And what is it then?"
She gave him a look as if she couldn't believe that he still didn't get it.
"I-I've just swallowed... an emetic... a-and if you don't... set me down soon... there'll be a... disaster..."
"A disaster?"
But it was too late. Maomao didn't get enough time to give him an explanation.
"Bueh..."
However, it wasn't needed anymore. Jinshi understood everything at once. For, as if on cue, the contents of Maomao's stomach landed right on his shoulder, running down his sleeve and back.
The young lord froze with horror, opening his eyes and mouth wide.
"I... tried... to warn you... sir..." she wheezed.
And as if that wasn't enough already, right at that moment, the clouds decided that it was the perfect timing for a nice, heavy rainfall…
Today was really, REALLY not Jinshi's day.