Work Text:
It was a late, peaceful evening, and the pale moon was already showing itself between the clouds in the dark sky. A few of the Imperial Palace's servants were still doing their work outside, but other than that, it was quiet.
The silence was also reigning inside Jinshi's residence at the outer palace. Hm, well, not quite... if one looked inside his personal chambers.
There was a gourd of wine, a big one, standing in the middle of a table, already half empty, and casting its long shadow onto the furniture. Two cups were accompanying it, and two people were sitting at the table and enjoying the surely awfully expensive drink, savoring its taste and bathing in the warm light of several candles combined with the moonlight coming from outside while a few braziers were keeping them warm on that chilly evening.
Jinshi had actually officially summoned Maomao merely to taste that wine for poison, but she quickly understood that there must be more behind it, since he had immediately stopped her once she had determined the drink to be safe and gotten up to bow and retreat to her own room. Stopped her and filled up her cup.
"Would you stay for a bit and drink with me, apothecary?"
Maomao did frown with slight mistrust at first, convinced that he probably wanted something from her once again, something troublesome, she assumed, but still returned to her seat. What else was she supposed to do in such a case? And besides, the wine was delicious, so the alcohol-loving Maomao was actually even pretty happy about his invitation, although she did her best not to show it too openly, merely briefly licking her lips with excitement. Who knew what he wanted to talk to her about... hm, since he looked pretty serious, he maybe had a new task for her.
Well, she had guessed wrong...
"And then he brought me a new pile of documents, even bigger than the previous one! Just imagine, apothecary! That's how tall it was!" Jinshi snorted and showed her the size of said pile with his hands, before he brushed one strand of his hair that was still a bit damp from his evening bath behind his ear with an angry, but still highly elegant gesture, took a long sip of wine, and then slammed his cup back on the table. "I barely had enough time to drink a cup of water before I had to sit down to work once again!"
Then he opened his sleeping robe a bit and revealed part of his chest. Perhaps he had started feeling hot from his rant. His cheeks were already reddened by the alcohol, in any case. Well, he was currently alone with Maomao, so there wasn't anyone there to scold him for his behavior.
"That sounds horrible, sir," she replied in a neutral tone and narrowed her eyes at his chest, once again thinking that there would be a disaster if someone besides his servants were to see him like that.
He crossed his arms and nodded.
"Absolutely! My hand already started to hurt from all that writing!"
As soon as she heard this, Maomao placed her cup back on the table as well and gave him a serious look.
"Is this the true reason you have called for me, Master Jinshi? Please let me take a look at it, there could be an inflammation." She bent forward and stretched out her hand, already intending to take his right one that was lying on the table and wondering why he hadn't just said so right from the start.
Jinshi fell silent and stared at her with his eyes wide open, yet he didn't pull away when she placed her small palm on top of his considerably larger hand and started to examine it carefully. Then he gulped.
"Uhm, no, that's not it..."
Now, Maomao was confused as well.
"No? Then why are you telling me all this, sir?"
The young lord scratched his cheek with his free hand and briefly averted his gaze. Was she just imagining it, or was he blushing even more than before? Must be the alcohol.
Jinshi pursed his mouth and gazed outside at the moon, squinting at it. For some reason, he didn’t seem to like it today.
"Because I..." he finally spoke again and looked into her eyes once more, lifting her hand from his right one with his left one and squeezing it gently for a moment. "Because I know that you'd listen to me without judging me... you're the only one who would…”
Oh. Now she got it.
"I see. He just needed someone to talk to... well, he's only human, after all. Alright..."
"Sorry..."
Jinshi cleared his throat and drank another sip. His voice revealed that the drink was already starting to show its effects.
"No need to apologize, sir, I don't mind," she said and she really meant it, for she somehow had to show her gratitude for the good wine, and if he merely wanted her to listen to him, then she would. His gaze had revealed that he really needed it, so she didn't even feel that annoyed. Her only hope was that he wouldn't talk until morning came and that he refrained from clinging to her the way he had that one time she had landed on his lap. And most of all that he wouldn't start crying again...
His eyes lit up with joy at her words, and he emptied his cup with one big sip, before continuing to complain to her about his work and about Suiren and Gaoshun constantly watching his every movement.
Maomao filled up their cups and listened to him in silence. She had to admit that his stories were making her feel a bit bad for him. As his personal maidservant, she did know how busy he was almost every day and that he often looked tired, but she hadn't thought that it was this bad. She took a mental note to prepare a remedy that would at least help him fall asleep at night.
Talking about falling asleep...
Jinshi had started to slur his speech more and more and also to yawn while he spoke. He was obviously drunk.
"You really should go to sleep soon, Master Jinshi," she recommended, calmly emptying her sixth cup without barely feeling anything.
"Yeah... I will... *hic*... right now..."
And to her surprise, he meant that quite literally, because he promptly pushed his cup aside with a clumsy movement, put his arms on the table, placed his head on top of them, and closed his eyes. Very soon, Maomao started to hear his deep, regular breathing.
She blinked a few times, having to process first what had happened just now.
That entire situation was so absurd that the apothecary couldn't help grinning. She got up and approached him.
"Well, time to look for Master Gaoshun, I guess. Hah, how troublesome." Yet she still didn't look as annoyed as she might usually have.
Then she started to head to the door, muttering under her breath that she should prepare a cooling salve for his hand so it wouldn't hurt anymore from his work.
"Maomao..." Jinshi suddenly murmured and smiled in his sleep. "I need you... Maomao..."
Had Maomao heard him?
She had.
She stopped abruptly with her eyes wide open, looked at the ground, then turned around to Jinshi with a look that was hard to describe, and returned to his side.
Next, she raised her hand... and softly brushed her fingers through his bangs, not really understanding why she was doing something like that.
"You're drunk, sir..." she said quietly. "You need to rest..."
And then she finally left the room.