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In her defense, Maomao really did, for all intents and purposes, initially plan on making it back to her dorm at a reasonable hour this time. The sun was setting and after a long day at the clinic she was looking forward to passing out in her own bed the first chance she got, until she spotted a sneaky little cluster of tiny white puff-balls from the corner of her eye. Apparently the cluster of ma bo mushrooms had different plans for her night. It started with plucking just a few to use for the fever remedy she was working on, then a few turned into a dozen, which then turned into an armful, after which Maomao decided that she might as well harvest enough to restock the clinic just in case…
The next thing she knew, down came a solid smack right over the head.
“Ow!” Maomao rubbed the back of her head and looked up with a glare. It was honestly more surprising than painful, and if anything, Maomao was more annoyed at being interrupted from her shroom-collecting reverie.
At any rate, Maomao would’ve recognized that smack from anywhere. It was the same one that met her whenever a scandalized certain someone caught her doing something indecent like going on a skirt-flipping spree upon unsuspecting maidens.
“Good evening Jinshi-sama,” she muttered. Even though that was quite the rude introduction!
That certain someone was now hovering above her, arms crossed while holding a weak sputtering little lamp in one hand. He was glaring back. “Might as well be good morning at this point,” he grumbled. “What in the heavens are you even doing out here at this ungodly hour?”
Maomao looked around at her surroundings for the first time and realized that, for one thing, it had suddenly become much darker than when she had left the clinic. In fact, if Jinshi hadn’t had that lamp with him, she doubted that she would’ve even been able to recognize his celestial face. Second of all, she was in a completely different area of the palace than from where she had originally started. Even in the dark she realized that the path that led to the dorms was now nowhere in sight.
Did I really get so carried away to stray that far? Strange, it really didn’t feel that long. But instead of admitting that out loud, she glanced back up at the celestial nymph and gave him a look as if he were an obnoxious cloth-eating moth. “I could ask the same thing of you Sir.”
He flinched, suddenly uncomfortable to have his own question thrown right back at him, knowing damn well that he lacked just as much of a reasonable excuse to be out and about in the middle of the night as she did. His guilty expression confirmed just as she suspected: Jinshi had just left his office after staying back for far too long, buried in paperwork that had no business being his own.
“How many times have I lectured you to quit working so late? I’ve already told you countless times that it’s going to ruin your health!” She fumed. If he happens to drop dead on the spot from exhaustion one day, it won’t be my fault!
And Jinshi, standing there with dark bags under his eyes and a concerningly pale complexion, had the nerve to attempt suppressing a snicker. “You act as if you haven’t just been caught red-handed, or white-handed in this case I suppose,” he added, glancing down at her hands which were indeed covered in a thin veil of powdery white mushroom spores, “doing the exact same thing you fault me for. If I hadn’t intervened, who knows how much longer you would’ve been at it? I could’ve been in bed by now if I hadn’t noticed something suspicious moving around in the dark on my way back. At least I try to stick to my office hours.”
Now it was Maomao’s turn to fight back a snort. “And a terrific job you are doing Sir. Do those office hours happen to be from the crack of dawn to the dead of the night? At this point, it would be more appropriate for you to be listing your resting hours rather than your working hours, Jinshi-sama. Although I can see why you wouldn’t, it would look more than pitiful. Truly disgraceful indeed.”
Anyone else would’ve been lucky to escape with just their tongue cut out for slandering the imperial brother to his face, but Jinshi had nothing else to retort other than a stink-eyed glare. Even for Maomao that was a bit uncalled for. Funny how easily it had slipped from her tongue. Maomao had learned that she apparently became quite bold when she was drunk and had heard anecdotes of people getting tipsy from lack of sleep when they were otherwise completely sober. Surely it can’t be that bad, right?
Finally, Jinshi released an exasperated sigh. The dullness in his eyes revealed that he was much more exhausted than he let on, which was unfortunately saying something. “You look awful Jinshi-sama.”
“Hmph, then I take it you haven’t seen yourself recently,” he retorted. “Alright then, come along.” He turned around, beckoning to her to follow as he started walking ahead.
Maomao rose to her feet with the bundle of puffy white mushrooms clutched in her sleeves “Where to, Sir?”
“My place.” He replied “It’s far too dark for you to be heading all the way back to the dorms by yourself, too late to fetch a guard, and while I usually wouldn’t mind escorting you back myself, to be completely blunt I’d really rather not tonight. Besides, we’re practically in my backyard anyway.”
Well. He did have a point.
And Maomao had to admit that she did not fancy trudging all the way back to the dorms in the dark either. Now that the spell cast over her by the ma bo mushrooms was broken, she noticed that her limbs had suddenly grown heavy and fatigue was creeping into her bones, not helped by the fact that today had already been a particularly grueling day at the clinic. She followed Jinshi and the dim light of his lamp without another word until his pavilion was in sight. But instead of using the front entrance, he went around it, making his way through a row of shrubs, behind a willow tree, quietly sneaking past two of his own guards on their night shift, and arrived under a window that led directly into his room.
“So we don’t wake up Suiren and stir up too many questions or concerns” he whispered when noticing her questioning look. Maomao wanted to argue that sneaking through the imperial brother’s window in the middle of the night would’ve looked as scandalous as it could get, but at that point, she didn’t have enough energy to argue and agreed that the more people and questions avoided, the better.
The Moon Prince then proceeded to undo the latch on the window with such swift precision that it left Maomao briefly wondering just how often Jinshi broke into his own palace, or if she should be more concerned about the state of his home security. Pushing the panes open, he set the lamp on the window sill before heaving himself up and over with minimal effort and turned back, offering her his hand. She took it and with her other hand gripped the edge of the window to pull herself up. It required more strength than she thought (not helped by her pitiful height), especially when trying to keep a horde of mushrooms from escaping her sleeves, but just as she was about to lose her grip and tumble out backwards, Jinshi’s quick reflexes caught her by the arms and managed to haul her through in one piece.
“Thanks,” she muttered.
Jinshi picked up the lamp again “Usually I’d have Suiren prepare a room for you,” he explained while closing the window, “but I’m afraid she’ll already be asleep by now and I assume you still know your way around here, so feel free to use your old room.”
“Understood. Thank you for letting me stay here to rest for the night, Jinshi-sama.” She punctuated her gratitude with a bow and left, making her way to the room she had once occupied when working as Jinshi’s personal servant after he had bought her from the Verdigris House.
It was just the way she had left it before. A humble room, but still quite generous for a servant’s quarters with a plain little bed in the corner. It currently had no pillows or covers, but to Maomao at the moment, it could’ve been a cloud with the most luxurious silk sheets in the world and she wouldn’t have been able to tell or care about the difference.
She was about to throw herself onto said bed right then and there… when she noticed a certain imperial presence in the doorway behind her.
”Jinshi-sama, what are you doing here?”
Jinshi’s drowsy face suddenly snapped to awareness as if he had just now noticed that he was no longer, in fact, in his own room.“Well… someone has to make sure you’re actually going to sleep instead of staying up all night doing heaven knows what with your freshly harvested souvenirs.”
Hmph, nice save. She narrowed her eyes at him, “That’s rich, coming from someone who looks like they’re a single breeze away from collapsing any moment now. My well-restedness shouldn’t be any of your concern Jinshi-sama. You should be focusing on your own instead.”
“So who will watch over yours, apothecary?”
Jinshi got up from leaning on the door frame and slowly walked towards her, emphasizing his words with each step. “You keep blabbering about my health and yet still do the very things that you scold against. Working late at night? Skipping meals when especially busy? Refusing to take any breaks until the job is done? Don’t you think that’s quite hypocritical?” He accused, placing his lamp on the ground in the corner next to the bed and turning around to face her. “How am I supposed to be taking care of my own health when you’re setting such a bad example?”
His words had that signature sparkling teasing edge that he knew irritated her while being completely serious at the same time. He was now standing with his arms crossed, planted in between her and the bed, their faces almost touching. Both stood there, stubbornly staring at each other with the same wordless message in their sharp unblinking eyes.
I’ll go to sleep when you go to sleep, and not before.
For an imperial prince, he sure could be rather childishly obstinate at times. Maomao’s patience was running thin. Maybe she should’ve thought of some quick-witted rebuttal to send him back to his room but right now she was tired, covered in powdery white mushroom spores, and frankly lacked the energy for this ridiculous nonsense.
“Look Jinshi-sama,” she scowled, breaking the silence. “I am just a mere palace woman. If I get ill, it won’t be a big deal. There are others at the medical office who will keep it running just fine without me and the world will go on none the wiser. However, having you - the imperial brother - come down with even a slight fever would turn the whole palace upside down! Do you not think about all the people who are at their wits end concerned about your wellbeing!?”
She had unconsciously started moving, and every step she took forced Jinshi to take a step back until he was backed into the edge of the bed. In the faint glow of the lamplight Maomao couldn’t help but notice the odd expression on his face. She supposed that she was being a bit more impertinent than usual at the moment, but her reserve of patience for the day had officially run dry and Jinshi twisting her own words against her had been the last straw.
“And maybe, if you took better care of yourself,” she growled, “I wouldn’t have to keep worrying about making sure you don’t wither away and I would finally be able to go to bed with some peace of mind for once!” Without thinking, she gave a sudden shove to his chest to emphasize her words. Maomao didn’t think it had that much force. She had done it more out of pure frustration than anything else, but it somehow managed to throw Jinshi off balance anyway and send him tumbling backwards with a flash of shock on his face before landing on the bed with a less than graceful thump.
He remained there silent and still, probably still trying to process what just happened (Maomao herself had decided to not dwell on that too much for now). She stood above him with a slightly triumphant gleam in her eyes, almost silently daring him to get back up using the energy that she knew he didn’t have.
Instead, Jinshi just laid there with a dead empty look in his eyes, flat on his back and surrounded by some stray mushrooms that had fallen from her sleeves when she’d pushed him. The celestial nymph now looked like a flattened bug now more than ever, but for once, Maomao didn’t give him the corresponding glare. The last bit of resistance seemed to have left his body as he practically deflated.
Or so she had thought.
After a while, he slowly rolled over to his side while grumbling something unintelligible. Maomao made the mistake of assuming that he had accepted defeat and was just trying to get in a more comfortable position, until out of nowhere, he suddenly grabbed her wrist in one quick swipe and sent her tumbling down as well. With a yelp, she ended up crash landing partially on top of him, little white puffy mushrooms flying everywhere.
Maomao understood now why Jinshi hadn’t gotten up after she pushed him. The bed may have been nothing more than a small unadorned mattress, yet it still somehow managed to milk everything out of her tired aching bones until Maomao felt as if she physically could not extract herself from its comfort even if she tried.
Now they were both just lying there, paralyzed with exhaustion. Jinshi had let go of her wrist to wrap his arms around her waist instead. Curling into her abdomen, he sleepily clung to her like a small child with his stuffed toy. Except Maomao was not a stuffed toy, so this left her practically bent over him on the small cramped bed as his embrace grew tighter. It was quite an awkward position, but they were both too tired to care.
After a couple of half-hearted attempts to pry herself from his arms, it was clear that this big clingy leech wasn't about to let go anytime soon. Maomao was starting to get a strange sense of déjà vu when she suddenly had a flashback to a very similar situation that took place long ago beneath the Rear Palace walls on a cold clear night right before New Years. Well, at least this time he’s not a sobbing drunk.
“Jinshi-sama, you really need to go back to your own bed,” she sighed flatly in her usual dry tone.
“Don’t wanna. This one’s more comfy.” Drawled a muffled reply from her midriff.
“Don’t be ridiculous. This one is plain, cramped, and covered in mushrooms. It doesn’t even have a pillow.”
“Yes it does. It has you.”
“I don’t count. You’re going to put my legs to sleep again if you continue crushing them all night. I won’t be able to get up tomorrow.”
“Good. You need to rest more.”
“What I need is for you to let go, Sir.”
There was no reply.
“Jinshi-sama?”
Still nothing, except for the rhythmic sound of his steady breathing and a gentle snore.
Of course he dozes off when it’s most convenient for him! This guy’s lucky that he’s important enough for me to tolerate putting up with all this. Maomao thought silently. Or at least she thought she had, but her heavy eyelids had finally drifted shut before Jinshi cracked one last smile with his eyes still closed.
***
The window was gently latched shut under the fingers of an old former nursemaid. As sneaky as the young master may have thought he was, there were times when he could’ve spared a bit more attention to the finer details and not let the cold breeze in at night.
At least a certain young lady would’ve always remembered to latch the window shut properly. Suiren thought ruefully, recalling the troublesome girl that the young master so often reminded her of. Between getting into all sorts of mischief with her imperial milk sibling and driving the poor long-suffering Gaoshun up the wall, dealing with “secret” nightly escapades was no strange territory for the experienced old handmaiden. In fact, she even had to admit, it brought a certain sense of nostalgia.
Under ordinary circumstances, Suiren would’ve done nothing more than humor the boy when he woke up. Play along and pretend he had gotten away with his little secret. But for that to happen, he had at least to be in his room when morning came, and despite the open window suggesting he had returned, there was no overworked young master collapsed on the covers of his perfectly made bed. Instead, to the old maid’s bemusement, a sparse trail of little round white mushrooms led from the window, out of the bedroom, down the hallway, across to the other side of the building, and around a corner, to…
Ah, so this is what the cat dragged in, so to speak.
In front of her, illuminated by a sputtering little lamp on the floor and the faint trickling rays of moonlight streaming through the window above, was the young lord sleeping as serenely as could be, curled up with his head resting on the thighs of a petite apothecary girl and an arm draped across her leg.
The rest of the apothecary was draped on top of him, fast asleep over his shoulder with her head resting in her folded arms. Long silky dark hair spilled over her like ink as a small line of drool was escaping the corner of her mouth and soaking into the young master’s robe. The little white round mushrooms like the ones that had led her here were spilling from the apothecary’s sleeves and littered everywhere, completing the scene.
Suiren sighed. She’ll have to give Xiaomao a scolding in the morning for making such a mess and getting the young master dirty, but for now…
She walked over, putting the weak little lamp out of its misery with a single puff, and draped the blanket she had brought over the both of them. Xiaomao gave a slight stir and let her head drop from her arms to fully nestle in the young master’s deep blue and gold robe, which caused the boy to adjust his head and snuggle closer while never letting go of her leg.
Suiren couldn’t help but think that the scene in front of her wasn’t unlike a pair of kittens huddled on a chilly night. She let her fond gaze linger a little longer until finally turning around to leave with a mischievous chuckle playing on her lips.