Addicted to you

It was early afternoon. Warm sunlight was shining from the cloudless sky and down on Jinshi, who was walking calmly through the garden of the Jade Pavilion. He had been visiting Consort Gyokuyou and thought that he could certainly permit himself a little walk to catch his breath and clear his head a bit before heading to his next duty. Yes, he was a busy man, indeed. Sometimes busier than he would like to be.

At some moment, he stopped to admire some beautiful flowers, then discreetly looked around, and after having made sure that he was truly all alone (Gaoshun was currently not with him), he wiped his eternal celestial smile from his face, let his shoulders slump, and allowed himself the luxury of letting out a yawn and stretching a bit. No point in maintaining his perfect image as the beautiful eunuch if no one was looking, right?

Well, but there was also a person, who had never fallen for said image in the first place, no matter how much effort he was putting into it...

Thinking of Maomao, he resumed his walk. He was a bit disappointed that he hadn't met her in the Jade Pavilion during his visit that day, but what could you do, after all, he knew that she had duties as well. However... a slight sadness was still there, he couldn't help it. But at least he knew she was there, in the rear palace, that she was going nowhere this time. That she was his personal maid, even though he had "lent" her to Gyokuyou for the time being. What a relief. He didn't have to fear to never see her again, like he had done after having dismissed her due to that incident with the former Consort Ah-Duo's chief lady-in-waiting. Because he had misunderstood her and thought that returning home to the pleasure district was what she wanted.

He grimaced, and his eyes narrowed at the memory.

Oh, what a terrible experience! How he had suffered back then! More than ever before in his life. He didn't want to go through that ever again.

But that time had served him to realize something: just how badly he needed that apothecary girl. What an irony to have fully understood that only after she was already gone! Not having her by his side had been consuming him to such a point that he hadn't been able to eat nor sleep properly, turning into a pathetic human being, who could only sit there, depressed and gloomy, missing her so much that it was even difficult to breathe. As if that strong, almost unbearable feeling of longing had become a giant hand that was constricting his chest.

Worse than in his childhood, when his favorite toys had been taken away from him. Ha, but of course! Maomao wasn't a mere toy, after all! And contrary to what he had thought of her at the very beginning, never had been.

A horrible time, indeed. Luckily, it was over.

Still pondering about that, he looked up from the ground, and what he saw made him stop again and his eyes widen. It was as if Heaven itself was having pity with him, for there she was: his favorite little apothecary was sitting on a bench, not more than a hundred steps in front of him, and reading a book. She was clearly enjoying her lecture, since her eyes were sparkling with joy, and there was a slight blush on her cheeks. He knew that kind of expression, having already seen it on the faces of other palace women, when they were reading that novel that was currently circulating through the rear palace.

But Maomao wouldn't... no way!

Jinshi approached her with curiosity, getting close enough to see the title of the book:

"150 types of poisonous plants and their utilization in medicine".

He chuckled to himself, having already expected something of that sort. Of course. THIS was the type of literature to elate Maomao, not some romance novel. She must have borrowed it from the medical office.