Chapter Text
Being fired really sucked. Maomao had somehow found a place in the world where someone of her station got to be a poison taster and occasionally make medicine - and actually got paid for it – and now it was being taken away because the morons who kidnapped her happened to be associated with the wrong family. And the timing was particularly bad, since she currently owed a debt to the Madam of the Verdigris house that could see her sold off in a heartbeat.
Still, what choice did she have?
*
Being un-fired is… a dubious proposition. It happens like this:
“You’re what?” Master Jinshi is shocked, she realises, and not just a little. His face, which had been drooping when she approached his table at the party, has gone bone white, his eyes wide and wild. It is, perhaps, the most honest expression she has ever seen on him.
What did he think would happen?
“I owe a debt to the Verdigris House,” she says simply.
“So they’re… ? So you’re… !”
She gives him an unimpressed look. Why is this fox always doubting her chastity?
His mouth slams shut.
“I’m serving drinks,” she says repressively. “Not taking customers.” Then, under her breath, “Yet.”
“Yet??” If anything, his eyes go wider. “I’ll – I’ll buy you out!”
She stares at him.
“However much it costs. Now – Can we go now? Or no…” And he drops back into his seat from where he has abruptly risen. “In the morning.” Then he sighs. “What am I even saying?” And buries his face in his hands.
If he bought out her contract… “Then I could go back to the palace? That might be good.” Maomao thinks out loud.
His head pops up. “You would want that? I thought you hated it there?”
“When did I say that?” she asks, confused. “I tried to tell you I wanted to stay. My position there was…” But her words slow.
Is there a chance this is a trap? Master Jinshi fired her, only to coincidentally show up here tonight, just as Maomao is being dangled over the jaws of becoming a courtesan for real. Is this his way of claiming ownership of her? Although he had had the power to command her death at any moment before, he hadn’t owned her.
His groan breaks her thoughts. “You wanted to stay. I’m an idiot.”
She feels an unhelpful urge to verbally confirm this. Surely he cannot be masterminding a plot – he is too immature for that. Or very good at acting…
“Then I could buy your contract, and bring you back,” he murmurs to himself. “Tomorrow then. And I shall pay for your company for tonight, so you needn’t serve anyone else.” He reaches to tug her closer, but she shies away.
“No touching!” she says, and for some reason that dispels his mood and brings his sly smile back into play.
“Not even a little?” he teases, reaching again. “Not even if I’m buying your contract?”
“I haven’t agreed to anything yet,” she says, a little frosty.
“What’s this?” He leans in close, smile dazzling. “Do you need convincing? And yet just a moment ago you said you wanted to be back at the palace.”
“I’m not sure it’s worth it,” she mutters, scowling as she evades his fingers again. “You’ll mess with my qi.” Drain her dry, probably. What other reason could he want to take her with him for?
He raises an eyebrow. “No one’s ever accused me of that before.”
“Maybe they were too scared to.” Though more likely, too entranced.
“Scared? I’d like to think I only affect people in a positive way.” His voice curls, his smile dazzles a little.
She pulls a face.
He laughs; boyish and natural – much younger than his looks.
“Will you come with me if I promise not to harm you?” he asks, smiling again. “I will safeguard your qi as though it were my own.”
One should never trust a fox; even a seemingly benign one. Allowing her contract to be sold to him would be the height of foolishness.
If Maomao stays at the Verdigris House, she will have at least some control over her own destiny. But is that true? She thinks of the Madam’s threat to sell her. So in reality…
“As though it were your own,” she says, looking him straight in the eye. “Swear it.”
He blinks. “I swear,” he says solemnly after a moment. And then, a little more silkily, “And I take very good care of my own.”
Urgh, did this guy have to make everything sound suspect? She reddens a little as she snatches her hand back from him – when did he even take it?
“No touching!” she says, and his eyes sparkle like all the stars in the sky.
“Now that,” he says, “I cannot agree to. Luckily, we have already made our bargain, hmm?”
Well, this was a bad idea.
Even the perfect caterpillar fungus specimens he brings the next day cannot take away the sinking feeling in her gut.
*
Interesting, that he is always bringing her news of people dying. Is it due to him? Is he testing her to see if she can work it out?
Or is he trying, as he seems to be, to protect the palace. And asking for her help with this task.
She has to admit, he makes life interesting.
*
Her face is battered. She can barely stand.
She grits her teeth.
“Now stand aside, and let me through!”
For a moment she thinks her words will have no effect. Then a dark presence steps up beside her and assures he will bear the consequences.
Maomao doesn’t have the space to think about it, ignoring that man entirely to finally slip around the guard and hurry into the temple where the ceremony is taking place.
Please, let her not be too late. If someone of truly noble birth is endangered by the plot she has discovered, it is more important than anything that she reach them in time.
Her footsteps pound in the hush of the temple as she runs without thought for decorum or consequence. The shadowy figures to the sides mean nothing; her entire focus is on the weighty wooden beam looming above; the robed, elegant figure standing beneath it like a sacrifice.
She hears the harsh metallic crack even as she launches herself forward; her weight hits the person, throwing them both forwards, and for a moment there is relief.
I made it in time. And then, lashing pain down her leg. Not quite then.
There is a grating noise of pain. Uneven breaths. Her own.
Her hands awkwardly fumble against the floor and someone’s leg; she has landed half across the noble she came here to protect.
Barely managing to lift her head, her eyes trace up intricate embroidery to meet a startled gaze. Rose coloured eyes under upswept violet hair.
“Master Jinshi?” she mumbles, bewildered. Then, to herself, “I made it.”
His face is fixed in an expression of astonishment. “Apothecary?” he says, hushed. His unearthly glow absent entirely. His voice trembles a little as he asks, “Do you want to tell me what exactly is going on here?”
She tries to move to a less inappropriate position but stills, the tugging pain from her leg heightening. Turning to check, she finds her skirt soaked through with blood; dragging it aside reveals a long gash from her ankle up the length of her calf, bleeding freely. “That’s not good,” she says faintly.
“Hey.” A hand comes to tentatively catch the uninjured side of her face, drawing her back to him. “What happened to you? Your face…”
Why does he look so sad, she wonders? Surely all that matters is that his life is safe; her own injuries are inconsequential. And why is he here? Even with the emperor’s trust, only the most high-born-
“Nrgh.” She scrunches her face as the pain whips over her again. Shouldn’t have tried to move. “I need to stich my leg,” she mutters.
His hand still cups her face. He looks out above her, at the ruin of the altar, then back down. “You... saved my life,” he says, stunned.
“Wasn’t like I knew it was you,” she says quietly. He doesn’t seem to hear. “Can I have my ox bezoar now?” she mumbles.
This catches his attention, and he stares, incredulous. “That’s what you’re thinking of?” His arm wraps around her shoulder, pulling her a little closer where she lies sprawled atop his legs. “And you’re hurt,” he says.
She must have her kit on her somewhere. It’s a little hard to think. “Just need to stitch-“ she slurs.
“You need a doctor,” he says firmly. Then, a softer murmur, “I want to take care of you. Will you let me take care of you, Apothecary?”
She's already told him its not necessary, why must he be so persistent?
Her eyes slide to stare at his collar, drifting a little.
“Apothecary?”
“Mmm? Sure,” she says, not entirely remembering the question.
He bends until his mouth is right next to his ear; she loses focus as the world starts to go hazy. “May I keep you?” he whispers, and she mumbles something, but the world slips-
“Stay with me.”
*
She floats, pain gone. Warmth surrounds her.
“Will you let me take care of you?” she hears echo distantly, and tries to turn to follow the voice, but there is nothing but white clouds.
Weird, she thinks, but no sound comes from her voice.
“May I keep you?” echoes closer, and she twitches, but still cannot see the speaker.
“Will you let me take care of you?”
Master Jinshi, she realises in a detached way. It is Master Jinshi’s voice.
“May I keep you?”
Her brow creases.
She… had she made a bargain? Had she agreed to something?
“Will you let me take care of you?”
A bargain with a fox spirit...
“May I keep you?”
Everything seems too far away to worry about it.
“Stay with me.”