Chapter Text
Spoon still stuck in her mouth, Xiaolan resisted taking another swipe at the empty bowl in her hands to see if she could miracle another bite of the delicious ice cream she just had. Shisui finished leisurely wiping the countertop before snatching the spoon out of Xialon's mouth and then laughing at her puffed up cheeks at the loss of her treat.
“I don't think you can get anything else out of it.” Shisui said good-naturedly, dropping the spoon with the other utensils Maomao used to make ice cream inside the bowl.
Xiaolan turned red and stuck her tongue out to Shisui, who just laughed and went to the sink to start washing up. Usually Xiaolan would avoid childish behaviour as much as she could, it had never done her any favors either at home or at the Rear Palace washing station, but the most she ever got for it from Maomao or Shisui was a fond smile or a hand messing up her, respectively. So, Xiaolan didn't hesitate to indulge a little.
“Hey, Shisui.” Xiaolan said, rolling up her sleeves as she approached her friend. “Do you think Master Jinshi liked the ice cream too?”
As they enjoyed their unplanned ice cream party with Lady Loulan's leftovers, Maomao had gotten another round of ingredients and ice along with a message. Master Jinshi, the Rear Palace manager, wanted some ice cream as well. Gritting her teeth, but unwilling to argue against a superior who had gotten her access to the kitchen, Maomao had beaten another bowl of ice cream like she was imagining it was a very handsome face instead and almost went ballistic when she was informed Master JInshi wanted it delivered by her own hand.
Of course, “almost going ballistic” just meant a narrowing of the eyes and clenched fists while her face remained carefully blank. Not everyone would notice, but Xiaolan, who liked to think of herself as a Maomao expert after more than a year of friendship, worried a little about the handsome eunuch's health.
Not the face, Maomao. Xiaolan thought as she inwardly lit a candle in her heart for Master Jinshi.
“Well, I know I did.” Shisui hummed, handing her some washed utensils so she could dry them. Licking her lips to chase the aftertaste, Xiaolan nodded. “I wish he didn't ask Maomao to deliver it, tho. She works too much already.”
“I think he just wanted to see her.” Xiaolan giggled, putting a hand on her cheek. “I think Maomao is lucky to have a handsome guy like Master Jinshi calling for her all the time, even if she likes to act prickly about it.”
Silently, she agreed with part of Shisui’s words. If Master Jinshi wasn't so handsome and courteous about it, Xiaolan would be very angry at him taking Maomao away all the time!
“‘Likes to act prickly about it?’ I think she is prickly about it.” Shisui said, smiling like the thought of Maomao's scary angry face was cute to her. Having seen her cooing over a praying mantis earlier that week, Xiaolan wouldn't put it past her.
“Nah, Maomao acts all annoyed but, when Master Jinshi spends some time without asking for her help with stuff, she gets all bored about it!” Xiaolan paused her drying to shake a finger at Shisui, who giggled like she thought Xiaolan was cute as well. “I think she kinda misses him when he's not around.”
Shisui tilted her head.
“Misses him? You make it sound like they have a torrid love affair or something.” She started chuckling at her own words but paused when she saw the face Xiaolan was making. “Something to share with the class?”
Xiaolan bits her lip, remembering rumors she heard around the Rear Palace and stuff she noticed by herself. She loved gossiping, there was no way she could deny it, but she avoided talking about Maomao and Shisui behind their backs. They were her friends! But if it's with Shisui, maybe it's fine? From friend to friend.
“You don't think they are? Having… a lo-love affair?” Xiaolan stuttered out. At Shisui's continued silence, she went on. “I mean, Master Jinshi is always after her for special tasks they never explain, calling her ‘apothecary’. No one else calls her that! It sounds like a pet name, don't you think it sounds like a pet name?”
“Well, she is an apothecary.” Shisui interjected, but once Xiaolan got started, she was impossible to be stopped.
“And they were like that even before she became his servant! He was always around her! He gave her a hairstick out of his own hair !”
Oh, the hours Xiaolan spent building castles in her head after that juicy bit of gossip arrived on her hands from the rumor mill just to get a dry “it's just a pity hairstick” from Maomao after finally finding her. Then Maomao started gushing about the poison she had had at the banquet, nearly sending Xiaolan into an early grave, and they never broached the “hair stick” subject again.
“And then she left along with a bunch of servant girls and Master Jinshi spent months barely showing up at the rear palace at all. But then Maomao is back, because he hired her as a personal servant, and he's just lending her to Lady Gyokuyou! Now, Master Jinshi is around all the time, going ‘apothecary, apothecary’ every time he sees her! That can't be a coincidence!”
Shisui opened her mouth, probably to make a quip about Master Jinshi's “apothecary radar”, as they dubbed his somehow supernatural ability to find her whenever he shows up at the rear palace grounds, but Xiaolan continued.
“Then, he borrowed her for a week out of the palace and no one knows what it's about, just that Lady Gyokuyou had to hire a temporary poison taster! When Maomao came back, she was the happiest I had ever seen!”
“That’s probably because of the ox bezoar stuff he got her on the trip.” Shisui said and both girls shuddered slightly, remembering their friend excitedly explaining how a bezoar was formed until Xiaolan had looked faint.
“And who gets their servant a rare thing like that? A man in love!” Xiaolan gasped for breath, face red after her little rant.
While she was catching up on air, Xiaolan waited patiently for Shisui to either agree or disagree. Honestly, she hoped she doubted it at least a little so Xiaolan could expose more of her observations. She had wanted to talk about it with someone for a while, but a shiver went down her spine at the thought of breaching the subject with Maomao or anyone that might let it slip back to her. Shisui, as always, surprised her.
“Eh, I hope it's not true.” She said blandly, turning her back on Xiaolan and picking up another spoon to wash. “I don't want Maomao to get with a guy she doesn't think she can say no to.”
Xiaolan scrunched her face. “I don't think Master Jinshi would force her to do something she really doesn't want to.”
“He just made her take him the ice cream personally. To the outer court.”
“As her lover! He wouldn't make her do something she doesn't want to do as her lover!” Xiolan said, flushing at saying “lover” out loud.
Shisui chuckled at her red face. “And why do you think that?”
“Well, I've been here for a while, and Master Jinshi never had a rumor of taking advantage, even though a lot of women here would rather he would.” Xiaolan would know, she heard stuff in the servant women's quarters that left her unable to look at Master Jinshi's face for a week. “So, if Maomao is the first, it's because she's special to him.”
“But that's just rumors, we wouldn't know.”
“Yeah, but if he didn't do anything bad and Maomao wants to spend time with him, I think Master Jinshi must be pretty good to her.” Xiaolan smile, giving Shisui a mock scolding look. “It's not nice to assume the worst of people, y'know? What does Maomao say again? No conjecting!”
Her friend giggled. “No conjectures .”
Shisui gave her a soft look, one that made her feel all warm and tingly in a way her mother's soft dismissal and older sister's quiet disappointment never did. She did that often, just like Maomao: look at Xiaolan in a way that didn't make her feel weighted down, but rather made her straighten up.
“Silly me, Xiaolan. You're right.” Shisui cheerfully agreed, handing her the last dish they were washing: the bowl. Somehow, finishing the dishes left Xiaolan feeling disappointed. “I knew Master Jinshi cared about our Maomao, but I didn't know it was that much…”
As Shisui trailed off, even though she was still smiling, her eyes went far away. Xiaolan didn't really like that look, it wasn't like when Shisui went into a bug-fuelled frenzy or when Maomao carried away talking about how many types of poisonous snakes lived around the capital. No, it was like wherever Shisui's mind wandered off to, it wasn't pleasant. When Xiaolan tugged at her sleeve though, she came back.
“Anyway, Maomao is also always getting called by the Precious Consort, right? If she has her favor, I don't think Lady Gyokuyou would let the master of the Rear Palace do anything to a favored servant.” Shisui put a hand on her hip and put a finger up on her other hand. “Being a high consort has to have some privilege, right?”
Xiaolan almost drools thinking about the endless baozi high consorts must be able to get. “Right.”
“It would be a shame to see Maomao married to a noble, tho.” Shisui said, drying her hands with a kitchen rag. Gently, she grasped Xiaolan's hands and started doing the same to her. It felt nice. “You can't really run an apothecary shop from a noble's house.”
“They will work something out.” Xiaolan said confidently. In her mind, Maomao could do anything she set her mind to. Then, hesitantly, she called: “Hey, Shisui?”
“Hm?”
“Ca-Can eunuchs even get married? What about children?”
“Well, it's rare, but not everyone marries for children. Some marry for politics, some for love .” Shisui chuckled dryly. It was so uncharacteristic that it almost made Xiaolan flinch. “But sure, you can marry an eunuch if you don't mind not having children. Not like they can't have sex.”
Xiaolan's eyes almost jumped out of her head.
“Bu-but how? Don't you need… tha-that?” Maomao's surprise sex education class at the servant girl's school had almost permanently kicked Xiaolan's soul out of her body, but she could remember that much.
Shisui shrugged. “Not really. It might even make the guy more creative, y'know. No one likes a guy with no imagina- nevermind.”
Wetting the dish rag under the sink, Shisui hurriedly tried to cool down Xiaolan's burning face before the girl collapsed. Xiaolan briefly thought about letting the darkness take her just to escape the conversation.
“A-Anyways, at least we know Master Jinshi knows what Maomao likes! She gave her that ox bezoar she wouldn't stop talking about!” Again, both paused to reminisce on the whole afternoon Maomao spent talking about her prize, albeit Shisui a little more amusedly and Xiaolan a little horrifiedly. “And she even kept the pretty hairstick he gave to her at the garden party. She didn't even sell it!”
Yet . Maomao had said to her once, but Xiaolan was sure she didn't mean it. Probably.
“I guess Master Jinshi does know how to please a woman, then.” Shisui said playfully, grasping Xiaolan's arm as starting to direct her to the exit of the kitchen. “At least one , I guess.”
“Right?!” Xiaolan puffed up, glad she made a girl as smart as Shisui see her point.
“I have to get back to work. Walk you to the washing station?”
Xiaolan nodded. It was already late afternoon and it was unlikely there would be more work at this time. But then again, Xiaolan didn't know where Shisui worked, she always seemed to be everywhere help was needed with a smile on her face. It's probably because Shisui is super dependable, Xiaolan decided, so she's always on call. Shisui and Maomao were like that, competent people that were always needed everywhere. Xiaolan hoped to be a little bit more like them, one day.
The two girls walk hand in hand to the washing station, giggling when they start swinging their arms together and stopping only once they receive a severe stare from a passing eunuch. Of course, they started swinging arms once the man was out of sight, Shisui even sticking her tongue out to his back, which made Xiaolan giggle even more.
I wish Maomao was here . Xiaolan thought. But it's okay, we can do this again another day.
When they arrived at the washing station, it was almost empty. Shisui let go of Xiaolan.
“So, Maomao and Master Jinshi, huh?” Shisui said, voice low. Startled at the comeback of the topic, Xiaolan just nodded. “Honestly, I'm a bit jealous.”
“I get it, Shisui, I was a bit jealous before, too!” Xiaolan said, relieved her friend had a similar reaction. Thankfully, she let her crush on the Rear Palace Master go relatively easy. “But we should be happy Maomao got such a nice man, not jealous of her.”
“It’s not her I'm jealous of.” Shisui smiled, but didn't elaborate even at Xiaolan's confused stare. “I'mma get going now.”
“Oh, okay.” Xiaolan said, letting a smile grow on her face. “Good night, Shisui, take care! See you soon!”
“Take care, Xiaolan.” Shisui said, a subdued smile on her face. She said nothing else before disappearing around the corner.
Xiaolan hoped they could get ice cream again together soon.